Tag Archive | god

CALVINISM – the teaching that God is the author of sin and that even babies are sinners

Calvinism makes God to be the author of sin, if the calvinist would like to be consistent with his own doctrines. Some in fact do try to be consistent and claim that the most hideous deeds you could ever think of are still predestined by God because “nothing happens against the will of God”. To be consistent they must also believe that 1 month old babies can sin, and even unborn babies!

Thanks to Jesse Morell for the below

Calvinism grieves my heart and it disturbs me to see so many Calvinistic posts on Facebook and Calvinistic materials and preachers being so popular in our day. Scriptural problems I have with Calvinism:

1. Calvinism says that God decreed all sin when the Bible says sin breaks the heart of God and wills holiness and obedience from His subjects.

2. Calvinism says that men are under the wrath of God for the sin of Adam when the Bible says that the son does not bear the iniquity of the father and we will all give an account for our own deeds.

3. Calvinism says that man’s free will was lost by Adam’s original sin when the Bible never says this but instead continues to appeal to man’s free moral agency after Adam’s fall.

4. Calvinism says that all men inherit a sinful nature from Adam when the Bible never even says that Adam’s nature was sinful but instead asserts that God forms our nature in the womb.

5. Calvinism says that all events are the eternal will of God when the Bible represents God as grieved, disappointed, and surprised over many events that have occurred.

6. Calvinism says that God has irresistibly decreed all events from eternity past, when the Bible says that God has canceled and reversed some of His own prophecies and teaches that the future is not yet entirely fixed and settled.

7. Calvinism says that God has given man a moral law which He is incapable of keeping when the Bible says that God is just, never allows us to be tempted above our ability, and only obligates us to love Him with all of our ability.

8. Calvinism says that Jesus Christ came and took our punishment when the Bible says that our punishment is eternal hell.

9. Calvinism says that Jesus Christ came and paid our debt when the Bible says that God forgives us our debt.

10. Calvinism says that Jesus Christ took the punishment of our sins when the Bible says that God forgives us our sins.

11. Calvinism says that Jesus Christ came and took the wrath of God when the Bible says that God still has wrath after the atonement, that sinners are not saved from God’s wrath until conversion, that the atonement was instead a justification of His mercy, and that believers who return to their sins return to the wrath of God.

12. Calvinism says that Jesus Christ became sinful and guilty on the cross when the Bible says He died the just for the unjust and offered Himself without spot or blemish to God.

13. Calvinism says that those for whom Christ died can never perish when the Bible warns that those for whom Christ died can perish.

14. Calvinism says that Christ only died for a few elect when the Bible says that Jesus died for the world and all men.

15. Calvinism says that God wants most sinners to remain in their sins and die and go to hell, to somehow glorify His justice, when the Bible says God wants all men to repent and be saved.

16. Calvinism says that men cannot repent and believe when the Bible commands men to repent and believe and blames them if they do not.

17. Calvinism says that men cannot repent and believe because they are born spiritually dead because of Adam when the Bible says that men are dead or alienated from God because of their own trespasses and sins and says the prodigal son was able to return to the father even though he was dead to the father.

18. Calvinism says that God predestined individuals for heaven or hell when the Bible says that God has chosen to offer salvation to the Jews and the Gentiles, grafting in some and cutting off others based upon their faith or unbelief.

19. Calvinism says that God predestined some for Heaven and most for hell according to the pleasure of His will, when the Bible says that God sent Jesus to die for all, commands all men to repent and believe, is drawing all men unto Himself, is not willing that any should perish, and takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

20. Calvinism says that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to believers when the Bible says that our faith is imputed as righteousness.

21. Calvinism says that God doesn’t see believers if they sin, but see’s imputed righteousness instead, when the Bible says God is omniscient and nothing is hide from His eyes.

22. Calvinism says that true believers will persevere unto the end when the Bible exhorts believers to persevere, warns of damnation if they do not, and speaks of some who have departed from the faith.

My list can go on and on but these are just some of the major points.

Do read this article how calvinism can creep into our church unnoticed

The only true God in John 17:3 does not exclude Jesus

May13

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (John 17:3)

If Jesus must be excluded if God is “the only true…God”, then why is not Jesus excluded elsewhere where God is said to be “the only” something? And why is GOD not excluded when JESUS is said to be “the only....” something? If you check the verses below you will see examples of where either God or Jesus is called “the only”, and yet most antitrinitarians have no problem including the other one. It’s only when it comes to John 17:3 where they for some reason do NOT want to include Jesus, and we already know the reason. If they did, they have to let go of a beloved verse which they have always viewed as proof for that Jesus isn’t God, and now they are left with nothing.

God…

Is the only one who is God – John 17:3, Is. 43:10, Is. 45:18, Ps. 86:10 (yet JESUS is too 1 Hebr. 1:8, 1 John 5:20, John 20:28)
Is the only one who is Lord (despotes, Strong’s 1203) – Jude 4 (yet JESUS is too 2 Pet. 2:1)
Is the only one who is King of Kings – 1 Tim. 6.15 (yet JESUS is too Rev. 17:14, Rev. 19.16)
Is the only one who is Lord of Lords – 1 Tim. 6.15 (yet JESUS is too Rev. 17:14, Rev. 19.16)
Is the only one to be exalted on that day – Is. 2:11, 17 compare also with Ps. 118:16 (yet JESUS is too Acts. 2:33, Acts 5:31, Phil 2:9)
Is the only one who is immortal – 1 Tim. 6.16 (yet JESUS is too Hebr. 1:8-12)
Is the only one who is Savior – Is. 43:11, Is. 45:21-22 (yet JESUS is too Titus 2:13, 2 Pet. 1:1, Acts. 13:23, Acts. 4:12, 1 Tim. 1:15)
Is the only one who make wonders/miracles – Ps. 72:18, Ps. 136:4 (yet JESUS too Matt. 4:23, 8:27, Acts. 4:10)
Is the only Creator and NO ONE was with him – Is. 25:24, Neh. 9:6 (yet JESUS is too Hebr. 1:10, Col 1:16-17)
Is the only one who we should worship – Rev. 14:7, Matt. 4:10, Neh. 9:6 (yet JESUS too Matt. 28:9, 28:17)
Is the only one who has Glory and who doesn’t share his glory with anyone – Is. 42:8, Is. 48:11 (yet JESUS too Phil. 2:9-13)

Jesus…

Is the only one who is Lord – 1 Cor. 8:6 (yet GOD too Deut. 10:17, Is. 42:8)
Is the only one who is Holy – Rev. 15:3-4 (yet GOD too Ex. 5:11, Is. 57:15)

The fear of accepting that Jesus is GOD in flesh

Antitrinitarians often cite John. 17:3 as an attempt to deny the deity of Jesus, by suggesting that Jesus would never call his Father “the only true God” had he been God himself because there is only ONE God. It’s absolutely true that God is ONE, but why not ONE Godhead? Why cannot three persons be in the same trinity? Can God not be in any way he wants? Can God not be in a burning bush at the same time as he is in heaven, and at the same time as he oversees every single step that all people on earth make during the same second? Can he not be on every continent at the same time? Jesus can be on the right side of God, just like he is in the midst of a group who gathers together in his name.

Matthew 18:¹⁹Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

I’d like to believe that Jesus is present in our midst (albeit not in flesh) when two or more are gathered together in his name. Does this mean that he is unable to also be in the midst of other groups of people who gather together in his name somewhere else on earth – if they happen to gather together at the same time? Must we sit there with the hope that he is not already fully booked and unable to attend our meetings because his schedule is full and he is busy elsewhere? I’d like to believe that none of the persons in the Godhead have any problems at all to be in several places at the same time, and consequently Jesus doesn’t have any problems with sitting at the right hand side of God (the Father) despite being God himself. One pile of sand can be divided into three piles of sand, and our Lord can likewise be split apart should he want to. The persons in the Godhead are not divided in essence but they can split apart and act independently, but in unity, within the trinity.

Gal. 4:⁴But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,⁵To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

What would be a better way for Jesus to phrase himself? Should he have said: “…that they might know thee the only true God, and myself Jesus Christ – the second only true God”? That would make it sound there were several true Gods, and there would be a risk that the people around him would misunderstand him, be confused and even enraged – way too soon in history because it wasn’t time for his death just yet. Jesus only wanted to show them that there is indeed ONE true God, and that is the one that he communicates with just like the people around him. Did he communicate with himself? No, he communicated with another person in the same Godhead. Jesus constantly prayed to God the Father (often called just GOD), and the last time was when he was on the cross. As God in FLESH Jesus communicated with God the Father in the same way as all other people – by praying – but he of course has a very special relationship since he shares the same Godhead. When Jesus was not in flesh (Jesus has always been with the Father from eternity past) but in spirit, he didn’t communicate through prayers. Since Jesus is both God and man, he would properly say that his Father is the only true God. Are there other true Gods? Of course not. There is only ONE. He was not denying His own divinity but affirming the truth that God is one, as the scriptures properly say.

“But Jesus is speaking about this “only true God” in third person and that should mean that Jesus himself couldn’t be God“? It’s true that he referred to God in third person but he also refers to himself in third person! If Jesus cannot be God due to referring to God in third person, then neither can he be Jesus Christ by the same logic.

Jesus is not only God, but the son of God. He isn’t Joseph’s true son, so he must be someone else’s true son, and he is God the Father’s son (or sprung from the trinity). But it was also Jesus own decision to be born on earth, as he has always been a part of the trinity. I personally believe that when Jesus was born on earth, he behaved just like all other babies, and I don’t believe he had wisdom enough to know he was God at the age of 3 weeks, 3 months, etc. I don’t believe he knew he was God as a baby, because he was just a baby and behaved like babies normally do. As soon as he grew up and had the capacity to reason, he knew he was divine, and again, it was his own decision to be born as a man (first baby) on earth for our sake. His mission was to spread the gospel and die as a sin offering for all mankind, and he is also called son of man. As a man on earth, he too communicated with God (the Father). Jesus was also one of us.

Phil. 2:⁵Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:⁶Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:⁷But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:⁸And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.⁹Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

GOD is the true God

Jer. 10:10But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

God the Father is the one true God

Joh. 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent

Jesus Christ is the true God – 1 John 5:20

1 John 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

The most natural way to read “this” or “this one” above (or in similar statements) is to make it refer to the most previous person mentioned, which would here be Jeus Kristus. Or else John should have clarified exactly who he was referring to, if the most natural way of reading his text is supposed to be avoided. God is not a God of confusion. Take note of John’s way of starting out his letter in 1 John 1:1, where he states that the eternal life (Jesus) was with the Father – which is repeated in 1 John 15:19-20. Jesus is also the true light. It doesn’t make sense, if monotheism is true, to have two separate persons/Gods who both are called the eternal life, the true light, IAM, alpha and omega, the Lord of Lords, Savior, Creator, etc, and who on top of all are being worshiped. Either Jesus is God, or we have a God Senior and a God Junior, which is polytheism.

Ps. 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

1 Joh. 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

1 Joh. 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.—22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 The same was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

John. 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

Joh. 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

Joh. 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Evangelical scholar Robert M. Bowman Jr. about John. 5:20:

Three considerations favor the Son. First, the closest antecedent for “this one” is Jesus Christ (“in his Son Jesus Christ. This one…”). Second, in 1:2 the “eternal life” is Jesus Christ (who was “with the Father”), an apparent example ofinclusio (repetition of a theme or idea at the beginning and end of a text). Third, the confession form “This one is…” (houtos estin) strongly favors Jesus Christ, rather than the Father, as the subject, since John uses this language repeatedly with regard to Christ (John 1:30, 33, 34; 4:29, 42; 6:14, 42, 50, 58; 7:18, 25, 26, 40, 41; 1 John 5:6; of the man born blind, John 9:8, 9, 19, 20; of the disciple, John 21:24; of the anti-Christ, 1 John 2:22; 2 John 1:7), but not once for the Father. John has just used this formula for Christ earlier in the same chapter (1 John 5:6). (Robert M. Bowman, The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity: An Outline Study, Part IV. The Son, Jesus Christ, Is God; *)

Dr. Robert A. Morey:

“That there may be a few rare exceptions to a general rule does not mean that one should approach a text of Scripture with the a priori assumption that it will be an exception to the normal rules of grammar.Instead, we should approach a text with the a priori assumption that the normal rules of grammar and syntax will apply unless there are cleargrammatical reasons to depart from those rules. “Please notice that we said ‘grammatical’–not ‘theological’–reasons. Just because the grammar of a text leads to an idea which contradicts what you believe, this does not give you the right to throw grammar to the wind. Theology cannot overthrow or ignore the grammar of the sacred text. It can only bow before it…”

“The Greek text of 1 John 5:20 is simple and straightforward. John used houtos fifty-five times in his writings. Thus, we are not talking about a rare usage of a rare word. There are plenty of places in John’s writings where houtos was used in the same kind of construction as found in 1 John 5:20 and no one has any problem with houtos referring back to the antecedent… Why then all the hysteria over whether houtos refers to Jesus in 1 John 5:20? Obviously, it is not the grammar or syntax of the Greek that causes people to question whether houtos refers to Jesus Christ per se. It is that it refers to Him as God. That is the real issue. “If the text read, ‘Iesou Christo. houtos estin zoe Aionios (‘Jesus Christ. This is Eternal Life’), there would be no controversy whatsoever.Houtos would be seen as referring to ‘Iesou Christo. But once you add ho alethinos theos to the phrase, then the controversy begins.”

“The evidence for Jesus being called ‘the true God’ and ‘Eternal Life’ is quite strong:

1. The general rule on pronouns is that it modifies the immediate antecedent. This means Jesus Christ…

2) While John elsewhere refers to Jesus as ‘Eternal Life’ (1 John 1:2), the Father is never called ‘Eternal Life.’ More importantly, in the immediate context, since Jesus is ‘eternal life,’ then to have Him in your heart is to have eternal life (1 John 5:11-12). In John’s writings, refers to zoe Aionios ‘Eternal Life’ Jesus.

3) John applies the adjective alethinos ‘true’ to Jesus many times…

4) That the Father is called ‘true God’ in John 17:3 and the Son is called ‘true God’ in 1 John 5:20 is no more a contradiction than the fact that they are both called the ‘true One’ (1 John 5:20; cf. Rev. 3:7).

5) The interpretation that ‘the true God’ refers to the Father leads to a meaningless tautology. Lenski explains: In the first place, if houtos has as its antecedent ‘the real God’ (the Father), then the statement is a tautology; John would say: ‘This real God is the real God.’ He would say it after having twice said: we know the real God and are in the real God.” (Morey, The Trinity: Evidence and Issues [World Bible Publishers, Inc., Iowa Falls, IA 1996], Part IV: The New Testament Evidence, Chapt. 17. God the Son, pp. 354-357) ”

A common objection to the most obvious understanding of 1 Joh. 5:20 – where houtos refers to the last person spoken of – is to present a verse where it’s NOT possible to read the verse in such a way. If such a verse could be found, the idea is that we are then exempt from reading ANY verse in the Bible according to the ordinary pattern if we don’t really want to – and particularly John 5:20 which is the “problematic verse” that must be “solved”. Such verses are not easy to find, but 1 John 2:22 is at least one example, and voilá – this discovery is used to find legitimate reasons to override the implications of John 5:20. So instead this verse is read in such a way that it agrees with the preferred doctrine, which is “there is no way that Jesus is God”. Not due to grammatical reasons, but due to one’s own personal views (just like Dr. Robert A. Morey warns about). This is not an honest way to read the Bible, and it’s nothing but cherry-picking.

On top of this, there is a major difference between the two verses. Houtos must not refer to the last person spoken about but then this must be made clear in the context! To clarify who is the Antichrist, John adds the information (in caps below) that he who denies the Father and the Son is the Antichrist. No matter what language we speak, we would normally want listeners/readers to understand what we say, and if there is a chance that someone might misunderstand us we would rather want to express ourselves in such a way that misunderstandings can be avoided. If we want to deviate from the most common way to use houtos, extra clarification is needed.

1 John 2:²²Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He [houtos] is antichrist, THAT DENIETH THE FATHER AND THE SON.

Jesus is covered in GLORY and yet the Bible says God doesn’t share his glory with anyone…

Isaiah 42:⁸I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Also Jesus is called true God and Lord

1 John 5:²⁰And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the TRUE GOD, and eternal life. (more literally:…he is the true God)

Jude 4:⁴For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our ONLY Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Rom. 9:⁵of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed GOD. Amen. (NKJV)

Hebr. 1:⁸But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.⁹Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

John. 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and MY GOD.29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Lord of Lords – there is only ONE – and yet both God the Father and Jesus Christ are called Lord of Lords

Other lords but God are mentioned in the Bible (like 26:13) and it’s not uncommon for a servant to call his master “lord”, but the Bible also says there is one particular LORD who is LORD OF LORDS, and he ALONE is LORD.

Isaiah 37:²⁰Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou ONLY.

Deuteronomy 10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

Psalm 136:3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

1 Tim. 6:¹⁴That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:¹⁵Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;¹⁶Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Revelation 19:¹¹And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.¹²His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.¹³And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.¹⁴And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.¹⁵And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.¹⁶And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.

Matt. 22:⁴²Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.⁴³He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,⁴⁴The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?⁴⁵If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?⁴⁶And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

God the Father is the ONLY savior, and Jesus Christ as well, and both created the earth – ALONE

Isaiah 43:¹¹I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.

Titus. 2:¹³Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our SAVIOUR Jesus Christ;¹⁴Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Isaiah 44:²⁴Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;

According to John 1:3 and Col. 1:16-17 Jesus made all things, and absolutely NOTHING was before him. So God the Father could not have been before him since he is definitely something! Is God a liar?

Col. 1:¹⁶For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:¹⁷And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Col. 2:⁸Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.⁹For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.¹⁰And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

There is only ONE God hat we shall worship, and JESUS allowed himself to be worshiped

It would have been so easy to quench the idea that Jesus is not God by showing Jesus correcting those who worshiped him, but not once did he do that. To Jesus will every knee bow and every tongue confess:

Isaiah 45:²¹Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.²²Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.²³I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Zech. 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Acts. 4:¹⁰Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.¹¹This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.¹²Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Did God cause a lying spirit to entice Ahab? – 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chr. 18

Apr29

God does not tempt anyone, nor does he cause people to sin

Is God pleased to put humans into impossible predicaments which he himself decrees and in which there is no escape? Only to turn around and send those poor people to hell for doing his exact will (by sinning)? How does that line up with:

Psalm 5:4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.

Ezekiel 18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

The Bible says that God doesn’t even TEMPT anyone, so how could anyone possibly suggest that God plays the role of Satan and causes people to sin, and even worse; pretend to be angry at the sin that he himself caused? Between Genesis and Revelations we cannot find one single case where God in any way causes/forces anyone to sin. IF 2 Chronicles 18 would tell us that God caused someone to sin (which it doesn’t) would this mean that God is the one who causes all people to sin at all times? Can every single sin under the sun be traced back to GOD? So every time we see people refusing to hearken to God and when they rebel against him, it’s really GOD who caused them to do this all along? So our Lord wants people to rebel against him? You must be joking…

James. 1:¹²Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.¹³Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.¹⁶Do not err, my beloved brethren.

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Numbers 14:22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have NOT hearkened to my voice;

There are a few occasions where God allows a group of evil people to be victorious over his chosen people Israel, and we can see Israel’s enemy gain the Lord’s reluctant permission (2 Sam. 24 and 1 Chr. 21) to go through with their desire to cause calamity. Israel’s enemy was of course set on destroying Israel from the start, so it wasn’t a desire that God planted in them.

Saul and evil spirits

God can absolutely send “evil spirits” (or rather allow Satan certain power) just like he did with Saul, but note that God doesn’t do this randomly to people for no reason at all. God chose Saul to be king but Saul ended up being selfish and wicked which resulted in that God repented of having chosen him. Due to Saul’s evil approach, God sent him an evil spirit – or rather allowed Satan to torture him through evil spirits, which boils down to the same thing. The reason for the presence of this evil spirit is therefore Saul’s, and not God’s.

1 Samuel 15:35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

1 Sam. 16:1 And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.—¹⁴But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.¹⁵And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.¹⁶Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.—²³And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

1 Samuel 18:10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.

1 Samuel 19:9 And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.

There is a difference between God ruling over the activity of demons and God ruling the activity of demons. God is of course more powerful than Satan and his demons. God can (albeit oftentimes reluctantly) allow demons to afflict men for various reasons, which is not to be compared with the idea that God plays dice and commands demons to torture people for no reason at all – or just because he can.

2 Chron. 18 and 1 Kings. 22 – and God trying to persuade Ahab to accept his warnings

1 Kings 22 below shows that God simply allowed King Ahab to do what he already wanted and had set his mind to – i.e., to listen to his false prophets. King Ahab of Israel twice complained to King Jehoshaphat of Judah that the Lord’s prophet Micaiah never says anything good about him but only speaks calamity. Ahab was not thankful for God’s warning to him which he chose to reject, and he was resentful once Micaiah gave him the word of the Lord. God extended even more patience toward Ahab by having Micaiah tell the king exactly what evil spirits had been doing to plot his downfall, but Ahab rejected this further warning as well. If God’s intent was to command demons to lie and deceive Ahab, why would He bother warning Ahab about it? What would be the point with trying to warn Ahab against the very disaster to which he was trying to entice him?!

When we read only certain phrases in 1 Kings 22 it may sound as though God is the direct causal agent to what happened, but if we are honest and read the whole context we get another picture. Micaiah says to Ahab: “Now therefore behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.” The word for “evil” in Hebrew may also be translated as disaster or calamity, and it’s not uncommon at all to see God punishing Israel (for their rebellion against him) by causing calamity to happen. This can easily be done by taking away his protective hand over Israel and by doing so allow the enemy to be victorious in their desire to conquer Israel – which their hearts are set upon. God is described by Micaiah as someone who has put a lying spirit in the mouth of the false prophets, while the context shows that God is doing this by permission and not by a commandment, and he even warns Ahab in the process. It’s an idiomatic way of speaking which the entire context of 1 Kings 22 demonstrates. “The Lord hath sent a lying spirit” is a stronger way of including God’s overall power than merely stating “God has allowed a lying spirit”. The lying spirit helps the false prophets to speak lies to Ahab about all that the king himself wants to believe about his future. God is not sending Ahab what He (God) wants but rather what Ahab wants! Certainly a bad choice by Ahab.

2 Chron. 18:¹⁸Again he said, Therefore hear the word of the Lord; I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.¹⁹And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.²⁰Then there came out a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith?²¹And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so.²²Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee.

Same story, but in Kings:

1 King. 22:¹⁹And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.²⁰And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.²¹And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him.²²And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.²³Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.

Note that God is asking “who shall entice Ahab?” and “wherewith?” when a certain spirit volunteered to do it and explained how he intended to do it. God did not take the other route by selecting a spirit and telling him “This is what I will cause you to do through predestination”, but instead he allowed/granted the spirit to do what he proposed to do which was what Ahab in fact asked for.

We can compare this with what happened to Job, and it’s clear from context of Job 2 that God merely allowed events to happen.

Job. 2:³And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.

God desired to allow Satan to have certain power, but it’s not certain that God wanted him to use the power the way he did. When God says that he ruined Job he speaks idiomatically as though he were the causal agent, despite that the context shows he was not. There is a “lost book” called “The testimony of Job”, and even if it’s not a canonical book and therefore cannot be totally trusted, it still provides a reasonable answer to why Job was even selected to go through all this pain at all (he more or less opened up for it himself). We know that Job’s life started out being very blessed just as the end of his life. His painful time happened somewhere in the middle and it was a parentheses in his life time.

God the Father did not FORSAKE Jesus on the cross – Matt. 27:46

Apr28

Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Did God the Father really separate himself from Jesus and abandoned him on the cross? Is it true that the Father could not even look at Jesus due to the sins of the world that Jesus literally bore in his body? Did God the Father PUNISH Jesus on the cross?

No these ideas derived rather late in our history (we can blame Anselm of Canterbury for most of them even if they were later established by the reformers), and God the Father did NOT abandon Jesus on the cross in any way. Wasn’t the plan and God’s own idea that Jesus would die for mankind? Why then would he abandon his son on the cross when Jesus was nothing but faithful and obedient UNTO DEATH? No, God did not contradict himself by first giving up his son to die for the world, only to cowardly look away when his son needed him the most. The Bible is clear that Jesus was NOT a sinner on the cross in any way, but he was totally clean and undefiled. Jesus was NOT punished by the Father and he did NOT literally bear our sins in his body. (See more in this article.)

Eph. 5:²And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Hebr. 7: ²⁶For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;²⁷Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

2 Cor 1:¹⁵For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain

In Matt. 27:64 it doesn’t say that the Father abandoned Jesus, but Jesus does ask a question in relation to being abandoned, and this question could of course be heard by those who stood near the cross. They could therefore hear yet another prophesy about the Messiah even if they didn’t quite realize it at that moment. There were many prophesies which came true in Jesus Christ and that includes this many faceted question that Jesus shouted out, because it’s a quote from one of King David’s psalms which actually relates to himself (Jesus). The psalm in question is about David’s call for God and his (David’s) initial pondering if his prayers are even heard. Nevertheless, David continues by declaring that God indeed is the one who listens, answers, helps and liberates people when they have a true heart and seek him. The case could be that Jesus’s feelings on the cross were overwhelming and that he shared some of David’s feelings those last horrible moments on the cross when he alone took his last painful breaths. He died for the sins of the world but it must have felt as though the whole world was against him. Jesus is God, but he is also a human being with feelings just like ours. Quoting this psalm was perfect, because it has given us a chance to go back to it and read about both King David and Jesus, and we get many details about what transpired on the cross despite that this psalm was written long before Jesus was even born. Just like King David’s own conclusions, Jesus knew that God DOES listen and answer even in our toughest moments.

Ps. 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?²O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.—5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were NOT confounded.6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.—¹¹Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.—¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.¹⁵My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.—24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; NEITHER HATH HE HID HIS FACE FROM HIM, BUT WHEN HE CRIED UNTO HIM; HE HEARD.

The next psalm is the famous Ps. 23 which starts with “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”. Would a true shepherd really abandon his own sheep and purposely turn his back on it?

Ps. 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

Isaiah 49:¹⁴But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.¹⁵Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Jesus is the Messiah who the Scriptures and the Prophets write about – God in flesh

Apr21

Jesus Christ is the Messiah

Messiah is a translation from the Greek word Χριστός (Christos) Strong’s 5547, and is used 538 times in the Bible, and it can also be translated as ”the annointed”. So Jesus Christ means Jesus the Messiah.

Jesus is identified as the Messiah several times in the Bible, so we can’t get around the fact that the son of Joseph and Mary was the promised Messiah that the Old Testament so often is speaking about through prophets and psalms.

Matt. 1:¹⁶And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.¹⁷So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

The well-known story about the wise men who looked for the star of Bethlehem, shows that they knew that the Messiah would be born there just as promised in the Scriptures. They expected the Messiah in form of a ”King” and a “governor“, which is a shepherd, and that’s exactly what Jesus was called several times. The Messiah was supposed to be come from the tribe of Judah – which is the tribe that Jesus came from.

Matt. 2: 1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,²Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.³When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.⁴And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.⁵And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,⁶And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. (Mika 5:2, 2 Sam 5:2, 1 Chr 11:2, John 7:42).

The people understood that the son of man is the same as the Messiah, and they asked Jesus how come he says that the son of man must be lifted up when the Scriptures say that the Messiah shall abide for ever. Jesus then tells them that he is the light that they must believe in, in order to be children of light and also that he will continue to be a light for them for a little while more.

John. 12:³⁴The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?³⁵Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.³⁶While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

Jesus equals the Messiah with the son of man, and when he speaks about his return to earth he warns us and tells us not to be deceived about who the Messiah really is, since it will be clear for everyone. If we feel any kind of uncertainty in this respect, it’s not the Messiah because his return will be like the lightning before all people.

Matt. 24:⁴And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.⁵For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.—²³Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.²⁴For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.²⁵Behold, I have told you before.²⁶Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.²⁷For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

If only God the Father is God and the only one to be given glory, then the holy Spirit should testify only of HIM (God the Father), but Jesus suggests that the holy Spirit testifies of HIM (Jesus).

John 15:²⁶But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of ME

Jesus Christ was crucified for the reason that he claimed to be the son of God, the Messiah and God in flesh. Jesus constantly connected the God name “I AM” to himself, which he does also in the below verses when he responds to the questions from the high priest. If Jesus wouldn’t be the Messiah, then a more truthful answer would be a “NO WAY! It would be blasphemy to call oneself for the son of God so of course I don’t do this!”, but that was not the response that Jesus gave, but rather ”I AM“. The high priest understood immediately that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy and rent his clothes, and the jews around him viewed him as guilty. Guilty of what? Blasphemy! To make oneself equal with God.

Mark 14:⁶⁰And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?⁶¹But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?⁶²And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.⁶³Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses?⁶⁴Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.

Also Paul equals Christ with Jesus – the one who God rose up from the dead and placed on his right hand side – just like the prophesies say in Scriptures. King David described it as ”The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand”, despite that the Bible makes it clear that there is only ONE Lord and ONE God. The trinity solves this problem beautifully. Both God the Father and Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords.

Acts 2: ³¹He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.³²This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.³³Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.³⁴For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,³⁵Until I make thy foes thy footstool. (Ps. 110:1)

Acts 18:⁵And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

John the Baptist calls Jesus for the lamb of God, and Andrew says to his brother that they have found the Messiah, and he leads Peter to Jesus.

John 1:³⁵Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;³⁶And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!³⁷And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.³⁸Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?³⁹He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.⁴⁰One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.⁴¹He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.⁴²And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

We can read about the lamb of God in Revelations, and we can read about people who sing to the lamb and also call him Lord God almighty, and King of saints. They say that he alone is holy, for all nations shall come and worship him. But God the Father is of course HOLY too, and that means again that they share the same godhead. Each person in a godhead can be holy.

Rev. 15:²And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.³And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.⁴Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

The Scriptures speak about Jesus Christ

Peter speaks about Jesus Christ and says that peace is given by him who is Lord of all. Jesus is the one who God ordained to be the judge of the living and the dead, and Peter says that all the prophets witness about him and explains that whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins.

Acts. 10:³⁶The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)—³⁹And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:—⁴²And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.⁴³To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

If we don’t believe in the one who the Father has sent, we are in big trouble. Jesus says that the Scriptures (that is the old testament) testify of him, and that Moses wrote about him. The jews who Jesus was talking to refused to believe that Jesus was sent by God and that means that they did not have his word abiding in them. If they truly believed Moses, they would also believe that Jesus is the one who he says he is. Even today there are many cults that refuse to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and coequal with God the Father.

John. 5:³⁷And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.³⁸And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.³⁹Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.-–⁴⁶For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.⁴⁷But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Paulus says that the law and the prophets are witnessing about a righteousness that can be given through faith in Jesus Christ.

Rom. 3:²¹But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;²²Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Jesus says here again that the prophets are writing about him, and he shows that the suffering that the Scriptures say awaits the Messiah is tied to him (Jesus) because he IS the promised Messiah, and he DID suffer for mankind on the cross. Moses, the prophets and psalms testify of Jesus, so when we read in these old books in the old testament we can see stories about Jesus Christ who – from their point of view – is yet to come in the future in the form of flesh. When we read the complete Bible today, including the new testament, this event has of course already happened.

Luke 24:¹³And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.¹⁴And they talked together of all these things which had happened.¹⁵And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.—²¹But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.—²⁴And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.²⁵Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:²⁶Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?²⁷And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.—⁴⁴And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.⁴⁵Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,⁴⁶And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:⁴⁷And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Jesus reads from the Scriptures in his home town, and says that what can be read in Isaiah 61 is about himself.

Luke 4:¹⁶And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.¹⁷And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,¹⁸The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,¹⁹To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.²⁰And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.²¹And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.²²And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;––⁸For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.—¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.¹¹For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Paul explains that Jesus is the stumbling stone for the jews, or actually for anyone who refuses to believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah, God’s son and God with us. Many cults are interested in raising up stumblingstones for us, and they are eager to teach that Jesus is not God in flesh.

Rom. 9:³²Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;³³As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (Isaiah 10:21-22)

Isaiah 8:¹³Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.¹⁴And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.¹⁵And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.¹⁶Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.¹⁷And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.¹⁸Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

Isaiah 28:¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

Paul reasoned with people and explained to them that the Scriptures speak about Jesus and that he must suffer as the Messiah, but also rise again. There is a division between those who believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah and those who don’t.

Acts. 17:²And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,³Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.⁴And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.

Below we can read in multiple places that the Scriptures speak about Jesus Christ as the holy one – the Messiah. God gives Jesus Christ GLORY – despite that we can also read in the Scriptures that God doesn’t share his glory with anyone. (This means Jesus must be God.) Moses explained that God would send a prophet “like unto me” (as a leader for Israel and for all people who would unite with them) and that it’s of great importance that we listen to this prophet who is the Prince of life, and who has the power to bring either life or judgment. Since eternal life is given through faith and obedience in Jesus Christ (Hebr. 5:9), which includes the acceptance that Jesus has come in the flesh (1 John. 4:2), some religious cults do what they can to teach the opposite message – that Jesus is NOT the Messiah nor God in flesh.

Acts 3:¹³The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.¹⁴But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;¹⁵And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.¹⁶And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.¹⁷And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.¹⁸But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.¹⁹Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.²⁰And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:²¹Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.²²For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.²³And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.²⁴Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.²⁵Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.²⁶Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Jesus was together with the israelites during Exodus

Jesus is the ROCK that followed the israelites during Exodus.

1 Cor. 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;²And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;³And did all eat the same spiritual meat;⁴And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.⁵But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.⁶Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.⁷Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.⁸Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.⁹Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

Jude 1:⁴For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.⁵I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

Easter is not pagan, and it’s PASSOVER in most countries

Mar29

Good Friday (“Långfredag” in Swedish = “Long Friday”) is connected to EASTER, but just because we choose to call one day of the week FRIDAY and the particular Friday connected to Easter “Good Friday”, it doesn’t mean that we celebrate or worship the Norse god Freya by doing so. I feel so much joy to think about EASTER (and Christmas, and Pentecost), and the fact that so many secular countries still maintain an Easter celebration with so much focus on Jesus Christ, despite that our Lord is very much removed from secular homes most of the time. Easter provides a great opportunity to make even atheists think about Jesus Christ – who died on the cross one day for about 2000 years ago – because he is the reason for this particular day whether they like it or not.

After Good Friday we celebrate Påsk which is “Easter” in English, and Påsk derives from the Hebrew name Pesach (in Greek it’s called Pascha) which means Passover. PASSOVER is something which is Biblical, is it not? Surely then, it’s not a sin to commemorate Jesus Christ through the Passover? The first Passover concerned the passover LAMB which had to shed its blood for the Israelites (who applied the blood on the door post) prior to the departure to the promised land – and it’s a picture/prophesy of Jesus Christ.

Ex. 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.14 And this day shall be unto you for a MEMORIAL; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

John 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

John 18:39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

1 Cor. 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Hebr. 11:28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

Every year there will be thousands of children asking their parents questions such as “Why do we call this day Långfredag?” “Why do we celebrate Påsk?” “Why did this Jesus have to die for us on the cross?”, and their parents will try to answer their questions even if they are agnostics! What an excellent way to bring Jesus into our homes! You can even see Jesus-films on TV, and if you listen to the radio you will sooner or later hear someone talking about Påsk and why we celebrate it. This is actually free “evangelism”poured out right into people’s living rooms, and to me it’s a puzzle why some christians would like to stop all this from happening.

Maybe this is not a big deal in countries like America where it’s still common to be confessing christians and where you talk about Jesus in Church or at home, but over here this particular holiday weekend (together with Christmas and Pentecost) might be the only chance some families have to hear about the gospel.

Every year there will be some well-meaning christians who warn others about Easter because it’s supposedly pagan, but they are confused about the name “Easter” (it’s not called Easter in most countries) and they don’t seem to think about the negative outcome related to their fight to eliminate Påsk/Passover from people’s homes. Remove this Easter holiday (and Christmas and Pentecost), and Jesus will soon be a very forgotten person for even more people. Is this really what we want? Instead of spending time warning about Easter, try to spend your time spreading the gospel about Jesus Christ! It’s of course no obligation to celebrate Påsk together with decorations of chickens, hens, rabbits, eggs, or whatever the man-made traditions might be.

Easter is allegedly derived from the Babylonian goddess Astarte (equivalent to the Assyrian goddess Ishtar), and this idea comes from an oft-cited 19^th-century book, The Two Babylons, by the Scots reverend Alexander Hislop. However, “Easter” doesn’t derive from paganism.

Do read this article from Christianity Today about the background of Easter and this article from Jonathan Sarfati about yet more details concerning Easter.

Excerpts from the links:

Hislop’s research is very shoddy in many places (Hislop is refuted in A Case Study in Poor Methodology). He tries to see paganism everywhere, on even the flimsiest grounds. In this case, he imagines a connection between Easter and Astarte purely on the basis of sound similarity, with not the slightest trace of linguistic connection or any borrowing. By this spurious method, one could connect the Potomac river with the Greek ποταμός (potamos), although there is no connection between the native American and Greek words. In reality, the word Easter is really Anglo-Saxon (sometimes Ester), not Babylonian. It was the common word for both Passover and Easter.

An example of the word meaning the Jewish Passover comes from a 1563 homily: ‘Easter, a great, and solemne feast among the Jewes.’ Anglo-Saxon itself is a Germanic language, and this is the genuine origin of the term Easter. Germans likewise used the word Oster or Ostern for both Passover and our Easter. E.g. when the Reformer Martin Luther (1483–1546) first translated the Bible into German (1545), he used a number of German words relating to this, such as Osterfest (Passover/Easter), Osterlamm (Passover lamb). E.g. compare Luke 22:1, 7. Even in modern German, the ‘das jüdische Osterfest’ means the Jewish Passover. In turn, this word comes from Ost, or the sunrising, i.e. East. In turn, this is likely to come from the old German word auferstehen / auferstanden / Auferstehung meaning rising from the dead/resurrection. Luther used these words as well, e.g. throughout 1 Corinthians 15. So the pagan derivation of Easter is conspiratorial fantasy. The word is Anglo-Saxon, and derived from the Germanic Oster meaning Passover, and is related to the words for Resurrection.

Tyndale was also responsible for introducing the word ‘Ester’ into the English Bible. John Wycliffe, who produced the first English Bible in 1382, had translated from the Latin, and left the word pascha basically untranslated and called it pask or paske. Luther occasionally did likewise, using the transliterated form passah. For example, in Lev. 23:5, he rendered ‘the LORD’s Passover’ as ‘des Herrn Passah’, and in Ex. 12:27, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord’ was ‘Es ist das Passahopfer des Herrn’. But when Tyndale prepared the new Testament, he followed Luther’s more common practice and used the most common word in his native language. That is, while Luther most often used Oster and its cognates, Tyndale used Ester and its cognates. Note, if the Hislop pagan derivation theory were correct, it would imply that the godly Tyndale and Luther before him were really calling Jesus the ‘Astarte Lamb’ or ‘Ishtar Lamb’.

But when Tyndale translated the Old Testament, he thought that it was anachronistic to use the word Easter for the Jewish feast. This is because, as above, the derivation of Easter comes from the resurrection, which had yet to happen. So Tyndale went back to the root of pesach, i.e. pasach, meaning ‘to pass over’, and coined the new term Passover.

So it is due to Tyndale, not to paganism, that some English Bibles have two different words, Easter and Passover, to translate a single Hebrew/Greek term. As the KJV was essentially the 5^th revision of the Tyndale Bible, and retains about 90% of its wording, it keeps this feature. But it more consistently applied Tyndale’s logic to retain Easter only for Acts 12:4, where the Christian resurrection celebration was in view not just the Jewish feast. For all other occurrences, the KJV translators used Tyndale’s new word ‘passover’. But this obscured the traditional meaning of Easter that included the Jewish Passover. Modern translations generally use only one word, Passover, to translate pesach/pascha.

The pharisees REJECTED the counsel of God, and God’s will can be thwarted (Luke 7:30)

Mar11

God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but people DO perish

God certainly doesn’t want anyone to perish, but things don’t always turn out the way God wants. God COULD of course force every single person to repent and get life in abundance but he preferred to create us as human beings in his own image (he actually said “our” image referring to the trinity) and with a free will which means that we have a personal responsibility for our own actions.

Ez. 18:²³Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

Ez. 33:¹¹Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

2 Peter 3:⁹The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Deuteronomy 8:20 As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; BECAUSE ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.

We can REJECT the will of God

Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

The pharisees and the layers REJECTED the counsel of God according to Luke.

Luke 7:²⁹And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.³⁰But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the COUNSEL of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. (KJV)

Luke 7:³⁰But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. (NKJV)

As you can see NKJV translate the same word with THE WILL of God, and also the KJV translators chose to translate the Greek original word with “the will” in the below verse:

Acts. 13:³⁶For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: (KJV)

“Counsel” and “will” are here translated from the Greek word boulén as in boulé (Strongs 1012) from boulomai, and it means counsel, decree, plan, motives, decision and/or purpose.

Below are the cases where this word is used in the KJV, starting with Acts. 20:27–31. Paul warns his disciples, the elders of the church in Ephesus who were naturally christians, that they must TAKE HEED unto themselves and to all the church which God had purchased with his blood. Acts 20:27–31 gives us the following information:

Individuals (the church or the body of Christ consists of individuals) can be lost despite being purchased with the blood of Jesus.
Despite that certain christians have been made overseers of a church by the Holy Ghost (who always leads us on the right path) there is still a risk that the individuals in the church will be lost, indicating that people don’t always adhere to the Holy Spirit.
Grievous wolves shall enter the body of Christ also from among themselves, with the aim to draw away disciples from the true church of God to themselves. This shows that some christians will at one point leave the sound teachings in the church and instead start to speak perverted things and deceive others who might also leave the true church. This is a lot more than a mere risk since Paul says that he KNOWS that this will happen, likely because he knows how man’s heart works.
False preachers who speak perverted things can apparently make christian believe in these twisted claims and some of them will become disciples of these false preachers and hence lose their salvation. The flock shall not be spared even though it was a true flock of God.
By taking heed and be careful we can affect the future and reduce the harm.
If people were chosen for salvation and damnation before the beginning of the world, Paul would be wasting his time by warning every one for night and day with tears – for three years! Paul should have known that no warnings or tears in the world can change God’s decrees which he made before he even created us, if such decrees were made. If God predestined certain people to be saved and others to be lost, then Paul has no business crying over those who God has chosen to damn, and those who are predestined to be saved will be saved regardless of Paul’s intense efforts. So Paul would actually be guilty of trying to thwart God’s plans by his constant warnings, pleadings and crying for people who already have their future written in stone. This speaks heavily against the reformed type of thinking.
We can affect the future with our prayers.

Acts 20:²⁷For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.²⁸Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.²⁹For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.³⁰Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.³¹Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Jesus showed himself to Paul and selected him to be doing his work by spreading the gospel (which Paul accepted), so would Jesus want people to listen to Paul? Yes, of course. Yes, here is one example among many that a certain centurion did not listen to Paul’s advice, even if what Paul said didn’t concern the gospel but their own physical safety.

Acts 27:¹¹Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.¹²And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.—⁴²And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.⁴³But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:

Here is the famous Ephesian 1:11. (See more here.) Paul is writing to the saints in Ephesus, and as saints they of course were IN JESUS and wonderful promises were tied to them since they had obtained an inheritance by choosing to be God’s children. The counsel of God’s own will might here concern his will that those who are in Jesus (naturally by their own choice) and endure to the end shall be adopted as children and inherit his kingdom. The conditions are that we believe, trust in Jesus and remain as saints. If 100% of all things under the sun always happen according to God’s will, then of course every murder, abortion, rape and divorce must also be according to God’s will, and every time people rebel against him. Clearly that is nothing but absurd, and Satan would simply be acting as God’s right arm.

Eph. 1:1 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:—¹¹In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:¹²That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.—¹⁸The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,¹⁹And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power

Only God is good, but here is an example of another “good” man (the same word) and that is Joseph. He can’t compare himself with the Creator, but he was still good and just:

Luke 23:⁵⁰And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just:⁵¹(The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.

Jesus was delivered by the counsel and foreknowledge of God. God the Father did not force anyone to betray or kill Jesus, but he knew someone would, and his death was also predestined to happen. There are numerous ways in which Jesus could die for us so Judas betrayal was not necessary at all, but he was first in line. Those hands who crucified Jesus were WICKED, which means that God certainly didn’t approve of what they did, and let’s not forget that it was Satan who entered Judas when Judas rose up to betray Jesus. God allowed it to happen of course, but he didn’t predestine Juda’s betrayal.

Acts 2:²²Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:²³Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

What God determined before to be done was to offer up his son to die for us, and we can also read that Jesus actually gave up his own life and that no one took it from him. He did not determine that Judas must betray him. Read more about Judas severe sin here.

Acts 4:²⁷For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,²⁸For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

If Jesus is the son of God and the many miracles he performed too, then it would be unwise to try to fight it back, which was the advice of Gamaliel. A Messiah is a Messiah no matter what we do.

Acts. 5:³⁷After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.³⁸And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

And a couple of more examples with boulé

1 Corinthians 4:⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.⁶And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

Hebr. 6:¹⁷Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:¹⁸That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us

We are being wise if we do the things the Lord says we should do.

Luke: 6:⁴⁶And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Make yourself a new heart, for why will ye die? (Ez. 18:31)

Mar6

God can clean us up and give us a new heart, but in order for him to do this we must choose to repent, come to him and place him as No 1 in our lives. WE are actually asked to cleanse, purify and circumcise our own hearts (which we can if we cast away our sins).

Ezekiel 18:31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Isaiah 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

Jeremiah 4:⁴Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Jeremiah 4:¹⁴O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

Amos 4:6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

Ezekiel 24:¹³In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.

Deutoronomy 10:¹⁶Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

Acts 7:⁵¹Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

Matt. 23:²⁶Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

2 Timothy 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

To be regenerated is to be cleansed. We are not clean before we come to Jesus and repent for our sins, and we can’t get the Holy Spirit unless we are born again and have purged hearts. We must choose to come to Jesus to be born again and leave our old man behind. John the Baptist preached about repentance for the remission of sins, and Jesus picked up after him and did the same – by preaching about repentance and faith in him as the promised Messiah and son of God. Jesus work was to call sinners to repentance so that they could get life and he taught his disciples – and all of us – to continue preaching this gospel throughout the whole world. The path that you should walk is 1) come to Jesus and believe in him and his work on the cross 2) confess your sins and repent 3) you’re now cleansed, purged, regenerated and born again 4) you’re given the Holy Spirit as a Helper. A person can never be considered clean as long as his sins are not washed away, and the Bible doesn’t teach “once cleansed, always cleansed”. We must endure to the end to be saved.

Mark 1:4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

Mark 1:¹⁴Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,¹⁵And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Matthew 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Luke 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Luke 24:⁴⁶And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:⁴⁷And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.⁴⁸And ye are witnesses of these things.⁴⁹And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Matt. 28:¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Thanks to Jesse Morell for the below concerning regeneration after faith

Regeneration requires consent and cooperation. A man’s free will must be synergistically involved in his regeneration. God cannot change a man’s character without the cooperation of the man himself. That is why God said, “I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged” (Eze. 24:13). This is because unless a man is willing to have his moral character changed, it will and cannot be changed. It is impossible for Omnipotence to change a man’s moral character without the consent of his will because this would involve an intrinsic contradiction. Therefore, God and man both have an active role in regeneration. This is why the Bible says that God gives us a new heart (Eze. 11:19; 36:26), while also saying that men should make for themselves a new heart (Eze. 18:31). When a sinner’s will is changed from being disobedient to obedient, both God and the sinner have an active role in bringing about that change. God’s role is His gracious influence upon our will. Man’s role is the yielding of and obedience of his will.

Jesus said, “Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also” (Matt. 23:26). For Jesus to tell men to clean themselves on the inside (change their intention), takes for granted that it is their choice and that they can do this. Jesus was actually filled “with anger, being grieved, for the hardness of their hearts” (Mk. 3:5). This indicates that the state of man’s heart is man’s own fault, that the state of his heart is something which he causes and which he has control over.

The Bible even commands men to make unto themselves a new heart. God said, “make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die…” (Ezekiel 18:31). “Wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved” (Jeremiah 4:14). “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8).

What does it mean to change your heart? To change your heart is to change your intention. It is to change the motives for all your actions. It means that you are no longer living for yourself or have a selfish motive but are now living for God and the well-being of His universe, thus having benevolent motives.

Men are even commanded to circumcise their own hearts (Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4). Since they are commanded to do so, this means that it is their own responsibility and choice. To circumcise your heart means to repent or put off your sins (Col. 2:11). Therefore, to circumcise your heart means to repent of your sins but to have an uncircumcised heart is to have an impenitent heart.

When Stephen was open air preaching, he said to the crowd “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51). Stephen was rebuking them for disobeying a specific commandment, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked” (Deut. 10:16).

Why would Stephen rebuke them for being uncircumcised in their heart unless they were capable of circumcising their hearts? Why rebuke them for breaking a commandment unless they were capable of obeying the commandment? Why rebuke them for having uncircumcised hearts unless having such hearts was their own free choice? Why would he rebuke them for resisting the Holy Spirit unless they were capable of yielding to the Holy Spirit? Unless they were capable of doing these things, why rebuke them for not doing these things?

Stephen seemed to take for granted or assume the ability of his audience. He blamed them for their impenitent which must mean that their impenitent was their own free choice. You cannot rebuke a man for something which is not his choice. A man cannot be blamed for that which is beyond his control or for what he cannot help.

Ingen är GOD utom en och det är Gud? Är alla andra onda?

Feb27

Endast Gud är God? Eller inte ens Jesus?

Matt. 19:¹⁶En man kom fram till Jesus och frågade: “Mästare, vad skall jag göra för gott för att få evigt liv?” ¹⁷Jesus sade till honom: “Varför frågar du mig om det goda? En är den Gode, och vill du gå in i livet, så håll buden.”

Markus 10:¹⁷När Jesus fortsatte sin vandring, sprang en man fram, föll på knä för honom och frågade: “Gode Mästare, vad skall jag göra för att ärva evigt liv?”¹⁸Jesus sade till honom: “Varför kallar du mig god? Ingen är god utom en, och det är Gud.

Lukas 18:¹⁹Jesus sade till honom: “Varför kallar du mig god? Ingen är god utom en, och det är Gud.

Först så kan jag bara kortfattat säga att Jesus på inga sätt argumenterade emot att han själv (Jesus) inte skulle var Gud. Den unge mannens kommentar “gode mästare” var träffsäker eftersom Jesus ju är Gud som kommit i köttet, så det var alltså Gud själv som den unge mannen frågade om råd vad gäller det eviga livet. Om Jesus förnekade att han själv skulle vara god (eller Gud) skulle förstås saken hamna i ett annat läge, och vi skulle ha en lång rad Bibelmotsättningar eftersom Jesus på många ställen beskrivs som Gud (se andra bloggartiklar i ämnet).

Men nu till poängen om godhet. Finns det verkligen endast EN som är god (Gud) och ingen annan? Betyder inte det att alla andra är onda? Människor? Änglar? Kanske t o m djur?

Ingen kan förstås mäta sin godhet med Gud själv, och det kanske är det som Jesus syftade på när han ställde en motfråga till mannen om han verkligen förstod innebörden av sin egen fråga. Visserligen kanske vi inte lever i total perfektion från födelsen till döden, men det betyder inte att vi inte kan vara “goda”. Om vi omvänt oss från våra synder och blivit helt renade och pånyttfödda så har vi ju 0 (noll) synder kvar och borde därför vara goda så länge som vi fortsätter att leva rättfärdigt. Bebisar borde betraktas som “neutrala” (vare sig goda eller onda), men man skulle kunna säga att de är “goda” också eftersom de som sagt inte gjort något som kan kallas ont.

Jesaja 7:¹⁶Ty innan pojken förstår att förkasta det onda och välja det goda, skall det land för vars båda kungar du ängslas vara övergivet.

Rom. 9: Innan barnen ännu var födda och innan de hade gjort vare sig GOTT eller ont, sades det till henne: Den äldre skall tjäna den yngre.

Vidare ansåg Jesus att hans lärljungar (som ju redan syndat) och vi andra kan vara fullkomliga som Gud Fader är fullkomlig:

Matteus 5:48 Var alltså fullkomliga, såsom er Fader i himlen är fullkomlig.

Han kan självfallet inte mena att “fullkomlig” betyder “att ha levt ett fläckfritt liv utan en enda synd”, eftersom han samtalade med sina lärljungar som inte gärna kunde göra sina synder ogjorda. Ändå kan vi alltså vara fullkomliga som Fadern enligt Jesus. Det har alltså med hjärtats inställning att göra.

Jesus erkänner själv att det finns andra goda människor i Bibeln

“God” är i Matt. 19:17, Mark. 10:18 och Lukas 18:19 (där det står att ingen är god utom Gud) översatt från det grekiska adjektivet ἀγαθός (agathos Strong’s 18) som betyder ungefär god, generös eller vänlig. Det finns andra ord som kan beskriva goda och rättfärdiga människor, men om vi ska koncentrera oss på detta ord så finns exempel på där andra människor beskrivs som goda. Josef och Barnabas är två exempel:

Lukas 23:⁵⁰Nu fanns där en rådsherre vid namn Josef, en GOD och rättfärdig man

Apg. 11:²⁴Barnabas var en GOD man, uppfylld av den helige Ande och tro. Och en stor skara människor fördes till Herren.

Bibeln beskriver i liknelser och analogier att människor kan vara goda:

Matt. 25:²¹Hans herre sade till honom: Bra, du GODE och trogne tjänare. Du har varit trogen i det lilla. Jag skall sätta dig över mycket. Gå in i din herres glädje!—+ ²³

Lukas 19:¹⁶Den förste kom och sade: Herre, ditt pund har gett tio pund till. ¹⁷Då sade kungen: Bra, du GODE tjänare. Eftersom du har varit trogen i det minsta skall du härska över tio städer.

Matt. 22:⁹Gå därför till vägskälen och bjud till bröllopet alla som ni träffar på.¹⁰Tjänarna gick då ut på vägarna och samlade alla de mötte, både onda och GODA, och bröllopssalen fylldes med gäster.

Matt. 7: ¹⁷Så bär varje gott träd god frukt, men ett dåligt träd bär dålig frukt. ¹⁸Ett GOTT träd kan inte bära dålig frukt, inte heller kan ett dåligt träd bära god frukt. ¹⁹Ett träd som inte bär god frukt blir nerhugget och kastat i elden. ²⁰Alltså skall ni känna igen dem på deras frukt.

Matt. 12:³⁵En GOD människa tar ur sitt goda förråd fram det som är gott, och en ond människa tar ur sitt onda förråd fram det som är ont.

Matt. 5: ⁴⁵Då är ni er himmelske Faders barn. Han låter sin sol gå upp över onda och GODA och låter det regna över rättfärdiga och orättfärdiga.

Det finns t o m goda slavägare på den här tiden:

1 Peter ¹⁸Ni slavar, underordna er era herrar och visa dem all respekt, inte bara de GODA och milda utan även de hårda.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20)

Feb11

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20

Something in this world that is considered evil must surely be SIN, and sins are committed by individuals. SINS are related to darkness, and darkness is the opposite of light. If we try to teach others that sinners are still considered righteous in the eyes of God – as long as they are born again believers – because he can only see the blood of Jesus and not their sins, then the woe above is actually addressed to us. Then we are in fact saying that sin is not evil enough to make us lose our salvation over it and that we are still labeled righteous (because “Jesus paid for our sins and we are already forgiven” or “once saved always saved” – or some other unbiblical terms).

The best example of someone calling evil “good” is when Satan managed to fool Eve into believing that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would be a GOOD and wise thing to do even though GOD had declared that it was BAD to eat of this tree and against his commandment. Satan suggested that Eve could be as GOD if she ate of this tree and Eve decided to give it a try thanks to the assurance from Satan that she would NOT DIE if she DISOBEYED GOD! So what God declared wrong – and therefore EVIL – Satan declared GOOD. God prohibited Adam and Eve from eating of this tree and this means that acting to the contrary of his command would be a SIN. God assured Adam and Eve that they would DIE if they ate from it and Satan said the exact opposite. Isn’t it rather common today that pastors and evangelists repeat Satan’s lie and teach others that sins will NOT separate us from God (as long as we are christians)? Satan’s lie can be presented in many forms so be on your guard!

Genesis 2:17 [God says] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof THOU SHALT SURELY DIE.

Genesis 3:4 [Satan says] —YE SHALL NOT SURELY DIE: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

It was of course not the fruit in itself that was bad. The reason why eating of this fruit was bad was because God forbade it, likely because this rule would actually force Adam and Eve to make a stance on whether or not trust and obey God each time they passed this tree – just like a simple test which wasn’t difficult to obey at all. This means that the sin they ended up being guilty of was that they DISOBEYED GOD and by doing so REBELLED against him. So it was DISOBEDIENCE that was the SIN, and God said that SIN leads to DEATH. In Adam and Eve’s case it was both a physical death (no longer access to the tree of life) as well as a spiritual death, and we will all die spiritually if we sin. Teaching the opposite (for instance trying to exempt christians from this rule) is to repeat Satan’s lie.

Perhaps you have been in a church where the pastor in a similar way assures you that you shall NOT DIE if you SIN because you are eternally and unconditionally secure in your salvation once you’ve become a child of God (+ if you sin “habitually” it shows that you’re “not saved to begin with”). Have you ever heard someone declaring to you that “sinning will only make a true christian lose his RELATIONSHIP with God but will never risk his soul” and “God will not see a true christian’s sins but only the blood of Jesus”? Then this pastor is deceived and at risk for being a person who calls evil “good”. Malachi 2:17 tells us that we can dissatisfy our Lord by suggesting that a person who sins is still GOOD in the sight of God and that God still delights in him and that he will not judge him for his sins. The opposite is true:

Malachi 2:17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

It’s actually rather common for pastors to declare that a christian is fine and off the hook (from the risk of being judged and punished) as long as he is a born again christian. There is of course FORGIVENESS to get for a person with a truly repentant heart – because our Lord is mighty and always ready to take us back into his arms – but it’s dangerous for the soul to be told that sins will not separate us from God. Instead we should encourage each other to not give into temptations, and to not stray from the road to Heaven by sinning. Temptations can be hard enough as they are and we don’t need anyone patting us on our backs, assuring us that everything is well with our soul despite our sins:

James 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way SHALL SAVE A SOUL FROM DEATH, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

I’m aware of that pastors could have been fooled about this (major) issue just like Eve was, and just because a pastor is wrong about this he could still be right in many other areas and even lead many people to God (praise God for that), BUT the fact remains that this pastor needs to be taught about the true ways of God so that he can repent from his false teachings and be an even more useful tool to spread the gospel. Many of us (like myself) have incorrectly believed all kinds of false teachings and even taught them to others, but we have also chosen to stay corrected by scripture and amended our ways. Unfortunately, there are pastors who are not willing to listen and learn but they prefer to close their ears and continue to deceive people into believing that we can have our sins and our salvation too, because this is what people out there would like to hear.

Example of a person who teaches that evil is good

If someone claims that what Satan did to Eve (fooling her to sin by assuring her that she would not die) was actually something GOOD and even predestined by God, then this person is definitely a person who calls evil “good“. To claim that an activity that God calls wrong and evil for something “good” is simply dangerous. John Calvin taught that Adam and Eve were predestined BY GOD to fall and that means that in order to be consistent with his own teaching he must call EVIL for “GOOD” since God’s own actions couldn’t be evil. I’m sorry if you dislike that I bring him up, but we are told to expose false teachers now when souls are at stake.

“God NOT ONLY foresaw the FALL of the first man, and in him the RUIN of his posterity; but also at his own pleasure ARRANGED it” .(John Calvin (Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 3, XXIII)

“The first man fell because the Lord deemed it meet that he should.” (John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 23, Paragraph 8)

“Creatures are so governed by the secret counsel of God, that nothing happens but what he has knowingly and willingly DECREED” (John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 16, Paragraph 3)

“We hold that God is the disposer and ruler of all things, –that from the remotest eternity, according to his own wisdom, He decreed what he was to do, and now by his power executes what he decreed. Hence we maintain, that by His providence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also THE COUNSELS AND WILLS OF MEN are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined.” (John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 16, Paragraph 8)

“thieves and murderers, and other evildoers, are instruments of divine providence, being employed by the Lord himself to execute judgments which HE has resolved to inflict.” (John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 17, Paragraph 5)

“The devil, and the whole train of the ungodly, are in all directions, held in by the hand of God as with a bridle, so that they can neither conceive any mischief, nor plan what they have conceived, nor how muchsoever they may have planned, move a single finger to perpetrate, unless in so far as he permits, nay unless in so far as HE COMMANDS, that they are not only bound by his fetters but are even forced to do him service” (John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 17, Paragraph 11)

“But since he foresees future events only by reason of the fact that he decreed that they take place, they vainly raise a quarrel over foreknowledge, then it is clear that all things take place rather by his determination and bidding.“ (John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 23, Paragraph 6)

King David says:

Psalm 38:¹⁸For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.¹⁹But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.²⁰They also that render evil for GOOD are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.

Who will be greatest in heaven?

Those who say that it’s impossible to obey the ten commandments and that we have no option but to sin once in a while until we die? Those who say that a person can only be righteous if God declares him righteous in the midst of his unrighteousness? Those who claim that too much obedience to Jesus is legalism, pharisaism and salvation by deeds and something to flee from? Those who teach that we are saved by faith ALONE? Those who teach that we should not expose false doctrines but compromise with the scriptures in order to not cause division? No, those who DO (obey) the commandments and who also teach others to do the same will be called GREAT in the kingdom of heaven.

Matt. 5:¹⁹Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.²⁰For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Those who do the opposite – teach men that it’s hard or impossible to obey God’s commandments – will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Note that Jesus doesn’t teach here that sinners will at least GET IN to God’s kingdom despite their sins. He continues to say that our righteousness must EXCEED the righteousness of the scribes and the pharisees in order to get into the kingdom of heaven. So why does it appear as though we can enter the kingdom of heaven in v. 19 (albeit being called LEAST) despite acting in the wrong way? There might be evangelists who are deceived and who teach the wrong doctrines once in a while without being aware of it, and they might NOT live as they teach. A deceived pastor might for instance teach that we are born with a sinful nature and “once saved always saved” without being a filthy sinner himself, and he might do a lot of good deeds for the kingdom of God through evangelism and hard work. The question is how interested he will be to change his doctrines once being shown from the Bible that he is in error? Will he be open for correction or will he close his ears and continue to spread errors? God can see our hearts and our intentions. Just pray that God will show you the truth and that you live your life so that you won’t risk to be called LEAST in the kingdom of God, or even worse; that you won’t enter the kingdom at all due to sin.

I can add that it’s just as bad (or worse) to know the right doctrines and still be very lazy when it comes to sharing the gospel to others and rather sit at home and complain about the failures of other christians.

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Tag Archive | god

CALVINISM – the teaching that God is the author of sin and that even babies are sinners

The only true God in John 17:3 does not exclude Jesus

Did God cause a lying spirit to entice Ahab? – 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chr. 18

God the Father did not FORSAKE Jesus on the cross – Matt. 27:46

Jesus is the Messiah who the Scriptures and the Prophets write about – God in flesh

Jesus Christ is the Messiah

Easter is not pagan, and it’s PASSOVER in most countries

The pharisees REJECTED the counsel of God, and God’s will can be thwarted (Luke 7:30)

Make yourself a new heart, for why will ye die? (Ez. 18:31)

Ingen är GOD utom en och det är Gud? Är alla andra onda?

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20)

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