Part 2
False Christian Doctrines of Salvation:
The Protestant evangelical doctrine of the need to be “born again”
Aside from the erroneous faith-alone doctrine of Paul that I will address in later chapters, there are a number of renowned Protestant doctrines that are based on a complete misunderstanding of things Yeshua said. On the surface, they appear to support Paul’s faith alone doctrine, but they do not and need to be addressed. The first one is the teaching that one must be “born-again” to stay out of the lake of fire. This most popular of evangelical doctrines stems from a misunderstanding of Yeshua’s meaning in his discourse with Nicodemus as recorded in John chapter 3. I will quote the passage shortly, but there are a couple of things that need to be established first.
In the text we are considering, Yeshua used the expression “Most assuredly, I say to you…” several times before making a very important point. In the Gospel of John, Yeshua uses this expression 25 times. In 23 of those cases, the important point he makes immediately following the expression has a direct connection to something that was said earlier in the same discourse. In other words, 23 out of 25 times, Yeshua did not just throw out a freebie-for-nothing truth. Something was said that precipitated his emphatic response. A number like 23 out of 25 times is a significant, if not startling precedent. The only two instances where it is not obvious, are the second, and the very last time Yeshua used the expression in John. Starting with the theory that this precedent might be a principle that is applicable to all cases I show in my chapter concerning Yeshua’s prophecy to Peter, that the precedent holds perfectly true for the last time Yeshua uses the expression as well. The only one left is this second account in John 3 where Yeshua speaks of being “born again”. Would it not be prudent to at least consider the possibility that what Yeshua said here has at least something to do with what was said before it? If the classic evangelical interpretation of Yeshua’s emphatic statement here is correct, this is the only case out of 25 times that Yeshua just up and offered something for nothing. In a moment, you will see that this instance is no exception to the well-established rule.
The other thing that must be established before quoting this passage concerns the phrase “the kingdom of God”. There is another meaning to it that Yeshua used in his discourse with Nicodemus in John 3. There are two passages from Luke that clearly bear this out. In these passages, it is apparent that Yeshua is not talking about the New Jerusalem or even the broader meaning of the New Heavens and New Earth. Those are places that people go to. In the following, it is clear that “the kingdom of God” is something that comes to man on this earth at this time. This is something very different from heaven located somewhere else that we go to after death in the future.
“And heal the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.'”
“But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Luke 10:9 NKJV, and Luke 11:20 NKJV respectively
In these passages, Yeshua clearly indicates that the “kingdom of God” is synonymous with the working of miracles! It is the extraordinary ability of a man in this world who has accessed the power of a spiritual dimension that Yeshua called the kingdom of God. With this fact in mind, listen to what subject Nicodemus opens his discourse with.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Yeshua by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one is able to do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
John 3:1-2
The very first thing that Nicodemus brings up is the issue of Yeshua’s ability to work miracles and the significance of this fact. In light of this subject matter (which is the only thing that was said before Yeshua makes his emphatic statement) consider what Yeshua now says to him.
Yeshua answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:3
First understand that the Greek word translated “see” in this verse means, “to know”, “to understand”, “to perceive” Strong’s # 149. Considering Nicodemus brought up the subject of Yeshua’s ability to work miracles just before Yeshua responded with “Most assuredly I say to you…”, in light of a 24 out of 25 established precedence, would it not be prudent to at least consider the possibility that what he continues to respond with has something to do with his ability to work miracles? Contrary to popular Evangelical Christian doctrine, Yeshua’s response and mention of being “born again” and “the kingdom of God” had absolutely nothing to do with eternal life or getting to heaven! We established from Luke that Yeshua’s use of the term “kingdom of God” there meant the ability to work miracles. The subject matter that Nicodemus brought up was Yeshua’s ability to work miracles. Therefore, Yeshua’s answer merely addressed his ability to work miracles, nothing more! This will be further established as we continue. Notice also how Yeshua keys off certain words spoken earlier before he uses the emphatic phrase “Most assuredly, I say to you…”. They are highlighted in bold caps. This is corroborating evidence that what Yeshua said after his emphatic statement always has everything to do with something said before.
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he ENTER a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Yeshua answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot ENTER the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is (the kingdom of God to) everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to him. “How can these things be?” Yeshua answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not KNOW these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We KNOW and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”
John 3:3-12 NKJV
Yeshua’s meaning of being “born again” was being born of the Spirit into the dimension called the kingdom of God as evidenced by the ability to work great miracles in this world. Very very few have attained that. But there were those who had attained it before and Yeshua reprimanded Nicodemus for not having seen and understood it. As a teacher of Israel, he should have known about these things. He certainly would have known about figures like Moses and Elijah, and he should have known how they came by their ability to work miracles. They had been born-again of the Spirit as well. This concept was nothing new and certainly not something that started only after Yeshua had risen from the dead as evangelical doctrine teaches. This may come as a shock to evangelicals, but Yeshua himself had been born again… the old-fashioned way! He won his son-ship the hard way and did it to demonstrate that a man could still attain it through total submission and obedience to the Father. When did this occur for Yeshua? Answer: At his baptism!
And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are my beloved son, this day have I begotten you.”
Manuscript of Luke from 250 A.Dl
It wasn’t until after Yeshua was “born again” that day, that he began his ministry and began working miracles.
The above version of Luke 3:22 is from the oldest known manuscripts of Luke dating from around 250 A.D. Since then, it has read, “…in you, I am well pleased”. It was apparently altered early on, along with Matthew’s account, because the earned son-ship picture was intolerable to those who needed Yeshua to be on an equal plane with the Father. This old version of Luke was also quoted often by the early ‘church fathers’. Also, in the book of Hebrews, the author twice stated, as if it were a well known historical fact, that the words “this day have I begotten you” had been spoken to Yeshua. See Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5
The proof that Yeshua was not speaking of eternal life in heaven after this life is in the fact that he told Nicodemus this born-again information should be basic knowledge for a teacher of Israel of how things work here on earth. Yeshua asked him how he was going to understand heavenly things when he hadn’t even figured out earthly things yet.
“Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” John 3:10,12
It is only after asking this rhetorical question that Yeshua goes ahead and tells Nicodemus about heavenly things and eternal life in the famous passage that includes John 3:16. Before this, Yeshua’s born-again discourse had nothing to do with eternal life. It was about his ability to work miracles.
“No one comes to the Father except through me.”
If one were to ask an evangelical Christian if a person can be saved without accepting Jesus as their savior, which to them is synonymous with being born again, you would be answered with, “well, Jesus said…”, and they would go on to quote their end-all-debate passage from John 14:6. It is an answer that is to be taken as a “no”, and it is implied that such a person will certainly end up in the torments of the lake of fire. The verse that is quoted and the interpretation that has been laminated on it has been used as a proof-text for so long by evangelists like Billy Graham that it is almost impossible for anyone to read it anymore without automatically hearing the evangelical interpretation. The fact that this passage is almost always quoted to answer the question “can one be saved without accepting Jesus as their savior”, establishes the false presupposition that the passage has anything to do with the question. Thus, we automatically hear the “no” interpretation. But if a person had never heard this passage used to answer the question this way, and was reading it for the first time, it is doubtful they would come to the same conclusion. What’s more, if it had been read in light of everything Yeshua said in the book of John up to that point, it would have been understood perfectly well. The verse you will hear quoted by itself is:
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 NKJV
There it is! Case closed… right? Unless one accepts Jesus as his savior he will never get to heaven, and therefore he will spend eternity in hell! When reading these words, many people picture Billy Graham as he would wave his right hand across the crowd and hear his authoritative voice as he thundered the words “No one“. Not surprisingly, many evangelicals who quote this verse this way couldn’t off their head tell you the context in which it is found or tell you to whom Yeshua was speaking when he said it. This is in spite of the fact that everyone is familiar with the context. This sad fact bears withness that this verse must first be ripped out of its context for it to have the full effect of the desired interpretation. After hearing this verse used this way, one might naturally assume that the context in which it was stated would be similar and something that built up to an emphatic statement. One would expect there to have been a serious discussion where Yeshua made a statement concerning how one is saved, then a question was asked if there was any hope for those who didn’t find that way. Then we would read what has been portrayed as Yeshua’s hard-nose, exclude-all-others answer. But no such build-up can be found there. There was nothing somber or threatening spoken in this scene at all! On the contrary, Yeshua had just given a sweet, peaceful promise to his disciples, and he spoke these words to them in answer to a question from Thomas.
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?” Yeshua said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:1-6 NKJV
This was in no way a statement of exclusivity. Yeshua’s emphasis was on “I“, not “No one“. The words “No one” were spoken gently as a sweet assurance and personal promise to his disciples that he would be making sure they got to the place he was going and was preparing for them. To be sure, they perfectly understood him this way because they had also heard him say the Father had committed the judgment of all men to him.
“For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son.” “For even as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave also to the son to have life in himself. And he gave authority to him to also execute judgment, for he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear his voice. And they will come out, the ones having done good into a resurrection of life, and the ones having practiced evil in to a resurrection of judgment.”
John 5:22,26-29 KJIIV
This is what Yeshua meant by the words, “No one comes to the Father except through me”. Only in the sense that Yeshua will judge every man is how he meant that no one gets to the Father except through him. No one is going to do an end-run around Yeshua to the Father. Yeshua alone will be the one granting access to the Father based on his judgment of what kind of person each individual was. This is true whether a person believes in him or not! All he was saying, and what the disciples heard him say would be something along the lines of this paraphrase:
“I told you I will be judging every man and determining where they go, and that includes you! So don’t let your heart be troubled …you know the judge personally. I am the way. Be assured …I will see to it that you get there.”
My paraphrase of John 14:1-6
In summary, it is wrong to use John 14:6 as a proof-text for the evangelical doctrine that suggests unless a man accepts Jesus as his savior, he has no hope of salvation and will, therefore, spend eternity in the torments of the lake of fire. In John 5:29 Yeshua said that those who have “done good” will be saved and receive a merited just degree of eternal life.
Many evangelicals honestly believe that unless a Jew accepts Jesus as his savior, he will also end up in the lake of fire. It’s hard to express how repulsive this lie is… especially when there are many Jews who keep both great commandments and do good by loving God and their neighbors as themselves. Come judgment day, no one will want to be in the shoes of someone who misrepresented and made a mockery of the judge to his “brethren”.
Catholicism and salvation through the eucharist
The Catholic Church teaches that the only way to eternal life is through eating “the body of Christ” and drinking his blood. For those who are not familiar with this teaching, it can be quite a shock when they first hear it because it naturally conjures up images of cannibalism. The eating of “the body of Christ” and drinking his blood is generally practiced weekly during what is called the celebration of the mass. During the mass, the priest blesses bread and wine, and through a mystery known only to God called transubstantiation, the elements are supposedly transformed into the very flesh and blood of Christ. This supposed human flesh and blood is called the eucharist. It is a fundamental Catholic doctrine that unless a person takes these elements into his body, he will not have eternal life. Therefore, those who don’t are also doomed to spend eternity in the lake of fire. It is taught by the Catholic Church that only the Church has the power and authority through its priests to make this mysterious change from bread to flesh and wine to blood. This authority was supposedly given to the Church from the Lord and passed down by its leaders through the ages by “apostolic succession”. This doctrine of the eucharist stems from another terrible misunderstanding of Yeshua’s words from the Gospel of John. Here is the passage:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life, Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Then Yeshua said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven–not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead, He who eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.
John 6:47-59 NKJV
On the surface, it certainly appears as though the Catholic Church may have something here. Especially when this passage is coupled with words Yeshua spoke during the Passover seder just before his crucifixion. It is believed that this is where he instituted the first mass and told his disciples to continue it.
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me. ” Likewise he also took the cup after supper saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.”
Luke 22:19-20 NKJV
If a person had never read the first passage from John and read this one from Luke, he would most likely understand Yeshua the way his disciples did, in that he was speaking figuratively, and the bread and the wine only represented his body and blood and were not literally human flesh and blood. Yeshua often spoke in figures of speech. When Yeshua said that his disciples were the “salt of the earth”, are we to conclude they were literally made of salt? Or when he said they were “light” that they were literally light? Or when he called his follower “sheep” they were literally sheep? Or when he said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” he meant he was literally a vine… and so on. How silly is it then to conclude that bread was literally his flesh and some wine was literally his blood? These were figures of speech that simply represented something. Yeshua made a regular practice of speaking in figures of speech for a reason.
“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.”
But when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand…'” And with many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable he did not speak to them. And when they were alone, he explained all things to his disciples.
John 16:25 NKJV, and Mark 4:10-12, 33-34 NKJV respectively
In the same way that a Protestant evangelical quotes “No man comes to the Father but by me” and leaves it out of context, so also the Catholic teacher leaves out important information that comes before and immediately following John 6:47-59. What comes before this passage sheds a lot of light on what Yeshua was trying to accomplish by saying the things he did concerning his flesh and blood being food and drink. The story starts at the beginning of the chapter with the feeding of the five thousand. The people were amazed and thrilled to see that a man could turn just a little food into so much, and a number of them chased after him for the free meals. (Verses 26,27) Yeshua confronts them about it and tells them to do better. But they still can’t get free food off their minds and bring up the subject of the manna that God fed their fathers in the wilderness. (verse 31) So Yeshua, in essence, tells them to think of him and what he has to say as their food and life and what they should be seeking for as diligently as they were seeking mere bread. They still grumbled and didn’t get it. Yeshua only continued then in a strong figure to liken himself to food and drink in verses 47-59 for the very purpose of disgusting them and turning them away! They simply didn’t get it and what’s worse, they didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Consequently, he didn’t want them following him around anymore looking for free meals, so he got rid of them! The whole time he was trying to get their minds off physical bread and onto the spiritual food that he had to offer.
Then what follows Yeshua’s strong figure of speech is where he clearly explains to his confused disciples just exactly what he meant. This is exactly as Mark 4 said he did all the time. “And when they were alone, he explained all things to his disciples. ” But you virtually never hear Yeshua’s explanation quoted in context by a Catholic teacher. I honestly believe that many Catholics don’t even know Yeshua’s explanation exists right there where they left off.
Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” When Yeshua knew in himself that his disciples murmured about this, he said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The WORDS that I speak to you are spirit, and THEY are life.” …From that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Yeshua said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” Then Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
John 6:47-63, 66-68 NKJV
Yeshua had been talking about his flesh giving eternal life, so when he said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing” what “flesh” was he obviously talking about? What flesh had he just been talking about? It was his flesh! The flesh that he told them they must eat! He said that that flesh “profits nothing”. Then he said, “The words that I speak to you (here now in my flesh and blood) they are spirit, and they are life”. It was his words that people needed to ingest if they wanted life. Peter then confirmed that he got it when he said: “To whom shall we go? You have the WORDS of eternal life.” He didn’t say he needed to stick around because he had to occasionally take a bite out of Yeshua!
It was not unusual for Yeshua to refer to the will of God and the word of God figuratively as bread and food.
In the meantime his disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him anything to eat?” Yeshua said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work.”
John 4: 31-34 NKJV
Hypothetically now, imagine if an early sect of Christianity had gotten ahold of the evangelical’s favorite passage from John concerning being “born again”, and had taken it literally the way the Catholic church has taken Yeshua’s words concerning eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Similar to the way the Jews asked, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat”, Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Let your imagination run wild with that for a minute. If that sect had won out in the power struggle of the early church, there might well be a church today with special, holy, surrogate-mothers, possessing unique powers passed down from Mary by virgin-succession, who have stretched themselves all out of shape so people could get at least apart of themselves inside, call it good enough, and then come back out in a mysterious new birth into the church… the one-and-only kingdom of God on earth! This institution might even require being “born-again” every time a person sinned! Intelligent, well-educated people everywhere would have been members for generations and never given the bizarre rituals a second thought. In all seriousness, is practicing cannibalism, because of a near-identical misunderstanding much more realistic? In both cases, Yeshua clearly used only figures of the physical world to illustrate the truths of the Spirit. To Nicodemus he said,
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
John 3:6 NKJV
To his disciples concerning eating his flesh, he said,
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life”
John 6:63 NKJV
Preserving the institutions at all cost
The frustrating… yet telling thing in all this is that, as I have pointed out previously, a Catholic person will clearly see the errors in the salvation doctrines of evangelical Christianity, and the evangelicals clearly see the errors in the salvation doctrines of Catholicism, but neither can see the errors in themselves. These institutions have gained a life of their own and simply are not going to give up their exclusive claim to salvation… roll over and die. The pope is never going to come to his balcony someday and say, “We have been mistaken concerning the eucharist. It has all been a terrible misunderstanding because the Lord was speaking figuratively in John 6!” It simply isn’t going to happen. The mass, and the supposed exclusive authority to perform it passed down through apostolic succession, is what makes and keeps Catholicism exclusive. Recently, in July of 2007, pope Benedict XVI reasserted the Church’s exclusive claim to salvation when he said that all other Christian communities are not “true Christian” and are “defective”. He said, “Christ established only one Church.” The implications of this statement are clear. Members of all other forms of Christianity are doomed to spend eternity in the torments of the lake of fire. The leaders of these institutions must of necessity speak this way. It’s simply bad for business to suggest that a person can get what they need somewhere else! The same can be said of Protestant evangelical Christianity in its many forms. Franklin Graham is not going to get out of bed someday and say, “Oops! Hey everybody! My dad had this ‘born-again’ thing all wrong! The Lord was talking about his ability to work miracles.” This too is simply not going to happen. I have no doubt that these leaders truly believe what they teach, and that many of them genuinely care about others. They cannot be faulted for their motives in this regard. But they can be faulted when it becomes apparent that the preservation of the institutions they lead is more important than the truth when their error is exposed.
Christianity: A positive influence in history?
One might argue that these Christian institutions have had a positive influence on society and provide a needed family-oriented moral fiber to society. But where are we really in society, and how did we get where we are? For many hundreds of years, the Christian church kept the masses illiterate and in the dark ages for the very purpose of maintaining control. It could have educated the common people… but it didn’t. Educated people are always a threat to institutions and dictatorships that are founded on lies. The educated masses might actually read Yeshua’s words for themselves and leave the church. Only the clergy was permitted to read and interpret the Bible. Less than 500 years ago, William Tyndale was burned at the stake for the heresy of translating the Bible into English and making it available to the common man! Just try to comprehend and imagine the implications of this fact of history! And this was by no means an isolated anomaly in the Church. It was more like the final straw that finally got a few people to take a stand against the tyranny of the Church. After “the reformation” Protestant Christianity became the official religion of England, many had to leave England to start a new country and life of freedom from religious tyranny here in America. History has proven that whenever any form of religion becomes a political institution, its motives become those of power and control. Inevitably, it always becomes an evil tyranny that employs extortion through terroristic threats of one kind or another. This fact is clearly seen by those of us in the west when we look at the countries that are run by Islam! There is no freedom there, and where there is no freedom, there is virtually no invention. So it could more easily be argued that Christianity has historically been a hindrance to freedom and progress. It wasn’t until men were free from religious tyranny and free to educate themselves that the industrial age began. Now, to the extent that the second greatest commandment to love others, and treat others as one would want to be treated was practiced by church members, this would naturally have a positive stabilizing effect on any society, but no religious institution has cornered the market on good-will toward other men. This country was established on the “self-evident” truths of human dignity and value endowed by man’s creator, where all religious institutions were forbidden from taking control of the government made of the people, by the people, for the people. Only after such a government came into existence… free from the control of all religious institutions, did education, progress, and technology finally grow wings, and we find ourselves with many of the benefits we enjoy today.
Christianity: Hindering from entering the kingdom
The most serious problem that Christian institutions have created with their exclusive doctrines of salvation is that they have made it literally impossible for their followers to enter the true Kingdom of God and get their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Getting as many people as possible into the Kingdom is what God is hoping for… the very purpose for having ventured on this risky creation in the first place. It was designed to bring into existence a worthy bride for the son! But keeping men blind to this truth, and making it impossible for them to be a part of it has been Satan’s goal from the start! And like it or not, Christianity has unwittingly been his pet tool to accomplish it. How has Christianity made it impossible to enter the Kingdom of God? It has been by making it impossible for men to accomplish the greatest commandment, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart”! It is absolutely impossible for any human to truly love God if they believe any of Christianity’s exclusive doctrines of salvation because they are all lies about God and His character. There is no possible way a man can become fond of, or be longingly attracted to a being whom he honestly believes throws good and decent men into the lake of fire to be tormented forever on a religious technicality. Men can certainly fear such a being. But this kind of fear is the antithesis of love. The “fear” that God calls for is trembling awe, respect, and honor of His greatness… not the terror of a capricious, inconsistent, unrighteous tyrant. God wants man to know Him and understand Him, and to be attracted to Him because He has perfectly personified goodness and righteousness. From the start, it has been Satan’s purpose to infect men with his disease which is the belief that one can be more righteous and greater than God. He does this subtly by convincing men to call God’s righteousness into question. Remember the garden of Eden? Satan convinced Adam and Eve that God was unfair and didn’t have their best interests in mind. He was keeping something from them! And the same comes at us today from every direction. It’s even in the titles of popular Christian books like, “When God doesn’t make sense.” God is not and has never been the problem!
Here is a simple test to know if you are capable of loving God and fulfilling the greatest commandment. Hypothetically, imagine someone you love whom you consider a good person, having died… not coming to accept the particular exclusive doctrine of salvation you hold dear. Now imagine on judgment day God giving you the responsibility of judging a number of people and determining their eternal fate by the yardstick of that same exclusive doctrine. If that person you loved suddenly appeared before you, would you sentence him/her to eternal torment in the lake of fire? God help you if you said “yes”! You’re sick! Any decent person would say, “No, I would never send a good person whom I love to the lake of fire. I wouldn’t do it to any decent person for that matter.” But here is the clincher. If you really believe God would do it when you wouldn’t, think about what you are saying. You are saying your concept of righteousness is greater than God’s, which is the same as saying you believe God is unrighteous! And herein Satan’s lie has its most devastating effect. He wants men to subliminally believe God is unrighteous. If he can, he knows it’s not humanly possible for a person of good character to become fondly attracted to someone he believes is of unrighteous character.
The definition of righteousness is not the problem. The fact that God does something doesn’t make it righteous! Righteousness is a standard apart from God that God holds Himself to. More on this later. The problem all along has been the exclusive salvation doctrines from hell that men have believed. It has crippled men from ever being able to fulfill the greatest commandment …to love God with all his heart. Therefore his name never becomes written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Here is another test to see how fond you are of The Almighty. Ask yourself if the following promise Yeshua made has any appealing effect on you?
“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more.”
Revelation 3:12
Those who truly know God can’t begin to think of a better place to spend all eternity… in His very presence. The awesome beauty of His perfect Righteousness, Holiness, and Goodness would take an eternity to absorb. But if this promise has no appeal to you because the picture of being stuck in a temple next to God sounds like a downer to you, you don’t know God. You aren’t attracted to Him and can’t love Him because of the lies you have believed about Him. Thus you will have little to no desire to obey His Law and please Him so you can be near Him. Satan has won, and your name is not in the Lamb’s Book of Life. But that can change if you break off the shackles of lies. God is good and perfectly righteous in everything He has ever done, and He will judge every man through Yeshua righteously according to his works… what each man did with what he was given.
The ones who will have the most difficult time on judgment day will be the same as the ones Yeshua condemned when he was on earth the first time. It will be the religious leaders. What he said to them could be said against most religious institutions and their leaders today. He could easily say something like the following embellished up to date paraphrase of Matthew 23:1-32
“Religious institutions and their leaders who claim to represent God teach some of the Law of Moses. Therefore, to the extent that they do, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Be it known, they do not represent my Father in heaven. But all their works they do to be seen by mere men. They love the best places at banquets, the best seats in the churches, greetings in the malls, and to be called by men ‘father’ and ‘pastor’. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called ‘pastor’; for one is your pastor, Me! But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. But woe to you, ‘preachers’ and ‘priests’ hypocrites! For through your exclusive doctrines of salvation you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, preachers, priests, and televangelists, hypocrites. For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, evangelicals who nullify God’s Law, hypocrites. You teach men that God’s Laws no longer stand, yet you demand from them the tithe. You travel the world to win one convert, and when he is won, you teach him lies that prevent him and others from entering the kingdom of heaven and make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, leaders of the churches, hypocrites. For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Woe especially to you, televangelists, for you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appears beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all manner of filth and rot. You and your kind are the worst at devouring widows’ houses. You lie to the vulnerable and tell them God will bless them if they give to you. You may outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and damnable doctrines that nullify the Law of God and make it impossible for men to keep the greatest commandment. In total vanity have you claimed to represent God, and for this you will not be held guiltless. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”
(Embellished paraphrase) Read Matthew 23:1-32 for exact quote and compare.
The most damnable doctrine of salvation: Predestination
The worst doctrine of salvation has yet to be mentioned. It too has its origin with the father of lies because it makes God the author of all the sin in the world, and it sucks the life and love out of people by causing them to take a fatalistic view of every circumstance in life. If a person has no say in what happens to them, it again makes it impossible to think fondly of God… let alone love Him. It is the blasphemous Protestant teaching of predestination and the picture of an ultra-sovereign God who has foreordained everything, including the evil in the world, in what is referred to as Calvinist doctrine. These doctrines also have their origin in Paul. Paul is the one who started Christianity down the road of nullifying God’s Law and making it impossible to truly love God. Take a close look at something Paul said.
“For all the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:14 NKJV
Yeshua said something very different.
Yeshua said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV
Whatever happened to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” in Paul’s concept of what “all the Law” hangs on? Isn’t it telling that the man who preached predestination–the picture of a God who fore-ordained people’s eternal destiny as well as ordained the evil in the world–who also taught that the Law of God had become obsolete, had himself totally lost the concept of loving God?
In light of the knowledge that one must fulfill the greatest commandment to love God with all one’s heart and demonstrate it by obedience to His Law in order to have their name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, how downright evil in the eyes of heaven do you suppose this outright lie of Paul’s is?
“…for by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified.”
Galatians 2:16 NKJV
Moses said in the Law itself…
“Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.”
Deuteronomy 6:25 NKJV
The sign of the end of the age
One day, Yeshua’s disciples asked him what the sign of his coming and the end of the age would be. His answer is below. As you read it, bear in mind a couple of things. When a person calls himself a “Christian”, he is saying he represents Christ. Also, factor into this that Yeshua said there would be “many” who claim his title. How many are there who actually claim to be the messiah? Very few. So it’s highly unlikely Yeshua was referring to these kinds of people. Also, take notice of why the love of many grows cold. Yeshua says it’s because of anomia again… the negation of God’s Law. Here is what we are to expect at the end of the age.
And Yeshua answered and said to them; “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ (“Christian”) and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because Law-less-ness (teaching against God’s Law) will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom (the Lamb’s Book of Life?!) will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Matthew 24:4-6, 11-14 NKJV
In the following chapters, I will address the doctrine of predestination, as well as Paul’s teaching against the Law of God. We will reopen the prosecution’s case against him as recorded in Acts 21 …the prosecution that was never settled. Also, we will re-examine Paul’s credibility and supposed credentials to teach the things he did. In the end, to the great dismay of Christians everywhere, it will also become clear that Paul was the very false apostle Yeshua had commended the Ephesian church for rejecting in Revelation 2:2.
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