Category Archives: Teaching

Sanctification

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Sanctification: Is It an Obsolete Doctrine?

Fifty or sixty years ago the ‘Holiness’ Churches taught sanctification. The debate was whether it is a second work of grace, or is it an ongoing process. Whichever it was, they taught that it must precede the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, for the Holy Spirit will not dwell in an unclean temple. The mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the early twentieth century came upon those who had taught and practiced Holiness unto the Lord.

The Church of God, (Cleveland), of which I was a member, taught that it is the second work of grace and requires total commitment. That is, it requires the crucifixion of the Flesh and total dedication, nothing reserved. Some of their practices are now belittled and often ridiculed, like modesty in dress and style, disciplined sexuality, forbidden use of addictive substances, non-participation in worldly entertainments such as movies, dancing, gambling, etc. These practices are now seen as legalisms but they did furnish a great deal of protection from the spirits and powers that have now brought our culture to ruin.

I still believe that true Christianity requires sanctification. This is the truth that should be restored to our teachings and doctrines and practices. These things that seemed so hard and grievous to us now were actually easy compared to that Baptism of the death of the Flesh, sanctification.

As to the debate, I now realize that sanctification must also be an ongoing process. Like when a baby is first born, it must be washed thoroughly and the mucous removed from its throat. But after a day and night, it must again be cleaned up and mollified with ointments, salves and powders and changes of garment. In the Christian experience, we find that the old crucified Flesh tries to resurrect quite often and has to be severely dealt with and put down under the control of the Holy Spirit.

“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway,” I Corinthians 9:27.

What is ‘sanctification’?*

First of all it is Holiness: Leviticus 11:44:

“For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.”

It is God’s will: I Thessalonians 4:3-8:

“For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no [man] go beyond and defraud his brother in [any] matter: because that the Lord [is] the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God who also giveth unto us his holy Spirit.”

Second, sanctification is total commitment and dedication:

Romans 8:10, 13:
“And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”

Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

The meaning of Baptism: Death, Burial and Resurrection,

Romans 6:1-23:
(1) “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
(2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
(3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
(4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
(5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:
(6) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
(7) For he that is dead is freed from sin.
(8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
(9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
(10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
(13) Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.
(14) For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
(15) What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
(16) Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
(17) But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
(18) Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
(19) I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
(20) For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
(21) What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things [is] death.
(22)But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
(23) For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

It is a Covenant

You make a Covenant with the Lord by the sacrifice of yourself: “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice,” Psalm 50:5. The Old Covenant sacrifices were but a shadow of the New Testament reality of the sacrifices of oneself, sanctification.

*Strong’s Concordance: sanctification (Hebrew #6942) “Make… pronounce, or observe as clean, (ceremonially or morally), dedicate, hallow, be/keep holy, … purify, sanctify.”

The Second Death

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Revelation 2:11 – “He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death.”

The idea of a second death is shocking because we ordinarily think of death as the final event. The fact that there is a possibility of a ‘second death’ indicates that the first death was not total. Death of the flesh, for the saint, is merely a change of garment. We are changed from the mortal to the immortal, and therefore death is swallowed up in victory.

The old Greek adage “Physician, heal thyself,” was a taunt that challenged the physicians of that time to take their own remedies and medicines before giving them to others. This same idea lay behind the taunt hurled at Jesus on the cross. They said: “He saved others. Himself he cannot save.” They did not know how true their words were, for He indeed was deliberately sacrificing Himself, refusing to come down from the cross, in order to save the world. He would not save Himself from death.

Yet, he was able to turn the words around because He and He only could sacrifice Himself, yet save Himself by rising from the dead. In the resurrection, the Great Physician did indeed heal Himself, as well as the entire world. In the resurrection, the whole world was healed of Death. We were healed. Not merely from this or that disease or infirmity, but the very source of all disease and infirmity, the principle of Death itself, working in our bodies because of Adam’s sin.

In the resurrection, Christ reversed the curse of death upon the human race.

The Jewish Religion, Its Influence Today – Part 1

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Following are quotes from Elizabeth Dilling’s book The Jewish Religion, Its Influence Today. I have added quotation marks and highlighted the headings.  The full text of her book may be found at www.come-and-hear.com. At that site her “Exhibits” and “[Scripture texts]” are linked so that you may click and go directly to the source that she refers to. I have italicized the quoted Scriptures.

“Bible scholars are aware that Jesus Christ denounced the Pharisees.

“He said they nullified all the Commandments of God by their Tradition, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:13; Matt. 15:6-9, etc.). His invective, in truth, cannot be equalled. All of Matthew 23 is like a whiplash. He likened Pharisaism to a whited sepulchre, indeed beautiful outwardly, but “inside full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.” Christ climaxed one condemnation after another with the expletive, “Hypocrites!” He called the Pharisees children of them that killed the Prophets. He foretold they would go on killing, crucifying and persecuting until the guilt for all the righteous blood shed from Abel on down would be upon them. “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Christ asked.

“Christ is as utterly devastating of Pharisaism in the record of John 8. Although He admitted that His hearers were descendants of Abraham, He said they were, spiritually, of the devil. Christ told them:

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because the truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it (John 8:44).

The Missing Link

“But,” says the disinterested Christian, “what has that to do with us today? What a group of Pharisees did two thousand years ago is over and done with!”

However, the missing link in Christian understanding on the subject of “Pharisees” is best supplied by the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (1943):

“The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single piece of that literature … and the study of it is essential for any real understanding of Pharisaism.”

Concerning the Pharisees, the 1905 Jewish Encyclopedia says:

“With the destruction of the Temple (70 A.D.) the Sadducees disappeared altogether, leaving the regulation of all Jewish affairs in the hands of the Pharisees. Henceforth, Jewish life was regulated by the Pharisees; the whole history of Judaism was reconstructed from the Pharisaic point of view, and a new aspect was given to the Sanhedrin of the past. A new chain of tradition supplanted the older priestly tradition (Abot 1:1). Pharisaism shaped the character of Judaism and the life and thought of the Jew for all the future.” (See Exhibit 264 herein.)

“Historically speaking, scripture believers had accepted Christ as the Messiah foretold. They were no longer “Jews,” but called themselves “Christians.” They were persecuted as such by the Pharisees. The word “Pharisee” comes from the word “separated.” (See Exhibit 300.)

The Babylonian Talmud, Sole Authority

“You may ascertain by turning to top Jewish authorities today that the Babylonian Talmud, the written form of the Tradition of the Pharisees, is the sole authority of the so-called “Jewish” religion, or Judaism.

“Rabbi Louis Finklestein was chosen in 1937 by the Kehillas (Jewish communities) of the World as one of the top 120 Jews best representing “a lamp of Judaism” to the World, together with Maxim Litvinov (Finklestein), the Communist Commissar and bank robber terrorist; atheist communist Albert Einstein; those indefatigable Marxist reds, Harold Laski and his friend Felix Frankfurter (U.S. Supreme Court Justice) who shared honors with Rabbi Finklestein and others. Finklestein has long headed the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, with branches in New York and Los Angeles. In his two-volume work “The Pharisees.” Rabbi Finklestein writes:

“‘Pharasaism became Talmudism … But the spirit of the ancient Pharisee survives unaltered. When the Jew … studies the Talmud, he is actually repeating the arguments used in the Palestinian academies. From Palestine to Babylonia; from Babylonia to North Africa, Italy. Spain, France and Germany; from these to Poland. Russia and Eastern Europe generally, ancient Pharasaism has wandered. (See Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, and Exhibit 3 herein.)”

In Rabbi Finklestein’s history of the Jews, he states:

“‘The Talmud derives its authority from the position held by the ancient academies. (i.e. Pharisee) The teachers of those academies, both of Babylonia and of Palestine. were considered the rightful successors of the older Sanhedrin . . . At the present time, the Jewish people have no living central authority comparable in status to the ancient Sanhedrins or the later academies. Therefore, any decision regarding the Jewish religion must be based on the Talmud as the final resumé of the teaching of those authorities when they existed.'”

[page 2] (The Jews — Their History, Culture, and Religion , Vol. 4, p. 1332, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1949).

“The Talmud: Heart’s Blood of the Jewish Faith,” was the heading of a November, 1959, installment of a bestselling book by the Jewish author, Herman Wouk, which ran serially in the New York Herald-Tribune.

“To quote:

“‘The Talmud is to this day the circulating heart’s blood of the Jewish religion. Whatever laws, customs or ceremonies we observe — whether we are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or merely spasmodic sentimentalists — we follow the Talmud. It is our common law.'”

To be continued.

Created For Stewardship – Not Tyranny

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Every member of the human race is confronted with the question of their relationship to the other living creatures upon this earth that we commonly inhabit. As for this and all other questions of our ultimate purpose and responsibilities, we find the answer in the Holy Bible, the Word of the Living God.

Genesis Chapter 1 – Creation

In the creation account in Genesis chapter 1, we find the awesome account of the original creation. In verses 20 through 25 we have the account of the creation of the living creatures:
“And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God create great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind: and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”

Creation of Mankind – His Mandate

Next we have the account of the creation of Mankind: “26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (27) So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. (28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth,” Genesis 1:26-28.
Then we have the statement of God’s will for their food, verses 29-31:
29 “And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

To Sum It Up

Revelation 4:11 sums it up: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

And to this I say, “Amen.”

Note two things from this account:
1. We know from this creation story that the animals and all other living creatures are not in the same class as people; neither are people in the same class as animals, for Mankind was created in the image of God. Since God created Mankind in His image and for His pleasure we know that it is His pleasure for us to exercise the dominion for which we were created: we are to be stewards of the creation and shepherds of the beasts.
2. At this point God gave Mankind the herbs bearing seed, and the fruit of trees yielding seed for food. For the beasts, the fowls and the creeping things, He gave the green herbs for food.

Genesis Chapter 2: Creation of Adam – The Breath of Life

Here we have the full account of the creation of the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, and the beautiful garden of Eden. God created this Man by forming him from the dust of the earth, then breathing into his nostrils the Breath of Life, making him a living soul. This ‘Breath of Life’ is the Holy Spirit of God, [Hebrew ruah], which gave Man the image of God Who is a Spirit. This clearly places Mankind in a separate class from the animals. He is not brought forth by the earth nor by the sea as was the animals, but was uniquely created by God.

The Garden of Eden And Man’s Free Will

God planted the garden of Eden and made it to grow. Verse 16: “And the Lord God commanded the Man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.’” Here we see the origin of Mankind’s prerogative to obey or not to obey God, his free will.

Chapter 2 continues with the account of the creation of Eve and the marriage of Adam and Eve.

Genesis Chapter 3: Temptation, Sin, and Death

This gives the account of the temptation by the serpent and their sin of disobedience by eating of the forbidden tree and the awful consequences of expulsion from the garden. It is this original sin that brought about death, not only of Mankind, but also of the rest of the natural world, the necessity for bringing forth more children to replenish the earth, and hard labor to bring forth food.

Chapters 4 Through 8 – The Consequences of Sin

In Chapters 4 through 8 we read of the awful consequences of Adam’s sin and the death that it brought. Sin and death prevailed even unto the time when the whole earth was filled with such violence that God, Himself, was greatly grieved. He saw that He must destroy the whole family of Mankind, as well as the creatures.

Genesis 6:8: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” And God directed him to build an ark, so that he and his family could survive the flood that was coming upon the whole earth to destroy it. They also were to take two of every creature into the ark to preserve the lives of the creatures.

Chapter 9: After the flood – Meat Is Permitted

“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”

In this account, we find that God not only reiterated His commission that Mankind should take dominion over the creatures, but also that now He could use them for food, with the prohibition that they should not eat them with the blood thereof.

The Privileges And Responsibilities of Dominion

How, then, are we to exercise this amazing divine directive to take dominion over all of the living creatures? God is the Great Shepherd, Who sets the example for us. We can best understand our privileges and responsibilities to the creatures by observing how our Father, God, in Whose image we are created, relates to us in body, soul and spirit. It is not a relationship of a tyrant over his slaves and subjects, but the relationship of loving care and companionship.

God is the Father of our Spirits, Hebrews 12:5-11. As a loving Father, He disciplines us for our good, chastening us in order to develop us in the ways of His righteous and peaceful Kingdom. Being in His image, He wills that we should, in turn, discipline, chasten, and teach our children for their good.

He is the Saviour of our bodies, Ephesians 5.23 and I Timothy 4:10. We are to be good stewards also of our own bodies, also training our children to respect and cherish their bodies. After all, our bodies are flesh and must be ruled by our spirit.

He is the Shepherd of our souls. As the Great Shepherd, He teaches us and models the role of how we are to exercise our dominion over the living creatures. It does not allow for neglect or abuse, but rather for nutrition, shelter, and good management. Psalm 23 gives us the perfect picture of the life of the animal under the care of a Good Shepherd; they are ‘pets.’ In this relationship, the shepherd’s fold is a sanctuary.

Jesus describes His own role as the Good Shepherd in John 10:11-18. This is one of the greatest descriptions of the love relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. The Good Shepherd is contrasted with the hireling, one who cares for the animals only for what he can profit from it. The hireling can neglect or abuse the animals, but a good shepherd will risk his own life to save His sheep.

This clearly teaches what our attitude should be to the animals: “A righteous man regardeth the life of a beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel,” Proverbs 12:10.

A Symbiotic Relationship

In the Biblical record, the relationship is symbiotic; that is, it is advantageous and necessary for both the man and the animal. The animal receives good and proper sustenance, protection from predators and weather, treatment for diseases, parasites and injuries, and careful breeding. The man receives food, shelter, clothing and companionship.

The Lord is our Good Shepherd. Let us submit willingly to His tender care and joyfully to our ability to bring blessings and joy to Him.

The Law of “Israel” According to Netanyahu

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“Israel’s” Laws are Anti-Christian

If you are one who has pledged your support for “Israel,” before you go any further, you must know and understand that what you are supporting is Anti-Christian.

“Netanyahu told the head of Likud’s hareidi division Yaakov Vider at the conference that he intends to make the Hebrew calendar, which is based on Jewish law, the official calendar of Israel, reports Kikar Hashabat.

“The new law also would establish the Talmud, the core work of Jewish law, as an official basis for Israeli state law.

“I’m going to personally be involved in the law defining the state of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people,” Netanyahu reportedly told Vider. “It’s a very important law that will influence how Israel will look in the future.”

“I want to anchor in this law, that it will be a Basic Law that the state of Israel arose and exists on the basis of the Torah and the Jewish tradition,” Netanyahu explained, promising to define the Hebrew calendar as the official state calendar.

Netanyahu also promised that “we will define in the law the Gemara as a basis for the Israeli legal system,” referencing the Jewish legal text analyzing the Mishnah, a legal work of the Jewish sages, which together form the Talmud.

Discussing the new Basic Law on Sunday in a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu stated “the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state does not actualize itself enough in our Basic Laws, which is what the proposed law aims to fix.”

Quoted from Israel National News, May 8, 2014, “Report: Netanyahu Promises Talmud Will Be Israeli Law.” Emphasis mine.

The Talmud is Anti-Christian: Check it out

You may find the full text of the Talmud in English translation as well as the teachings of the Rabbis and other relevant material at www.come-and-hear.com

If you are one who has pledged your support for “Israel,” before you go any further, you must know and understand that what you are supporting is Anti-Christian.