“Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was
needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye
should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered
unto the saints,”Jude
3.
INTRODUCTION
This text Scripture sets forth a message
for true believers living today.The
context of the entire chapter is speaking
about the immoral wickedness and evil we see in theworld around us today.This passage in Jude makes it very clear that “the faith which was once delivered unto the
saints,” is under
attack today, just as it was when Jude was inspired of God
to write his
epistle.Jude
exhorted true believers
back then to “earnestly contend
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for the
faith.” In these very
trying times we are living in
today, is there any less need?Well…??Readers,
are you listening?
THE
FAITH
Notice that Jude DID NOT say, “a
faith,” but rather he was inspired of God to distinctly say,
“the faith.”
Many
times over the years, I have had people tellme, “I’ma
Methodist <” or,
“I’m a Presbyterian,” or I’m a Seven Day Adventist, or a
Pentecostal, or a
Jehovah Witness, or a Mormon, or a Church of Christ, or a
Catholic, and ad
nauseum.
Readers, God is not the author of
confusion, 1 Cor. 14:33, and “the
faith” He bestowed upon His Church and
believing people is not
divided into many different denominations, each having
their own system of
“faith.”These various
denominations are often pitted
against one another in their doctrines and practices.. Don’t blame
the Lord for such division.But
since it is not the Lord, then who is responsible for such
division in the
ranks of Christianity?Basically Satan,
but how about examining…….
THE
THEORIES OF MEN…???
The word, “theory,” is never found in the
Bible.When God
gave to mankind His
inspired Word, He was setting forth absolute truth, and not
a bunch of dumb
theories.
Further, God Himself urged men to…….
“Come
now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though
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your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though
they be red
like crimson, they shall be as
wool,” Isaiah 1:18.
Almighty
God was not playing silly little
guessing games with men, when He gave us His Word.The entire history
of mankind has been God’s
effort to redeem fallen men and women, boys and girls, whom
He created, and
wants to fellowship with on the basis of His own
righteousness.There
are no “tom fool” theories set forth
anywhere in God’s Word.None!All
of God’s Word is both reasonable and
logical.
Then why all the theories on God’s Word which
have circulated through the centuries, and are still
circulating today, than at
any previoustime
in human history?Why?
Because many who claim to believe in God,
find something in God’s Word which they don’t want to
believe.And
instead of seriously studying the
Scriptures, and praying for enlightenment, they just come up
with some dumb
theory, which they assume
explains
the passage, the Scripture, or the subject.
Dear readers, God’s Word is a perfect harmony
of Divine Truth.Every
passage in it
harmonizes with the whole revealed Word of God.If a reader finds something in the Bible which does
not appear to
harmonize with something they
have been taught or want to believe, don’t invent a theory to explain the Word away.Don’t try to rearrange the Word to make it fit your theory.Then
what is one to
do in such a circumstance?Try
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doing
what God’s Word tells us to do; STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, 2
Timothy 2:15.And
while you are studying, stop relying on
your fallen Adamic “sin nature,”and go to the Lord in humble
and sincere prayer
forenlightenment.The Lord Jesus
Himself clearly stated that He
would send the Holy Spirit to “guide you
into all truth,” John 16:13.Believe
and receive what the Lord said.
EXAMPLES
OF MAN’S VAIN THEORIES
I am not as dumb as some would like to make
me out to be.I
fully realize that all
of man’s theories
are not as far out
and radical as what I am about to share with our readers.Yet any theory
about God’s Word can lead into more and more vain theories, until one can become so entangled
in theories that they cannot find their way out.Read on…….
THE
TRINITY…THE TRIUNE GODHEAD
Is it possible for fallen mankind to know
everything there is to know about God?Absolutely not!The prophet Job made
this clear centuries ago, Job 7:11.Read
also Deuteronomy 29:29.
But it is possible to know some things
about God, which His Word plainly reveals to His people.
I received an email from one who claims to
be a brother in Christ, and a missionary.His email was completely devoted to ranting and
raving against anyone
who believes in the
Trinity.I mean
he didn’t spare his radicalism.He clearly stated
that
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anyone
who believes in the Triune Godhead is lost in sin and on the
road to death and
Hell.His
railing email left no room whatsoever
for correction or instruction in righteousness.
What
he had to say was dogmatically stated.As far as he was concerned, anyone; laymen or
preacher, man or woman, who
believesin the Trinity of God
is lost in sin, and is
without hope of salvation unless they repent and renounced
their belief in the
Triune Godhead.How
glaringly silly can
one get?
So here is a theory invented by a man who has never
seriously studied the
Scriptures, or the subject about which he was ranting and
raving.The
last time I checked, my Bible has plenty
to say about…..
1Almighty God,
referring to Him over and over
as our Heavenly Father; the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the spiritual Father
of every true believer.
1Jesus
Christ is the second person in the Triune Godhead, repeatedly referred
to in the New Testament as
“the Son of God.”In fact, the
Lord Jesus is referred to as
God Himself in Titus 2:11-15.And why
shouldn’t He be?He
is explicitly called
the “ only begotten
Son” of Godin
John 3:16.
1The
Holy Spirit is the third person in the Triune Godhead who
brings the repentant
believer to spiritual birth, John 3:5-8.He is also the One who seals and indwells true
believers and guides
theminto a correct
understanding of
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God’s Word,John 16:13.
Now
the last time I checked 1+1+1 =
3.Three
persons in the Divine Godhead,
Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20, and Colossians 2:9. More proof?Gladly!
In Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew word translated
as “God” is the
word, “Elohiym.”Any
good Hebrew Lexicon will
tell you that this word is a PLURAL noun, even
though it was translated
as singular in the KJV.This means that
when “the heaven and
the earth” was
created, there was more than oneDevine
Being involved
in the creation.This
truth is confirmed in Genesis 1:26 where
God (Elohiym) explicity said, “Let us
make man in our image after our
likeness…..”Now
since man had not yet been created,
who was God speaking to when He said, “Let
us make man in our image, after our likeness?”It should be glaringly obvious to our readers
that the Divine
Godhead (the Trinity) already existed, and together
created the heaven
and the earth, and mankind upon the earth,Read Genesis 2:7.
Yes, I DO teach and preach the Divine
Trinity of God, and have no apology to make to anyone for
doing so.Plain
enough?
Oh but that’s not the end of the
story.The same
man who had ranted and
raved about the Trinity, and dogmatically declared that
anyone who believed in
the Trinity is lost and going to Hell, sent me a second
email.
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His
second email was just as silly as his first one, only this
time he was ranting
and raving about the Doctrine of Hell.According to him, there is no such place.He claims that an
eternal Hell simply does
not exist.Well,
isn’t this real
consistent?
In the first email he said that anyone
believing in the Trinity of God was lost in sin and going to
Hell. But in
his second email he said that there is
no such place as Hell.Hello!
Because, according to him, “a loving God”
would never send
people
to an eternal Hell, to be punished for ever.
What a dumb theory!Another
silly theory
based on his own emotional
feelings, rather than on what God’s Word actually and
literally says.Folks,
a “loving God” will never permit His
redeemed people to suffer at the hands of the unrepentant
wicked for all
eternity.Hello!
God has prepared
a place for such incorrigible
wicked, Deuteronomy 32:22.
Folks, if there is no eternal Hell for the
incorrigible wicked,
then
why should there be an eternal Heaven for the repentant
righteous
who seek to live for the Lord?Hello!I’m
breathlessly waiting
for a Scriptural answer.Don’t
bother me with vain opinions, for the opinions of others are
no better than
mine.God’s
inspired Word is to be taken
at face value for what it actually and literally says.PERIOD!Those who refuse to take it as literal truth will
never come to a
correct understanding,
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unless
God graciously grants them repentance, so that they can
receive
the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, Acts 11:18;
1
Corinthians 2:14.
THE
REALITY OF HELL
If Hell is not real, then why should we believe
that Heaven is real?Folks,
I am going
to Heaven when I leave this present evil
world.The
great God of all true believers, not only
saves, but He gives assurance of salvation. I have such
assurance. 2 Corinthians
13:5; 2 Peter
1:10-11. I also
believe what God’s Word has to say
about Hell being a place of eternal punishment for all God
haters and Christ
rejectors, Rev. 19:20; 20:10; 20:15.Hell is referred to again and again in the inspired
Word.One such
notable place in the Old Testament
is Isaiah 66:23-24. With
a little
sanctified imagination, just think of looking over into the
lake of fire, and
seeing
the carcasses of some you have
known in this life, being tossed about upon the waves of the
lake of fire.This
is exactly what is being described in
this passage in Isaiah 66.
This would be a good place to write about
“the underworld,” what is beneath the surface of the earth.But in this study
I have neither the time,
the space, nor the inclination to do so.
ANOTHER
DUMB THEORY
Having surrendered my life to the Lord’s
ministry 68 years ago, I had a sincere desire to be the best
minister I could
be, for my Lord and Savior.So I began
STUDYING God’s Word, while
8
praying
for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and for correct
understanding, John
16:13.I not
only studied God’s Word,
but I studied the doctrines and teachings of various
“religions,” who through
the centuries, have adopted their own theories
of what God’s Word says.As I began
studying Bible prophecy, I carefully studied the books and
teachings of the Amillennialists,
the Post
millennialists,
the Non-millennialists, and the Pre-millennialists.
I
studied all of these different positions on Bible prophecy
with my Bible in my
hand, carefully comparing what prominent leaders in each of
these movements
teach, with what the Scriptures actually say and teach.And I daily prayed
for guidance.It
was real easy to discern that the ONLY
Scriptural position on Bible prophecy is Pre-millennialism.And as I studied,
the Lord graciously called
to my attention truths about prophecy that some even today
have overlooked, or
ignored, and want to argue about.The
length of the Tribulation is one of those prophetic truths.
A fellow sent me an email dogmatically
stating that there will be no seven year tribulation period;
that the
tribulation will be only 3 ½ years in length.I answered this question in my last study entitled, “Rightly Dividing.” In that study the Lord
permitted me to
demonstrate right from His prophetic Word, the impossibility
of the tribulation
period being fulfilled in just 3 ½ years.Any reader who did not receive a copy of that study,
9
needs
only notify me, and I will gladly
send
you a copy.
There are a number of things those who insist on a 3
½ year tribulation
totally ignore.How
many of them have
seriously studied about the Scriptural distinction
between“the
man of sin,” (the anti-christ) and the “beast?”It
is the “man of sin” whorises to power and
reigns in the
first half of the seven year
tribulation.But
it is the “beast” who
rules in the second half of
the tribulation.It
is the “wrath of the
Lamb” (Christ) which is
poured out upon Christ rejecting mankind during the first
half of the
tribulation, but it will be “the wrath of
God” Himself, which is poured out upon the wicked,
during the second half
of the seven year tribulation.Read it
for yourself in Psalm 110:1 and Revelation 14 – 15.
Those
who teach a 3 ½ year tribulation have
never bothered to harmonize any of these passages with what
the inspired Word
actually and literally says about the length of the
tribulation.
The ministry of God’s Two Witnesses perfectly
harmonizes with what the
inspired Word says about the reign of the “man
of sin,” followed by the reign of “the
beast.” Fulfillment of theseprophecies requires a seven year tribulation.
Significally, the seven year tribulation is
foreshadowed several times
in the Old Testament, Colossians 2:16-17.I have never found a single place forshadowing a 3 ½
year
tribulation.Hello!
CONCLUSION
Now it is up to our readers.Do you want to
believe what the
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Word
of God actually and literally says and teaches, or do you
want to believe the
vain theories of
men?Or as some
theorists do, do you wantto
“pick and choose” what you want to believe, and wickedly
ignore those passages
in God’s Word which you don’t want to believe?The choice is yours!But whatever
choice you make has consequences with it.Would you prefer to hear your Savior say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” or
do you choose to
hear Him say, “Thou
wicked and slothful
(lazy) servant.”Read
the Parable of
the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30, and keep in mind that this
parable is about
the Lord’s own servants, 25:14.Decide for yourself which you want to hear, for you will
hear one
or the other at the BEMA seat of Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:13.