ALL INCLUDED

It did not take long for me to see that there were dozens and dozens of different interpretations as to what the seals meant, the immensely huge New Jerusalem coming down to earth, etc. I remember wondering how such a great city was going to fit on the earth as its dimensions were 1500 miles square!!!! After a while I just stopped buying those types of books and also stopped listening to any teaching on that particular book and I also stopped reading from it as it became quite obvious none knew what they were talking about and it just got me more confused than anything else.

Today I have started reading the book of Revelation and I think I can see what this book is about. I no longer see it as a mysterious book that is difficult to understand. The whole gist of the book of course is judgment and wrath. Terrible calamities are listed over and over again in this book as something to be feared should it come upon the inhabitants of the earth. Obviously the wrath of God was something to be feared for us mere human beings. I mean who do you suppose could stand all these things that would come upon the earth? I know a lot say we would escape it through the rapture but that is another hilarious fabricated event that I won’t go into at this time.

Since coming into a limited knowledge of the gospel of grace, I now believe that judgment and wrath that were due to come upon the human race were not delayed or stopped but they did come to earth as prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. If you read the OT you will see they did prophesy that judgment and wrath was coming upon this evil world. There is no mistaking the fact it was prophesied throughout the OT and that it would surely come.

However, they also prophesied that a Redeemer was coming to take all this wrath and judgment upon Himself on our behalf. I really believe that when God’s wrath was being poured upon the earth, it was at the exact same time Jesus was being lifted up on the cross. At that time He drew all of mankind into Himself and He took the total and full wrath and judgment of His Father as He poured it out upon His Son. He tasted death for every man. I do not have to worry about the book of Revelation and what it says. I truly believe it is a symbolic picture that John had while he was at the crucifixion of our Lord.

John saw all these things coming upon Jesus and I don’t know if he also knew the entire human race had been drawn into the Savior or not, but he knew these things had fallen upon the Son of God when He hung on that cross. John wrote what he saw while on the Isle of Patmos but it is clear he saw these things on the “the day of the Lord” (Rev 1:10) and I believe that day was the day of the cross. He wrote it at a later date but he was only writing what he saw being poured out upon Jesus Christ as the wrath and judgment of God was poured out.

This may be a different take on this than what we are used to hearing or reading, but I am convinced in my heart that this is how it is. I am convinced there will not be any more wrath or judgment poured out upon the human race as many falsely prophesy. I have been hearing their prophesies each and every time there is some disaster somewhere and of course they wait for events to be past before they say they saw this coming!!! Go figure!!! You never hear any of them say what they prophesy ahead of time and didn’t come to pass, that they were in error. No, they say they prayed and changed God’s mind. Go figure on that one too!!!

Can we take the book of Galatians and say it is not saying this or that because James says in his book something somewhat to the opposite? Can we be unsure of something that is said in Romans because Peter in his epistles says something a bit different, or so it would seem to us? No, that is looking for confusion as far as what the New Testament says about any subject.

So how do we verify what the true meaning of anything in the New Testament says and whether we are to believe it or not? We are to do what Jesus said to do, and I quoted this verse in my post yesterday, and that is to go to the law, the Psalms and the prophets because they said everything there was to know concerning Him. In Acts 3:18 we see Peter saying that what had happened in their midst had been prophesied by ALL his prophets.

I believe that before we take anything from the New Testament and make some sort of doctrine out of one or two verses, we have to make sure these things are verified by the prophets because everything was revealed to them. It is easy to take some sort of stand on something we read in the New Testament that may not be able to be verified by the scriptures. I believe this is of utmost importance because by not doing this, we see divisions; new denominations and what have you just rise up over some misunderstood verse in the New Testament.

A lot of the positions taken by some of the apostles are not valid when compared to what the Old Testament scriptures said regarding redemption. I know what I’m saying here is not a very popular stand but why would Jesus tell them to go to the Scriptures (OT) to see if what he had done at the cross was valid? He told them that because it had been revealed to the prophets and that is where validation has to come from. I believe Paul’s stand on things were valid because he was a top teacher of the law prior to his Damascus road experience when the Lord revealed Himself in Him, all the things He knew about a coming Messiah came to light in his heart and that is why he could say he wanted to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified.

Evangelical Christianity has built huge empires based on verses of the Bible that are not verified by Old Testament prophets. There is probably no movement that has more confusion and different beliefs than that, simply because their doctrines are not validated by the Old Testament scriptures. The scriptures (OT) are for doctrinal proof.

Take as an example in James where he says in 2:20 “oh vain man” that says we are justified by faith alone. Do you suppose he was talking about Paul when he said “vain man” because of what Paul had confronted him and others with? Paul had made it clear to them it was by faith alone, apart from any works or the law. If he was referring to Paul, then I think I would go by what Paul said and not James. Paul verified everything by the scriptures. I am sure James did as well in many areas but I am just making a point here that doctrine has to be verified by Old Testament scriptures, according to what Jesus said.

I just wanted to make clear that I personally do not believe the gospel of grace and peace should have any label attached to it. The gospel of grace and peace is simply Christ and Him crucified. I believe the sacrifice of the cross was complete and was in no way a means for us to achieve anything or be purified in the future. I believe the blood that was shed on that cross was sufficient to accomplish everything it was intended to accomplish without having to go through any form of purification in the future.

I also believe that to enter into the presence of the Lord at death will be sufficient to complete whatever we still have in our minds that may not have been renewed. I think this morning of the words uttered by Jesus as His last words on the cross, it is finished. I believe everything the entire human race ever needed to be made right with God was exactly that….finished.

If there was some purification for the future it would be saying He came to give the human race a chance to be purified at some point, if not in this life then in the life to come. To me that would be saying the work of the cross was not complete and a further work is required. I am a firm believer that the work of the cross was sufficient to accomplish exactly what it was intended to accomplish. That being of course the full and total redemption of all mankind through His shed blood. To say I have to do anything, whether in this life or the life to come, is saying it was not completed at that time.

Jesus said in Luke 24:44 that if you want to know truth you have to go to the law, the Psalms and the prophets. When you do go to the Scriptures you will not find anywhere that mankind would be given a chance at redemption. Everything about Him had been revealed to the prophets. And by the prophets He was not talking about those that call themselves prophets today and stand behind pulpits pronouncing judgment and saying all these disasters are coming upon the earth. These are quite clearly self made false prophets.

It is quite clearly foretold by all the prophets in the Old Testament that there would be an event that would redeem, purify and make the entire human race back to right standing with God. This event of course we know as the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe His blood accomplished exactly that for which it was intended and that was to make the entire world righteous by His sacrifice.

As I have discussed with a few of my friends, I believe the verse that says every knee shall bow (Romans 14:11) is being fulfilled minute by minute as people pass on from this life. (This verse is a quote of the scripture in Isaiah 45:23 by the way, which is why it is preceded by “it is written”) I know this verse is looked at that it is a time in the future when everyone that has ever lived here on earth will bow to the Master. Some even believe that after “every knee has bowed”, forcefully for some, some will be cast into everlasting fire. This of course is not according to the gospel of grace and peace. I think it is a bowing down in adoration of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The more I look at it and gain perhaps a bit of a better understanding of it; I see that there are certain things it eliminates. There are things that are completely taken out of the picture when we see this glorious gospel. A great deal of the church in evangelical Christianity is built on legalism. I know most will disagree with me on this but it is truth none the less. As I stated in Friday’s post, this legalism is the power of darkness in which there is no light at all.

One thing this gospel eliminates is the way the church system has been built on money and power. It also eliminates the structure as we have all known and seen it to be someone that is classed as the “top guy” in the system and others looked upon as well below the “top dog”. This power struggle is taken away when the gospel of grace and peace is understood. I know we were all told we were all equal in the eyes of God and that is so of course, but it did not take long for that to be laid aside just as soon as you “bucked the system” and came to some type of disagreement with the hierarchy.

Does this gospel of grace and peace fit into organized religion? I think those of us with this belief can now see that it is something that just does not fit there. The few that still attend these evangelical churches, even though maybe just on a not very frequent basis, can surely be a witness of this and more so of course as they see this first hand. I personally do not attend any church at this time and have no intention of returning to that system.

There are many labels that are being attached to what we believe but that is only so whoever places this label can say “well what they believe is wrong because it is” whatever they may think it is. Some call it Universalism but the belief in this gospel does not make us Universalists. I personally do not call this gospel anything nor do I attach any label to it. By saying we believe in Universalism, and I am sure there are good points in Universalism, is again taking the gospel of grace and peace and saying it is something it isn’t.

Another thing that this is sometimes related to is those that call themselves believers in ultimate reconciliation. This sounds good when first read but what they have done in those circles is taken the word hell and said it is not a place of eternal torment, and they are right of course, and it is now a place of refinement for whatever was not “refined” while we were here on earth. They say it is a place that people go temporarily to be purged. I have serious problems with that and again want to say I personally do not attach myself to any type of label.

I said the names of those two sections of belief system to simply say that I don’t personally subscribe to either one of these nor to any other that may come up. I believe the power to purge any impurities the human race had, or any sin for that matter, was done by the blood of Jesus Christ. I know there were different purification rituals in the Old Testament and some have been brought in to post cross teachings, but I believe the full purification was done at the cross and no further refining will be required.

There is nothing wrong of course with doing studies in the Bible but when our motive is not to find truth but to try and disprove something someone else is saying, we are then doing something simply to prove someone wrong. When I read/study the Bible now I don’t go in to see if what I hear someone else say is true or not. I go in to find Truth and only Truth, regardless of any of my preconceived ideas as to what may be true or not true.

Paul expressed in Philippians 3:10 that his goal was to know Him. He was not interested in trying to see if what was preached was right or wrong, but just searching the Scriptures for a more intimate knowledge of Jesus. This is not to say Paul did not confront error because he did on many occasions as we all know. But his primary purpose was to get to know what Jesus had done and to know the power of His resurrection.

This gospel that some of us proclaim is not something we have made up in our own minds so we could be controversial. Quite the opposite really, because those of us in this area at least were all interested in knowing Truth because we all saw and had experienced first hand the deception and bondage that was being proclaimed from behind pulpits. I am not saying this deception was and is preached while knowing they are preaching deception. No, I don’t believe for a moment that this is so.

But regardless of why it is being done, deception is deception, whether it is known to be such or not. The problem with this is that same deception has been brought down through the centuries of denominational teaching and no one even dares to question if it is so or not. The vast majority of the time, it is taken in as truth when most of the time it is not that at all. We are under grace since the event of the cross and what is being preached is law. You cannot mix these two things. They just don’t mix.

In Colossians 1:13 we see Paul saying that we have been delivered from the power of darkness. Now what do you suppose this power of darkness was and still is? I believe it was the law and living under that law. To try and keep any of the laws will take you away from grace and back into darkness. There is power in that darkness, make no mistake about it. It will take you deeper and deeper into deception. The latter part of verse 13 says we have been translated into His Kingdom when He took us from the power of darkness. The word translated there means to be transferred.

We know for the majority of Christians it would be someone that lives a good clean moral life and the faithful, which is another term used by Paul in his salutations, would be those that are faithful in church attendance and are willing to do whatever they are asked to do by the church hierarchy. The saints and faithful would also be looked at as the ones that tithe and pray. I have heard people say “my, he/she can sure pray” when someone in church was asked to pray and he/her voice could be heard from several blocks down the road. These are all things that people look at when the term saint or faithful comes up.

But is that what Paul really meant when he used those terms? Was he talking about those that live moral lives and are faithful in church attendance? Do we see people living what the church calls “moral lives” on a continuous basis? I guess you could say they do if the only time you see them is for a couple of hours when they are in church on Sunday.

Being a faithful saint does not mean anything with respect to how good we are or is it connected to any good work we do. There are many out there in other religions that do a lot of good work and they would consider themselves saints as well. Some may say that Paul was simply using a salutation that was what was traditionally used during those times. However, if he was using it in the way we think he was, when he was calling people saints, then it is quite obvious he was calling people by the name we always connect to being holy, perfect, etc.

The requirement for holiness to enter into heaven has not changed because the verse that says “be ye holy as I am holy” is still there. If we look at ourselves we quickly see that we fall far short of this in our own selves and also we see it is something that we can never attain regardless of how morally good we live. I think what Paul is referring to here when he calls them saints is the fact that he knows they are in Christ Jesus and their holiness is based on what He did through His faith and nothing on their own.