The Fruit of Grace: Part 2

By Brother R. Michel Lankford

 

 

Principles Review

· It's a natural law of God that every natural tree produces seeds and fruit after its own kind (Genesis 1:11).
· Imagine that trees could talk. If you came upon a tree that insisted it was an Apple tree, but he consistently produced lemons instead of apples, anyone with any sense would know that the tree which insisted he was an Apple tree when in fact he consistently produced lemons was either confused, deceived, delusional or outright lying. In any case such a tree would certainly not be telling the truth.
· Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus) used the same example. He said that we could recognize what was true and what was false by its fruit (Matthew 7:15-20).
· We don't often think of it this way, but the spiritual life works exactly the same way. The simple reality is that the sinful nature produces certain fruits in the human being (Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 1:18-32; 2 Timothy 3:1-13). Conversely, the Holy Spirit produces vastly different fruits in the human being (Galatians 5:22-25). Love produces certain fruits and characteristics in a human being (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Genuine faith produces works of obedience in agreement with what God said. If we do not act according to what God has said, then we really did not believe Him (James 2:18; James 2:26). And so genuine faith than produces certain identifiable fruits - mainly acting in obedience to what God has said, because that’s what truly demonstrates that we actually BELIEVE God. Heavenly God-given wisdom produces certain fruits and characteristics. Likewise, earthly human wisdom has certain other identifying characteristics (James 3:13-18). We can tell the difference by properly assessing the fruit.
· The same absolute principle holds true with the concept of God’s True Biblical Grace. True Grace also produces its own identifiable fruit. In this day and age were very fond of saying that a great many things are permissible because we are now, “Under Grace;” but have we really compared the fruit of our lives to see if they really and truly match the fruit of God’s True Biblical Grace? Do we know how to recognize the fruit of God’s True Biblical Grace when we see it? Are we insisting that we are Apple trees; all the while we are consistently producing crops of lemons? Are we really producing fruit consistent with God’s Grace? It’s crucial that we learn to spot the fruit of Grace, lest we deceive ourselves.
· In order to sharpen our grace spotting skills, we closed out part one of this series by starting a game called, “Spot the Grace. The rules are pretty simple. Each item has a set of A or B contrasting options and you have to identify which one is grace, and which one isn’t really the grace of God at work. Doing this type of thing really sharpens our spiritual eyesight.
 

Let's Continue Playing Spot the Grace

 

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Which of these is truly the fruit of grace? +++ A. I use God’s name loosely and irreverently. I dishonor and disrespect my parents. I mock, make fun of, or find rationalizations to disobey or disregard God appointed authority, even if what they’re asking me to do happens to be godly. B. I choose to love honor and obey Yahweh. I choose to submit myself under His authority, and to respect the authorities which He places above me. Which of these requires the grace of God in order for the person to do it successfully? +++ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in Them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Which of these is truly the fruit of God’s Grace? +++ A. I choose to learn what God has made Holy and what He has separated out for Himself. I choose to respect and honor those things, because I Love and respect the One True Creator God and I want to treat as Holy what He calls Holy. B. The way that I try to prove that I’m under God’s Grace is to disrespect and disregard God’s Laws, and to show little or no respect for what He calls Holy, because I don’t have to. I will however readily embrace, honor, and celebrate the festival days, customs, traditions and decorations which were used for centuries to worship other gods, and to murder believers, because Roman emperors, Roman Imperial senates and Roman Catholic popes said that I should, as long as I do it, “In Jesus’ Name.” What’s the matter with you, can’t you see how grace filled I am by living this way? +++ “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Which of these is truly the fruit of grace? +++

1. I am resistant to almost all authority including my parents. Rules are okay for people who need them, but I’m smart enough that I don’t really need them. I get a real charge out of finding loopholes around the rules, because it shows off how smart I am.

3. I choose to love honor and obey Yahweh. I choose to submit myself under His authority, and to respect the authorities which He places above me. Which of these requires the grace of God in order for the person to do it successfully?

+++

You shall not murder.

Which of these is truly the fruit of grace?

+++

A. I acknowledge wrongs done to me. I do not pretend that the wrongs were not done, or that it did not hurt, but at the same time I sincerely choose to forgive the person. I choose to look upon them with compassion. I choose to pray for their blessing and not their harm. I choose not to hold their wrongs against them, but I pray them to be blessed. When I do pray for their repentance, it is because I sincerely do not want their misdeeds to be counted against them on the Day of Judgment, but I want them to repent so that they can truly be blessed and accepted by God, just as I wish to be accepted myself.
B. I hold onto grudges and painful resentments, even unto hatred. When someone has wronged me, I am much quicker to look for their faults and weaknesses the next time so that I can feel justified in holding on to the bad feelings, and I don’t have to relate to the person on an equal footing. Which of these requires the grace of God in order for the person to do it successfully?

Which of these is truly the fruit of grace?

+++

You shall not commit adultery.

A. I chose to be faithful to Yahweh and to my spouse. I do not open myself up to situations that would cause me to look at others lustfully, or that would incline me toward comparing my spouse with other people. I keep my marriage bed untainted by wicked passions or behaviors which could cause me to degrade, belittle, or dishonor my spouse or the purity of our marriage.
B. I rationalize, give excuses, and find reasons to give vent to my own sexual desires instead of obeying what God says. I look at and act toward others lustfully. I compare my spouse with others. I tell myself that it’s my body and I can do what I want and I tell myself that it’s okay because I believe in Jesus, so God will overlook it, because He knows that that’s just how I am, and I just can’t really help it. Which of those is the fruit of God’s grace working inside a human being?

Which of these is truly the fruit of grace?

+++

You shall not steal.

A. I crave and desire what I cannot readily have, so I forcibly or surreptitiously take it from my neighbor.
B. I choose to allow God to change me so that I am not controlled by greed. I choose not to take what belongs to another. Which of these is truly producing the fruit of God’s grace?

+++

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Which of these is truly the fruit of grace?

+++

A. Yahweh Almighty God and His Words are TRUTH (Psalm 119:143; John 17:17). God’s Law is TRUTH (Psalm 119:142). His Spirit reminds us of what He said and guides us into all TRUTH (John 16:13). His Son, the Messiah is the embodiment and personification of TRUTH (John 14:6) When His Love is working within us, it causes us to reject iniquity, and only to rejoice in, to honor, and to esteem what God says is TRUTH. Since I love God and I love the truth, I do not want to lie or bear false witness against God. I do not want to misrepresent Him, or His Son. Since I love God and the TRUTH, I do not want to pretend that He approves or accepts something, which He clearly says that He doesn’t. I don’t want to pretend that something is godly, when He says it’s not. Since I love God and I love the truth, I do not want to lie and misrepresent myself, and I do not want to deceive my neighbor or bear false witness against him, because such a thing contradicts my Heavenly Father’s Character.
B. I treat truth as though it were relative and adjustable according to what is most advantageous to me or my circumstances. I change or recolor events to make myself look better and others look worse. I rationalize and tweak Scripture to give myself apparent justification for choosing to do what I already prefer doing instead of choosing to do what God prefers. I’m willing to lie, to deceive or to manipulate in order to give myself or my point of view an advantage. Which of these scenarios demonstrates the fruit of Grace?

+++

“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”

Which of these is truly the fruit of grace?

+++

A. I look at coveting, being jealous and craving other people’s possessions and blessings as being equal to the sin of idolatry. It’s the same as worshiping other gods, or worshiping the real God falsely. I choose to look at it that way because that’s what God calls it (Colossians 3:15). When I spot coveting operating in me, I run to God and I confess it as being the evil and the sin that it truly is. I treat coveting like it’s an enemy to my soul, because it is. I don’t want to keep it, but I eagerly want God to thoroughly kill it out of me, well before it permeates my attitudes and beliefs systems, and thus harms me, or it harms my relationship with God, or it harms my relationship with my neighbor.
B. I claim to believe and follow Jesus Christ. I don’t really want to call it coveting (because that would be bad), so I will develop a complicated theological system where I believe and teach that God wants me to be happy. I’ll develop a theology that says that God wants me to have abundant wealth and prosperity, and that if I don’t have these things, something must be horribly wrong or unjust in my life. The clear reading of Scripture doesn’t teach prosperity in that manner, but hey, TV preachers preach that kind of gospel quite frequently and they get incredibly wealthy doing it, so God must approve, right? Of course, this kind of ideology causes me to look at people with greater advantages than myself with envy, with jealousy and with suspicion. I get upset when they seem “blessed” more than I am, but hey, I’m a Christian. I believe Jesus. There is no real hurry in overcoming these coveting attitudes, (that is if I ever even reach the point of seeing these attitudes as being wrong like God says they are, because up to now, I’ve twisted Scripture so much that I’ve trained myself to believe these coveting attitudes are actually Christian, instead of calling them sin, so I don’t even see a problem yet), but it doesn’t really matter whether I truly overcome coveting or not, because avoiding coveting is not what saves us anyway. Jesus is what saves us. So I can keep my ‘faith in Jesus,’ and my coveting attitudes living side-by-side in me, and I will be just fine. I can continue to disobey God, because I’m not under the law, I’m living under Grace?
Really?! Is that REALLY GRACE teaching us to think, to believe and to walk in such a manner before the HOLY God of Heaven?!! Really, that’s Grace?! Are you absolutely sure that it is grace, and not Lawlessness motivating that type of thought pattern and behavior?

 

 

What Is the True Fruit of Grace?

Let’s think about this for a moment. How much of God’s Grace is required to be at work in a person, for us to CONTINUE committing idolatry and worshiping other gods, instead of honoring the Real Almighty Creator? It requires NO grace from God to continue in that way of life. It requires no Grace to invent our own religion in order to justify feeding our own passions and desires instead of obeying God. Cain did as much. Nimrod and Babylon have done as much. The Canaanites did as much. The Assyrian Empire, the Grecian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church with their Inquisitions did as much. The Nazis did as much. Islam and the Qur’an are now copying that same example. Are all these cultures truly exhibiting that they were under God’s Grace? It doesn’t require the Grace of God to invent our own religion, to give ourselves the excuse to feed our passions, and to persecute or kill those who are trying to obey the Scriptures so that there is no one left to question or oppose your actions.
On the other hand, repenting and turning away from idolatry and choosing to follow the One True Creator God, and worshiping Him according to what He says He wants. THAT TAKES GRACE. Loving your neighbor as yourself, it takes God’s Grace and power to be able to pull that off successfully and consistently. Loving our enemies; doing good to those who hate us; praying for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. That’s not common to human nature. It requires for God’s Grace to be thoroughly working in us in order for us to be able to do that successfully!! When we are truly able to live this way; then that is the proof that we are under grace, because God’s grace is required to be at work within us in order for us to do it successfully.
Continuing to use God’s name in vain is not proof that I’m under Grace, is it? Any heathen who lacks respect for God, lacks respect for himself who is created in the image of God and thoroughly lacks self-control can easily open his mouth and spew out profanity and use God’s name in vain with impunity. On the other hand, overcoming that sin, having a change of heart, developing reverence for God, self respect and self-control that proves that God’s grace is at work there, because it takes God’s grace to be able to repent in that way.
Rationalizing my sin, making excuses for my sin, keeping and indulging my sin, disobeying God and living as I choose does not prove that I’m under grace, because it does not require the grace of God to be working in me in order to accomplish those types of things. I was capable of living that way long before I knew Yahweh and the Messiah.
Please don’t deceive yourself. Please don’t allow yourself to be deceived by others. Disregarding God’s will and doing what is right in our own eyes, disregarding what God said, to do what is common and popular. Disobeying God in order to do what seems right to us is NEVER a sign that you are living under God’s Grace. It doesn’t require God’s grace to live that way. Any unrepentant unregenerate heathen sinner can quite naturally live in the exact same manner, and rationalize himself right into hell.
· On the other hand, recognizing my sin as being sin and agreeing with God because He calls it sin; that’s GRACE at work in my life.
· Hating my sin and being repulsed by it, because that more closely matches the way that God is repulsed by sin; that’s God’s GRACE at work in my life.
· Choosing to repent, choosing to radically turn away from what God said is wrong, simply because He said it was wrong, and I take him at His Word, and I choose to agree with Him; now that’s GRACE at work in my life.
· Choosing to let Yahweh change my desires so that I delight in what delights Him, instead of living to please myself; that’s GRACE at work in my life.
· Choosing to desire, choosing to learn, choosing to obey, and choosing to persevere in obeying Yahweh’s Laws, Commandments, and Instructions; that’s the fruit of God’s Grace working in my life.
It doesn’t require the grace of God for me to disobey God; any sinful Yutz can do that without God’s help and power. It requires the Grace of God working in a person to OVERCOME disobeying God, not to continue disobeying God. That’s the point. The fruit of grace is OVERCOMING our sin, NOT continuing to indulge it.
Yeshua the Messiah Himself is proof that I'm right. Scripture tells us that He is full of Grace and Truth (John 1:14). Messiah never broke a Commandment of God (Hebrews 4:15). Now, He stood against the religious traditions of men when those traditions violated God's Commandments, but He always upheld and followed Yahweh's Laws and Commandments. Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth. Grace and truth live inside of Him, and comprise Who and What He IS.
What fruit did that produce? He kept the Father's Commandments. He spoke the Father's Words. He put the Father's Will well ahead of His own. So how DARE we teach that breaking the Sabbath or breaking any other Commandment of God in Scripture is proof that we are walking under God's Grace?! Come on!! We can all be deceived by tradition, I was too, but breaking God's Law is the opposite of how Grace functions! Christians wake up!
Brother R. Michel Lankford

The Fruit of Grace: Part 1

By brother R Michel Lankford
Speaking for myself I am devoted to Biblical Whole Testament Theology; (By His Grace, may Yahweh make me even more so). At the same time I am also firmly persuaded that even if you are not exactly on the same page with me theologically, Yahweh Almighty God will teach you, and bring you closer and closer to the image and desire of Messiah as long as you are willing to cooperate with Him. Even if we only believed that the so-called red parts apply to us (the words of Messiah usually being in red), we would still be much better off as a body of believers than most Christians are today. Even if we only believe that the words of Messiah were authoritative and binding, most Christians would not walk as they do today. Even if we just believe the red parts, and take Messiah and His Words seriously then we could not define grace as we most often do today. Take a look for a moment at how Messiah defines who His family members are. As it is written:

“And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.” But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”” (Mark 3:32–35, NKJV)

Even if we believe that only the so-called New Testament was authoritative for the Christian, then shouldn’t Messiah’s own definitions be authoritative for the Christian? If we claim that Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) is our Lord and Master, and our Savior, then shouldn’t the Savior’s definitions of who His family is matter to us as Christians? Yeshua the Messiah and Christ specifically declared that those who DO the will of Yahweh Almighty God the Father are counted as being members of Messiah’s family.
Yahweh Almighty God who made heaven and earth is perfect love (1 John 4:8). There is no darkness in Him (1 John 1:5). He is not double minded or schizophrenic. He cannot contradict or deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). Therefore, by definition, His Laws, Commandments and Instructions CANNOT contradict His Will. By definition, it is impossible to DO the WILL of the Father without learning and then doing His Commandments. When we teach people to break, to violate, or to do the opposite of what the Father has commanded, we are literally teaching people how NOT to be counted as members of Messiah’s Family, and we don’t have to go any further than reading, understanding and believing the red parts to learn that key lesson.
I cannot speak for the rest of you, but for myself, whether or not Yeshua the Messiah TRULY counts me as being a member of His Family; that really matters to me. That’s the whole shooting match, so to speak.
 

The Modern Understanding of Grace

As difficult as it may be to believe, today’s modern Christianity often teaches that the way that we prove that we are under God’s grace is to actively do the OPPOSITE of God’s Will. How does that happen? Well, 1^st it is often taught throughout modern Christendom, that God’s Laws Commandments and Instructions have been nailed to the cross, and so it is often believed and taught, that the Christian no longer needs to pay attention to, respect, or obey God’s Laws, Commandments and Instructions, because we are under Grace.
Moreover, it is often believed and taught by tradition and practice that the way that we prove that we are under grace and that we are not trying to justify ourselves by works of the Law, is to actively break God’s Law and to do the explicit opposite of what God said that He desires and requires in His Laws Commandments and Instructions.
That can sound plausible based on what we have been taught through long-standing tradition and misapplying Scripture. The great problem with it though is that it runs directly contrary to something else that Messiah taught. Just as it is written:

““Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:15–20, NKJV)

The reality is that one knows and recognizes an Apple tree because it produces a harvest of apples. If a pear tree insisted that it was an Apple tree, but it kept producing pears instead of apples, then you would quite naturally say that the pear tree which insisted it was an Apple tree but continued producing pears was deceived or delusional, wouldn’t you?
The simple reality is that the sinful nature produces certain fruits in the human being (Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 1:18-32; 2 Timothy 3:1-13).
Conversely, the Holy Spirit produces vastly different fruits in the human being (Galatians 5:22-25)
Love produces certain fruits and characteristics in a human being (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
Genuine faith produces works of obedience in agreement with what God said. If we do not act according to what God said, then we really did not believe Him (James 2:18; James 2:26). And so genuine faith than produces certain identifiable fruits - mainly acting in obedience to what God has said, because that’s what truly demonstrates that we actually BELIEVE God.
Heavenly God-given wisdom produces certain fruits and characteristics. Likewise, earthly human wisdom has certain other identifying characteristics (James 3:13-18). We can tell the difference by properly assessing the fruit.
The grace of God is no different. God’s True Biblical Grace has unique and peculiar, clearly identifiable traits, but we have forgotten what the fruit of biblical grace truly looks like, and since we have forgotten what the grace of God really looks like, we have changed the definition of grace into something that God never intended.
We have gotten so enamored with the idea that our salvation does not originate or come about by our obedience to God’s Law, but through Christ, that in the process we have forgotten how the grace of God truly functions, we have forgotten the real fruit that grace produces, and in the process we have actually turned the grace of God into lawlessness, even without being aware of it.
If we take a careful look at what most Christians identify as being Grace today (which I describe immediately before the passage of Matthew 7:15-20 above), our modern definition of grace looks an awful lot like the New Testament definition of Lawlessness. That’s not Grace.
Most of us identify grace as being the unmerited undeserved favor of God. Most of us understand the function of grace to provide us forgiveness when we sin, and most are content to stop there. However, that is not the only function of Grace, far from it. Although the grace of God can and does wipe the slate clean when we sin and we recognize and admit that we have violated God’s Instructions, God’s true grace accomplishes far more than simply wipe the slate clean and to merely forgive us when we sin and violate God’s Commands and Instructions. We have often become so completely Lawless in our interpretation and application of Grace, that we have largely forgotten what the Biblical Grace of God truly looks like and how Grace truly functions.

 

Let’s Play Spot the Grace

For the next few blog entries , I would like to earnestly entreat you to play a game with me called “Spot the Grace.” I will give you a set of A & B choices. With each set of questions, you have to decide which of the 2 choices requires more of God’s Grace working within the believer, in order for the believer to successfully accomplish the task. At the end, hopefully you will get a much clearer picture of how God’s True Biblical Grace actually functions inside a person. Which of these is truly operating in God’s Grace? Which of these requires God’s grace for the person to accomplish it successfully?
As it is written:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.”

Which of these is the fruit of grace?

+++

A. I want to let God and His Word set my definitions. When God and His Word characterizes something as being loving, then I want to agree with God and call it love also. Something is worship when God calls it worship. Something is good when God calls it good. When God calls something sinful or wicked, I don’t want to call that thing something other than sin.
B. My definitions about right, or wrong, truth or false are based on what I personally feel comfortable with. It changes with the circumstances, or according to majority opinion.
Which of those 2 mindsets and ideologies really puts God in charge instead of making a god out of myself and my own preferences? Which of these 2 ideologies and mindsets requires that God’s grace and power must be working in me in order for me to be able to do it successfully? Which of those behaviors is truly a product or the fruit of the Grace of God working inside a person?

+++

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.

Which of these is the fruit of grace?

+++

A. I allow God and what His Word says that He desires to determine what I bring to Him in worship, and the manner with which I bring it before Him.
B. What I bring to God in worship is determined by my own opinions and personal preferences about what is good. I base my worship practices on what is popular, on what is commonly accepted, and traditional. Seeking in doing what God says He wants is secondary. I invent my own ways of worshiping and honoring God based on what pleases and satisfies me, and I cherry pick Scriptures to make it seem okay for me to choose and do what makes me feel good, but I do it in Christ’s Name, so it’s all right then. Which of these requires more of God’s grace and power working in me for me to do it successfully, A or B?  Think about it.
To be continued in part two.
Brother R.Michel Lankford

Is it Truly Grace or is it Lawlessness?

The difference is critical because it’s life and death

By Brother R. Michel Lankford
 
In today’s modern Christianity, many pastors and teachers will teach that because of God’s Grace through the death and resurrection of Messiah, God’s Law has been done away with, and that God’s Law is no longer valid, binding, or necessary for the Christian. Some pastors and teachers are so deeply entrenched in this new definition of Grace, that they will go so far as to teach, that if a person tries to obey or keep the Commandments of God, then trying to obey God and keep His Commandments, supposedly means that the person is now guilty of denying that what Yeshua the Messiah did through His death and resurrection is sufficient.
So what it amounts to according to this new definition of Grace, a person must come to accept Yeshua of Nazareth, the Son of Yahweh Almighty God, as their Savior and their Master. At the same time, according to this new popular definition of Grace, the person who comes to Messiah must not put in any effort into obeying God too closely, and they must not copy what Messiah did in obeying the Heavenly Father’s Commandments, because if they do, they are now supposedly guilty of denying that what Yeshua the Messiah did was enough to save us.
Now, I am put in a position where I am either forced or heavily encouraged to do the opposite of what Yahweh Almighty God Commanded, and what Messiah and the apostles followed in order to demonstrate that I’m supposedly, “Under Grace,” and not trying to become righteous by obeying what Yahweh Almighty God Commanded.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT THIS NEW DEFINITION AND APPLICATION OF THE WAY WE NOW DEFINE GRACE, NOW LOOKS AN AWFUL LOT LIKE THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT DEFINITION OF THE TERM LAWLESSNESS.
If you don’t want to believe me, that is one thing, but look at the definition for yourself: the term for lawlessness in the Greek New Testament is, “Anomia.” Take a look at how it is clearly defined the Greek New Testament:

 

Quick Definitions

Thayer Brown Driver Briggs

anomia" which carries the following definition: BDB/Thayers # 458 anomia {an-om-ee'-ah} from 459; TDNT - 4:1085,646; n f AV - iniquity 12, unrighteousness 1, transgress the law + 4060 1, transgression of the law 1; 15 1) the condition of being without law 1a) because ignorant of it 1b) because of violating it 2) contempt and violation of law, iniquity, wickedness
Strong’s Lexicon
Now for a second witness here is the definition of this in the Strong's Hebrew Lexicon:
458. anomia, an-om-ee'-ah; from 459; illegality, i.e. violation of the law or (gen.) wickedness: --- iniquity X transgress (ion of) the law, unrighteousness.
Now note that in both lexicons it states that both of these words come from the Greek word #459. This word means "To be destitute or in violation of the Mosaic or Jewish Law" (See Thayer's and Strong's Lexicons). Now the word #458 is translated "transgression of the Law" in the King James version of 1john 3:4
Please keep in mind how significant this is. We have two Greek New Testament original language dictionaries which directly define violating God’s Law, transgressing God’s law or living outside of God’s Law and Commandments as LAWLESSNESS.
Obeying Yahweh Almighty God and the Messiah is the fruit of righteousness and it’s the fruit of belonging to God. That’s not just my opinion. It’s the precise definition that Jesus the Messiah HIMSELF established. Messiah describes that we shall be able to identify the truth from the false by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-20). IMMEDIATELY after that statement, He then makes this declaration:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21, NKJV)

So only those who DO the will of Yahweh Almighty God the Father in Heaven, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s Messiah’s teaching. I respectfully submit to you that it is ENTIRELY IMPOSSIBLE to successfully DO the will of God, if we are living a lifestyle that does the opposite of what God’s Laws, Commandments, and Instructions requires us to do. Messiah then continues, referring to the future Day of Judgment:

“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’” (Matthew 7:22, NKJV)

According to Messiah HIMSELF, many people will have believed upon Him. They will have identified and called Him as their Lord and Master. They will have had enough faith to prophesy in Messiah’s name. They will have had enough faith in Messiah to successfully cast out demons in His Name. They will have had enough faith to perform at many wonders in Messiah’s Name. Please notice and pay attention to the fact that Messiah specifically will not say that they had not successfully done the marvelous things that they will claim to have done. Messiah will not deny that they will in fact have done these things, but what will His response be to them, in spite of the fact that they will have had successfully done these marvelous things?

“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:23, NKJV)

Messiah will deny that He ever knew them before the very courts of Heaven. And why will Messiah deny ever knowing these people, even in spite of the fact that they believed Yeshua to be their Lord and Master; in spite of the fact that they prophesied in His Name; in spite of the fact that they cast out demons and perform marvelous wonders in His Name?
Messiah will deny ever having known these people because they will have lived their lives walking in the state of Lawlessness or anomia. Messiah says that many people will be rejected on the Day of Judgment because they will have lived in a lifestyle or state of being outside or without God’s Law. They will be rejected because they will have lived a lifestyle where they were violating or transgressing God’s Laws, either because they were ignorant of God’s Laws, or because they willingly chose to live outside of God’s Laws, Commandments, Instructions.
Obviously from the context of the Scripture, these people will have ardently believed that they were walking under God’s Grace. From the people’s point of view, they will be wholeheartedly convinced that they will have walked under God’s grace, and that they are ready to inherit the Kingdom of God, but will Jesus (Yeshua the Messiah), proclaim that what they will have been walking under was God’s True Biblical Grace? Judging from Messiah’s reaction, obviously He will not think that they will have been living under His Grace and Power, no matter what they believed and claimed they were doing.
Where do you think these people which will be appearing before Christ on the future day of judgment will believe that they are expecting to spend eternity?Where do you think they believe that they are heading? Obviously, from Messiah’s point of view God’s Grace was never intended to be lived outside of God’s Laws Commandments and Instructions, because that’s the definition of lawlessness, and lawlessness will not inherit the kingdom of God.

*********

“Abba Yahweh Almighty God, Yeshua Messiah; have mercy upon me. Save me according to Your unfailing love. I confess that I have previously been guilty of Lawlessness, and anomia; either because I was ignorant of Your Law or I foolishly believed that Your Laws Commandments and Instructions did not apply to me because of Messiah. According to Your Word, what I previously believed to be Grace, was in fact Lawlessness, and sin. Please forgive me. I want to live in Your True Biblical Grace. The same Holy Spirit which moved on the face of the deep in creation, which conceived Yeshua in the virgin’s womb, which empowered Yeshua to obey Your Law, which gave Him the willingness to live unselfishly and deny His comfort and well-being for my sake; that same Holy Spirit which physically resurrected Him from the dead; that same Holy Spirit can surely come and live in me. Surely that same Holy Spirit can empower me to delight in, to learn and to obey God’s Law, with Love, with Faith, and with Grace, but still obedient to God’s Law. Surely this is not too hard for the LORD. Please mercifully come live in me. Help me to ever more fully cooperate with You, as You accomplish this great work of Grace in me. Please save me from all Lawlessness, and give me grace to obey Your Law and to truly do Your will, so that I may be truly counted as a child of Yahweh Almighty God, and will be well received into Your Everlasting Kingdom. Amen”

Discipleship 101 - Review

By brother R Michel Lankford
Occasionally, we have to boil things down to their simplest form. As God's little children, we tend to be pretty forgetful. Just like little children, as up-and-coming disciples, we need to periodically remind ourselves of the fundamentals. I need it, so I figured we all do. So here's a review of the bare minimums. It’s Discipleship 101 in its simplest form:
1. Yahweh Almighty God is God, and we are not.

2. Choose to use God's Definitions, because those are the Only Ones that Truly Count

3. Since God is perfect, we must be transformed to agree with God, because He will not change to accommodate us.

4. Take God Seriously, because He IS NOT Kidding.

5. Before we can successfully make disciples, we first have to be a Disciple.

6. To make successful disciples, we must teach people how to obey EVERYTHING Messiah commanded.

7. We Must Remember Our New Citizenship: (Think Heavenly, Desire Heavenly, Speak Heavenly, and Choose Heavenly things).
 

 

1. Yahweh Almighty God is God, and we are not.

We believe that the One True Creator (Genesis Ch. 1-2), Who is Perfect Love (1 John 4:8), the One Who revealed Himself to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph, and to Moses; the One Who sent Yeshua of Nazareth; He alone is God (Psalm 100:3; Isaiah 45:18). He is God. He is our master, and we are not Master over Him. He is God, we are not.
While He is merciful and compassionate beyond measure, everyone will be judged by Him, and we shall not be judges over Him (Hebrews 4:12-13). While Yahweh delights to do good and provide well for His children (Psalm 103; Matthew 7:7-11), we were created for His pleasure, and not to please ourselves (Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11). Therefore, by definition, if we are not desiring, if we are not seeking, if we are not learning, if we're not choosing, and if we are not progressively doing what Yahweh Almighty God says is pleasing to Him, then we are failing that purpose for which we were created, and we are wasting the gift of life which He gave us. Yahweh is our Father, we are the children (Matthew 18:3-4). We must keep that straight.

 

2. Choose to use God's Definitions, Because those are the Only Ones that Truly Count:

We cannot walk with God correctly unless we first learn to AGREE with God (Amos 3:3). Since Yahweh Almighty God is God, and since He is the ultimate Judge Who is going to judge us, then we MUST LEARN to DEFINE EVERYTHING, as God defines things in His Word.
For just one example, we know that Almighty God REQUIRES that we repent, that means that we MUST turn AWAY from SIN, and TURN TOWARD what God says is pleasing to Him. The problem is that if we hold a definition of sin that is different from what God defines as being sin, then we will fail to repent in some important areas, because we will have developed a belief and mindset that tells us that we are not sinning, when in fact God thinks and says that we are sinning (1 John 3:4; Hosea 8:1; Daniel 9:11).
For this reason, God's Word specifically COMMANDS US NOT TO RELY UPON OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING (Proverbs 3:4-7; Jeremiah 9:23-24; Proverbs 26:12). That's because our own heart and our own understanding can deceive us with sin (Jeremiah 17:9; Hebrews 3:13). We can fall into desires, thoughts, attitudes and behavior patterns that we have convinced ourselves to be perfectly fine, but in reality, they lead to our destruction (Proverbs 21:2; Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25).
One of the biggest snares of deception that we often fall into is the snare of redefinition. By redefining key concepts to match our own preferences, we can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are walking correctly with God when we are in reality disobeying God (e.g. Luke 10:25-29). When Yahweh Almighty God judges us, He is not going to judge us according to our standards of right and wrong. On the contrary, the One Who created all things is going to judge us according to HIS OWN Righteous Standards. So, we are not walking in love, unless HE defines what we are doing as being loving. We are not walking in faith, unless HE defines what we are doing as being faithful. We are not walking in obedience, unless he says that what we are doing is obedient. Our definitions are virtually meaningless. God's definitions are the only ones that count.

 

 

3. Since God is perfect, we must be transformed to agree with God, because He will not change to Accommodate us.

Yahweh Almighty God is God and He does not change: (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Hebrews 13:8). Yahweh's Word, His Ways and His Laws are perfect (2 Samuel 22.31; Psalm 19:7-10;Psalm 119:142-144; James 1:25). We who claim to be HIS people are called to STRIVE to imitate HIS Perfection (Matthew 5:48; Ephesians 4:25-5:1; 1 John 2:1-6) Therefore, authentic discipleship is about submitting to God and allowing HIM to change our hearts and minds and our desires so that we will come into agreement with HIS definitions in all matters. It is NOT expecting God to adapt His definitions or adapt His standards to suit our own definitions, preferences and desires. There is a huge difference, (Amos 3:3; Isaiah 5:20-24; Matthew 6:22-23; Romans 8:5-8; Romans 12:1-2).

 

4. Take God Seriously, because He IS NOT Kidding

Yahweh Almighty God created everything in creation by the words of His Mouth (Genesis Ch. 1-2; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 3:9; Revelation 4:11). He spoke the universe into being thousands of years ago, and it still functions, despite the fact that we have corrupted the world with sin. His words will not return empty, but they will accomplish the purposes for which He spoke them (Isaiah 55:11). The Creator said what He means, and He means what He said. Scripture is full of the Creator's Promises (2 Corinthians 1:20; 2 Peter 1:2-4). With virtually every promise that God made there are specified conditions which must be met to receive the promises. If we are not experiencing the blessings and benefits of a promise that we see in Scripture, it is because we have not properly met the conditions which God has established in order for us to receive that particular promise. I call them the "IF" clauses. For example, God is very forgiving. He provides promises in His Word to forgive our sins:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NASB95)

God offers forgiveness to me for my sins. He also offers to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. Those two things are exceedingly great promises, but there is a definite condition attached. I can only receives the forgiveness that God offers IF I agree with God, and speak in agreement with God that the thing I did for which I desire forgiveness, IS in fact SIN because it violated His Laws and His standards of righteousness, (this is because that is how God defines what it means to confess, so if I do not do that, then I did not truly confess). Another condition to receiving God's forgiveness for my sins, is that I must forgive those who sin or trespass against me (Matthew 6:14-15). Scripture is clear that if I wish to receive God's forgiveness, those are the conditions which I must meet. Almost every promise in Scripture functions in the same manner. If I want the benefits of the promise, I have to take God seriously enough to comply with the conditions which He has established.
True reverence and respect for God means that we take what God says seriously.
For example, when the Creator specifically teaches that certain desires, attitudes and lifestyles WILL inherit His blessings, believe Him. Take God and His Word seriously, and develop those characteristics, because He means it, and we need those characteristics; (Psalm 24:1-6; Psalm 15:1-5; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; 2 Peter 1:3-11; Revelation 21:7)
Conversely, when the Creator specifically teaches that certain desires attitudes and lifestyles WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD, take God seriously and turn away from such things, because He means that as well (Matthew 7:21-23; John 3:36; John 8:34-36; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 6:15–16; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 5:5; Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 21:8; just to name a few key areas). For a complete Scripturally detailed Biblical list of what Yahweh Almighty God specifically says will not inherit His Kingdom click here:
http://discipleshipsuccess.blogspot.com/2012/01/should-we-really-cry-out.html
“GOD SAYS WHAT HE MEANS AND MEANS WHAT HE SAYS. THE WISE PERSON IS THE ONE WHO LISTENS CAREFULLY, WHO TRULY TAKES ALMIGHTY GOD SERIOUSLY, AND CHOOSES TO WALK ACCORDINGLY. EVERYTHING LESS IS FOOLISHNESS; GOD SAVE US FROM ALL FOOLISHNESS.”

 

5.  Before we can successfully make disciples, we first have to be one

That's pretty simple and straightforward, but it's so simple that the concept is often neglected. A healthy, productive Apple tree is known to be healthy when it produces healthy apples. Likewise, a healthy and productive disciple, will help to produce other healthy disciples (Matthew 7:15-20). By definition, a disciple is one who believes, one who follows, obeys, and walks in the steps of, and then who spreads the teachings of another. So by definition, a true disciple of Messiah would be; one who believes the Messiah, one who follows, obeys, and walks in the steps of Messiah, and then spreads the teachings of Messiah both by the way they speak and by the way they live their lives. That is a disciple (Genesis 15:6; John 8:39; Habakkuk 2:4;. Romans 14:23b; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Samuel 15:22-23; Proverbs 21:3; John 14:21; John 15:14; 1 John 2:1-6; Matthew 10:8b; Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 9:26)

 

6 To make successful disciples, we must teach people how to obey EVERYTHING Messiah commanded

When Messiah left this world, he gave us a very specific charge, which we of commonly called the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:19-20, NRSV)

First, it is worth noticing that according to Messiah, disciples are MADE. We are not physically born into discipleship, and neither is discipleship automatic when we are born again. Disciples are MADE, NOT born.
Second, Baptism is the beginning of discipleship, it is not an end unto itself. In other words, to confess belief and submission to Messiah as Lord, and then to be baptized into Christ is not an end unto itself. It is merely the beginning of the story.
Third, In order to be a successful disciple maker, WE MUST TEACH new converts how to obey EVERYTHING that Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah commanded. If we do not teach people how to obey everything that Yeshua the Messiah commanded, then by Messiah's own words and principles, we have failed to make a disciple of that person. Remember as in all other key concepts, we MUST define disciple making the way that Messiah defines disciple making. According to Messiah Himself, if we are not teaching people how to obey and follow EVERYTHING that Messiah commanded, then by HIS own definition, we are NOT successfully making disciples. In such a case we are failing to obey the Great Commission. It's that simple.
Fourth, Yeshua the Messiah promises that He will be with us always even to the end of the age, but He promised that in order to give us the courage and confidence to DO the Great Commission which He sent us out to do. He also equally promised that if we were ashamed of Him and His Words, then He would be ashamed of us (Luke 10:26). If we shrink back from Him and His Words, then He will not take pleasure in us (Hebrews 10:38). So we must become unashamedly committed to believing, to obeying, and to declaring His Words and His Ways.
 

7 We Must Remember Our New Citizenship

This can be one of the most challenging aspects of true biblical discipleship, but it's one of the most critical ones. So we must pay close attention. If we are truly committed to Yahweh Almighty God, and to Yeshua the Messiah, then we have to remember that we do not LIVE in this world, we are merely passing through, or traveling through this life, on our way to our eternal destination. Our true citizenship is in Yahweh Almighty God's Eternal Kingdom. We are part of the Israel of God. We are passing through this life on our way to our future eternal home.
For example, let us say that you had an important and lucrative new job opportunity in a far-off country, which required you to move your entire family and household abroad. If you truly want to do well in the new place where you would be living, you would have to know something about the language, the mindset, the ideology, the laws and the customs of your new country. If you are bound and determined that everyone in your new home country would have to be Americanized so that you would not have to change at all, then you would have a very hard time succeeding in your new home. The same principle holds true with the Kingdom of Heaven.
As members of the body and bride of Messiah, our main objective as we travel through our temporary existence here, is to learn how to truly please our Savior and Bridegroom. We must learn to overcome our temporary surroundings, and adopt the mindset and lifestyle that agrees with the Laws, Principles and Attitudes that agree with God and the Kingdom in which we intend to dwell for eternity.
People in Covenant Relationship with Almighty God are Called to Be Holy, which Means to Be Separate from the rest of the sinful world, and devoted to God: (Leviticus 11:44; Leviticus 19:2; 20:7; Isaiah 48:20; Jeremiah 50:8; Zechariah 2:6-7; Isaiah 52:11-12; Isaiah 56:1-7).
Holiness looks like this:
· We are NOT to adapt or incorporate pagan worship practices into the worship of the One True God (Deuteronomy 12:29-32; Jeremiah 1:1-2; John 4:24; Matthew 5:48; 1 Corinthians 10:1-21, 31; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.
· We must think with a renewed mind, and not think like the world Thinks (Isaiah 26:3; Proverbs 3:5-7 Isaiah 55:7-8 Matthew 5:17-20; Romans 8:5-8 Romans 12:1-2; Philippians 2:5-8; Philippians 4:8 Colossians 3:2). We cannot successfully do Kingdom things, unless our thinking agrees with Kingdom thoughts.
· We MUST learn to talk and speak differently than the world does (Matthew 12:34).
o Mouth control or the lack of it will make the difference between whether or not we have any Fellowship with God at all (Psalm 15:1-3).
o Mouth control or the lack of it will make a difference between whether we have genuine religion or a meaningless one (James 1:26; Proverbs 15:4).
o Mouth control will make the difference between whether we stand or we stumble (Psalm 15:3,5b; James 3:2).
o Mouth control will make the difference between our life and death (Proverbs 18:21; 1 Peter 3:10).
o Mouth control will make a difference between whether or not we stand after the judgment of God. God will judge our every word; (Matthew 12:36).
o It will literally make the difference between whether we go to heaven or hell (Matthew 12:37).
o King David understood this by the Holy Spirit, which is why he specifically asked God to set a watch over his heart and mouth so that he would not enjoy, delight in, or speak anything evil (Psalm 141:1-4).
o Healthy maturing Christians don't talk trash, and don't talk smack. We don't talk like the world. Healthy maturing Christians don't double-speak or give room for the devil to work in their mouth (Matthew 5:37; James 5:12).
o Avoid vulgar speech, foolish talk, dirty or off-color joking (Ephesians 5:4).
o When Christians speak to God it should be with humbleness and Thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4; Colossians 2:7).
o When Christians speak to each other it should be directly agreeable to and echo with Scripture (Ephesians 4:15,25, 5:19).
o When we speak to the unbelieving world it should be with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15-16).
o As Christians, we should seek to only say those things that are necessary to build others up and help them do right (Ephesians 4:29).
o Messiah points out that if we lose our ability to impact the world in these ways we are basically useless. This is why we should not absorb the flavor of the world. We should be "flavoring them" with a distinct flavor of Jesus Christ; Yeshua the Messiah (Matthew 5:13-16)
· We MUST LEARN to desire, to seek, and pursue different things than the sinful world does (Psalm 42:1; 1 Peter 2:2; Psalm 37:4; Matthew 5:6; Matthew 6:24-33; 1 Corinthians 14:1a).
We CANNOT be friends with the sinful world and be friends with the Holy God at the same time. As it is written:

James 4:4 "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4 NASB;)
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (NKJV)

Beloved we are deciding nothing less than whether to be God's friend or His enemy.

 

Who is on the LORD's Side?

Brother R. Michel Lankford

Do the Math: A Strong Call to Greater Excellence

Brother R Michel Lankford
Some people wonder how I can love Yahweh Almighty God and the Messiah so much, and yet still criticize modern-day Christianity as much as I do. It's a fair question. The simple answer is I've done the math. It's a simple and straightforward math problem: 24% is NEVER a passing grade!
1. Two thirds or 66% of Scripture is found in the so-called Old Testament. The remainder is the so-called New Testament.
2. Within the New Testament a minimum of 10% is a direct quote or a direct principle quoted from the Old Testament.
3. The majority of Christianity ardently believes and teaches that God's Laws Commandments and Instructions in the Old Testament were either completed, nailed to the cross, or abolished in some fashion, so that we no longer need to train ourselves to obey those principles (that's because we train ourselves to believe that this is what Paul taught - even though that is clearly not what Paul was teaching, (Romans 8:5-8). So we seem to only agree with Paul's words when they APPEAR to tell us that we can live without obeying God's Commandments and Instructions any longer. We practically ignore every other passage Paul taught where he brought people back to obeying God's Laws, but to do so with the right and renewed spirit.
4. We completely ignore the words of Jesus where He specifically told us that He would not be abolishing the slightest jot or tittle of God's Law (Matthew 5:17-20).
5. We almost completely ignore the words of Jesus where He tells us that only those who DO the will of God will enter the Kingdom of God (Matthew 7:21). So far, no one can answer to my satisfaction, "How can we truly and successfully DO the will of God by doing the explicit opposite of God's Commandments?"
6. We ignore about half of the Great Commission:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:19-20, NRSV)
We're pretty good about going throughout the world baptizing people into Christ and declaring the gospel as we understand it per se, but in my 25 years of Christianity I have yet to see any church, Sunday school, Bible study class or home group, or seminary course even so much as provide a scriptural list of every Commandment that Yeshua gave in the New Testament, let alone giving any kind of specific instruction on how to obey EVERYTHING that Messiah commanded. So, we really don't do that altogether either.
7. Most devoted churchgoing Christians offer worship to Almighty God on a regular weekly basis, but according to Jesus the Messiah what they offer to God is what God and the Messiah have CLEARLY IDENTIFIED as being VAIN WORSHIP. That is because the Christianity that is most commonly practiced such as; Replacing the seventh day Sabbath with Sunday worship, Replacing the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Frstfruits with communion and Easter Sunday, Replacing the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles, with Babylonian Greco Roman traditions of Christmas. This was all done by the decrees of pagan Roman emperors, Roman Imperial senates and Roman Catholic popes, in direct defiance and disobedience to Holy Scripture; (Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:1-4, 8, 29-32; Jeremiah 10:1-2; Matthew 5:17-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-21; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:22).
According to Yeshua the Messiah Himself, when we teach the commandments of human beings as though they were doctrines of God, then we are offering vain worship to God. When we set aside the Commandments of Yahweh Almighty God in order to keep and maintain our own human religious traditions, then we are worshiping God in VAIN (Matthew 13:9; Mark 7:1-13).
I did not decide to call it vain worship on my own initiative. Yeshua the Messiah Himself taught that offering God worship in this manner is Vain Worship. Now beloved, a servant is no greater than his master (John 13:16). No matter how firmly held or deeply cherished a human religious tradition happens to be, if Messiah calls it vain worship, then I cannot call it valid worship, and remain a faithful ambassador to the King.
Messiah declared that God clearly did not accept it when His own people traded and replaced God's decrees with the human traditions of Rabbinical Judaism, which is far different than biblical Judaism, but at least had some roots in Judaism. How much more likely is He then to reject worship, that has its very origins in worshiping false gods and demons in the first place? Please think about it.
8. Paul the apostle of grace himself wrote that everything which was written before hand was written for OUR instruction (Romans 15:4).
9. Paul, the apostle of grace himself specifically wrote that a mind set on the sinful nature was hostile against God, it does not subject itself to God's Law, it cannot please God, and such a mindset leads to death (Romans 8:5-8).
10. Paul, the apostle of grace himself specifically wrote that we should actively and persistently seek to separate ourselves from everything which GOD CONSIDERS unclean (1 Corinthians 10:1-21; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; Romans 12:1-2), and according to the teachings of these passages, he even taught that separating ourselves from what God considers unclean, is STILL necessary to being accepted by God.
11. Paul the apostle of grace himself wrote that we should be very careful that we are not led into the captivity of following the rules and traditions of men, especially if those rules and traditions of men are contrary to what Christ taught (Colossians 2:8).
12. Paul the apostle of grace himself wrote that ALL Scripture is God breathed, empowered and inspired. ALL of it, (not just some of it but ALL of it), is STILL profitable for establishing doctrine (which is true and right beliefs about God). ALL Scripture is STILL profitable for reproof (to turn us from errors). ALL Scripture is STILL profitable for correction (to reform our character from evil to good). ALL Scripture is STILL profitable for our instruction to righteousness (which means to correct, to discipline, to chastise and to train into righteous behavior).
Think about it for a moment. When Paul wrote these words, he was referring to the books of Genesis to Malachi, because the New Testament had not yet been compiled. He wrote these words about the Old Testament, long after the death and resurrection of Messiah. So he wrote these words about the so-called Old Testament well after we had entered the supposed age of grace. Notice that he DID NOT say that Scripture WAS (past tense) God breathed, Paul said IT IS (Present tense) God breathed and IT IS profitable for all these great purposes. So here's the big problem. If Paul truly believed and taught that God's Laws Commandments and Instructions were nailed at the cross so as to mean that we no longer needed to train ourselves to obey them, then why would he write that ALL SCRIPTURE (including the Old Testament) is still valid for all of those great purposes? What's more, here's what he said it would lead to if we were trained by the Scriptures, "So that the man of God will be adequately equipped and thoroughly furnished for every good work (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

 

So to summarize here is the crux of the problem.

We have basically trained ourselves to believe that we can largely disregard the Old Testament which makes up 66% of the Scriptures.
Of the New Testament 10% is a direct quote of the Old Testament.
So at a minimum we often train ourselves to largely discount or disregard or diminish at least 76% of God's Instructions before we even begin to study.
That leaves 24% which we still declare to be COMPLETELY valid for us today.
From the remaining 24% which we declare to be completely valid, we routinely disregard what Messiah taught concerning the Law, because it is routinely believed and taught that He did not REALLY MEAN what He physically said.
Moreover, we typically routinely only fulfill about half of the Great Commission, almost completely ignoring the other half of that instruction.
Even that which we follow religiously, Jesus himself often declares to be VAIN WORSHIP in the New Testament, because we are disobeying the explicit Commandments of God in order to keep maintain and retain religious traditions of human beings. So such things does not even count as valid worship, because that is what VAIN means.
Most modern Christians claim to base their theology on Paul in defending what occurs on a regular basis, but I think I've clearly demonstrated that we are not traditionally diligent and obeying all of Paul's teachings particularly well. In practice, we generally rely heavily upon the passages from Paul which APPEAR to tell us that we can be lawless, and still live in God's grace and His blessing, even though there is clear evidence from Paul's own words that this was not what the apostle was teaching.
So, let's be conservatively generous and say that we are faithfully training ourselves to obey 24% of the Scriptures. Is it any wonder that we are not finding ourselves more successful in church and ministry? Is it any wonder that the offerings of our time our talent our treasure are often only marginally successful? If at our best we are only following 24% of the instructions which Yahweh Almighty God gave, is it any wonder that we are not finding ourselves thoroughly furnished and well-equipped to overcome the world or to successfully do every good work which God desires for us to do? Is it any small wonder that the enemy runs roughshod over our homes, over our families over our communities, our schools and our churches? Is it any great wonder why the world is having exceedingly far more impact on the church than the church is impacting the world? It makes complete sense when you look at our circumstances squarely in the face, you compare it with the Word of God and you do the simple straightforward math.
Imagine for a moment that your very physical life and well-being lay in the hands of a professional of some kind. Let us suppose for a moment that your very physical life, or the well-being of your family or the well-being of your children, depended on some professional in our world doing their job well. Let's say you needed a doctor for example, and let's say that you found out in advance that this particular doctor actively disregarded 76% of all the professional instruction he receives, and of the 24% of the instructions which he still regarded as being valid, he did not fulfill or perform those tasks to its fullest either. If you knew this in advance, would you put the well-being of yourself and your family in such a doctor's hands? Applying the same basic statistics as these, would you trust the architect with such an ethic to build your house or office building? If you are on trial for your life, would you trust the lawyer who exercised that standard? Would you trust an auto mechanic or airline mechanic who operated under such a standard? With people's eternal lives at stake, it is high time that we expected much more from ourselves as Bible students and as Bareans. It is high time we expected more from our pastors, our teachers, our elders, and ourselves as a community of believers
Some of you will no doubt say, "You are being awfully tough on the church and Christianity in general." To that I say perhaps. Then again, perhaps I'm not nearly tough enough. Scripture clearly says that the judgment will begin in the house of the Lord (1 Peter 4:17), and that those who claim to be teachers of God's word will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). To think about it another way, I believe that our modern religious system is clearly lost perspective. Please, think about it another way for a moment. We take much greater care of our finances and our children's college choice than we do about carefully handling the word of God. Part of it is a priority problem. How we handle the Word of God will affect our lives, and the lives of those we influence for all of eternity. I am crying out. I am calling myself and our church leaders to much greater degrees of excellence. We have the same Holy Spirit that Messiah had. We have the same Holy Spirit that the apostles and early Christians had. We have infinitely more access to Bibles and study resources than they had. Surely the bride of Messiah which is supposed to be preparing itself to be pleasing her husband, and to live in His kingdom for eternity should be able to do better than 24%. Please, think about it.
Brother R Michel Lankford

 

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24–25, ESV)

Turning the Tables

By Brother R. Michel Lankford
 
Did you know that in an increasing number of colleges and universities today, Biblical Christianity is being taught and presented as being nothing more than a myth? According to Richard Rives, author of Too Long in the Sun, and Time Is the Ally of Deceit, many of our 'institutions of higher learning' are misrepresenting Christianity as though it is nothing more than a revamping or a reinvention of Babylonian, Greek and Roman mythologies, and on the basis of that accusation they are making the false argument that, 'Enlightened, intelligent and forward thinking people' should abandon their belief in Almighty God and Jesus Christ, His Son.

Now, you and I love Yahweh Almighty God, and who love His Son the Messiah, and who believe the Scriptures, are quite naturally appalled and disgusted by such a vile false argument. Nonetheless, according to Rives, that appalling deceitful argument is gaining strength in our college campuses in our modern and postmodern day.

No doubt, your knee-jerk reaction is probably the exact same as the reaction I had when I first heard and read about the scenario taking place among our impressionable college kids. I thought to myself, 'Hey, that's absurd!! Who could possibly confuse Babylonian, Greek and Roman mythologies with Biblical Christianity, let alone make a plausible argument that truly biblical Christianity and these other ungodly pagan mythologies are one and the same thing?" "Who could turn such a whopper of a lie into a plausible argument and make people believe it?"

To my shock and horror, turning that awful lie into a plausible argument was not as hard as I had imagined it would be when I first began investigating the subject. Here's how they do it.
They take various aspects of true biblical Christianity, such as the virgin birth, and the visitation of the wise men from the East and they LOOSELY connect them to some Babylonian texts or legends. Then they go on to point out that the key characteristics of Christianity which most Christians observe today, most notably, Sunday worship, Christmas, Easter, Lent and Valentine's Day and other things like these have a clear documented history of originating in Babylon, Greece and Rome which is older than biblical Christianity.

Then they trace the customary 'celebrations', legends and decorations which Christians commonly use to commemorate Love, the birth, death and resurrection of Messiah today, and they easily trace them back to Babylonian, Greek and Roman worship practices, which are widely and historically documented. For one example, the birthday of Nimrod founder of Babylon, the birthday of the Roman sun deity, the Egyptian sun deity, the Nordic sun and fertility deity, the Syrian sun deity, and other supposed deities, (I don't mention the names of these false deities because Scripture forbids doing so- Exodus 23:13), but all of these false supposed 'deities' were all proclaimed to have been born or re-born on December 25th.

So these 'scholars' point to all of the Babylonian Greek and Roman customs and traditions which Christianity has so readily accepted and made commonplace in 'Christian worship,' and then these scholars make the libelous argument that since so many of Christianity's celebrations and practices have their clear origin from Babylonian Greek and Roman mythologies, they claim that Christianity must be nothing more than a myth. They claim that Christianity must be nothing more than a mere re-adaptation of these ancient mythological religions, and so they claim that Christianity should not be believed any more than the intelligent person should believe and follow ancient Babylonian Greek or Roman mythologies.

Yes, the argument that I just described is yet another direct assault against Biblical Christianity by people who hate God, who hate Jesus Christ, who despise and have contempt for people who hold a biblical faith.

Yes the argument I just described, is being forcibly advanced in our colleges by many a left-wing socialists and atheists who want to advance the theory that faith in God and the Bible must surely be antiquated and outdated because they say, "Humanity has advanced far beyond the need for such things as God, redemption and the Bible." Of course it's an assault on Biblical Christianity, but the argument is gaining strength and becoming more popular as is evidenced by a number of documentaries about the Bible which are becoming more commonly seen on documentaries seen in places such as A&E in the history Channels.

What these liberal historians either conveniently gloss over or do not mention at all, is that for more than the first 300 years of early Christianity, the original believers in Jesus the Messiah PURPOSELY DID NOT blend in, they DID NOT mix together, and they DID NOT incorporate ANY aspect of pagan worship practices, beliefs, pagan worship traditions, philosophies, pagan festival days or decorations into Christianity.

In fact, the very early church went out of its way and took extreme measures to make certain that it did not blend Christianity with any of the pagan practices associated with worshiping other gods. They did this for a number of reasons. First, among the Hebrews who were coming to faith in Messiah, many had relatives who were heavily into rabbinical (but not necessarily biblical) Judaism. These relatives were already suspicious of the new Hebrew sect that proclaimed Yeshua (Jesus) to be the Messiah. The believers who came from a Hebrew heritage understood that if they incorporated any pagan practices into their worship, it would be a great excuse for the relatives whom they wished to see saved to reject the Messiah, and not to come into saving relationship with Messiah.

By the same token, those who were coming in to faith in Messiah from a Gentile or non-Hebrew background already knew that these pagan practices were already being used in their day to worship other gods. These believers from a Gentile background were trying to get their family members free and out of paganism, and so they would not want their relatives honoring Yahweh Almighty God and honoring Jesus as an addition to add to the top of the pile of other gods which their family members already worshiped.

They were trying to get their relatives away from the world and into Christ's fellowship. So Christians with a Gentile background did not want to mix paganism into their Christian worship, because these new Gentile converts did not want to further the mistaken point of view that Jesus was just one more god among many other gods, which was a common approach to worship among the pagan cultures of their day. So both sides, believers in Messiah from a Hebrew background and believers in Messiah who originated from a pagan Gentile background both had their own reasons for wanting to make sure that they did not blend any aspects of pagan worship into the early church. In reality many Christians actively went out of their way to make certain that they did not blend pagan practices into Christianity well into the 400s A.D. and beyond. In the early days of Christianity. MIXING ANY ASPECT OF PAGANISM IN WITH CHRISTIANITY WAS SINCERELY THOUGHT TO BE A SIN.

· Here's some key concepts that were well understood in the first centuries of Christianity which have often been forgotten in modern times:

· WE MUST UNDERSTAND that righteousness before the One True Almighty Creator God; the Great I Am That I Am (Yahweh in Hebrew) Comes by Believing HIM (Genesis 15:6; Habakkuk 2:4; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).

· It was well understood in the first century that anything which did not originate from faith in Yahweh; or did not truly feed faith or reflect faith in Yahweh IS SIN (Romans 14:23b; 1 Corinthians 10:31).

· They understood that anything which could cause people to diverge or turn from truly believing God, and could cause people to accept ideas and philosophies which were contrary to God, would be the same as causing them to stumble into IDOLATRY. So they went out of their way to make sure that they DID NOT BLEND Christianity with other worldly philosophies and ideas that might cause people to disobey God. The apostles actively and strenuously TAUGHT AGAINST mixing Christianity with any worldly philosophy such as Gnosticism, or any other mythologies that might cause people to pollute their beliefs with other gods (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 1 Corinthians 10:1-21; Revelation 21:7-8). They understood that what we believe is literally a matter of eternal life or death, so they did not want to risk causing people to believe other things contrary to God (James 4:4; Romans 12:1-2; Colossians 2:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:22).

· The apostles had a strong Scriptural basis for teaching that we MUST NOT blend our Biblical beliefs with anything related to other gods:

· The Almighty Creator COMMANDED that we MUST NOT MIX, DO NOT IMPORT and do not copy or DO NOT apply ANY idolatrous methods into worshiping God (Deuteronomy 12:1-4, 8, 29-32; cf. Exodus 32:1-10; Jeremiah 10:1-2). Yahweh Almighty God specifically said, "DON'T DO IT."

· God's relationship with His people has always been closely identified with the characteristics of a Holy marriage; which God Himself invented (Hosea 2:19-20; cf. Ephesians 5:31-32: John 17:11, 21 God considered the above commands to be so serious that blending Godly worship with worldly philosophies and other idolatrous religions was considered to be equal to spiritual whoring, spiritual infidelity, spiritual adultery and playing the harlot with other gods. All of those terms are used interchangeably throughout the prophets in Scripture for the idea of mixing aspects of godly worship with worldly philosophies or idolatrous ideas. In regard to prophetic Scripture, normally speaking of spiritual unfaithfulness rather than moral infidelity, that is, the idea of turning from their true God to love a human god, resulting in spiritual harlotry. The concept is so critically important that the entire book of Hosea was written to illustrate the concept (see also Judges 2:17; Exodus 34:15-16; Ezekiel 8:14 etc. etc. etc.).

In Ezekiel 8, for example, we see Israel observing a pagan idolatrous tradition, but doing so in the temple of Yahweh. If you read the chapter, you can see how Yahweh felt about it (Cf. Jeremiah 18:15).


Unlike the popular theory that is being advanced today, Christianity DID NOT originate from pagan Babylonian, Greek, and Roman mythologies. On the contrary, for more than the first 300 years of biblical Christianity, the early church went out of its way to make sure they did not blend biblical Christian doctrine with Babylonian, Greek, Roman and other pagan religions and philosophies, because they wanted to make sure that the bride of Christ (the church) would remain pure and would not defile itself or play the harlot with other worldly belief systems. The first apostles actively preached that God's people should get out of Babylon, not join with it (Revelation 18:1-4).


For this reason, early Christians purposely held their holy convocations and gatherings around the Biblical feasts and festivals which Yahweh Almighty God has ordained in Scripture (Leviticus 23), in order to keep their identity clearly separate from the world. They honored the biblical Sabbaths, they commemorated Messiah's death and holiness in the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They honored Messiah's resurrection with the Feast of First Fruits. They looked forward to the Messiah's second coming in the fall feast of trumpets, and the Day of Atonement. They look forward to the wedding supper of the Lamb and eternity, as well with the Feast of Tabernacles.

It was not until well after 312 to 314 A.D. when Emperor Constantine SUPPOSEDLY became a Christian that he FORCIBLY outlawed the biblical Sabbath. He also outlawed the Passover, and ordered that they be replaced with the Babylonian/Roman festival of Ishtar (a.k.a. Easter). Subsequent Roman emperors and Roman Senates passed laws forcing believers to abandon biblical decrees and required people to adopt the "Roman version" of Christianity. If they didn't, they could lose their properties, their liberties and even their lives.

For more then 300 years the Roman Empire tried to destroy Christianity through persecution. They could not defeat Christianity by force. So they pretended to join it and try to defeat it from within.

The Roman emperors held the title Pontificus Maximus (Which means That he claimed the right to rule over every religious belief in the empire), so when the Emperor 'became a Christian, ‘he claimed to be the head of the church and the right to change Christianity. Anyone who did not cooperate could be considered guilty of treason. Later, the Roman Catholic popes (who also claimed the title Pontificus Maximus for themselves), maintain the Imperial tradition of mixing pagan and ungodly religious belief systems with Christianity, but in the beginnings of Christianity this was not done at all.

Over the last 1701 years since Constantine, the tradition of mixing pagan religions and worldly philosophies with Christianity has become thoroughly entrenched. So much so, that for many, there is not even much awareness that these traditions are a CLEAR violation of Scripture, and that there is a far more biblical way to live. Although they are now in the minority, there has always been a remnant of God's people who supported returning to the Scriptural ways which God commanded, and not submitting to the commands of the Roman Empire and later the Roman Catholic Church.

The Argument for Keeping Human Traditions is Now Being Turned Against Christianity

 Among those who support continuing to disobey Scripture in favor of maintaining the Babylonian Greco Roman Catholic traditions of men, the excuse has often been given that by mixing paganism with Christianity, Christian principles have been introduced to more pagans and Christianity has supposedly spread. Isn't it ironic that the very compromise which people said was so necessary to bring Christianity to the pagans, is now being used to claim that Christianity must have been taken from paganism in the first place, and the very compromise is now being used to try to deny the truth of Christianity altogether.

The words of the prophet Ezekiel could not be more eerily appropriate:


“Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” (Ezekiel 22:26, NASB95)

“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4, NASB95)

Since we have abandoned Yahweh’s ways, and since we have failed maintain the clear separation between what Yahweh Almighty God calls clean and what He considers unclean, God is now being profaned, and centuries of compromise with paganism which was proclaimed is necessary to spread the gospel to unbelievers, is now being used as an excuse to deny God and reject the Messiah altogether.

It’s for this reason that Hebrew Roots Movements and Whole Testament Theology Movements are beginning to spring up and are now spreading throughout the world. It’s a sincere attempt to return to the ancient paths (Jeremiah 6:16), and the Biblically PROVABLE method of expressing faith in the Messiah. In so doing, it also fulfills the prophecy in Jeremiah:

“O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility and things of no profit.” Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods! “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know— This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they shall know that My name is the Lord.”” (Jeremiah 16:19–21, NASB95)

LET US BE A FAITHFUL BRIDE TO MESSIAH AND RETURN TO GOD’S ANCIENT PATHS.

What WAS Paul REALLY Teaching?

By brother R Michel Lankford

In recent blog entries, we have been looking more closely at the writings and teachings of the apostle Paul. Modern Christian theology routinely teaches us that Paul the apostle supposedly taught that Yahweh Almighty’s eternal Laws, Commandments and Instructions were completed, and therefore done away with and abolished at the cross. Using their interpretations of Paul’s teachings, modern theologians now directly teach that openly defying and doing the direct opposite of the Creator’s Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, is NOW supposedly an act of God’s Grace through Jesus Christ.

What God previously called a disgusting abomination is NOW SUPPOSEDLY good, pleasing and acceptable in His sight, as if God’s righteousness and His decrees and standards completely reversed themselves when Messiah died for our sins.

The Creator’s fundamental definitions of what is good, and what is evil, DID NOT change when Messiah died and rose again. What was evil in the Creator’s eyes (Breaking Almighty God’s decrees),  DID NOT suddenly become a good thing, and what was good in Yahweh’s sight (Loving God and KEEPING His Commandments), DID NOT suddenly become a wicked act of unfaithfulness after Messiah died for our sins, yet that is exactly how modern-day Christianity actually functions, and they believe they can function that way because the apostle Paul supposedly taught the suspension and doing away with God’s Laws Commandments and Instructions through the cross of Messiah.

Now, there is no doubt that certain pieces of Paul’s writings can easily lend themselves to being misinterpreted that way. The problem is that in order to continue to interpret and apply Paul’s writings in the way that is most commonly accepted today, you have to reject and/or twist a ton of Scripture completely out of shape to try and make that work. In order to favor the Lawless interpretation of Paul’s writings that is most commonly accepted and taught today, you have to completely reject and/or twist the Law and the Prophets. You have to reject and/or twist the explicit teachings of Messiah Himself. You would have to completely reject and/or twist the teachings of every other apostle. What is perhaps the most shocking is that in order to apply Paul’s letters that way, you have to reject and/or twist many of the writings and teachings of Paul himself. Even Paul himself taught the opposite of the way that Paul is represented today. The long and short of it is that in order to interpret and apply Paul’s writings the way that is most commonly accepted today, one has to reject or rewrite so much Scripture, that it cannot possibly be sound doctrine, no matter how long-standing and devoutly held that interpretation has been accepted.

In the last two blog entries, we looked at some key passages (but not all) of Paul’s writings where he specifically wrote to Gentile congregations in direct support of doing God’s Laws Commandments and Instructions, because those parts of Paul’s writings are sorely neglected in favor of the more common Lawless interpretations.

We started in part one by examining a key teaching from Paul in Romans 8:5-8:

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5–8, NASB95)

So let’s review quickly. How does Paul himself describe the carnal mind or the mind that is set on the flesh or set on the sinful nature?

It leads to death (That’s the direct opposite of eternal life by definition)


It’s hostile against God, and why does he say it’s hostile against God?


It’s hostile against God for or because it does not subject itself to the Law of God. So according to Paul, not subjecting our minds to agree with God’s Laws and Commandments, is carnal minded, it’s hostile against God, and it leads to death and not life.

The mind set on the sinful nature CANNOT subject itself to the Law of God, it is not able to do so, (which of course means that a mind that is controlled by the Holy Spirit CAN subject itself to God’s Law).

Lastly, the carnal mind that is set on the sinful nature, which is hostile against God because it does not subject itself to God’s Law CANNOT please God.

If one is truly born again, then you are going to grow in loving Yahweh Almighty with all your heart soul mind and strength, right? If we are truly growing in that manner, then you are going to want to please God. If we are going to please the Most High, then we must allow Him to transform our thinking so that we agree with His Laws Commandments and Instructions, because we cannot please the Almighty unless we subject ourselves to His Laws.

So if you even come close to reading, understanding and believing Romans 8:5-8, then you understand that there is not a snowball’s chance in Death Valley that Paul was teaching people to disregard God’s Law after coming under grace, because doing that is not grace, it is death according to Paul himself. I cannot believe how clueless I was!

How do you know your interpretations are the right ones?

How do I know that the interpretation of Romans 8:5-8 which I have just laid out in the previous paragraphs is indeed the correct one? That’s a good and fair question. Very simply, the weight of Biblical evidence supports the interpretation I described for the following reasons:

First, I have looked at the Word for its own sake. I have paid attention to what the physical text of the passage actually says, and I have NOT re-defined and edited those words or their meaning through the filter of human religious tradition. That’s critical (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:1-13; Colossians 2:8).

Second, it agrees with and does not contradict Yahweh’s Law or His prophets Deuteronomy 4:2;  Deuteronomy 8:3; Deuteronomy 12:29-32).

Third, it agrees with and does not contradict the teachings and doings of Messiah which Yahweh Almighty has sent (Matthew 5:17-20; Matthew 7:21-23; John 14:21; John 15:10-14).

Fourth, it agrees with and does not contradict the teachings of the other apostles (e.g. James 1:19-25; 1Timothy 1:8; Romans 7:16; 1 John 3:4; 1 John 2:1-6),

So if an interpretation of a Biblical passage meets these for underlying criterion, then it is safe to accept such an interpretation is Biblically sound doctrine. If it violates any of these four principles, then it must be rejected if we are to remain biblical.

To Decipher Paul Correctly We Must Learn to Ask the Right Questions

Many of us often read that the Scriptures on autopilot. It’s not intentional. We just fall into the habit of believing what we have been taught without thoroughly confirming it for ourselves. We start out with certain ideas and definitions of key concepts that we already believe before we’ve ever open our Bibles on any given day, and then we filter our understanding of what we are reading through what we previously believed the Scripture to be saying. Here is the key. Sometimes, if we are not careful to guard against it we can actually edit or filter out and mentally edit out some of what the physical text of Scripture actually says in order to make it fit with what we already believe. In other words we can mentally tune out what doesn’t fit with what we already believe. In a sense we are mentally rewriting Scripture to fit what we already believe instead of reading Scripture for what the text actually physically says. That’s called “Reading into the text.” Whether we like it or not what we read into Scripture will affect how we interpret and understand what Scripture is teaching. It will affect what we draw out from Scripture.

For example whenever we read the phrase “The law,” or under the law,” in Paul’s letters, we often automatically ASSUME that Paul is ALWAYS exclusively referring to God’s law.”

For example Romans 6:14 reads as follows:

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:14 (KJV)

Most people who read Romans 6:14 AS IF it read something like this (WHICH IT DOESN’T):

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the God’s law, but under grace. In actual fact, Romans 6:14 does NOT refer to God’s law all, but we trained ourselves to believe and read that interpretation into the text and we assume that it is talking about the believer not being under God’s law. We have read that understanding into the text even though that is not what the text actually says.

Here we have a perfect example. IF Paul were referring to GOD’S LAW in BOTH Romans 6:14, and in Romans 8:5-8, then we have a real problem because Paul would clearly be contradicting himself, and if he were contradicting himself he clearly could not be speaking under the Holy Spirit of God, because God cannot deny Himself. Nevertheless, there appears to be a serious contradiction here. On the one hand, he APPEARS to be saying that we are not subject to God’s law but under grace in Romans 6:14, on the other hand, he clearly states outright that not subjecting yourself to Yahweh’s Law is a clear sign that you are carnal minded and walking in death in Romans 8:5-8. So there appears to be a conflict. We know that he is clearly referring to God’s Law in Romans 8:5-8, because he clearly identifies it. The question then becomes, to which particular law is Paul referring in Romans 6:14? The answer could not be more critical, since it’s quite literally a matter of life and death, even by Paul’s own estimation of the subject. In this specific instance finding the answer is easy.

In this case all we have to do is go back to Romans 6:1, and read slowly and methodically through to verse 23. If we read carefully we will notice that God’s law is NOT mentioned a single time in Romans 6, but sin is mentioned no less than 17 times in this single chapter.

In this chapter one can clearly see that Paul is making the case that if we are renewed by Yahweh through Messiah we should no longer subject ourselves to the law of sin and death, because we have God’s power and grace to overcome the law of sin and death and not to subject ourselves to the law of sin and death anymore. So, Romans 6:14 and Romans 8:5-8 actually agree with each other when we understand to which law Paul is referring.

Next time we will look at more of Paul’s writings, to see if what we assume Paul is saying measures up to the actual text of Scripture. See you then.

Brother R Michel Lankford