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Bible Study: The Book of the Messenger
[Malachi] THE BOOK OF MALACHI By Neville V. Stevens New International
Version used throughout unless otherwise specified. The curious thing about this Book is that the author is unknown. You would search the Bible in vain to find
a prophet by the name of Malachi. The
Book was written at the time of the building of the This Book speaks of a messenger called ‘Levi’ and naturally
enough, he’s from the Tribe of Levi. The LORD God Almighty has called to duty
the Tribe He chose as His own
to be the firstfruits
to all All that can
be said with certainty is that the Book of Malachi was written some time after
Ezra and Nehemiah were commissioned by Cyrus, the ruler of the Medes and
Persians, to rebuild the The Book of Malachi deals
with a period when the At the very outset, the
Book of Malachi compares Jacob (and his descendants) with Esau his
brother. God loves Jacob and hates
Esau and He makes this very clear. God
makes scathing remarks about Esau and his descendants who live in close
approximation to the And now we’ll begin the study: Mal 1:1 An oracle: The word of the LORD to The historic
facts are that ten of the Tribes
of Israel abandoned God and were finally sent into captivity and have
never returned to God and His City of Jerusalem. They were later termed as ‘the
lost sheep of Believing
themselves to be Gentiles, most Christians today don’t believe what Jesus
said. They seem to believe He said He
was sent only to Gentiles.
But their twisted reasoning becomes even more bizarre than this. The Mormons would have you believe that the
American Indians are the ‘lost’
tribes of More wars were
fought in the name of Christianity than any other religion – the sole
exception being Islam. Throughout the
years of ‘The Reformation’ (1400’s to 1800) the first blush of
enlightenment came to Europe when the traditions of One thing that
both sides agreed on was that Judaism was to be outlawed, and that the Jews
were a natural enemy. The Jews were generally
ostracized in most communities in Yet it also
served the interests of both Catholicism and Protestantism to ostracize the
Jews. In this way, they prevented any
Christians from adopting Jewish customs which were anathema to both sides of
Christianity. As the printed
Scriptures became more readily available to Christians, many things were
brought into question, and some small isolated groups began to form, who believed
that they had a duty to obey God rather than man. Generally speaking, history is silent about
these people though they were usually tagged as ‘Judaisers’. Some of them found a safe haven in remote
places like the Alps in Yet throughout
the period of The Reformation, there was an enemy which was common to
all. This was Islam. The common catalyst for combining all of The bargaining
chip of unifying Across the length
and breadth of the earth, Islam is becoming problematical to all nations, but
their declared hatred is most vehement against Christians and Jews. From the earliest times, God made a
distinction between those who loved His City Jerusalem and the Promised Land,
and those who didn’t! The beginnings
of this may seem inconsequential, but it began with the birth of Jacob and
his brother Esau. God loved Jacob but
hated Esau, and the reasons for this are very evident in the way things
unfolded. The opening chapter of the
Book of Malachi begins with this reality. The Book of
Malachi begins with a statement by God concerning His hatred for The importance of
the one who was younger, that is, Jacob, was to provide the progeny for Abraham to enable him to
become the father of many nations. This was confirmed by God in Gen 17:3-8
“Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4
"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5
No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for
I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make
you very fruitful; I will make
nations of you, and kings
will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting
covenant between me and you
and your descendants after you for the generations to come,
to be your God and the God of your
descendants after you. 8 The whole From the very outset,
Jacob’s brother Esau had no
favour with God.
There was an incident which gives us some understanding why: Gen 25:29-34
“Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came
in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob,
"Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is
why he was also called While Esau’s view was
shortsighted, Jacob took the long view.
Jacob was seeing a country
of his own where his children could live in peace. Like his forefather Abraham, he saw this
fulfillment a long way off, and embraced it.
Yet Jacob too, like his forefather Abraham, never lived to see that
day. He later died in In many ways,
Christianity has become like Esau.
Christianity is famous for its hope of short-term gains. They are not prepared to serve God in
anticipation of His promises, they want their rewards now, and they want them
to be unconditional. They make the
point that Jesus Christ died for them, and so they want the same reward as
Him. They bypass all suggestions of
service to God and demand their assumed entitlements now. We’re seeing this all the time now. When a Christian’s loved-one dies, they are
convinced they’ve gone straight to heaven.
Never mind that Jesus said no-one has ever gone into heaven except
Himself: John 3:12-13 “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not
believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13
No one has ever gone into heaven
except the one who came from heaven--the Son of People tend to assume too
much! On the one hand they expect God
to exercise love and give them what they want, but they are not prepared to honour Him with obedience. Jesus Christ was obedient to God even to
the point of giving His life, yet they see no obligation on their part to do
anything except for occasional lip-service.
It seems a little one-sided, doesn’t it? Do Christians today long
for God’s Kingdom and a country of their own in the Promised Land? Do they even consider the Mal 1:2 "I
have loved you," says the LORD.
"But you ask, `How have you loved us?' "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?"
the LORD says. "Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I
have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the
desert jackals." You only
have to see how the Edomites live in Mal 1:4 We find another
indictment of God proceeds to give a
timely warning to this demon
and
his treacherous brood: Obad 1:12-15 “Because
of the violence against your
brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. 11 On the day
you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered
his gates and cast lots for God’s warning to Esau
continues: V13
“You should not march through the gates of my
people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity
in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their
disaster. 14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down
their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.” And which day would this be?
The answer is found in V15 “THE DAY OF THE LORD is
near for ALL NATIONS. As you have done, it
will be done to you; your
deeds will return upon your own head.” This DAY OF THE LORD just happens to be the same
DAY OF THE LORD – which is
spoken of in Mal
4:5 “See, I will send you the prophet
Elijah before that GREAT
AND DREADFUL DAY OF THE LORD comes. 6 He will turn
the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to
their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with
a curse." This
last phrase means total destruction.
If Elijah failed in his duty, God would bring down the curtain on all
of humanity. And just something
additional to ponder concerning the hearts
of the fathers in relation to Elijah, we find this in 1Kings 18:36-37
“At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and
prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham,
Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I
am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37
Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that
you, O LORD, are God, and
that you are TURNING THEIR HEARTS BACK AGAIN." Both the fathers
and the children are from the House
of Israel, and this will become very evident in the GREAT AND DREADFUL DAY OF THE LORD. The purpose
of Elijah is to turn the hearts of the House
of Israel back to God. You’ll
notice that the churches of this world do nothing to accomplish this. Firstly, they don’t know who the House of Israel is – they actually
believe them to be Jews. And secondly,
what do they believe this means? Do
they actually turn the hearts of the House of Israel back to God? The meaning of this is actually explained
in Mal 4:4 “Remember the LAW
OF MY SERVANT MOSES, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb FOR ALL ISRAEL.”
This is something the churches have been resisting for hundreds of
years! It’s from all of And just to conclude some
items of relevance in the Book of Obadiah: V17 “But
on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will
possess its inheritance. 18 The house of Jacob will
be a fire and the house of
Joseph a flame; the house
of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume
it. There will be no
survivors from the house of Esau."
The
LORD has spoken.”
And as further evidence that the Prophecies of the Prophet Obadiah
relate to our day, we find this in V21 “Deliverers will go up on And now we know why the
LORD God hates the house of Esau. Esau
had the opportunity to love the LORD God as a Father – just as Jacob
did. But just like Cain,
Esau hated his brother, and
as the Apostle John points out, Cain,
belonged
to the devil (1John 3:12), and so did Esau! Today, Esau is neither Christian nor Jew;
instead he worships a foreign god.
That god is Allah! Esau is one
hundred percent Muslim! The weird thing about
Islam is that they try to emulate the Jews in many ways through a perversion
of the Scriptures. They crafted their
religion selectively on the teachings of Judaism. Instead of keeping holy the Sabbath Day (Saturday), they opted for a day early
and chose Friday. Learning that the
Jews won’t eat pig meat, they adopted this too. They’ll eat any other forbidden filth,
which the Jews don’t eat, but the ban on pig meat was considered
sufficient to falsely emulate the Jews.
It was all a part of their satanic deception to claim rights to the
holy places of God. Apparently they’ve
forgotten how Esau blew their entitlements for a bowl of lentil soup. But this doesn’t phase
them; they still believe they have rights to everything belonging to
Jacob. This was verified in a
conversation the Lord Jesus had with one of these deceptive people. It involved an interesting exchange between
the Lord Jesus and a pagan woman, and it involved Jacob’s well: John 4:4-12 “Now he (Jesus) had to go through The
conversation continues to progress: V19 “Sir,"
the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,
but
you Jews claim that the place where we must worship
is in Of course, this is not
the sort of discussion you might hear in the average church. Church-goers are likely to find themselves
bombarded with castigating remarks against the Jews. Preachers tend to emulate this Samaritan
women and the type of logic she exhibited.
If Christians claim to worship Jesus Christ, then they are not
following His instructions very well are they? Even the Apostle Paul stated that there is much advantage in being a Jew
(Rom 3:1-2). He continued by saying, “First of all, they have been entrusted with the very
words of God”. Yes, it
was the Jews who preserved the only Scriptures of that day – the Scriptures that Jesus
and all the Apostles used.
These are the very Words of
God that Christians have dismissed as unprofitable for their doctrine. As far as doctrine is concerned, today’s
Christians see the New Testament as their only source of doctrine. Not all Christians, of course, but only the
fake ones who don’t emulate Jesus Christ – or the Jews for that matter! As far as being the KIND OF WORSHIPPERS the
Father seeks, there’s enough blame to go around! For instance, not all Jews fall into this
category either! Many of them are
content to live comfortable lives far away from their homeland of Christianity believes
that the God of the Old Testament was the Father. They repudiate the God of the OT because He
doesn’t comply with their expectations.
The truth is that Jesus Christ was the God of the OT, and He was the One whom the Jews
worshipped and continue to do so today. While they may not have known it, they’ve
been honoring the Father by worshipping His Son – the only true God they ever
knew! Christians, on the
other hand, dishonor the Father by repudiating the Son as the Creator God of
the OT. As a Son, Jesus Christ
honored His Father. While He was on
earth, He constantly made reference to the Father and even confirmed that His
Father was greater than He. Because of
their lack of Spirit
and Truth, Christianity would disagree with Jesus in this
matter. They continue to ridicule the
God of the OT because they believe this was the Father. This demonstrates that they know neither
the Father nor
the Son! Mal 1:6 "A
son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I
am a
father, where is the honor
due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is
you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, `How have we shown
contempt for your name?' Let’s
be clear about one thing! Jesus Christ
came in the Name of the Father, the LORD
Almighty, and spoke in His Name.
He confirmed that the words He spoke were not His own, but
the Father’s. John 14:23-24
“Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey
my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24
He who does not love me will not obey my
teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” The Father and the
Son don’t come and physically live, or make their home, in the true worshippers; rather their
Spirits do, and those with
a double portion of God’s Holy Spirit have both the Father and the Son dwelling in
them. True worshippers worship
God in Spirit and in Truth! Jesus
clarified this even further in John 14:9-11 “Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even
after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen
the Father. How can you say, `Show us
the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and
that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living
in me, who is doing his work. 11
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at
least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” Jesus did all the
miracles by the power of the Father
living in Him. So what about the
Christians who show contempt for the Father and see Him as being inferior to
Jesus Christ? Well they certainly
don’t have the Father living in them!
Would they qualify to be priests of God? In every sense of the word they would
not! Jesus Christ serves as the High
Priest to the Father, and He serves in a Sanctuary
in Heaven. If you want to know
what this Sanctuary looks like, then see the description of the Tabernacle
which Moses built. The layout and the
furnishing of this is the exact copy of the one which is in Heaven. The Book of Hebrews gives us some more
information about this in Heb 8:1-12 “The point
of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at
the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.” No-one should imagine that true worshippers would worship
the Father in any other way! As we all
know, it was the Levites
who were appointed to serve in the Sanctuary right here on earth! It was Aaron and his sons who were the
priesthood. After they had died, the
descendants of Aaron were appointed to this duty. The priests were chosen
by ‘course’, and there were 24 courses
during the year (1Chron, chapters 24 thru 26), the high priest
was chosen through the line of Aaron. The
rest of the clans of Levi were appointed to other Going back again to Heb 8,
we read this: V3
“Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for
this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he
would not be a
priest, for there are already
men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve
at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.
This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See
to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the
mountain." 6 But the ministry Jesus has received
is as superior to theirs as the covenant
of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better
promises.” If Jesus was on earth today, He would not
be a priest, because there are others who perform this function. These are the men who offer the gifts prescribed by Law. The ‘gifts
offered’ refers to the animal sacrifices. This is what is offered on the Altar. These sacrifices were primarily bulls, heifers, goats
and lambs, and provision
was also made for doves. These were all pointing to something
else. And they obviously don’t
all point to Jesus Christ! The
Passover Lamb, however, did! We’ll
leave this aside for the moment. We’re still
talking about God’s Covenant He made to Abraham, the promise about his descendants
becoming in number like the stars in the sky, and who would be established
forever. This Covenant was also
confirmed to Moses. V7 “For if there
had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been
sought for another. 8 But God found
fault with the people and said: "The time is coming,
declares the Lord, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of So what we’re
saying is this: The sacrifices made by the Priesthood were to atone for the
sins of the people – thereby sparing them from death. When death comes to all who have
sinned against God and refused to obey Him, then the original purpose of the
animal sacrifices will be complete. So
the time is still coming when God will make a new Covenant with the House of
Israel: V10 “This is the covenant I will
make with the house of And now God begins to
speak about animal sacrifices in the Book of Malachi, and makes a comparison
about righteous offerings and detestable ones. We’ve already pointed out what these
sacrifices represent. For example, the
Lord Jesus was offered as an unblemished Lamb of God. He is the Passover Lamb who took on the
sins of the world in order to save it from total destruction. Had He failed, then God the Father would
have erased all life from earth. The
death angel would have been sent with ten
legions of angels to accomplish this task: Matt 26:53 “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of
angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled
that
say it must happen in this way?" Jesus Christ had this option, which He
never used. He loved this creation and
wanted it to survive. He knew He had
to fulfill
what is written in the Scriptures,
that is, the Old Testament! The sacrifice
of the Lamb of God was
acceptable to God and the creation was spared. If you think this is not so, then just
remember what happened in the days of Noah!
The destruction of this creation is still an
option! Yet because of the
faithfulness of His Son Jesus, God has made provision for many to follow Him
and be just like Him. This
is the kind of worshipper the Father seeks! Bearing all
these things in mind, we now come to the animal sacrifices – which represents
‘believers’. Would anyone represent themselves by
offering a defective animal? If they
offered a blind one, what would this indicate to God? What about crippled or diseased animals –
would they represent you? These are not
the sort of offerings God is willing to accept! Those who offered defective animals are
clearly demonstrating what they are! Mal 1:7 "You place defiled food on my
altar. "But you ask, `How have we defiled you?' "By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible. 8
When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When
you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor!
Would he be pleased with YOU?
WOULD HE ACCEPT YOU?"
says the LORD Almighty.” Well
God won’t accept YOU either! If you make an offering to God, then it had
better be a good one! Anything short
of Holy and righteous is not acceptable to God. Mal 1:9 "Now
implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, WILL HE ACCEPT YOU?"--says
the LORD Almighty.” If you want
to be the kind of worshippers the
Father seeks, then you had better have something to offer. Jesus Christ offered Himself as the
Passover Lamb – a Lamb without blemish!
This is the sort of goal that each true worshipper should be setting
for themselves. If you’re like the
blind leading the blind, then you have problems. If you’re an emotional cripple, sobbing for Jesus to impress others in a carnivalized, theatrical church setting, then you’ve
completely lost the plot! God doesn’t
call His true worshippers to act like idiots!
If anyone’s mind is so diseased
with this emotional sickness, then why would God accept them? Note the Jesus Christ was lucid
right to the end, and was still taking care of important matters, like the
care of His mother Mary by His disciple John (John 19:26). Just to put a few things
into perspective regarding true worshippers and Christians. Jesus’ sacrifice as the Passover Lamb
opened a new and better way for true worshippers to enter the And now we
need to understand the significance of the tearing of the We pick up
the story in Heb 10:11-31 “Day after day every
priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat
down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool,
14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever THOSE WHO ARE BEING MADE HOLY.” If we are going to be made holy, then first we must stop
sinning! The importance of this made
very clear when we get to V26. V15 “The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about
this. First he says: 16 "This is the covenant I will make with them
after
that time, says the Lord. I will put MY LAWS in their hearts, and I
will write them on their minds."
17 Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will
remember no more." 18 And where these have been forgiven,
there is no longer any sacrifice
for sin.” For those
interested, the Holy Spirit
testifies about these things in Jer 31-31-33 – which, you’ll note, is
the Old Testament! In fact, Jesus and
all the Apostles and Saints taught from the OT. These were the only Scriptures
that existed in that time. And now we come to the
eligibility of the Saints
to be a part of the Levite Priesthood and the reasons why. V19 “Therefore,
brothers, since we have confidence to enter
the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us
through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest
over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us
from a guilty conscience
and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold
unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who
promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one
another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up
meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one
another--and all the more as you
see the Day approaching.” This day
that is approaching is the
day when God makes a New Covenant
and
puts
His Law in their hearts and writes them on their minds (see V16 above). So does
this mean that Christians can go on sinning and doing as they please in the
interim? Here’s the answer: V26 “If we deliberately keep on sinning after
we have received the knowledge of
the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
27 but only a fearful
expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses
died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29
How
much more severely do you think a man deserves to be
punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an
unholy thing the blood of the
covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30
For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"
and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God.” You don’t mess with the Mighty Warrior of
the Order of Melchisedec! If you deliberately go in sinning, then the
same raging fire will consume you as an enemy
of God. Just remember that
Jesus said that those who are not with Him are against Him (Matt 12:30). Drawing
attention now to what is said above: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after
we have received the knowledge of
the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
27 but only a fearful
expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” By continuing to deliberately sin after we have received
the knowledge of the Truth,
no form of sacrifice can redeem you.
You can’t reject knowledge and still continue with God’s favour. In fact,
in Heb 6:4-6
we’re told it’s impossible! For
the Saints, who come under the umbrella of the Lord Christ’s sacrifice, no
further animal sacrifices are necessary.
But what of those who are not Saints and who have not
received the knowledge of the Truth? Sin
is the transgression of the Law of God, or as the NIV version puts
it, sin is lawlessness (1John 3:4). God is the Great Lawmaker, and if we don’t
obey His Laws, then we are sinners. God never gives His Holy Spirit
to anyone who refuses to obey
Him. They, believe it or not, are
still under the Old Covenant,
which
requires animal sacrifices.
Heb
9:15 “For this reason Christ is the
mediator of a new covenant,
that those WHO ARE CALLED
may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a
ransom to set them free from the
SINS committed under the first covenant.” Until someone is CALLED to God’s service, they are still under the Old
Covenant, along with the penalty for the sins
committed under this Covenant.
They remain under the pall of this penalty, and the penalty is death. In many ways, these
hundreds of millions of Christians are just like the Jews, who have not
been sanctified by the Blood of Jesus Christ either! The Jews, however, are aware of their
responsibilities to God through animal sacrifices, but without a As the Apostle John
rightly points out, the reason
why Jesus appeared was to destroy the
devil’s work. The devil
presently rules over the creation on the earth and the vast majority of the
people living on earth belong to him.
The Great Lawgiver is a God of justice,
and the final outcome for delivering justice would occur once Satan had killed
the very Son of God. This murderous
act would be the trigger for destroying the devil’s work. This is what justice is, and justice must
be seen to be done. We just read this
in Heb 10:13
“Since
that time he WAITS for his enemies to be made his footstool” –
and this will usher in the next stage of justice. The appointed time for this was to be the
end of Satan’s six thousand year reign.
The Seventh Millennial Day belongs to God, and it’s in this Day that
the Lord Christ is to reign, during which, He will destroy the devil’s work –
totally and completely – and the devil and his angels will be imprisoned for
a thousand years. That is, during the
period of God’s Seventh Millennial Day.
God’s enemies are all those who refuse to obey
Him. The devil’s work includes all his offspring or children who
have been doing his work. There’ll be
a cleansing of the earth that no-one could imagine. Well the Jews got it
wrong 2,000 years ago. Their
expectations were that the Messiah would begin to reign in their day and
destroy all their enemies. It didn’t
happen! Christians, on the other hand,
to this very day, still don’t believe that the Messiah will fulfill the
prophesied events foretold about Him in these last days. What is more, they’re still just as hostile
to God’s Law as the devil. Why would
they have any expectation of being treated any differently from the devil and
his angels who rebelled against God long ago?
Would this demonstrate justice to the millions of holy angels who never rebelled
against God? They are not
expecting to see rebellious, lawless ‘saints’ living and reigning with
Christ for a thousand years! This
would make a mockery of justice! Because the Jewish people
live by God’s Law, they understand the meaning of justice. They expect to see justice, and they
continue to wait for this justice.
They continue to wait for the One anointed to this task. They have a well-founded expectation that
the Messiah will appear. When He does
appear, they will recognize Him, because He will fulfill all that is written
about Him. They know what to expect of
Him because His exploits are recorded in the Scriptures – the Scriptures that
Jesus Christ used! The question is, what
about Christianity? Will
they accept the Messiah who appears? We’ve just been reading about the King of
Peace ( Jesus Christ showed this
type of courage when He appeared on earth to face down Satan and his demons –
whom He knew in advance would kill Him. Abraham must have had this same expectation
when he rode into battle. The odds
were so great as to make victory seem impossible. Yet Abraham believed in justice and was
ready to lay down his life for it. Understanding
what you’ve just read, do you think God is impressed by effeminate
weaklings? All the great men of the Bible
were men who were strong and
courageous. In fact, these are
the very words of instruction that God gave to Joshua when he was about to
storm the We could speak about the
many strong and courageous
exploits of the great men of the Bible, including David. A very courageous man by any standard! Of all the armies of We should bear in mind
that these things occurred after the Levite Priest
Samuel had anointed David king over This is the same set of
circumstances that occurred in the time of Jesus. In His case, it was the religious leaders
who wanted to prevent Him from becoming the prophesied King. The one thing that the religious leaders
agreed on was that the Messiah would be a Son of David. And even though they tried hard to offset
this, they had to admit that Jesus was a Son of David. Their own
genealogical records confirmed this.
Yet they still refused to believe Him to be the Messiah, even though
David, whom they recognized as a prophet, had spoken of Him. The meaning of the title
“Messiah”
requires some explanation. It’s true
that it means the ‘Anointed One’, but
it means far more than this.
It was traditional to anoint the king over There were many anointed
ones in the Old Testament who had God’s Holy Spirit, including Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
and all the Prophets. Jesus Christ specifically mentions these as
the ones who will be admitted to the Kingdom of God: Luke 13:28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
and all the prophets in
the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.” All of these were
anointed with God’s Holy Spirit. All
the prophets had the expectation of the Messiah appearing, and they knew what
to expect when He did. Most dictionaries
of the Bible are very clear on what the OT has to say in regard to the
Messiah and what He intends to do. This is what the New International Dictionary of
the Bible has to say under the article “Messiah”:[Quote] “In the NT the Messiah
is “the Christ” the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew “Mashiah”.
Closely related to the eschatological character of the Messiah is his political
significance. He will destroy the world powers in an
act
of judgment, deliver This is the
clear picture of the mission of the Messiah as outlined in the
OT. So one can understand how the
Jewish leaders got it wrong. They were
expecting a mighty, all-powerful, all-conquering King who would sweep away
their enemies and establish the Here they
were in In the
follow-up to Jesus’ appearance at the Temple in the early stages of His
Ministry, it was assumed that He would purify
the Levites as indicated in Mal
3:1-3. As everyone knew, it’s the Levites who sit in Moses’ seat. The most famous Levite in that day was Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist, and he wasn’t currently sitting in
Moses’ seat! Instead the Scribes and
Pharisees were! This is the
very point made by Jesus Christ in Matt
23:1-7 “Then Jesus
said to the crowds and to
his disciples: 2
"The teachers of the law and
the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But
do not do what they do, for they do
not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads
and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift
a finger to move them. 5 "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their
phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they
love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the
synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to
have men call them `Rabbi.'” Here we see that the Jews had commandeered
the seat of Moses and were organizing and conducting the The Scribes and Pharisees
had gone to great lengths to position themselves well in the event the The Scribes and
Pharisees, and the Jewish people for that matter, were anxiously anticipating
the establishment of God’s Kingdom and the appearance of the Promised
Messiah. With the As Jesus told the
disciples, it was not for them to know the times or dates for the
establishment of the Kingdom to It was after receiving this
Holy Spirit, the
Counselor, that the
Apostles began to understand everything, and knew there would be a long wait
for the So where did
the Jews go wrong? They knew of the
requirement for animal sacrifices for nullifying the penalty of sins committed under the first Covenant, and
they duly carried this out – at least until the fall of the Christians
today can call themselves ‘spiritual’
As we’ve just
read in Acts, chapter 6, a large number of Jews and priests became
obedient to the faith.
There is no way on earth that these devout Jews and priests would have
believed that Jesus Christ had abolished the Law of Moses. And neither did any other Christian in
those days. The fact is, all these people became obedient to the faith following the Disciples observance
of the Feast of Pentecost
in 30AD, so they were still
observing God’s Holy Days – a fact which is conveniently overlooked
by mainstream Christians today. And yet the The whole House of Israel
is under the penalty of the sins committed under the first Covenant, with the
exception of a small minority in the Churches of God who do obey God’s Laws, and have duly
received the down-payment of God’s Holy Spirit. All the rest of them, including all the
other churches, are under a sentence of death – because the penalty for sin
is death! When the day of punishment
comes (and it is coming!), there will be no quick salvation from the
hands of the enemy. The service of
the Priesthood was on behalf of the people, and this service was done at the
Altar. It involved the offering of
animal sacrifices, including bulls and sheep and goats on their behalf. These were offered in mitigation of the
sins of the people to forestall the penalty of the Law. As long as this was done in righteousness
and solemnity, God accepted it and spared the people. Today we have
scoffers among Christianity who see no reason for animal sacrifices. As far as they’re concerned, animal
sacrifices belong in the primitive past, and such service to God is anathema
to them. The Jews, on the other hand,
know that when the And now we’re back to the
Book of Malachi, and you may believe that the following verses have no
relevance to this present day and age.
Generally speaking, the On the other hand, the
Jewish people fully expect the It’s in this context that
God begins to speak of Mal 1:10 "Oh, that one
of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires
on my altar! I am not pleased with you” says the LORD Almighty, "and
I will accept no offering
from
your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from
the rising to the setting of the sun. In
every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because
my name will be great
among the nations," says the LORD Almighty.” Here we see the reference to the Is it too great a burden
to offer an animal in place of themselves?
Apparently, these people who are bringing their offerings, are, themselves,
not acceptable to God. And what they
offer tells God a lot about them. Mal 1:12 "But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table,
`It is defiled,' and of its food, `It is contemptible.' 13 And you
say, `What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD
Almighty. "When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals
and offer them as sacrifices,
should
I accept them from your hands?" says the LORD. 14
"Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to
give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For
I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and
my name is to be feared among the nations.” It doesn’t matter what the nations
may think about animal sacrifices, the LORD God must be obeyed, and His
people must be seen in the sight of all nations to be worshipping Him with
great reverence as the Great King that He is!
Other nations worship their god as they see fit, but the Great God
Himself determines how He will be worshipped.
Those who disagree should keep their opinions to themselves. Mal 2:1 "And now this admonition is for you, O PRIESTS. 2 If you
do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name," says
the LORD Almighty, "I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your
blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your
heart to honor me.” PRIESTS? Which PRIESTS are being addressed here? Is there a priesthood already which is
supposed to be offering sacrifices? Yes
there is! What is more,
they are supposed to be offering the very best there is! They are supposed to offer themselves – unblemished
and without defect – just
like Jesus Christ! They must
offer themselves as living
sacrifices, and go as sheep to the slaughter. We go back to the Book of Hebrews to find
the details of this permanent
priesthood: Heb 7:22-25
“Because of this oath, Jesus has become the
guarantee of a better covenant. Now
there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from
continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a PERMANENT PRIESTHOOD.
25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who
come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede
for them.” Jesus Christ constantly intercedes
for this PERMANENT PRIESTHOOD
who
came to God through Him.
This is obviously speaking of the Saints
of God, who were called by God and freed from the penalty of their
sins by the blood of Christ. This is confirmed in Rev 1:5-6
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
6 and has made us to be
a KINGDOM AND PRIESTS to serve his God and Father--to him be glory
and power for ever and ever! Amen.” So this permanent Priesthood is closely associated with God’s Kingdom as well. The whole Book of Revelation is addressed
to the Churches of God (Rev 22:16). The function of
this PERMANENT PRIESTHOOD
is for the PRIESTS to offer
a sacrifice, and that sacrifice is themselves! In V1 of this chapter (2) of
the Messenger, God gives these priests
an admonition, and He’s gently warning them to listen to Him! In the past, they’ve vehemently refused to believe that God
requires them to go as sheep to the
slaughter. Why would they imagine
themselves to be more privileged than the Master – Jesus Christ? Even the Prophet David spoke of this long
ago: Psa 44:22
“Yet for your sake we face death all day
long; WE ARE CONSIDERED
AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” The Apostle Paul confirms this is speaking
of the If you are
thankful to the LORD God, then you will willingly lay down your life for
Him! And this is something the Saints
in the Remember what
was said in the Book of Hebrews about Jesus Christ having no other sacrifice so He offered Himself? Heb 8:3 “Every high
priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was
necessary for this one also to have something to offer.” The
PERMANENT PRIESTHOOD
appointed by Christ must also have something to offer, and since they are
bound to follow Jesus Christ, they must do as He did! Heb 7:27 “Unlike
the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day
after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He
sacrificed for their sins once for
all WHEN HE OFFERED HIMSELF.” This is the great privilege that Jesus has
given to the permanent priesthood
– they too can offer themselves
as a one-time-only sacrifice
for all their sins. It will end the
daily ritual of seeking forgiveness for our sins. By this single act of going as sheep to the
slaughter and following the example of Jesus Christ, the permanent priesthood will be made perfect. While all
this may be something new to the PERMANENT
PRIESTHOOD in the Churches
of God, there was a time when they had a leader who imagined himself [Herbert Armstrong] to be the prophesied “Levi” the one who is to
become the prophesied Elijah. He also
imagined that there was an elite in the Church of God that would not
be required to offer themselves as living sacrifices, but would depart to a ‘place
of safety’. Those who were inferior, however, would go
through the Great Tribulation, to be slaughtered! In other words, the worst of them
would be the sacrifice for God. Did
he ever get that wrong! Well, we’ve heard some of
the admonition for these priests
in the PERMANENT PRIESTHOOD,
but there’s more: Mal 2:3 "Because of you [you
priests] I will rebuke your
descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you
will be carried off with it.” There
were descendants born in the Churches of God and they carried the same
baggage as their forebears. They
continue to elicit false hopes and have no idea of the meaning of sacrifices
and offerings! As Paul pointed out, if
you are willing to
go as sheep to the slaughter, then you will be more than
conquerors. There’s going to
be conquerors, who will
take the Kingdom by force. This is the
Kingdom which the sheep will inherit.
As the Potter, God makes different vessels for different purposes,
some for noble purposes and
some for common use (Rom 9:21). The priests,
whom God is addressing, should have known this! They also should have known their doctrine
was a bit thin when it came to understanding how the Mal 2:4-6 “And you will know that I have sent you
this admonition so that my covenant
with Levi may continue," says the LORD Almighty. 5
"My covenant was with him,
a
covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered
me and stood in awe of my name.
6 TRUE INSTRUCTION WAS IN
HIS MOUTH and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me
in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.” The true priesthood was always in
the hands of the Tribe of Levi
– from the very beginning. It was a
covenant that God Almighty made with Levi.
In fact, God took the
Levites as His very own in place of the firstborn of every Israelite woman: Num 8:13-16
“In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites,
AND THE LEVITES WILL BE MINE.
15 "After you have purified the Levites and presented
them AS A WAVE OFFERING,
they are to come to do their work at the Tent of Meeting. 16 They
are the Israelites who are to be
given WHOLLY TO ME. I have taken them AS MY OWN in place of the firstborn, the
first male offspring from every
Israelite woman.” This
is also confirmed by Moses in Num 3:44. The ‘messenger’
begins his ministry as the appointee of the LORD God Almighty, the Father of Jesus Christ: Mal 2:7 "For
the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction--because
he is the messenger of the
LORD Almighty. 8 But you [PRIESTS] have turned from the way and by
your teaching have caused many to stumble;
you have violated the covenant with
Levi," says the LORD Almighty. 9 "So I have
caused you to be despised and
humiliated before all the people, because you have not
followed
my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law." The Churches of God [the permanent priesthood] have certainly
been showing partiality in
matters of the Laws of God! In
fact, some have abandoned obedience to the Law altogether! There’s no further sacrifice for them, but
the others had better watch their step!
All priests
must be purified, and some require more purification than
others. Just be sure you don’t violate
God’s Law or there will be no way back for you! The days of dreaming and self-delusion are
over, and those who have shown
partiality in matters of the Law are going to be despised and humiliated. Mal 2:10 Have we not all one
Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the
covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another? Now that’s a good question! Why have the Churches of God dissolved into
separate groups? Groups that bicker
and fight over doctrinal issues as well as personalities! Did a different god create you? Or was it the same God? The personality issue should be resolved
and self-appointed leaders eliminated. They won’t be much good to you when you are
despised and humiliated –
they’ll be running in the other direction!
Did the Church members
note that they are all PERMANENT PRIESTS?
Who is the High Priest
then? Is it the self-appointed leader
in your Church – or is it Jesus Christ?
While new members must be taught and trained, this is the duty of
priests – not as overlords, but as fellow-servants of God and His High Priest
Jesus Christ. Jesus is the True
Shepherd – not any man! It’s these men
who have stood between the flock and the Good
and True Shepherd, and they
have done a lot of damage to the flock.
In truth, the flock will be on their own for
a little while, and under heavy persecution.
John
10:11-13 “I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The
hired hand is not the shepherd
who
owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks
the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away
because he is a hired hand and
cares nothing for the sheep.” And this is the reality! At that time, brotherly love for
each other must prevail. Be prepared
to lay down your life for your friends.
There is no greater love than this! (John 15:13-14). God called all these PRIESTS to be conquerors, but only a few of
them responded. All they’ve done for
many years is to argue and fight over doctrinal issues and partiality of the
Law. If this wasn’t enough, they
muddied the pool with their false prophecy offerings – all of which failed! It’s outrageous that all these so-called
prophecies either came from stories they made up or
from what they plagiarized from others. And now the whole world can see that their
prophecies were patently false! None
of these prophecies were supported from the Bible, and nothing they taught,
in this regard, had any support from Bible Prophecy. What is
more, none of these deceitful creatures ever admitted to their false
prophecies. After writing books and articles
galore on false prophecies, the best they could do afterwards was to admit
they were not prophets!
For seventy years the So it’s easy to see why
the focus turns back to Poor little Mal 2:11 So Poor little Mal 2:13 Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no
longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from
your hands. 14 You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD
is acting as the witness
between you and the wife of your
youth [ Here’s a quick reference
to what we’re talking about here: Zech 12:4-9 “On that
day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,"
declares the LORD. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Mal 2:15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his.
And why one? Because he was seeking GODLY OFFSPRING. So
guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth [ Mal 2:16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD
God of Don’t you just love
justice? Aren’t you tired of all the
weak and insipid placation of Islam?
Doesn’t it make you sick hearing all the whining about the so-called ‘Palestinians’? Every time these evil creatures blow up
Israelis, somehow through media spin, it’s all the
Israelis fault. Do any of these Muslim
swine deserve to live? If you answer ‘yes’ to this, then you are at odds
with God: Mal
4:3 “Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do
these things," says the LORD Almighty.” And He also says that “not a root or branch will be
left” (V1). You might also
recall that He said there will be no survivors in the house of Esau! Mal 2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you
ask. By saying, "All
who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them"
or "Where is the God of justice?" Well they’ve had nearly 70 years to deliver justice, but they always
stopped short of total victory. Why
did they stop when they were winning? To
the victor go the spoils! God
didn’t tell them to stop the attack!
Why didn’t they consult the Word of God and at least take advice from
the great warriors of the Bible. None
of these turned back on the day of
battle! Well, this is not
quite true – one actually did! Surprise, surprise! It was Ephraim! And they did it when they were fully
armed! Psa 78:9-10
“The men
of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle;
10 they did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his law.” Ephraim (America) is the one who
always forces Israel to withdraw when they are winning the battle. Since Ephraim doesn’t keep God’s Covenant, and refuses to live
by His Law, why should a nation like Israel, who complies with both of
these, be listening to Ephraim for advice?
It makes no sense at all! And what about dividing
up the spoils of war? Are the victors supposed to
give back the spoils after the war? We
have the example of the Temple
Mount and the Sinai
Peninsula – both of which were given back after the wars which Well, we’ve
been speaking of the permanent
priesthood, and their duty towards the High Priest of their
faith. We’ve stressed the need to
follow their High Priest Jesus Christ – and to not shrink back
from doing so. We’ve learned that
these people will be ‘more than conquerors’ if
they do as Jesus commanded. We’ve also
spoken of the conquerors, who will storm the As we just read in Mal 2:7,
Levi is that messenger who prepares the way for the
True Messenger of the Covenant. As we all know (or should know!) John the Baptist was the forerunner who prepared
the way for Jesus’ first appearance. But now we’ve come to the second
coming of Jesus Christ, and
preparations must be made. Mal 3:1 "See,
I will send my messenger,
who
will prepare the way before
me. Then suddenly the Lord
you are seeking will come to his temple; THE MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD
Almighty. What will all the
Christian nations – the nations of Mal 3:2 But who can endure the day of his
coming? Who can stand
when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a
launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver; he will purify the Levites
and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in
righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Reverting back to the
rescue of the rest of the Tribes of Israel, God first speaks of their
judgment. As we’ve just read in the
comforting words to God details some of the
things that led to this predicament, and the Judgment that God will inflict
on them: Mal 3:5 "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick
to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who
defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless,
and deprive ALIENS of
justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. We could speak at length about the ALIENS who longed for a country of their own,
which is mentioned in Heb 11:13-16 “All
these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive
the things promised; they only saw
them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they
were ALIENS and strangers on earth.
14 People who say such things show
that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If
they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had
opportunity to return. 16 Instead,
they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God, for he has
prepared a city for them.”
Heb 11
is called the ‘faith’ chapter, and it’s as well to understand that people of faith will be caught
up in the Great Tribulation and will be longing
for a country of their own. In
anticipation of this fulfillment, God
is preparing a city for them! The question now is, how will they return? In this, God is addressing all the descendants of Jacob –
the entire 12 Tribes of Mal 3:6 "I the LORD DO NOT CHANGE. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever
since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them.
Return
to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, `How are we to return?' Well may they ask! It should come as no surprise what God’s
answer is. The Tribes of Israel have
been lavishing money as foreign aid on God’s enemies, and actually arming
them and training them for their ultimate conquest of Jews and
Christians! Little wonder that God
describes Ephraim as being like a
deceived and senseless dove (Hos 7:11). A dove
is generally thought of as a peace-maker.
Ephraim hasn’t got a clue about making peace! Perhaps they should enquire of their God –
especially if they hope to return
to Him. God has confirmed that He
DOES NOT CHANGE. The means by which He deals with His
people, the descendants of Jacob,
is the same today as it ever was. If
He had changed, He might have destroyed them completely – especially since
they’ve turned away from His
Decrees and haven’t kept them. Mal 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you
rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?' "In
tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because
you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the
storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says
the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of
heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for
it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not
cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12
"Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a
delightful land," says the LORD Almighty. See how different things might have been? Instead, Ephraim is now tottering on the
brink of bankruptcy, and their disease has spread to all of God has stated it clearly
– the whole nation
is robbing Him! Which particular
nation is being targeted here? You might
have noticed a reference to vines,
vineyards and grapes in the above
quotes. This is what it’s referring
to: Isa 5:7 “The vineyard of the LORD
Almighty is the house of Mal 3:13 "You have said harsh things
against me," says the LORD.
"Yet you ask, `What
have we said against you?' Obviously they haven’t
been watching the news or they could have answered their own question. For starters, they deny Him as the Creator God,
and humiliate anyone who disagrees with them.
They hate God’s Law so much they remove any record of them from all
public places. Like rabid animals
they’ve legalized everything that is against
God’s requirements. Top of the list would be homosexuality, as
well as the harlot behaviour of people today at all
levels. And this is before we even get
to their violation of God’s Laws
– which God gave to Moses FOR ALL
ISRAEL! Of course, they don’t
suggest all their debauchery is godliness, instead they claim it’s futile to serve God: Mal 3:14 "You have said, `It is futile to serve God.
What did we gain by carrying out his requirements
and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed.
Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who
challenge God escape.'"
No, they don’t
escape! They just don’t realize
what they won’t escape from!
And neither should they blame God!
Everything they suffer will be of their own making, and there are vast
hordes of people on this earth who will be happy to increase the
suffering. You might have noticed they
are all in training and becoming battle-hardened to take care of their hated
enemy – Ephraim! In many cases,
Ephraim has provided the weapons! Have you ever watched the
waves coming in from the sea and how they follow one another? In some places in the Bible, God likens the
House of Israel to the sand on the
seashore. Perhaps this example
seems fanciful, nevertheless it’s true!
Expect to see wave after wave until the nation is destroyed. After lavishing money on
God’s enemies, how does the House of Israel ever expect to “RETURN TO GOD”? God gives the formula in V8! He demands that His tithes be paid into His
storeroom, so there will be provisions in His House. Don’t expect to be rescued if you don’t
provide for your rescuers! And who is
it that is authorized to collect the tithe?
It was Levi who was
appointed to collect the tithes. The
Book of Hebrews also confirms this in Heb 7:9.
God has talked about Levi
in this Book of Malachi, and has confirmed him as His messenger. Does
anyone seriously believe that God has appointed their local preacher to
collect His tithe? Are these preachers
delivering God’s message? These preachers don’t even know what
God’s message is! How is anyone ever going to return to God under their
tutelage? The Lord Christ appointed
a “permanent priesthood” in
the Churches of God. It’s their appointed duty to accompany the
House of Israel into captivity, and to set the example of Godly behaviour. They
must willingly follow Jesus Christ and go as sheep to the slaughter. This is their appointed role! They were made a “permanent priesthood” for the purpose of setting an
example to the whole House of
Israel in order to bring them back to God. God’s instruction to the House of Israel is
to stop
robbing Him. The Churches of God – the permanent priesthood – must
be the first to set this example!
Those who continue to rob Him can expect no justice! And now we come to the
place where God identifies His
servants. These do
pay God’s tithe and they don’t
rob Him. They’ve been faithful to God and are
therefore worthy of greater rewards along with God’s appointed messenger –
Levi! Mal 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD
talked
with each other, and the LORD listened and heard.
A SCROLL OF REMEMBRANCE was
written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and
honored his name. God’s Holy Spirit reports
back to God and He hears what His servants have to say. The Scroll
of Remembrance is a record of all those who have been given God’s
Holy Spirit. Since these servants have
been given greater responsibility, the Scroll
of Remembrance is also a record of those who were eligible to receive
the Spirit of Christ – which is the Counselor,
and which is also called the Spirit
of Truth (John 15:15-16).
These are the ones who fear God and live by His Truth. Mal 3:17 "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in
the day when I make up my treasured
possession. I will spare them, just
as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. 18
And you will again see the distinction
between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve
God and those who do not.
Serving God means something more
than mere lip-service! These
sons of God will be
required to offer real service to God and their duties are many, and their
responsibilities are very great! It
has to be said that the Sons of The following verses are
what we’re talking about! We’ve spoken
about burning up the surrounding nations like stubble – or “as flaming torches among sheaves”. These are the Muslim hordes who should have been dealt with years ago, but the
Christian nations have failed to do it.
They’ve allowed them to overrun the Mal 4:1 "Surely the day is coming;
it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant
and every evildoer will be stubble,
and that day that is coming will
set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not
a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you
who revere my name, the sun
of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and
leap like calves released from the stall. 3 Then you will trample down the wicked; they
will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD
Almighty. You are either with God or against
Him, and God makes no provision for those who
are luke-warm!
God loves whole-hearted people, and these are the sort of people that
God chooses as His servants. God has no
servants who don’t obey the Law
of Moses! Obedience to these
is the fundamental entrance point to becoming a servant of God. Mal 4:4 "REMEMBER the LAW OF MY SERVANT MOSES, the
decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb FOR ALL ISRAEL. Not only will those who refuse obedience to these Laws never
be a servant – neither will
they ever be rescued. They’ll DIE WITHOUT MERCY wherever
they are. This is the condition that
was established long ago. We quoted
this before, but here it is again: Heb 10:26-31 “If we deliberately keep on sinning after
we have received the knowledge of
the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will
consume the enemies of God. 28 ANYONE WHO REJECTED THE LAW OF MOSES
DIED WITHOUT MERCY on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29
How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be
punished who has trampled the Son
of God under foot, who has treated as an UNHOLY thing the BLOOD OF THE COVENANT THAT SANCTIFIED HIM, and who has INSULTED the
Spirit of grace? 30
For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"
and again, "The Lord will judge HIS people." 31 It
is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” God is going to judge
HIS people by these very
words! How could anyone read these
words and expect God to be gracious to them for rejecting the Law of Moses? It’s on this very basis that God will judge
HIS people! The guilty will die along with God’s
enemies! Mal 4:5
"See, I will send you the prophet
Elijah before that GREAT
AND DREADFUL DAY OF THE LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the
hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and
strike the land with a curse." And this is precisely what Elijah was appointed to do! And the first Elijah confirmed this: 1Kings 18:36-37 “At
the time of sacrifice, the prophet
Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham,
Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I
am YOUR SERVANT and have
done all these things AT YOUR COMMAND. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O
LORD, are God, AND THAT YOU ARE
TURNING THEIR HEARTS BACK AGAIN." In the concluding few
pages we’ll be speaking more about the Great
and Dreadful Day of the LORD, but Elijah had to come first, before
this Day begins. It’s his role to
confirm the Laws of God’s servant
Moses FOR ALL Satan and his demon
rulers were given six millennial days to do their work. They were given carte-blanch to rule over
God’s creation – including all the human beings, but with one exception. The children of Yet because the LORD God
remains faithful to His promises to the Patriarchs, and has not changed His
mind, the Children of Israel are not completely
destroyed. In fact they’ve survived to
become numbers like the sand of the sea.
In the Song of Moses,
we’re given an estimate of the numbers, and this is virtually one-twelfth of mankind: Deut 32:8-9
“When the Most High gave the nations their
inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of As we saw earlier in this
study, God says He is a father, and questions where the respect is for Him (Mal 1:6). Doesn’t it seem a little odd that the
children of the devil respect their father and are even willing to die for
him as martyrs? Satan has a penchant
for killing Christians and Jews, and at least some of his children support
him in this. Satan’s favoured brood, at the present time,
are Muslims and they are making their father proud. However, Satan is not known as a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. In fact, Satan’s ‘rewards’ about the 72 virgins is a ‘white’ lie, but he’s not letting on. Though you’d hardly think so, Satan does
have a sense of humour. There are probably howls of laughter from
him and his demons whenever one of these Muslim dopes straps on a suicide
vest. You can just imagine all the
funny one-liners! “Enjoy yourself in paradise.
The 72 virgins have prepared themselves for humiliation and
debauchery!” “If you run out of virgins let us know – we’ll send more!” “We’ve
left a parcel of Viagra for you in the wash-room when you get there.” “If your manly bits get blown off in the
explosion, don’t worry. We’ve arranged
for replacements.” “You don’t like teenage virgins – you like
them younger? No worries!” Booooom!! “Well
that was fun! What a shame we forgot to tell him the virgin story is only a
very funny white lie for our amusement.” Regardless of the
motivation of these Muslim lunatics, they are willing to
lay down their lives for their father the devil. They don’t need scriptural support to
motivate them, just word-of-mouth fables from their degenerate mentors, along
with a huge dose of carnality and a murderous resolve. It’s a game of one-upmanship that Satan
likes to play. His brood
are willing to die for him, but God’s people are not. Christians have the idea that no form of
service is required of them, yet they believe that rewards are “awaiting them in heaven” even though
Jesus confirmed His rewards
would
be with Him when He returns (Rev 22:12). Never mind that Jesus Christ set the example of going as a Lamb to
the slaughter in obedience to God.
Christians believe that no form of obedience is required of them. Yet the fact remains,
Satan’s brood are willing to die for him – even if it is only a fanciful
lie for the amusement of the father of lies.
Satan has managed to convince his cretinous
brood that he’s the Great God, and the God of the Christians and Jews, is
himself, Satan. What a bizarre
twist! It’s the old switcheroo which
you’d think would never work!
Incredibly though, it has worked, and it’s Satan’s modus
operandi. For instance, the Jews
worshipped the God of the Old Testament, believing they were worshipping God
the Father. In fact they were
worshipping the Rock, which is Jesus Christ (1Cor 10:3). Christians, on the other hand, refuse
to worship the God of the Old Testament, believing Him to be the Father –
whom they reject in favour of Jesus Christ.
They never understood that the One they rejected was
Jesus Christ! In truth, they have never known the
One they profess to worship!
Why then does anyone doubt that Satan is the author of confusion? His ‘bait
and switch’ routine has worked on Jews, Christians and Muslims! But not on the Saints! And this is where things stand today. Satan has convincingly deceived the whole
world. All except the Saints! The Saints
are also called the elect, and Jesus confirmed that it’s not
possible to deceive them: Matt 24:24-25 “For
false Christs and false prophets will appear and
perform great signs and miracles to deceive
even the elect--if that were possible. 25
See, I have told you ahead of time.” Unfortunately,
there are very few ‘elect’
Christians because there are few Christians who are Saints! Christians today
are easily deceived, and Satan has masterfully accomplished this. If you asked the average Christians about ‘salvation’ and what God plans to do,
you would hear the most sickening, syrupy, distortions of reality that anyone
could conceive. An unbiased observer
on hearing this would be drawn to wonder what sort of God they were
worshipping. If the observer were to
compare their ideas with the Bible, he would surely conclude they were
worshipping something other than the God of the Bible. He’d be bound to ask just what their God
was hoping to accomplish. He’d
probably be left absolutely baffled! Any
knowledgeable observer would realize that three-quarters of the Bible
stresses the need to obey God and His Laws.
Throughout the Old Testament, he would realize that God punished His
chosen ones whenever they began to disobey Him. Such an observer would also note that this
is the standard in our civil societies today.
Laws are enacted and punishments prescribed, and offenders are duly
punished. All the Western Christian
nations understand that there must be laws to govern human behaviour. Most
Christians obey these laws because they fear the penalty. If there were no penalty, then anarchy
would prevail, and the law would be paralyzed and useless. So most normal, rational people realize
that there must be effective laws to govern human behaviour. Christian nations didn’t come to this
conclusion by themselves. During the
dark ages, they observed for themselves the type of anarchy that prevailed
when there were no righteous laws governing human behaviour. The vulnerable were subjected to murder,
rape, theft and slavery, and no-one had certainty of life. During the course of centuries, laws began
to be enacted as the awareness of Biblical standards was adopted. Killing and robbing the defenseless had to
be prevented, and the authority of the Scriptures was used to this end. It was the message of the Apostles,
including Paul, which had, long before, penetrated No human
being in their right mind would suggest that any society could survive
without a system of law and order – together with enforcement
procedures. History itself confirms
the outcome in such circumstances.
There is no quality of life without suitable laws – even for
rulers. Remember the old saying, “Uneasy lies the
head that wears the crown!” Ruling
monarchs were smart enough to realize that if an attack came, they would be
relying on the common people for the defense of their realm. At such times, the loyalty of their
subjects was paramount. Perhaps it was
self-interest that led ruling monarchs to be seen as fair and just through a
system of laws where everyone benefited.
Nevertheless, in time of war it was obvious that the ruler had to have
the people with him or his head would roll on the battlefield. It was the
influence of Christianity that sculptured the European nations to be
different to all other nations. Parliaments were set up with representation
of the people, and monarchs were forced to listen to this legislative
body. It was in the Christian nations
of What proved
to be unique about the American system of government is the absence of a
royal or kingly line. After getting
rid of King George III, they didn’t want another king. This too, turned out to be prophetic: Hos 3:4-5 “For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince,
without sacrifice (there’s no religious sacrifices conducted
in America) or sacred
stones (As a matter of fact, they don’t worship ‘The Rock’ either), without ephod
(Levitical priestly robes) or idol (There are no official
religious idols that are worshipped – as there are in some countries. This also suggests that it wouldn’t
be a Catholic country, where the worshipping of religious icons is
commonplace. They do, however, have
sizable Catholic nations south of the border who are getting difficult to
keep out). 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their
God and David their king. They will come TREMBLING to the LORD and to his blessings IN THE LAST DAYS.” The word ‘TREMBLING’ used here is an indication
that something is wrong with their relationship with their Creator God. What could this be? As a Protestant Christian nation, they seem
to be lacking something. They’ve got
the civil side of things fairly well-balanced as a nation, and their system
of laws seems to work reasonable well.
In some cases, a little too well!
The right to liberty is being used more and more to beat others over
the head and infringe on their rights.
There seems to be no forgiveness or forbearance if someone imagines
they’ve been slighted or defamed. They
immediately seek redress through the law.
Well, there’s
going to be a lot of people TREMBLING
– and the Creator God made this clear thousands of years ago. Perhaps the reader would like to know
why. Believe it or not, it started in
the Garden of Eden, and it was a simple test
of obedience. Adam and Eve
were created beings just like the angels, and they were created
innocent. They didn’t know what sin
was until they committed it. They were
given unlimited choices but only one prohibition, and this involved a certain
tree and its fruit. It was a test of
obedience – whether they would obey
their Creator or not. And we all know
the outcome. It was Eve who reasoned
that the fruit seemed good to eat, yet knew it was forbidden. Eve, however, was willing to seek a second
opinion, and Satan was happy to oblige.
God, the devil suggested, was lying, and He knows that once you eat of
this fruit you will be like Him. You
won’t die as God has said, this is just another one
of God’s lies. God knows that eating
this fruit will open your eyes and make you wise. This was enough for Eve: Gen 3:6-7 “When
the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to
the eye, and also desirable for
gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.
She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7
Then the eyes of both of them were
opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves
together and made coverings for themselves.” It’s funny how people
believe themselves to be the purveyors of wisdom when they practice
disobedience to God’s instructions.
In practicing their disobedience to God, they assume themselves to be
wiser than God. Is the Great God of the Bible as stupid as Christians
make Him out to be? Why would any true
worshipper imagine that God
would allow them to decide what righteousness is? Well, true
worshippers don’t think this at all.
It’s the fake Christians who object to God’s Law. They don’t want God ruling over them! They want to be free to decide for
themselves how they will worship Him.
To this end, they insist that Jesus Christ
has abolished God’s Law, and they go even further than
this. There are maniacs today who
teach that you are under a curse if you keep the Ten
Commandments. Like lunatics, they say
that if you keep one of them, then you are obliged to keep them all. Their argument is that you mustn’t
keep any of them or else
God will be offended. Apparently,
according to them, God only loves disobedient children! To illustrate
how mad these people are, how do you not keep the Sixth
Commandment: “You shall not murder”?
Does everyone have to periodically murder someone in order to not
fall under their ‘curse’ for obedience to this Law? And what about the Seventh Commandment: “You
shall not commit adultery”?
How do you not keep this – in order to avoid their mythical ‘curse’? Now we’re getting closer to the bone,
aren’t we? If the opportunity presents
itself to these mindless creatures, they are sure to avoid their mythical ‘curse’
for obedience – by violating some other man’s wife! All in the interests of ‘righteousness’ you’ll understand! And of course, to avoid the ‘curse’
for obedience! How ‘wise’ these evil creatures are! Just like Satan! There are
Christians today who stand ready to kill anyone who obeys God’s Law. Some of the vilest persecutions in human
history down through the centuries have been committed by satanic forces posing
as Christians. It even became official
as kings and religious leaders combined to hunt down ‘heretics’ in a widely penetrating Inquisition!
Suspects were rounded up and tortured until they either confessed or
were killed. Though it was called the Spanish
Inquisition, its tentacles penetrated into all of In the Garden
of Eden, God had issued just one commandment, and this was “you shall not eat of that particular tree”. The penalty for violating this was that they
would lose their innocence, and they would die in the day that they did
it. And this is where the concept of a
millennial day comes
from. Adam died within that first
millennial day at the age of 930 years (Gen 5:5). There would be five more millennial days
before God’s Day of Rest comes. With
God’s work complete, He would set out to destroy
the devil’s work (1John 3:8) in the
Great and Dreadful Day of the LORD.
Speaking of destroying the
devil’s work, the Book of Hebrews adds more: Heb 2:14-16 “Since
the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so
that BY HIS DEATH he might DESTROY him who holds the
power of death--that is,
THE DEVIL-- 15 and free those who all their lives were
held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely
it is not angels he helps,
but Abraham's descendants.” So here’s a quick question: “Why
did Jesus come?” The answer, as
we’ve just read, is to DESTROY
THE DEVIL’S WORK – BY HIS DEATH! Jesus death was the final catalyst for ensuring the destruction of the devil and
his angels. It was the final outrage
that sealed their fate. In fact, we
find that Jesus visited some of these demons in the Abyss and triumphed over them. 1Pet 3:18-22 “For
Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but
made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also he went
and PREACHED TO THE SPIRITS IN
PRISON 20 who disobeyed long ago when God
waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21
and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of
dirt from the body but the pledge
of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right
hand--with angels, authorities and
powers in submission to him.”
Now Satan and all his demons know they are under submission to the
Lord Christ! This means they are under
the prescribed punishment
for their disobedience long ago. It’s
the triumph which came
about by Jesus death: Satan and his
demons have a long history of disobedience
to God – and so has Christianity!
All those who despise God’s authority will suffer the same fate – and
the Apostle Peter makes this very clear.
It may seem like a long diatribe, but it’s well worth taking notice of
it: 2Pet 2:4-22 “For if God did not
spare angels when they sinned,
but sent them to hell, putting them
into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not
spare the ancient world when he brought
the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of
righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them
to ashes, and made them an
example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and
if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by
the filthy lives of LAWLESS men
8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was
tormented in his righteous soul by the LAWLESS
deeds he saw and heard)-- 9 if this is so, then the Lord
knows how to rescue godly
men from trials and to
hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their
punishment. 10 This is especially true of those who follow
the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and DESPISE AUTHORITY. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid
to slander celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are
stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such
beings in the presence of the Lord. 12 But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand.
They are like brute beasts,
creatures
of instinct, born only to
be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13 They will be paid
back with harm for the harm they have done.
Their idea of pleasure is to carouse
in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14
With eyes full of adultery,
they
never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed--an
accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and
wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor,
who loved the wages of wickedness.
16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey--a beast
without speech--who spoke with a man's voice and
restrained the prophet's madness.” There are plenty of ‘prophets’ around today who suffer from madness! They
understand nothing, mouthing off with empty futile predictions and even think
God has revealed to them the date of the return of Jesus Christ. V17 “These
MEN are springs without
water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest
darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words
and, by appealing to the lustful
desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping
from those who live in error.
19 They promise them
freedom (especially freedom from God’s Law), while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has
mastered him. 20 If they have escaped the corruption
of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again
entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they
were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better
for them not to have known
the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn
their backs on the sacred command
(KJV and NKJV – Sacred Commandment[s])
that was passed on to them. 22
Of
them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit,"
and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." This certainly makes a mockery of the so-called
‘curse’
which lawless men love to
talk about! It’s these lawless men who are under the curse! This is the curse that come to lawless
men; men who despise the authority of God’s Commandments
and are slaves to depravity. There are people in this
world who believe that Jesus Christ is going to come back solely for the
purpose of destroying those who obey God’s Commandments.
In the madness of their depraved minds, they imagine that those who
obey God’s Law are insulting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! These lunatics seem to believe that Jesus’
death gives them the right to commit any depraved act they want, and Jesus
will respond with “Well done, you good
and faithful servant!” You can
understand why Peter called them “slaves of depravity”! It’s firmly established
that the Lord Jesus is going to destroy
the devil’s work. This
includes the children of the devil, whom the Apostle John spoke about: 1John 3:10
“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL are: Anyone who does not
do what is right is
not
a
child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his
brother.” What does
‘loving your brother’
mean? Jesus Christ clarified it: John 15:12 “My command
is this: Love each other as I have
loved you. 13 Greater love
has no one than this, that
he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends IF YOU DO WHAT I
COMMAND.” If you do as Jesus Christ commanded, then
you will be willing to lay down your life for your real friends, your Brothers of the faith. This is what Jesus did when He was
arrested. John 18:7-9 “Again he asked them, "Who is
it you want?" And they said,
"Jesus of Nazareth." 8 "I told you that I am
he," Jesus answered. "If
you are looking for me, then let these men go." 9
This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I
have not lost one of those you gave me." Judas Iscariot was not one of those
who God gave Jesus. Judas was a child of the devil! The day will come when true worshippers will be faced with this situation, and
they must step forward and lay down
their lives for their friends and Brothers – just as Jesus did! If you want the greatest love, then this is it! This type of faith is not acquired
through lawlessness! The question needs to be
asked, “Why didn’t God create mankind perfect right at the beginning and give
us interminable life without fear
of death?” The truth is that
He did – right at the beginning in the Garden of Eden. Mankind was created without sin, and their only
potential sin was disobedience. All Adam and Eve had to do was to avoid
eating the fruit of one tree. Yet as
we’ve already seen, there was an enemy present who is ever-ready to beguile
lesser beings. So how did the devil
become the enemy? Well, it happened
long before God recreated the surface of the earth. The present state of the earth is not how
God created it in the beginning. It
was not pock-marked with deep gorges or craggy mountains
in disarray. The landmass was not
formless and full of voids when God first created it. It was perfect and beautiful and perfectly
functional; so much so that the angels shouted with joy. Job 38:4-7 “Where were
you when I laid the earth's
foundation? Tell me, if you
understand. 5 Who marked
off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring
line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-- 7
while
the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” It’s clear from
this that the earth on which we stand
was created with a very specific form.
The landmass had a very distinctive shape with straight sides with measuring-line
accuracy. People speak
of the ‘beautiful’ mountains and
the ugly great scars on the earth such as the And so there
must be checks and balances, and the Prophet Isaiah speaks of these things: Isa
24:20-23 “The
earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so
heavy upon it is the GUILT of its
rebellion that it falls--NEVER
TO RISE AGAIN.” This outlines God’s
purpose and what He plans to do. The
following verses clearly nail those whom God holds responsible: V21 “In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above
and
the kings on the earth
below.” These are called the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm (Eph 6:12). V22 “They will be herded together like prisoners bound
in a dungeon; they will be
shut up in prison and be punished after many days. 23 The
moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before its ELDERS,
gloriously.”
The ELDERS of Mount Zion and Jerusalem are a
very special group of people. How
these elders come to prominence
will be discussed shortly. Human beings tend to make
vulgar assumptions about what their purpose is here on earth. There are many Christians who seem to
believe that God has waited six thousand years to accumulate people who hold
to the view that anyone who obeys His instructions are under a curse. Almighty God has already been through this
scenario with Satan and his demons who rebelled
against Him long ago. This same
‘spirit’ of Satan is alive and well in his offspring. If anyone is of the bizarre opinion that
any father would want disobedient children – then
they’re as mad as the devil!
All the great men of God obeyed God and this is what
attracted them to God’s attention. Now
we have so-called Christians who seem to believe all of God’s servants are
under a curse. These crazy Christians
actually believe that God is going to destroy everyone who wants to obey
Him, and give eternal rewards to those who refuse. The Apostle Peter was not kidding when he
spoke of the “filthy lives of lawless men”! Just to reinforce what
we’ve just said about the mountains and crevasses that scar the earth, God
has announced remedial action to repair it, and this was announced by the one
who came in the name of Elijah. That is, John the Baptist.
This is the message that John preached: Isa 40:3-5
“A voice of one calling: "In the desert
prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for
our God. 4 Every valley
shall be raised up, every
mountain and hill made low; the
rough ground shall become level, the
rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will
be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." This is also confirmed in Luke 3:4-6
in relation to John the Baptist. From
this we can understand that Elijah
is appointed to announce the re-sculpturing of the earth. The landmass of the earth will be
productive and only divided by rivers! There will be no useless mountain ranges or
any deep voids and canyons. The type of
architecture God created in the beginning is what He plans to restore. A full description of what happened to the
earth can be found here: http://www.zionministry.com/geology1.html Now why would God do this
restoration if He intended for all human beings to live in heaven – or hell –
as the present fiction suggests? The
Creator God created the earth to be inhabited, and to this end, the But what about the
two-thirds of all the angels who never rebelled against God but remained
faithful and obedient? Naturally
enough, God has made provision for them to continue to live and work as they
have always done. The only difference
will be a new order of
things (as the Book of Hebrews points out – Heb 9:10). This New
Order is the Order of
Melchizedek which we spoke of earlier, which supersedes the Order of Aaron. The New
Order is the attainment of perfection
which will only be found in the Family of God. Heb 7:11
“If perfection
could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis
of it the law was given to the people), why was there still need for another
priest to come--one in the order of
Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?” The answer to
this question is that the time would come for perfection, and the symbolism of the sacrificing of
animals would be superseded by the real thing, when bulls (nations, or more correctly, the Tribes
of Israel) would be sacrificed and the ‘sheep’ would be sent to
the slaughter. Just as Jesus Christ’s
sacrifice was real, so must the sacrifice of His disciples. They must be tested! All that Christianity speaks about is
getting ‘saved’ and they seem to
have no sense of duty towards their Creator God at all. This is why they must be tested! Not only will their words be tested, but
also their works. Qualification for
entering the On top of
this, the Order of Aaron takes
a new role. They must now be warrior priests in the Order of Melchizedek. This is the New Order that is spoken of. Elijah and the Levite Brotherhood are of
this caliber, and they are prepared to fight for God’s Kingdom. The enemy is already at work fighting to
take the Kingdom by trying to expel the Jewish Israelis. Does any rational person believe that God
won’t order retaliation when the There are a
lot of sanctimonious, hypocritical Christians today who seem to believe that
God’s enemies have rights to His Holy Land.
This is the enemy who has openly declared that all Christians and Jews
must be killed and wiped off the face of the earth. Do these hypocrites truly believe that they
would be gaining God’s favour by favouring this murderous enemy? Even in our day, we are seeing churches and
Synagogues being burned down in Muslim countries, and we are seeing
Christians and Jews routinely slaughtered there. So how do you suppose that God would feel
about such things? More to the point,
how would He view those who see nothing wrong with the killing of Christians
and Jews? Every Christian who holds this
view is totally unfit for God’s Kingdom, and what is more, they will never
make it into God’s Kingdom! Those who
are not with God
are
against
Him! As such, they are His enemy just
as surely as His enemies of old! For those who
like to pretend that all human beings are precious, perhaps they’d like to
hear God’s take on this! This is
stated in the Book of Isaiah, in the very chapter that describes the
appearance of John the Baptist as the Elijah: Isa 40:17 “Before
him all the nations are as
nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than
nothing.” The Creator God has valued the nations as
less than nothing and totally worthless! Each and
every human being has had their one shot at life, and while some may hope for
more, why would they imagine that they have this entitlement? Rewards
are given for services rendered,
and anyone who has never served God can
expect no rewards, either now or in the afterlife. The nations of this earth have no
future! From the very outset, God
promised them nothing. While it’s true
that God made provision for some of them to be grafted into the Olive Tree,
accordingly, they were required to live
according to the Law given to the Olive Tree; that is, the Tribes of Israel. Failure to do so would result in them being
pruned out. The Apostle Paul makes
this very clear: Rom 11:17-27 “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though
a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among
the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18
do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not
support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then,
"Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20
Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21
For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not
spare you either.” Paul is
actually speaking to Gentiles
(see V13)
and warning them not to be arrogant about replacing the real branches of the Olive Tree. In other words, they must not start acting
like prima donnas! Instead, they
should be very afraid of losing their position! V22 “Consider
therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but
kindness to you, provided that you
continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
23 And if they [ So we can be cautiously
optimistic for the Gentiles, provided they live as God commanded the Tribes
of Israel to live. Paul was speaking
of a future time when the deliverer
will come from But what of the vast
hordes of Gentiles who live on the earth today? The vast majority of them are not
true worshippers but
pagans. Does God intend
to extend an Olive Branch to them?
Absolutely not! They don’t
belong to God! They belong to the
devil, and they do the devil’s work!
Yet God does gather
where He hasn’t sowed (Matt 25:26), and He has called some Gentiles to
duty. And there is a reason for this,
which the Apostle Paul points out in Rom 11:11 “Again I
ask: Did they [Israelites] stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not
at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles TO MAKE So let’s
establish one important point here!
The Tribes of Israel are the only family which God chose from all the
families of the earth: Amos 3:1-2 “Hear this word
the LORD has spoken against you, O
people of Israel--against the whole
family I brought up out of Egypt:
2 "You only have I chosen of all the families
of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all
your sins." There are no other
families chosen by God – only the Family of Israel! For those who disagree with God on this,
consider who the 144,000 are! Most
Christians today seem to believe that God no longer has any interest in the ‘lost
sheep of Even the Gentiles must
be grafted into this
Tree! You may also have noticed that Christians
seem to believe that the Jews are the whole House of Israel, when they are
only one Tribe – the Tribe of Judah! Sometimes you have to wonder if these
Christians have ever read the Bible.
As the saying goes, ‘Ignorance of the law is no excuse’. Christians who speak like idiots should
expect to be treated like idiots, and this is precisely how their enemies are going to treat
them when God punishes them for their sins.
And why them? As citizens of
the Western Christian nations, they are Israelites! Do they really believe that the ‘lost
ten Tribes’ have disappeared from the earth? If this were so, then why would God mention
12,000 from each of these Tribes? Christians are wild olive
shoots all right! It doesn’t help
their position one bit to be ignorant of their identity and ancestry. With the type of fiction Christians like to
believe, it’s little wonder they don’t understand the message of the
Bible. Why did Jesus Christ and all
the Apostles continually quote from the Old Testament? Because these were the only Scriptures that
existed at that time! Why do
Christians believe these Scriptures have no relevance for them today? Did the New Testament supersede the Old
Testament? If it did, then why do all
the Books of the New Testament quote from the Old? The New Testament is only a supplement to
the Old Testament. Nothing in the Law and the Prophets have ‘passed away’ as Christians like to
claim. Jesus Christ said the exact
opposite! Matt 5:17-19 “Do not think that I
have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not
come to abolish them but to fulfill
them. 18 I tell you the
truth, UNTIL HEAVEN AND
EARTH DISAPPEAR, not the smallest letter, not
the least stroke of a pen, will
by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
19 Anyone who breaks
one
of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do
the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these command[ment]s will
be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Have heaven and
earth disappeared yet? No? Then neither has the Law and the Prophets!
Unless you practice them and teach them, they you will never enter
God’s Kingdom! Failure to do so will
result in the offender being considered the least by those who are great in the Kingdom –
they’ll be ranked along with all God’s enemies! There is no
such thing as a ‘servant of God’
who doesn’t serve and obey
Him! Any reasoning to the contrary is
delusional! God’s whole purpose is to
create replacement rulers for the present rulers, and to repair the damage
inflicted by the present rulers. In
ridding this Creation of these evil creatures, it logically follows that
their offspring must go as well in order for righteousness to be established. As for all other nations, they shouldn’t expect any tolerance from
God. He promised them nothing, and
they’ll get nothing! He has already
stated that they are worthless
and
less than nothing! Just to recap
on something that came up earlier about the ELDERS of Zion
and Jerusalem, along with the demise of the present demon rulers in Isa 24:22-23 “They will be
herded together like prisoners
bound in a dungeon; they
will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. 23
The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before its ELDERS,
gloriously.” All the positions of authority in God’s
Kingdom will be held by those who were once human beings. With the passing of the old order, the new
rulers will have earned their rewards through thorough testing. Almighty God presently has twenty-four Elders who serve
in His presence: Rev 4:4 “Surrounding
the throne were twenty-four other
thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four
ELDERS. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their
heads.”
V10
“The twenty-four
ELDERS fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him
who lives for ever and ever. They
lay their crowns before the throne and say: 11 "You
are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you
created all things, and by your will they were created and have their
being."
The 24 Elders will happily relinquish their crowns in favour of others
whom God has created for His Family.
The new twenty-four
ELDERS will come from Zion and Jerusalem! This is
confirmed in the following verses, which heavily reference the Old
Testament: Heb 2:5
“It
is not
to ANGELS that he has subjected the WORLD TO COME, about
which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where
someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son
of man that you care for him? 7 You made him a little lower than the angels;
you crowned him with glory and honor 8 and put everything under his
feet." The WORLD TO COME will not be subjected to angels
but to the Family of God. In putting
everything under him, God left nothing
that is not subject
to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9
But we see Jesus, who
was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death,
so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” That is, for all those who are
classified as sons, brothers, servants and Saints:
V10
“In
bringing MANY SONS to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through
whom everything exists, should make the author
of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11
Both the one who makes men holy
and those who are made holy
ARE OF THE SAME FAMILY. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them
BROTHERS. It’s Jesus
Christ’s suffering that
makes men holy, and those who have been made Holy
will be a part of the FAMILY OF GOD
and the Lord Christ will call them His brothers
since they will be of the SAME
FAMILY. V12 “He
says, "I will declare your
name to my BROTHERS; in the presence of the congregation I will
sing your praises." 13 And again, "I will put my
trust in him." And again he says, "Here am I, and the CHILDREN GOD HAS GIVEN ME." Jesus
Christ came to earth as a human
being to set an example of who will rule in God’s Kingdom.
V14 Since the CHILDREN have flesh and blood, he too SHARED IN THEIR HUMANITY
so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power
of death--that is, the devil--
15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their
fear of death. 16
For surely it is
not ANGELS he helps, but Abraham's descendants.
17 For this reason he had to be MADE LIKE HIS BROTHERS in every way, in order that he
might become a merciful and faithful high priest in SERVICE TO GOD, and that he might
make atonement for the sins of the people.
18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to
help those who are being tempted.” Next verse: Heb 3:1
“Therefore, HOLY BROTHERS,
who share in the HEAVENLY
CALLING, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom
we confess. 2 He was faithful
to the ONE (God the
Father) who
appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3
Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder
of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every
house is built by someone, but God is the builder of
everything. 5 Moses was
faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to WHAT WOULD BE SAID IN THE FUTURE.
6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if
we HOLD ON TO OUR COURAGE and the hope of which we boast.”
It’s very true that “Moses testified to WHAT WOULD BE SAID IN THE FUTURE”
though you’d scarcely know this from what is taught in this world’s
churches! You’ll notice that these
churches refute everything that
Moses testified to. Among the
many things that Moses taught is the Song
of Moses, which is Bible Prophecy.
It details, among other things, how the Lord Christ will return with
vengeance (Deut
32:35, 41). So important is
the Song of Moses that it
will be sung in the Readers should be aware
of who wrote the Book of Hebrews,
which we’ve just extensively quoted from.
It was a Levite called
Barnabas, whose companion was Paul for a short while. Acts 4:36 “Joseph, a Levite from It shouldn’t
go unnoticed that the Book of
Hebrews is directed to the Hebrews
rather
than the Gentiles. The
first thing you will notice is the extensive quoting from the Old
Testament! Barnabas teamed up with Paul for about a
year in Then the
Apostles in Jerusalem heard of a large group of people who had become Christians
as a result of those who had scattered at the persecution of Stephen
(whom Saul [later: Paul] had earlier
put to death): Acts 11:19-21 “Now those
who had been scattered by the
persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus
and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. 20
Some of them, however, men from While it is
possible that Barnabas co-wrote the Book of Hebrews with Paul since
they were together for 12 months, Paul definitely did not write it,
but he may have contributed minor parts of it. It’s certainly not Paul’s writing
style! Paul’s style of writing is completely
different, and even confusing at times
– as Peter noted in 2Pet 3:15-16 “Bear in mind
that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God
gave him. 16 He writes
the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. HIS LETTERS CONTAIN SOME THINGS THAT
ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND, which ignorant and unstable
people distort, as they
do the other Scriptures,
to their own destruction.” And there is something else
that casts doubt on the possibility of Paul’s authorship of this Book. Paul claimed to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, but the Book of Hebrews is not addressed to the Gentiles, but to the Hebrews:
that
is the scattered Tribes of There are
large numbers of Protestants who sneer at the Book of Hebrews. They don’t like the implication that there
are other priests on earth who serve at the Altar, and who
are required to make the daily gifts and offerings. They are even less enthralled by the
statement that there remains a
Sabbath Day: Heb 4:9-10 “There REMAINS, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
10 for anyone who enters God's rest ALSO RESTS FROM HIS OWN WORK, JUST AS GOD DID FROM HIS.” God rested from His work in the Garden
of Eden. He rested on the Seventh Day – and this
requirement REMAINS
forever! Resting on God’s Sabbath Day
in fulfillment of the Fourth Commandment is an identifying sign between true worshippers and fake
ones. Protestants tend to
clutch at straws to dismiss the requirements of obedience to the Law of
God. And it’s always the Fourth
Commandment that they show such contempt for.
No wonder they’re dismissive of the Book of Hebrews. When Peter spoke of the
things Paul wrote being hard to understand, he was not referring to
the book of Galatians. Peter would not have seen the spurious book
of Galatians because it was written about two hundred years later
by someone other than
Paul. It was certainly not
written by a Spirit-led servant of God!
It’s an outrageous distortion of Truth by all Bible standards. We have articles at our website that show
why the book of Galatians is spurious.
Any knowledgeable servant of God today would see plenty of lying
distortions in it! Whoever wrote it was a rank amateur and a liar! For instance,
who wrote this bit of fiction which is found in this book: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse
for us, for it is written:
"Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." Really? Where is it written? This is what is written: Deut 21:23 “If a man guilty of a capital offense is
put to death and his body is hung
on a tree, 23 you must not leave his
body on the tree overnight.
Be
sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a
tree [overnight] is under God's
curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an
inheritance.” Decaying bodies
tend to do this when they become bloated and burst. Jesus Christ was not guilty of a capital offence,
and neither was He left on the
Cross overnight! And
neither was He under a curse from God! The meaning of ‘God’s curse’ is for the
body to start to decay and begin to turn to dust. The curse
was given in the Garden of Eden: “Dust you are and
to dust you will return!”
It was prophesied that the Body of Jesus Christ would not
see decay, and so before
sundown His body was taken and covered with a large quantity of myrrh and
aloes (about 75 pounds) by Joseph of Arimathea and
Nicodemus (John
19:38-40). The idiot that
wrote this book of Galatians thinks that God’s
curse is the ‘curse of the Law’! This author then sets
about to accuse anyone who obeys
God’s Law of being under a
curse. Typical Gentile
reasoning! Outrageously, this lunatic
is writing to the Galatians who, you will notice, do keep God’s Law! The whole point of this spurious book is to attack them for obeying God’s Law! Here’s some examples of curses in regard to the Law: Deut 11:26-28 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-- 27 the blessing if you obey the commands
of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; 28 the CURSE if you disobey the commands
of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today
by following other gods, which you have not known.” The idiot who
wrote the book of Galatians wasn’t quoting from this verse, was he? What about this one: Psa 119:21 “You rebuke the
arrogant, who are CURSED and who stray from your
commands.” Obviously not this one either! God doesn’t curse those who obey Him – He
curses those who don’t! So what about
the suggestion that Christ redeemed them by
BEING THE CURSE? Would the
Holy Spirit of God ever lead anyone to suggest
that Jesus Christ is
the CURSED one? Not according to Paul! 1Cor 12:3 “Therefore I
tell you that no one who
is SPEAKING BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD says, "JESUS BE
CURSED," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except
by the Holy Spirit.” When people don’t have the
Holy Spirit, they’re easily deceived, aren’t they? Yet millions of Christians seem to believe
that Jesus was the CURSE of the Law. If the reader
is becoming a bit confused, don’t worry.
You couldn’t be more confused than the writer of the book of
Galatians. Notice what he wrote in: 3:18 “All
who rely on observing the law are under a CURSE, for it is written: "CURSED is everyone who does not
continue to do everything written
in the Book of the Law.” What!!
Are the lunatics in charge of
the asylum? First he’s telling us we
are all under a curse if we obey
the Laws of God, then he tells us we’re under a curse if we don’t! You have to admit there is something
abnormal about this type of contradiction!
This guy likes to refer to ‘what is written’ yet
dismisses it all in favour….of what? First of all he harangues the Galatians as
fools (3:1-5) and then
says this, “I
would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you RECEIVE THE
SPIRIT by observing the law,
or by believing WHAT YOU HEARD?
3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now
trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so
much for nothing--if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God GIVE YOU HIS SPIRIT and work
miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe WHAT YOU HEARD?” According to this, we must not
believe what is written, but only WHAT WE’VE HEARD! Does God give His Holy Spirit to those who have heard? Or to those who obey? Let’s check
with Peter: Acts 5:29-32 “Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had
killed by hanging him on a tree.
31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that
he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Let’s further
understand what the LORD says about this in Jer 17. In V5 it
is written: “This is what the LORD says: “CURSED is the one who trusts in man”, and in V7 “But BLESSED is the man who trusts in the
LORD, whose confidence is in him.” So should we believe what is written? Or should we believe what we’ve heard from men? The whole book of Galatians is just one
contradiction after another! Galatians is
the book that fake Christians
use to ridicule obedience
to God’s Law. They see no
conflict at all in the fact that this book contradicts what Jesus and the
Apostles taught. This is what Jesus
taught: Matt 5:17-18 “Do not think
that I have come to abolish
the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them
but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until
heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not
the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished.” It’s also the
book that fake Christians use to ridicule male circumcision because it
contains several sentences specifically ridiculing circumcision. Obviously, whoever wrote this book was
unaware that Paul circumcised Timothy: Acts
16:3 “Paul wanted
to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised
him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his
father was a Greek.” For hundreds of years following Alexander’s
conquest of the Some might argue that
Paul circumcised Timothy before he knew of the decision of the Elders in It was some time after
the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar that the colony of Galatians developed in
So who were these
powerful people? Believe it or not,
they were the Celtic people – the original inhabitants of At the time
of the invasion of the Germanic Saxons, the remnant of the
original Britons were driven into So you can
see the irony of some imbecile telling the Levite Galatians that they are
under a curse for keeping the Laws of God!
If he had actually sent this letter to the Galatians, they probably would
have strung him up by the certain part of the anatomy to which he kept
obsessively referring. These Levites were
circumcised, so how would
they become uncircumcised to placate this loser? His ranting obsession resembles the weirdos that hang around men’s shower rooms and
bathhouses. He sounds a bit like a
Greek to me! And this is not too
far-fetched either! You may
wonder why I keep referring to this fool as a maniac. Did you read what he said in 5:11
“Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision,
why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been
abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!”
Here he calls circumcision
the ‘offense of
the Cross’ and says that if anyone is circumcised, they should go the whole way and
castrate themselves. You can see the man is completely unhinged! But he’s not finished yet! He also says this:
5:2 “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be
circumcised, Christ
will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare (well
God declared something
different – OK?) to every man who lets himself be circumcised that
he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are
trying to be justified by law
have been alienated from Christ;
you
have fallen away from grace.” Why? Because someone is circumcised? If this were Paul writing this, then he
would realize that he condemned Timothy when he
circumcised him. Poor
Timothy! There’s no hope for him! Gone forever! He’s now condemned and alienated from Christ, and Christ is of no value to him! And it’s all Paul’s fault – unless
of course, Paul didn’t actually write this nonsense! WHICH
HE DIDN’T! Anyone who thinks
otherwise is as mad as the Greek who did write it! The issue of circumcision
in the book of Galatians is relatively minor compared with some of the other
crazy things written in it. There are
other articles at our website which cover these, so we won’t go into it now. It should be noted however, that Christianity
today doesn’t believe the Scriptures that Jesus and the Apostles used, so
it’s understandable why they fall for the spurious nonsense in the book of
Galatians. It seems that Christianity
will go to any lengths to dismiss obedience to God even to the extent of
refuting the message of the entire Old Testament which is about obedience to
the Law and the Prophets –
and which Jesus Christ Himself said will never pass away! The whole purpose of this
Bible study concerns the Levite Book of the Messenger.
It was the last Book written before the Christian era. The importance of it cannot be dismissed if
you hope to survive. As we all know, the messenger [John
the Baptist] did precede the Messenger
of the Covenant [Jesus Christ] at His first
appearance. The second coming of
Jesus Christ is going to be entirely different! Yet the spirit of Elijah will once more
precede Him and prepare the way for Him.
With the second appearance of the Lord Christ, the We spoke earlier of a
characteristic of Satan and his brood, which is their penchant for killing their
own people. We’ve spoken of
those who serve Satan
as
being his people. Those who
belong to Satan are not God’s people – and
these are fair game to God’s servants!
Regardless of who they are, they will be killed if they are found on
sacred ground! This ground is all the
more sacred in that it will be prepared for the Lord Jesus Christ to make His
appearance. His servants will take the
necessary steps to prepare the way for Him. It will be a day of small
beginnings in comparison to the vastness of the human population which has
now reached seven billion people as of October, 2011. We now live in the prophesied age of the John the Baptist
completed all that was required
of him in his day – and so did Jesus Christ.
However, both were killed before they fulfilled everything that was written about them. On the eve of John’s death at the hand of
that demon Herod, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about him. He confirmed that John was a prophet just
like Elijah, and he came in the spirit of Elijah: Matt 11:7-14 “As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak
to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A
reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to
see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine
clothes are in kings' palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A
prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one
about whom it is written: "`I will send my messenger ahead of you, who
will prepare your way before you.' 11 I tell you the
truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone
greater than John the Baptist;
yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12
From the days of John the Baptist
until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful
men lay hold of it. 13 For all the PROPHETS AND THE LAW prophesied until
John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is
the Elijah who was to come. 15 HE WHO HAS EARS, LET HIM HEAR.” The key to
understanding this whole passage is the last sentence. If you are not listening to what Jesus
said, then you will not understand what is about to happen or why! Jesus just described John the Baptist and
stated that he was the Elijah who was to come. All the PROPHETS AND THE LAW prophesied until the birth
of John. It’s too extensive to go into
it all here, but after his birth another Prophet prophesied about him, which
adds a great deal of clarification.
This was his father Zechariah, and this is what he said when asked
what this child would be: Luke 1:66-79 “Everyone who heard
this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's
hand was with him. 67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit
and PROPHESIED: 68
"Praise be to the Lord, the God of As we all know, all that
Zechariah prophesied never happened in John’s time. He was killed and the PROPHECY given by God’s
Holy Spirit to his father Zechariah is still yet to be fulfilled. So let’s hope those who have ears
to hear will hear. Otherwise, how will their feet be guided to the path of peace when that day
comes? It’s time to take these things
on board so that you will understand what is happening when the Kingdom is
taken by force. When this happens, the
Christian nations will be up to their necks in unprecedented carnage and
horror on a scale never seen before.
Christianity will be wondering what went wrong with their doctrine
which promised a totally different outcome.
Where’s the smooth transition to paradise and the rewards they expected? Hopefully, they’ll realize they’ve been listening
to men – instead of the
Law and the Prophets! Well, we’ve come to the
end of an era, and a new one is set to begin.
It’s going to be a whole lot tougher than you thought to get into
God’s Kingdom. It will take forceful
men to even lay hold of it. Even
worse, because Christianity has been listening to men instead of the Law and the Prophets, they
will actually believe these forceful men – God’s servants, no less
– to be transgressors! Who was it that Jesus Christ ordered to get
swords? Weren’t these men Christ’s
Apostles? Weren’t these the ones who
would have risen up and prevented Jesus’ arrest if His kingdom had been for
that time? Peter was prepared to start
the fight then and there, but Jesus stopped him, because the Kingdom was not
for that time. This is what we’re
referring to: Luke
22:36-38 “He said to them, "But now
if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword,
sell your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: `And he was NUMBERED WITH THE
TRANSGRESSORS'; and I tell you that this must be
fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment." 38
The disciples said, "See, Lord, here are two swords."
"That is enough," he replied.” It was most important that
Jesus Christ fulfilled this by identifying those who would appear to be ‘transgressors’. He had to
fulfill what is written, and it’s written
in the Prophets – the Book of Isaiah, in fact! He was clearly identifying a time after
His suffering: Isa 53:11-12 “After
the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear
their iniquities. 12 Therefore
I will give him a PORTION among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the STRONG, because he
poured out his life unto death, and was NUMBERED
WITH THE TRANSGRESSORS. For he
bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
TRANSGRESSORS.” After Jesus was killed, it was
His disciples who were
hunted down as transgressors
and were forced to hide away and stay out of sight of the enemy. These men were forbidden to use the swords
Jesus urged them to get. The PORTION of the GREAT, which Jesus will be
given, will be a different group altogether and it’s the ‘STRONG ONES’ with whom He will
divide the spoils of war. So just a word of
warning! Don’t be too quick to judge
God’s servants as transgressors! The
churches are not authorized to take the Kingdom by force; instead this role
had been designated to the Levites and the Jews. These are collectively called the House of David, and they will
swarm out and destroy all the surrounding peoples like firepots in a woodpile or a flaming torch among sheaves (Zech 12:6). As for the House of David, the next couple of verses clarifies it: V8 “On that day the
LORD will shield those who live in There’s also a subtle
warning in this for those who like to judge God’s servants as transgressors. These self-righteous creatures have chosen
to ignore the Law and the Prophets,
but feel fully justified in accusing the servants of God of being transgressors. Sin
is the transgression of the Law, so it’s perfectly obvious who the real
transgressors are! The servants of God will be armed in accordance with
Christ’s instructions, and they will take the Kingdom by force! So now is a good time for Christians to
modify their views, particularly the Churches
of God to whom the Book of Revelation is addressed (Rev 22:16). If they don’t, then others will be brought
in, and they will be thrown out! Then
there will be much gnashing of teeth! Oddly enough, they’ve
already started dying like flies, and their followers have the gall to send
me notification of their deaths! Why
would I care? Billions of people have
lived and died and returned to dust.
It happens every day! As we’ve
written many times, if anyone doesn’t have God’s Holy Spirit when they die,
then they will never live again. If
the Holy Spirit doesn’t keep a pattern of your life, then
you return to dust and are gone forever.
As for those who like to live charades to impress others with their
‘spirituality’, just remember what Jesus said: Matt 7:21-23 “Not
everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only
he who does the WILL OF
MY FATHER who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that
day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23
Then I will tell them plainly, `I
NEVER KNEW YOU. Away from me, you evildoers!'” This is typically
the precepts of men who like to prophesy from their imaginations. They like to draw followers after
themselves while falsely claiming to be God’s representatives. Well, they are going to be tested to see if
they will do the WILL OF THE FATHER
as Jesus did! And what is the Father’s will? Isaiah explains: Isa 53:10 “Yet it was the LORD'S WILL to crush him and
cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see
his offspring and prolong his days, and the WILL OF THE LORD will prosper in his hand.” If you are to do
the WILL OF THE FATHER,
then you must follow Jesus
and lay down your life as a guilt
offering! Like Jesus Christ,
the permanent priesthood must
offer themselves! So anyone who imagines
they can accuse God’s servants and get away with it, go ahead and roll the
dice! Now is not the time to be
pompous fools! Everything you ever
believed in is about to dissolve before your very eyes, and you’ll rue the
day you ever decided to follow the precepts of men. The PORTION that God gave Jesus are STRONG – not weak! Those who chose weakness as a form of
righteousness are going to be very disappointed. If you’ve become so immersed in this world
as to love all its precepts, then you should take some advice from the
Apostle John: 1John
2:15-17 “Do not love the
world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in
the world--the cravings of sinful
man, the lust of his eyes
and the boasting of what he has and
does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who DOES THE WILL OF GOD lives
forever.” In short,
if you become immersed in this world, then you are useless for the It’s true that in the
past, God did ‘turn a blind eye’ at
the sins of the people until the day came for His messenger to appear. During this time, the sins of the largest
Christian nation on earth had their sins stored up and kept on record: Hos 13:12-15
“The
guilt of Ephraim is stored up, his sins are kept on
record. 13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him,
but he is a child without wisdom; when the time arrives, he does not come to
the opening of the womb. 14 "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your
plagues? Where, O grave, is your
destruction? "I will have no
compassion, 15 even though he thrives among his brothers. An east wind from the LORD will come,
blowing in from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His
storehouse will be plundered of all its treasures.” Remember what we read
earlier about Moses: Heb 3:5
“Moses
was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to WHAT WOULD BE SAID IN THE FUTURE. Well there’s something in the Song of Moses that relates to
this topic: Deut 32:28-36 “They are a nation
without sense, there is no discernment in them. 29 If only they were wise and would
understand this and DISCERN WHAT THEIR END WILL BE!” Their end will be what they don’t
expect! They will be pursued across
the length and breadth of their nation and they will flee at the sound of a
rustling leaf! V30 “How
could one man chase a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold
them, unless the LORD had given them up?” We need to understand what is being said
here. This could well be speaking of
the power of the Lord’s portion,
which
will achieve similar results, but instead this is speaking of Ephraim’s demise. Their enemies will pursue them and one man
will chase a thousand of them, or two men, ten thousand! V30 “For their
rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.” Well the enemy would think that wouldn’t
they? They think Allah is much greater
than the Christian God – especially the false Jesus that Christians worship. Christianity has never known The Rock that led the Tribes
of Israel through the wilderness; to this very day they don’t know that this
Rock was Christ! (1Cor 10:4). V32 “Their vine comes from the vine of Almighty God has many
issues with Ephraim, but like the rest of the Israelites, they have a
specific purpose in God’s Great Plan.
Long ago, God made provision for Ephraim to lead the rest of the
Tribes of Israel in the last days. He
lavished wealth on them and established them in their own land. The All rights reserved |
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