² Let me ask you only this: ^(A)Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by ^(B)hearing with faith? ³ Are you so foolish?^(C)Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by^[a]the flesh? ^4 (D)Did you suffer^[b] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? (Gal. 3:2-4, ESV)

With respect to our final approval or disapproval by God can it get any simpler than this statement by Paul? Who is responsible for your initial faith and thus for your salvation in Jesus Christ? You or God? If you believe that you are a great person who because of your greatness sought out and believed upon Jesus all on your own, then you might believe that your salvation rests upon your own shoulders. But, I doubt that many of you think that. I know that I can still look back thirty-five years to a young man barely twenty-one years old who was about to cast everything away for a life of sin when I began to feel a longing inside for “truth.” Shortly thereafter God put the “New English Bible” in my path along with the thought, “I have always heard that the truth is in this book. Why don’t I just buy this, read it, and see if it is.” Within three months, and in a story I have told before, God revealed to me that he wrote the Bible and that indeed the truth did reside in that book. He further showed me that his truth had a name and that his name was Jesus Christ. I then believed in Jesus, determined that I had better start doing what he said, and was baptized in water as I made that confession of faith.

During those three months while I first read the Scriptures God’s Spirit slowly, but surely, convicted me of sin. I was not convicting myself; my flesh did not say, “Flesh, you are bad and sinful.” No, the LORD began to say through his word, “The things you are doing in your flesh are bad and you need to stop doing those things and obey me instead.” When I finally realized that Jesus was in fact the God of the Bible, when I came to faith in him, suddenly I had both the conviction that my sinful behavior was wrong and the power to stop doing those things. Those two things did not come through my flesh, they came by the Spirit of God. Thus I received the Spirit of God by “hearing with faith.” The first time that I “heard with faith” was when I realized by reading the Bible that God wrote the Bible (through men). Simultaneously, as I came to this understanding, God spoke to me in a voice which seemed audible (yet I believe it was within me), “That’s right, Glenn, and I want you to teach my word.” Since then, the spring of 1977, it has been a struggle to understand and follow the leading of the Spirit versus the leading of my own flesh.

At this time in our spiritual journey the LORD communicates to us through our “flesh,” through our minds (souls) which are housed in these temporary bodies of dust. We also each possess a spirit and if we have believed in Jesus Christ as our LORD and Savior, then our own particular spirit has been “quickened” or “born again.” This occurs when we first hear the Word with faith. If we do not believe in Jesus then our spirit remains dead. This is what Jesus meant when he spoke to Nicodemus.

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named ^(A)Nicodemus, a ^(B)ruler of the Jews; ² this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “^(C)Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these ^[a](D)signs that You do unless ^(E)God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered and said to him,“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one ^(F)is born ^[b]again he cannot see ^(G)the kingdom of God.”

I used to read a lot of fiction, that is, over 34 years ago before the LORD revealed to me who he was. During the past year I read quite a bit of fiction once again, mostly by Agatha Christie, who wrote great mysteries, and recently three books by Frank Herbert, Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune, the first three of the six Dune books. The Dune series is said to be the greatest selling science fiction books of all time.

The first book, Dune, was quite compelling. Herbert writes in a style which makes you think that he may be saying something important or profound. He regularly quotes the Orange Catholic Bible, obviously attempting to make his readers believe he is saying something spiritual and true with respect to Christian religion. He also uses many references to the Islamic faith, including the word “Mahdi,” which to Muslims equates to Christianity’s “Messiah.” And, of course, he names his second book “Dune Messiah” and makes its hero into a type of Christ who becomes the main object of worship in the human-filled universe.

This invented messiah, Paul Atriedes, fails though, so he raises up his son, Leto II, to become “God Emperor of Dune” in the fourth book of the series. But, you have heard it before, three strikes and you’re out. Herbert is out. He has nothing to say. No wisdom, no truth, no morality. He came up with some interesting science fiction concepts, like stillsuits which recirculate a man’s water in a desert environment, but he has nothing to offer with respect to showing us how we should live in this chaotic and evil world. And he has absolutely nothing to say about truth or even the concept of truth.  His supposed morally superior Atriedes family turns out to be morally bankrupt, perverted, even abomination.

In this respect Herbert finds much company. Most writers and purveyors of fiction content themselves with titillating our emotions and lusts with stories of perversion and murder. They do not feed our souls and spirits with truth, righteousness, or holiness. God may have led me to read these books because of the recent things he showed me to concerning the channelling of “aliens” and demons. In all things God reveals over and over again that his way is truth and that there is no other way. As Jesus said, “The way is narrow and few there be that find it.” He taught us to seek, find, and walk in that narrow way.

Do not be deceived by the many voices vying for your attention. Truth exists and God expects us to find it and walk in it. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” said his Son. Never forget it. Remember that Satan comes as an angel of light. He wants you to think he is something he is not. You must have a foundation upon which to stand in these evil days or will likely accept that which is false (Satan) for that which is real (God, Holy Spirit, Jesus). Today’s mantra is “Fake is always better.” Thus we live in the surreal unreal world of genetically modified organisms, dying oceans, and flavored foods. Many today accept and even prefer the false for the true, the artificially flavored for the real thing.

Read, study, and build your life upon the words of Jesus, the Word of God, which you can find in the Bible. This is your sure and only foundation of truth. Then you will begin to crave reality instead of this matrix-hologram we live in.

Listen to the song Shifting Sand.

Like most of the seven types of churches Thyatira believes she, and she alone, comprises the mystical Bride of Christ. She sees herself as preeminent among human spiritual beings. She boasts of her “passion” for Christ, that she is a “forerunner” of Christ’s second coming and a particular “friend of the bridegroom,” a personal friend of Jesus. Her members tend to become spiritually arrogant because they believe that they alone walk in the profundity of God’s spiritual gifts and power. They also believe they work and live under a prophetic anointing which gives them a unique vision and understanding of the future. They do not realize they walk in Satan’s power rather than God’s.

Over 2500 years ago the prophet Ezekiel spoke about this apostate church. He wrote,

 ¹Again the word of the LORD came to me: ^2(A) ”Son of man,^(B) make known to Jerusalem her abominations, ³and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an^(C) Amorite and your mother a^(D) Hittite. ⁴And as for your birth,^(E) on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. ⁵No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you,^(F) but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred,^(G) on the day that you were born.

 ⁶“And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing^(H) in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ ^7(I) I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall^(J) and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet^(K)you were naked and bare.

 ⁸“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and^(L) I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you^(M) and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD,^(N) and you became mine. ⁹Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and^(O) anointed you with oil. ^10(P) I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.^[a] 11(Q) And I adorned you with ornaments and^(R) put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. ¹²And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.¹³Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth.^(S) You ate fine flour and honey and oil.^(T) You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴And^(U) your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.

 ^15(D) ”But you trusted in your beauty^(E) and played the whore^[a] because of your renown^(F) and lavished your whorings^[b] on any passerby; your beauty^[c] became his. ¹⁶You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.^[d]17You also took^(G) your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and^(H) made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. ¹⁸And you took your embroidered garments to cover them,^(I) and set my oil and my incense before them. ^19(J) Also my bread that I gave you—^(K) I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for^(L) a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord GOD. ^20(M) And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and^(N) these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter ²¹that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? ²²And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember^(O) the days of your youth,^(P) when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

 ²³“And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord GOD),²⁴you built yourself^(Q) a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. ²⁵At the head of every street^(R) you built your lofty place and made^(S)your beauty an abomination,^(T) offering yourself^[e] to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. (Ezekiel 16:1-25)

In order to even begin to understand this passage one must know that the word “Jerusalem” here looks forward to the prophetic “New Jerusalem.” God uses New Jerusalem to picture to his Bride at the end of the Book of Revelation. The Christian calling culminates here. To understand God’s purposes for New Jerusalem please read the series “A Perfect Jewel.”

Ezekiel begins this passage by reminding us that God began his church with great persecution. She was covered with blood and no one would help her. But God declared “life” to her and in verse 8 he becomes betrothed to her, just as Boaz became betrothed to Ruth. Here, then, we see she who might ultimately become the Bride of Christ.

Next God bathed her with water, that is, he washed her with his word of truth. This prophesies the ministry of Christ with his church that we see in Ephesians 5:25-32. He clothed her in precious jewels and gold and silver. He fed her with “fine flour and honey and oil.” This illustrates her spiritual covering and spiritual food (truth). God intended that she eat only from his table, but she quickly went astray and began to eat from the table of demons. She trusted in her own beauty instead of God’s word of truth and she “played the whore” with a thousand counterfeits of that truth.

In verse 17 Ezekiel indicts the church for playing the whore with “images of men.” This speaks of idolatry and the spiritual adultery that always comes with it. In verses 18 and 19 she sets God’s “oil,” “incense,” and “bread” before these idols. Thus Ezekiel prophesied that God’s church would one day sacrifice food to its idols. But she does not stop even here. Next Ezekiel warned that she would actually slaughter and sacrifice her own children. This we see today in both natural and spiritual abortion. Christian parents buy abortions for their wayward sons and daughters (which they failed to raise in the fear and admonition of the LORD) and the entire Church of Thyatira sacrifices the spiritual manchild to her many idols. Jesus himself foretold this,

²²Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, ²³and I will strike her children dead. (Rev. 2:22-23a)

The Church of Thyatira today walks in all this wickedness foreseen by Ezekiel. She exercises no discernment with respect to the things of God. “All are welcome” in her high-ceilinged temples found on every street corner and public square. It doesn’t matter that those who enter praise not the name of Christ nor walk in his statutes, for neither does she or her leaders. She is faithless, brazen, reprobate. And God says that he will now judge her.

Continuing now with this thought that mercy and truth comprise God’s dialectic, let’s consider particular ideas expressed by the Bible. Righteousness and justice comprise the foundation of God’s throne according the following Scriptures:

Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king, to execute justice and righteousness. (1 Kings 10:9 KJ2000)

Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you to set you on his throne, to be king for the LORD your God: because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore he made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness. (2 Chronicles 9:8 KJ2000)

Righteousness and justice are the habitation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before your face. (Psalms 89:14 KJ2000)

Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and justice are the habitation of his throne. (Psalms 97:2 KJ2000)

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:7 KJ2000)

And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking justice, and hastening righteousness. (Isaiah 16:5 KJ2000)

As you consider the verses above think of a railroad track. Railroad tracks consist of two distinct rails. Think of one as righteousness, the other as justice. Each rail differs from the other, but they are similar. Where one goes the other goes. Their destination is the same. Their purpose is the same. But, they are not the same. Similarly, consider a coin.  Every coin has two sides, heads I win, tails you lose! Each side of a coin differs from the other side, but they make up the same coin. Righteousness and justice are like both the railroad track and the coin. Each word conveys specific and individual ideas, but each ultimately gets us to the same place like a railroad track and its two rails. Or, as in the case of coin, the two sides are parts of the same thing. This analogy helps us to see the oneness of righteousness and justice. We can take this a step farther with the verse, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psalms 85:10 KJ2000) Remember what has been taught in the previous posts of this series, we could write the last part of this verse as “righteousness and justice have kissed each other.” Now consider this idea in terms of the marriage of a man and woman. Scripture tells us that not only do they kiss one another, they “become one.” Two separate, distinct beings become one! Thus is it with righteousness and justice, or mercy and truth. The two become one.

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has showed no mercy; and mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13)

People often read the New Testament, but seldom read the Old Testament. Many believe that the “God of the Old Testament” actually differs from the “God of the New Testament, Jesus Christ.” Men tend to see the God of the Old Testament as the harsh God of tough and unreasonable laws. On the other hand, they see the God of the New Testament as a loving God of mercy and peace. Are they really different Gods?

The fact is that the same God is God of both the Old and New Testaments. Jesus IS the Creator we find in the Old Testament. He IS that God which gave his Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, also known as Mount Horeb. Likewise he IS that God of whom John said, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3) He IS that God who was born in the flesh of the virgin Mary. He IS that God of whom Isaiah said, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) He IS the Father who came to earth as the Son. And he is the one who said, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

But, isn’t this idea wholly other, wholly different from that law which stoned the man who picked up sticks on the Sabbath? Could the God who commanded Moses to kill that man really be the same God who preaches mercy? How could this be?

First, understand that God gave us his Law in order to teach us his righteous standards as applied in this world. The Law set forth God’s conception of justice with respect to man’s relationship with other men and with respect to man’s relationship with himself. But, the Law also establishes both natural and spiritual principles. For example, God forbade the practices of adultery and homosexuality and instituted the death penalty for violations of these laws. God enacted such a harsh penalty because these acts will destroy the very fabric of society if allowed to propagate and become common. We see the results of allowing rampant promiscuity in our own civilization. The destruction caused remains self-evident to anyone with eyes to see.

The law forbidding work on the Sabbath implemented the spiritual principle that one must lose one’s soul in order to gain it in the next age. It demonstrated the idea of “entering God’s rest.” One can only enter God’s rest when he dies to the lusts of the world. God sees this principle as so important for mankind in general that when a man disobeyed his command to rest on the Sabbath, he instructed Moses to stone him to death. The principle deals with eternal life. God executed this man as a “living parable,” a natural, historical event which teaches a profound spiritual lesson.

In a recent blog I discussed the fact that Joseph was called “righteous” because he refused to publicly denounce or call for Mary’s stoning when she was found pregnant with Jesus. Likewise, I do not believe that Joseph would have stoned a man found picking up sticks on the Sabbath in the Israel of his day.  By that time God’s people had learned his lesson of mercy.

If we read and re-read the Old Testament, meditating as we go, we will begin to see that God did not usually judge Israel according to his Law. Instead, he mercifully sent prophets to his rebellious people and urged them to repent. His way has always been one in which mercy triumphs over judgment.  As the Psalmist says,

O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. (Psalms 107:1-2)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way: When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, decided to put her away privately. (Matthew 1:18-19 KJ2000)

Many Christians, in their zeal to love and obey God, seek to put themselves and others under the Law, the Torah, again.  They believe that to fully obey this written code of law would glorify their LORD and display their justice and righteousness.  Although they rarely say so, if given the chance they would likely enact the literal Old Testament law as our civil statutes. The question is, is this what Jesus would want from us?

Here is the Old Testament penalty for adultery in this particular situation:

If a young woman that is a virgin be betrothed unto a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; Then you shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones so that they die; the young woman, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife: so you shall put away evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 22:23-24 KJ2000)

Matthew says that Joseph was “unwilling to make her a publice example,” which means that he was not willing to bring her to the public square and cast the first stone that would  ultimately disfigure and kill her. No, Joseph was a “just man.” He would not implement God’s Law in this case. What?! How can it be that one’s decision to not enforce God’s laws could ever be called just? One simply cannot see it in the natural; the Law of Moses does  not spell this out. But the prophet Hosea tells us when he proclaims, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6 KJ2000)

Jesus attempted to explain this maxim to the Pharisees on two separate occasions when they accused him and his disciples of being law breakers, the first time when he ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners, thus associating with the “unclean,” and the second time when his disciples “worked” on the Sabbath by harvesting food to eat. On both occasions he told them that they would not condemn the innocent if they knew what this means, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.” See Matthew 9 and 12. Afterward Jesus himself implements this maxim when he refuses to the condemn the woman caught in adultery to public stoning.

Men have not understood either Joseph, who refused to stone Mary, or Jesus in this story from John 8. Instead, throughout history we have seen two extremes among men. One extreme zealously guards God’s Law, or their particular church laws which enact bits and pieces of it, taking joy in punishing any breach.  These, like Protestants Calvin and Cromwell and Catholics in the Spanish Inquisition, go on to kill those who disagree with their doctrine, their understanding of truth. Their understanding of righteousness compels them to go and kill in the name of Christ and truth. These reject mercy for their brand of truth. Others, including present-day liberal churches, totally reject the law and the notion that sin even exists anymore. These promote gross sinners to their pulpits and palaces of authority. They replace truth with a lawless mercy, a lawless grace.

Yet, in Christ truth and mercy meet and become one, just as two lovers kiss and become one. As the Psalms say,

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. (Psalms 85:10 KJ2000)

Righteousness and justice are the habitation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before your face. (Psalms 89:14 KJ2000)

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations. (Psalms 100:5 KJ2000)

For your mercy is great above the heavens: and your truth reaches unto the clouds. (Psalms 108:4 KJ2000)

Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto your name give glory, for your mercy, and for your truth’s sake. (Psalms 115:1 KJ2000)

And as the Proverbs also bear witness:

Let not mercy and truth forsake you: bind them about your neck; write them upon the table of your heart: (Proverbs 3:3 KJ2000)

Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. (Proverbs 14:22 KJ2000)

By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. (Proverbs 16:6 KJ2000)

Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upheld by mercy. (Proverbs 20:28 KJ2000)

Thus, when Jesus spoke to the woman caught in adultery he did not say, “You have done nothing wrong,” thus excusing her from sin. He did not counsel the hypocrite Pharisees to implement God’s Law and mercilessly destroy her in their blood lust. Neither did he ignore the Law as if she were guiltless.  Rather, he said, “Go and sin no more.” It is this simple statement which teaches and displays the commingling of justice and mercy. Some men’s understanding of justice and judgment would have said, “Take her and stone her to death.” Others would have said, “Leave her alone.  She has done nothing wrong.” Jesus says, “Woman, indeed you have done wrong. You have sinned a sin which could lead to your death. But, I will not condemn you to your death. I came to give you life and to give it abundantly. You may begin this walk of life if you simply go from here, this place of your sin, and sin no more!” In saying this Jesus showed that his way, the way to God, the way of mercy and truth, is to turn each sinner away from his sins.

World Net Daily just published an article warning Christians not to eat “food sacrificed to idols.”  It claimed that many Christians eat food “blessed” in the name of the Muslim God “Allah.”  Is that what Paul meant when he warned us not to eat food sacrificed to idols?  I don’t think so.

I wrote a book about this whole issue several years ago.  You can read it here by clicking now.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. 

Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. (Psalms 32:8-9 KJV)

The controversy ever and anon seems to be, “Will I approach God and be accepted by him based upon the works of my flesh, or upon his work for and in me?” The Old Testament teaches us that no one can perfectly obey the Law and thus “earn” his own salvation. Man, in his own power, simply can never be like God, as Israel’s history proved. Knowing this Jesus taught Israel’s leaders, “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matthew 12:7 KJV) He said this when he justified David for committing a lawless act, that is, an act that was specifically prohibited by the Law which God gave Moses and Israel. David and his mighty men, being hungry, ate the Bread of Faces (showbread) which only Levitical priests could lawfully eat. Jesus reminded the Pharisees of this account because they were just then condemning him and his disciples for plucking and eating grain on the sabbath. This would have been considered ”working” on the Sabbath. 

Both David’s and Jesus’ acts were similar in that both were technical violations of God’s Law! Yes, we can say that Jesus violated God’s written Law, at least insofar as men understood it. Remember, Moses taught that one ought not even kindle a fire on the Sabbath; how much less ought one work on the Sabbath by harvesting food! Why didn’t Jesus just instruct his disciples to fast this particular seventh day? Certainly Jesus, a man who had fasted 40 days straight, could expect his own disciples to fast one day. But, he did not choose to fast and he did not want his disciples to fast either. He intended to teach us a lesson concerning God’s plan with mankind.

Remember the man caught by Israel collecting sticks on the Sabbath. They brought the man to Moses and asked him what the judgment should be. Moses inquired of God and God commanded, “Stone him to death.” So, all Israel then stoned the man to death. What is the difference between what this man did in collecting sticks, what David did by eating the showbread, and what Jesus did in harvesting grain on the sabbath? In the natural there exists no difference. All three acts violated God’s revealed law.

The difference between these three acts, therefore, may be a difference in the hearts of each man involved. The Scriptures do not reveal the heart of the man collecting sticks, but we do know the hearts of David and Jesus. Or, the difference may be, and this is what I believe, in the types that each man represents. The man caught collecting sticks represents man under the Old Covenant. He is man under the Law. He must do everything exactly right, according to the written instructions of God to Moses, or he becomes disqualified. He must die. This is the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, the difference between the natural and the spiritual. David and Jesus, on the other hand, obviously represent men under the New Covenant who are not obigated to perfectly keep God’s Law in order to be accepted by him. In the natural we all break the Law and we all die. In this age we all remain utterly incapable of keeping all of God’s Law so long as we remain bound in this carnal flesh. Even the most spiritual of the Old Testament, like Moses and David, could not perfectly keep God’s Law. Thus Moses died before he reached the promised land and David fell into the most heinous acts known to man, adultery and murder, and lost his kingdom for a time. Jesus, though, shed his blood that men could be reconciled to God without perfect obedience to God’s Law.

What, then, is the point of the Law? The Law acts for humans as the bit and bridle does for the horse. Like the bit for the horse, the Law keeps the man on the right path. But, says Paul, the goal or end of the Law is Christ for righteousness.  See Romans 10:4. And the Law is our tutor which leads us to Christ. See Galatians 3:24. Yet, it is not God’s purpose that mankind always be restrained by a rigid set of dos and don’ts. Saying this I do not intend to bring the Law to naught, for if we break God’s moral laws, then be assured that that law will once again discipline us as a rigid schoolmaster and drag us to Christ in repentance and for forgiveness.  But his goal is that that law be written upon our hearts. For then God’s very eye will be our eye, always leading us in righteousness, and thus will be fulfilled the saying, “I will guide thee with mine eye.” (Psalm 32:8)

And he said unto them, You are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, Who are you? And Jesus said unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. They understood not that he spoke to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father has not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. As he spoke these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We are Abraham’s descendants, and were never in bondage to any man: how say you, You shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abides not in the house forever: but the Son abides ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendant; but you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God hears God’s words: you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God. Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon? Jesus answered, I have not a demon; but I honor my Father, and you do dishonor me. And I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeks and judges. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keeps my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and you say, If a man keeps my saying, he shall never taste of death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom make you yourself? Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father that honors me; of whom you say, that he is your God: Yet you have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. (John 8:23-59 KJ2000)

Have you noticed how many of the politicians and talking heads on radio, even the conservative ones, are calling for the death or capture of Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks?  Why?  Because he reveals the truth of things going on in the world today.  We live in a time of worldwide deception. But, remember, Jesus said, “Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light; and what ye hear in the ear, proclaim upon the house-tops.” (Matthew 10:26-27 ASV)

So, pray for Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, that God will preserve his life and continue to allow the truth of this world’s wickedness to come into the light: Wikileaks