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<h1><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What Does Jesus Say About Having Leaders, Teachers and Pastors?</span></strong></span></h1>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus said there is <em><strong>not to be a single leadership authority among ANY of us except Christ Himself</strong></em>! Jesus is the "sole teacher" and "sole pastor." We cannot call anyone other than Christ our teacher, leader or pastor! All such roles of teacher, leader and pastor are Jesus's roles as the King of Kings. No individual Christian is authorized to claim any such title.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But Jesus called them unto him, and said, "Ye know that the princes of the <em><strong>Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise AUTHORITY upon them</strong></em>. But IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU: but whosoever will be great among you, <strong><em>let him be your servant</em></strong>." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+20%3A25-26&amp;version=NIV">Matt. 20:25-26</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. "But do not be called Rabbi [<em>i.e.</em>,<strong><em> teacher</em></strong>]; for <strong><em>One is your Teacher [kathegetes]</em></strong>, and <em><strong>you are all brothers/brethren</strong></em> [<em>adelphoi</em>]. "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. "<em><strong>Do not be called leaders [teacher][Gk kathegetes]</strong></em>; for One is your <em><strong>Leader</strong></em> [<strong><em>teacher</em></strong>][kathegetes], that is, Christ. "But the greatest among you <strong><em>shall be your servant [slave].</em></strong>” (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2023:6-11&amp;version=NASB">Matt. 23:6-11</a>, NASB)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[Note how both 20:25-26 and 23:6-11 have the identical phrase "shall be your servant," showing these two passages are linked. This proves anyone who takes the office / title of "leader," or "teacher" in place of Jesus over the brethren (Matt. 23:6-11) acts wrongfully -- acts improperly just as the "Gentiles who exercise dominion" over the people (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2020:25-26&amp;version=NASB">Matt. 20:25-26</a>.) ]</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, <strong><em>one shepherd/pastor</em></strong> (Grk <em>poimen</em>)." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2010:16&amp;version=NASB">John 10:16</a>.) Cf. Eph. 4:11 "pastor" (<em>poimen</em>)</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"But be not ye called Rabbi: for <strong><em>one is your teacher</em></strong>, and all ye are brethren...." (Matt. <a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/23-8.htm">23:8</a>)(ASV)</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Nor are you to be called '<strong><em>teacher</em></strong>,' for you have one <strong><em>Teacher</em></strong>, the Christ." (Matt. <a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/23-10.htm">23:10</a>, NIV)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, Jesus told us we are all equal, as one family of believers -- brothers and sisters. There is nothing implied in "brethren" other than an equality among all church members. We are to serve one another, not try to lead among one another. As Rick Warren recently put it: "<em><strong>Stop leading, start serving</strong></em>." (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lghqRpblOg8">5/24/2014 You Tube</a>.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And there is only one "shepherd" (pastor) who leads us. And there is only one "teacher" who teaches us through the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself. As Amos Love correctly said:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"After trying for 1700 years, 'clergy - laity' still doesnt work.&nbsp;Jesus said <strong><em>we are 'All' brethren</em></strong>. Matt 23:8 -10." (<a href="http://headhearthand.posterous.com/leaders-who-last">Amos Love</a> April 26, 2010.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Holy Spirit coming in Jesus' name will bring to remembrance Jesus' words. Those words will teach us. Our teacher to look up to should not be some official clergy or recognized 'divines' or other 'brothers' who claim an office or title or wear robes to distinguish themselves. None among us should have a superiority in an office within Christ's true church over us: "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will <em><strong>send in my name</strong></em>, will <em><strong>teach you all things</strong></em> and will remind you of everything I have said to you." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2014:26&amp;version=NIV">John 10:26</a>, NIV.) Jesus always is the "sole pastor" (John 10:16) and "sole teacher" (Matt 23:8,10), as He said.</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Luther Originally Agreed There Can Be No Superiors In the Church</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As Luther who founded the Reformation in 1517 AD also wrote in<em> </em>1523:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Among Christians there is <em><strong>no superior but Christ himself</strong></em>, and <em><strong>him alone</strong></em>. What kind of authority can there be where <em><strong>all are equal </strong></em>and have the same right, power, <img src="http://bks9.books.google.com/books?id=cHvf_xp6V8IC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;img=1&amp;zoom=1&amp;edge=curl&amp;imgtk=AFLRE70RBWmQJpL356VFWbxJBiRtA4WX-4Aql6Rji8K4Urk56yn-waWrvlYsW8EeSdIbluGq3C_Ik4eDjYbWtuWbF5u1A4DbL1IVZ0INXyDnTWqXvMwRiwRvxxoWO97bYZ8kDQxVH3Ov" alt="Front Cover" style="float: right;" />possession and honor, and where <em><strong>no one desires to be the other's superior</strong></em>, but each the other's subordinate. Where there are such people, one could not establish authority even if he wanted to, since in the nature of things<em><strong> it is impossible to have superiors where no one is willing or able to be superior</strong></em>. Where there are no such people [<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>i.e.</em>, no one willing to just all be equal], however, there are no real Christians either.</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">(Martin Luther, <em>Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed</em> (1523) in &nbsp;Martin Luther, <em>Selected Writings: 1517-1520</em>&nbsp;(Ed. Theodore Tippert)(Fortress Press, 2007) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=cHvf_xp6V8IC&amp;lpg=RA3-PA307&amp;ots=4khwrQvGSD&amp;dq=%22Among%20Christians%20there%20is%20no%20superior%20but%20Christ%20himself%22&amp;pg=RA3-PA307#v=onepage&amp;q=%22Among%20Christians%20there%20is%20no%20superior%20but%20Christ%20himself%22&amp;f=false">307</a>; See also 45 Luther's Works 75, 117 (Walther I. Brandt, 1956).<br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">How amazing it is Luther taught there are no Christians present in a congregation when the group agrees to make some human their superior. That is how fundamental Luther viewed Jesus' principles when he was battling the presupposition that priests and popes were legitimate authorities. (Sadly, as we shall see in the Study Notes below after this article, once Luther won a treaty of peace with the pope for his new church, the temptation for power later seduced Luther himself. He become a new pope of his new church, and he appointed ministers who operated as de facto superiors. By Luther's own criteria, there were no more Christians present in such churches who suffered such a change.)</span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Error of Structured Hierarchy Among Equal Brothers</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In agreement is Dave Lililgren's 2007 article entitled "Pastor Jesus" in which we read his valid comments on Matthew 20:25-26:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In verse 25, Jesus describes “<strong><em>secular</em></strong>” leadership by using terms “rulers of the Gentiles” and “their great ones.” &nbsp;This type of leadership is based upon ones position (“rulers”) in government and upon their greatness (“great ones” could also refer to their credentials) in exercising influence over others. &nbsp;Its all about control (“lord it over them”) and the exercise of authority. Secular leadership is hierarchical, from top to bottom, with a “chain of command.”</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Tragically, Jesus in verse 25 is <em><strong>describing the leadership structure of many churches today</strong></em>. We have brought in “baggage” from the world (“the Gentiles” literally means “the nations”) and have <strong><em>organized Christs church after a pagan model</em></strong>, replete with “boards” and “chains of command” and CEOs (a.k.a., “senior pastors”). &nbsp;But <strong>Jesus emphatically states that this type of church government is wrong</strong>: &nbsp;“It shall not be so among you” (Matt. 20:26a). This is not to be the way leadership functions in Christs kingdom. &nbsp;(Lilligren, "<a href="http://www.cwcfamily.com/dave/pastor_jesus_part_2.htm">Pastor Jesus</a>" (2007).)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Luther began the reformation in 1517 with this same view in mind: to liberate us from all ecclesiastical authority except the authority of Jesus. Luther wrote in his e</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">ssay,' Freedom of a Christian,' which we find in <em>Martin Luther: Selections From His Writings</em> (Dillenberger, editor)(Anchor Books, 1962) at page 65:</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Injustice is done those words 'priest,' 'cleric,' 'spiritual,' 'ecclesiastic,' when they are transferred from all Christians to those few who are now by a <em><strong>mischievous usage</strong></em> called 'ecclesiastics.'"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Our True Obligation Solely To Submit to Christ Within The Church</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">God commands instead we submit only to Christ. Through Moses long ago God told us one day we would be required to obey the Christ -- apparently as God's most superior voice of all time. We read in Deuteronomy - the prophecy of "The Prophet" which passage Peter in Acts 2 said applies to Jesus -- as follows:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;" data-mce-mark="1"><span id="en-NIV-5402" class="text Deut-18-17" style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;"><span class="versenum" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">17&nbsp;</span>The&nbsp;<span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>&nbsp;said to me: “What they say is good.</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;</span><span id="en-NIV-5403" class="text Deut-18-18" style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;"><span class="versenum" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">18&nbsp;</span>I will raise up for them a prophet<span class="crossreference" value="(&lt;a href=&quot;#cen-NIV-5403A&quot; title=&quot;See cross-reference A&quot;&gt;A&lt;/a&gt;)" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"></span>&nbsp;like you from among their fellow Israelites, and <em><strong>I will put my words<span class="crossreference" value="(&lt;a href=&quot;#cen-NIV-5403B&quot; title=&quot;See cross-reference B&quot;&gt;B&lt;/a&gt;)" style="vertical-align: top;"></span>&nbsp;in his mouth.<span class="crossreference" value="(&lt;a href=&quot;#cen-NIV-5403C&quot; title=&quot;See cross-reference C&quot;&gt;C&lt;/a&gt;)" style="vertical-align: top;"></span>&nbsp;He will tell them everything I command him</strong></em>. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2018:17-18&amp;version=NIV">Deut 18:17-19 NIV</a>)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This role for Jesus was implied in God's voice from heaven in the New Testament. At Jesus' transfiguration, a voice speaks from heaven and says of Jesus "listen to Him." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%209:7&amp;version=NIV">Mark 9:7</a>; Matt 17:5, transfiguration.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">When any of us take the role of a superior over other Christians, we are pushing aside Jesus who God commands be given that role as the Teacher and the Preacher. We all must listen to him.</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;Those who teach and preach are an obvious necessity to communicate Jesus' words. However, to call yourself 'a preacher' or 'a teacher' or similar title is a seduction to power -- a power that God exclusively gave the one whose words you quote.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Sadly for Luther, in the end, as discussed in a post-script note below, Luther succumbed to the temptation of earning riches by creating an ecclesiastical structure with himself and his friends in charge. To use Luther's own words, he mischievously placed himself above other Christians with a right to command wages.</span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Subterfuge Of Jesus's Principles By The Label of 'Minister'</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What about if we simply call a single poweful-church leader a minister? A servant? A slave? Does this label change the substance of what we are doing, and thus avoid Jesus' prohibition? <em>NO. </em>That would be playing a word-game, raising form over substance.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Such nomenclature is simply a brazen circumvention of Jesus' commands. It seeks to create an office which represents a single powerful church-leader or teacher or pastor. An unequal "brother" who has taken Jesus' post among us.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The standard 'minister' position does not simply humbly serve with the rest of us as all his equal, as we all know from experience. Rather, the minister is always <em><strong>alone authorized to speak and teach</strong></em>. None of us can contribute during the sermon. <strong><em>No one can question or dispute the minister as he talks</em></strong>. We treat the minister as an oracle above us. Finally, no one but the 'minister' <strong><em>gets paid for his time</em></strong> in the service (except a few other church-leaders), thus giving the minister an unequal honor above the general members within the entire Church.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, this isolating of one individual to hold power over us and command wages under the title of "Minister" is a completely dishonest skirting of Jesus' meaning.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">It subverts Jesus' role. As Frank Viola and George Barna recently wrote in <em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Cu8BGQAACAAJ">Pagan Christianity</a></em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Cu8BGQAACAAJ"> </a> (Tyndale: 2008) at 75:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[T]he Protestant order of worship represses mutual participation and the growth of Christian community. It puts a choke hold on the functioning of the body of Christ by <strong><em>silencing its members</em></strong>. There is absolutely no room for anyone to give a word of exhortation, share an insight, start or introduce &nbsp;a song, or spontaneously lead a prayer. You are<strong><em> forced to be a muted, staid pewholder</em></strong>! You are prevented from being enriched by the other members of the body as well as being able to enrich them yourself.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Viola explains he was involved in a home church which was a weekly gathering and completely spontaneous in starting up hymns, prayers, readings, etc. &nbsp;Viola says when you operate this way, the headship of Christ emerges. When it is lacking, Jesus' role as leader is suppressed:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[T]he Protestant order of worship <strong><em>strangles the headship of Jesus Christ</em></strong>. The entire service is directed to one person. You are limited to the knowledge, gifting and experience of one member of the body--the pastor. Where is the freedom for our Lord Jesus to speak through His body at will? Where in the liturgy may God give a brother or sister a word to share with the whole congregation? The order of worship allows for no such thing. <strong><em>Jesus Christ has no freedom to express Himself through His body at His discretion</em></strong>. He too is<strong><em> rendered a passive spectator</em></strong>. <em>Id</em>. at 76.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">To support our ignoring Jesus's command, many people complain that operating without a formal leader or pastor is impractical. One responds: "I couldn't imagine a church run without some order."<a href="http://biblicalthought.com/blog/all-church-government-is-unbiblical/"><sup>1</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://biblicalthought.com/blog/all-church-government-is-unbiblical/"><sup></sup></a> But you can have order without a single formal leader / pastor / teacher aside from Jesus. And why would we <strong><em>scoff at our Lord Jesus's words</em></strong> without trying what He says? Here is my experience proving it can be done.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">My Experience With Only Jesus As Pastor</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">When I lived in Costa Rica as a missionary in 1998-2002 (still technically a conservative Presbyterian but with Baptist-evangelical ideas as my predominant viewpoint), I regularly attended a Pentecostal English-speaking church on Sunday. Missionary work was something you did the rest of the week.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">One of our church members was Gary. He told a group of us who lived near his home that the notion of modern pastors was unbiblical. Our sub-group who hung out a lot with Gary then read a book he offered that explained this. I was not fully convinced. However, I was willing to try out "Gary's idea." Each Wednesday, we met at a different person's home for communion, worship-singing and prayer. No one was in charge. Whoever's home served as host, that couple was responsible for making sure the communion table was prepared. Each of us brought food and gave it to the host couple for the post-service lunch. It was great and worked completely in an orderly manner.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Significantly, we always had a<em><strong>&nbsp;chair for Jesus</strong></em>. We believed Jesus was the sole teacher and sole pastor. That symbolic chair reminded us to never get carried away as an individual with speaking. We began every service inviting Jesus to be there with us, as He promised where "<strong><em>two or more are gathered together in my name, there I am among them</em></strong>." (Matt. <a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/18-20.htm">18:20</a>.) And we also made expressions of submission to Jesus as Master, recalling that Jesus told us what brings Him and the Father to reside among us:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If a man loves me, he will <strong><em>keep my word</em></strong>, and my Father will love him, and<strong> we will come to him and make our home with him</strong> (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2014:23&amp;version=KJV">John 14:23</a>).</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Then after worship-singing and initial prayers, men and women, including husbands and wives, asked the group about what a passage meant. Any of us could raise a question about a passage which they had been studying privately. We read it, studied it, and commented on it. Nothing was out of turn. It was spiritually dominated by the Holy Spirit's presence with us. God was moving among us.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Frank Viola's Similar Experience</span></span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Frank Viola in his chapter on the modern order of worship shared his similar experience in what he calls "open meetings under the headship of Chirst." (Viola, <em>Pagan Christianity</em> (2008) at 78.) He explained such a meeting "not too long ago" of about 30 of us "gathered together in a home...." Some spontaneously went to the center of the room and sang a song. Quickly the entire church was singing, arms around one another. Then someone began another song. They sang several songs sometimes repeating them. Some people turned the words of the songs into prayers. "On several occasions, a few of the members exhorted the church in relation to what we had just sung." <em>Id.,</em> at 78. Then they all sat down. Quickly a woman stood up and shared what the Lord had showed her the past week. After she sat down, a man got up and shared a portion of scripture, and exalted the Lord Jesus through it, etc. <em>Id.</em></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Viola points out the same impact this had on myself in the home church we worshipped within in Costa Rica:</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">It was so...edifying that it became evident to everyone that <strong>someone was indeed leading the meeting</strong>. But He was not visible. It was <strong>the Lord Jesus Christ!</strong> His headship was being manifested among His people. We were reminded again that He in fact is alive...alive enough to direct His church. <em>Id.</em>, at 79.</span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Why Do We Reject This?</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What is the cause of our misconceptions against this kind of church? It is our modern concept of the church as a<strong><em> structured</em></strong> <strong><em>organization</em></strong> like modern corporations that causes us to want 'leaders' and 'pastors' other than Jesus. However, a truly vibrant Christian community is one that does not need formally present leaders /pastors nor official buildings. The need for walls should not dictate a structure at odds with Jesus' words. As Jesus said of the Temple, one day it would be gone, but God wants those who worship in spirit and truth. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%204:21-24&amp;version=KJV">John 4:21-24</a>.) Walls are sometimes useful. Teaching is useful. Pastoring is useful. But commanding figures called Teachers and Pastors and Leaders (aka Ministers) other than Christ Himself are contrary to Christ's direction.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The Church Multiplication Association at its website explains my own experience and their desire to obey Jesus's words in what they regard as the "most ignored" passage from Jesus.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In our own mission work we use only the terms "hermano" (brother), and "hermana" (sister) for everyone. We try to be very careful to <strong>not give the impression that some of us are somehow more important</strong>, or "more called" than others. In any of our meetings ANYONE is welcome, even those meetings of a sensitive nature. We don't want to do anything that would give an impression that some are more qualified or more important to deal with matters than others. As a result, <em><strong>our poorer, uneducated brethren are often used of God to accomplish extraordinary things as they are encouraged to use their spiritual gifting</strong></em>, rather than something they have been made to feel inferior about through no fault of their own. (J. Guy Muse, missionary in Ecuador, "<a href="http://www.cmaresources.org/article/the-most-ignored-words-of-jesus">The Most Ignored Words of Jesus.</a>")</span></p>
<h2 class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Paul &amp; Barnabas' Differing Views</strong></span></h2>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So where did we get the idea of multiple pastors, ministers, and other officers lording over us? Paul.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says "And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, <strong><em>some pastors </em></strong>(shepherds, Greek&nbsp;<em><strong>poimenas</strong></em>) and teachers...." (Eph. 411.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But Jesus said to the contrary: "And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock,&nbsp;<em><strong>one shepherd</strong></em> (Greek&nbsp;<strong>poimen</strong>)" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2010:16&amp;version=KJV">John 10:16</a>.). Jesus uses the same Greek word for <em>shepherd/pastor</em> as Paul, but the singular while Paul uses the plural. Jesus' point is there should be<strong><em> no more than one</em></strong>. Paul's use of the plural is to convey a contradictory idea that it is perfectly ok to have multiple pastors.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And where do we get the idea that anyone but Jesus can serve as a leader over us too?</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"For though you have <strong><em>countless leaders</em></strong> [paidagogous, lit. <em>leaders</em>]&nbsp;in Christ ...." <a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/4-15.htm">1Cor.4:15</a></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Jesus said: "Neither be called leaders [kathegetai,</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;"> lit. leaders -- </em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">a synonym for </span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">paidagogous</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">], for you have one leader, the Christ." </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2023:10&amp;version=AMP" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">Matt.23:10 AMP</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">. (Other translations render this as "master" (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2023:10&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">KJV</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">) or "director" (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2023:10&amp;version=YLT" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">YLT</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">).)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And where does the idea come from that these pastors/leaders can not only lord it over us, but also can expect wages from us? Paul again.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Tim.%205:17&amp;version=KJV">1 Tim. 5:17</a>,<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> </span>Paul wrote: "The elders who <em>direct the affairs of the church </em>well are worthy of <strong><em>double hono</em><em>r</em></strong>, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching." Then Paul uses a verse about not muzzling an ox, and then by nebulous logic Paul reads it to imply that churchgoers have a duty to pay the elders for their service. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Tim.%205:18&amp;version=KJV">1 Tim. 5:18</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Finally, in<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+9%3A7-14&amp;version=NIV"> 1 Cor. 9:14</a> (NIV) Paul bluntly says: "<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">the Lord has <em><strong>commanded</strong></em> that those who preach the gospel should<strong><em> receive their living from the gospel.</em></strong>"&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But I thought Jesus said to His disciples to </span><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><em>lay no cost on anyone</em></strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> they served with preaching or teaching the gospel? "Without cost you have received; </span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><strong>without cost you are to give</strong></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">." (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2010:8&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;">Matt. 10:8b</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">.) This is intended to apply to all preaching and ministry works, for the words</span><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><em> just before</em></strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> this were: "[7]&nbsp;And</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><strong> preach</strong></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> as you go, saying, `The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' [8a]&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><em>Heal the sick</em></strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons."</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Given the state of the church today, I guess Jesus' words are not important any more once Paul gave us the right to preach for financial gain!</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Similarly, Barnabas who authored Hebrews (according to Tertullian) also contributed to the concept of powerful leaders and pastor-like figures in the church:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>Obey your leaders</em>, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your</span><br /><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> souls, as those who will give an account. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Heb.%2013:17&amp;version=KJV">Heb. 13:17</a>)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But Jesus said there were not to be "leaders" in the spiritual community. (Matt. 23:6-11, quoted above.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And Jesus said we were not to have rulers among us who rule over us like Gentiles do in their assemblies. (Matt. 20:25-26.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul / Barnabas are at odds with Jesus. Whom do you follow? Barnabas or Jesus? Paul or Jesus? I choose Jesus.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The famous Tolstoy told us the same thing in his essay "The Church and State" (1891). Tolstoy contrasted the "o</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">riginal Christian doctrine in the Gospels" that dispelled formal worship structures and having formal teachers other than Christ, and then explained: &nbsp;</span><em style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><strong><br /></strong></em></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">But since Christ's time, and down to ours, we find a deviation of doctrine from the foundations laid by Christ.</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">This deviation&nbsp;<em><strong>begins ...with that lover of teaching, Paul</strong></em>: and the wider Christianity extends, the more it deviates and&nbsp;<em><strong>appropriates the methods of that very external worship and dogmatism the denial of which was so positively expressed by Christ. (<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/550-tolstoy-church-and-state.html">"Church or State"</a>).</strong></em></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hence, will we listen to Tolstoy's upbraiding us to follow Christ's teachings, or stay on the path Paul created?</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;" data-mce-mark="1">I was happy to find the same question well put by <a href="http://jesusfamilies.org/hot_topics/church.htm">JesusFamilies.org</a> in a recent article <em>Is 'Going to Church' Compatible with the Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth?</em> (accessed 8/30/2014):</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;" data-mce-mark="1">First and foremost, Jesus plainly teaches that he is to be his follower's only Teacher and Leader, Master and Lord... But the deceit comes in the form of, 'Oh, but God told us through <em><strong>Paul</strong> </em>that there are leaders in between Jesus and his followers....<strong>For those not blinded by their religious Bible dogma, that would obviously make those who believe that statement followers of Paul, since Paul directly contradicts Jesus on this most important matter</strong>. ...I ask again, how many shepherds will the followers of Jesus have? Jesus says 'one'. Paul - and the religion founded on his teachings (and the rest of the Bible apart from Jesus' teachings) - says 'millions'. Who are you going to believe? (Emphasis in original).<br data-mce-bogus="1" /></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>&nbsp;</em></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Battle of Britain Over This Issue</span></strong></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally, in the 1550-80s, reformers in England pled to end all church hierarchy, &nbsp;including powerful bishops, etc. To defeat this movement, Paul was argued to have appointed Timothy a bishop (in the modern sense of a powerful leader). In retort, the anti-hierachy movement claimed Paul made Timothy only a deacon, etc. That became the focal point of a debate that ended up keeping an hierachical system despite Jesus' words condemning it. See Donna B. Hamilton,&nbsp;<em>Shakespeare and Politics in Protestant England</em> (U. of Ky. Press, 1992) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=LVJrs4zvoXMC&amp;lpg=PA64&amp;ots=-L4lfdO1dT&amp;dq=shakespeare%20apostle%20paul&amp;pg=PA64#v=onepage&amp;q=shakespeare%20apostle%20paul&amp;f=false">64</a>&nbsp;("those who wanted to do away with a hierachical structure...had argued that Paul appointed Timothy to be a minister...deacon.") </span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-size: large;">With Paul in the mix as a presumed inspired authority, the movement to return to Jesus' doctrine was doomed.</span><br /></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Benefits From Ending Pastorates-for-Pay<br data-mce-bogus="1" /></span></strong></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">By obeying Jesus to not pay for preaching / teaching, we will return to the norm of original Christianity. As </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Carl B. Hoch, Jr., professor of New Testament at Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary states: "In New Testament days,&nbsp;</span><strong style="color: #494a44; line-height: 21px; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><em>leaders were normally not paid."</em></strong>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(Carl B. Hoch, Jr.,</span><em>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">All Things New</span></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1995) at 240).&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">By ending payments to pastors, we will go far toward dismantling the currently flawed church structure. We will put an end to the self-interest of the leaders to protect against spiritual obedience to Christ's words on this topic as well as many others.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Steve Atkerson wrote the first treatise on this effort to re-establish house churches. He wrote with respect to paying elders and pastors on how huge the benefits would be to the external ministry of the church by reforming to Christ's teaching:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Requiring elders to be self-supporting would&nbsp;</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><strong>free large sums of money currently designated for professional pastors to be used instead in support of missionaries or to help the poor</strong></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">. It would also place a pastor's motives above reproach in an era of religious shysters who purposely fleece the flock in order to finance their exorbitant lifestyles (Ezekiel 34:1-6). In addition, creating a class of salaried ministers tends to&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><em>elevate them above the average believer and fosters an artificial laity/clergy distinction</em></strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">. Finally, salesmen tend to be extra nice toward those to whom they hope to sell something. Hiring a career clergyman puts him in</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><strong>&nbsp;a similar salesman-customer relationship, and this, no doubt to some degree, affects his dealings with significant contributors (money talks).</strong></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(Steve Atkerson, editor.&nbsp;</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;">Toward A House Church Theology</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(Atlanta, GA: New Testament Restoration Foundation, 1996) at 87.)</span></span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">When Did The Church Go Off The Rails?</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Where and when did things change in the church? With one small exception at Rome, it began in the 400s AD.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First, Paul in the early 1st century sewed a small seed that caused a small movement at Rome by 70 AD where <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/1clement.html">Clement of Rome</a>, quoting Paul's lessons, said one had to submit to "elders" and obey them. This solution of 'obeying' rather than persuading was to resolve a "schism" in doctrine, and not an issue over sin. <em>See</em>,&nbsp;<em style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;">The Apostolic Fathers</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(ed. Jack N. Sparks) (Thomas Nelson, 1978) at 49, section 47.) This implied the small Roman church by 70-96 AD was led by a hierarchy that dictated doctrinal issues. To gain such superiority over others, Clement haughtily claimed that he spoke by the Holy Spirit: "You will give us joy and gladness if you prove obedient to<em><strong> what we have written through the Holy Spiri</strong></em>t...." (<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>Id</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">.<em>,&nbsp;</em>at 53, section 63.)<em><br /></em></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Other than that small exception emanating early on from Rome, you would be surprised, but it took almost 400 years to erase laymen as the primary participants in church. Thus, Pauline thinking of pastors, leaders, etc., eventually caused "pope Leo [b. 400-d.461], in an epistle to Maximus, bishop of Antioch, [to tell] him that monks or other<strong><em> laymen</em></strong>, however learned, should not be allowed to usurp the right of teaching or preaching, but <strong><em>only the priests of the Lord</em></strong> [can teach/preach]." (Samuel Cheetham, <em>A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities</em> (Burr, 1880) Vol. 2 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=omMaAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=liberius%20ordered%20people%20to%20celebrate&amp;pg=PA1686#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">1686</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, was born the laity v. clergy distinction in the 5th century, and the superiority of a few over the church was formalized in violation of Jesus's words.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">PS. Sometimes <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%205:5&amp;version=KJV">1 Peter 5:5</a> is used to teach that 'elders' <em><strong>in a church</strong></em> are proper and we must submit to them. However, read the verse again: "Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older." (NIV). Obviously, to say this is about a church organization is twisting the verse. It is simply a moral command between young and old. It is not an organizational teaching about church. It only applies in a church setting as reflective of a principle that applies both inside and outside of church meetings.</span></p>
<h2 class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The Overseer / Bishop</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The early church had a member known as the OVERSEER - what we today call a bishop. The early role is much different than we imagine. It comported with what Peter speaks about in 1 Peter <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20peter%205:1-4&amp;version=ASV">5:3</a>:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">neither as<strong><em> lording it over the charge allotted to you</em></strong>, but making yourselves examples to the flock</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Peter, I believe, was talking about the charge given a bishop. It did not include routine solitary preaching or directing others in their behavior, as we shall see.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Sozomen and various scholars claim the early bishops of Christianity <strong><em>never preached</em></strong> a sermon for the first 400 years of Christianity. At church, you prayed, read the Bible, heard exortation to obey the word, and sang. That was it! "Sozomen [says] at Rome<strong><em> neither the bishop nor any other were known to publicly preach to the public up to this time (440 A.D.)</em></strong>"&nbsp;(Cheetham, <em>History of Christian Antiquities</em> (1880) Vol. 2 at&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=omMaAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=liberius%20ordered%20people%20to%20celebrate&amp;pg=PA1687#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">1687</a>.) "Valesius...in corroboration of Sozomen [says] that<strong><em> no sermon by any bishop of Rome are extant before Leo the Great</em></strong> [ca. 440 A.D.]" <em>Id. </em></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, you might read Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, but then Jesus alone gave the Sermon. Otherwise, there was no practice of any individual member of the church taking on the role of weekly sermonizing.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Cheetham found&nbsp;scattered evidence that bishops were said to give sermons from time to time, but in the same church others sometimes did so also. <em>Id.</em> While Cheetham questions whether Sozomen and Valesius are completely correct, such evidence did not mean one person routinely gave the sermon in a specific church. All were equal. Anyone could speak.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Likewise Viola and Barna in <em>Pagan Christianity</em> say that the first example of routine sermonizing in the church by a solitary person -- called the bishop -- came from Clement of Alexandria in the late second century AD. <em>See </em>Viola &amp; Barna, <em>Pagan Christianity</em> (2008) at 89.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Even so, a sermon when mentioned in the early church was far different than what we are familiar with today. Around 165 AD, a passage of scripture was read with an exhortation to obey the word. Two readings from both the OT and NT were often read. "The sermons in these times were nothing else but exposition of some part of scriptures then read, and exhortations to the people to obey the doctrines contained in them, and generally upon the lesson last read, as being freshest in their minds." As a result of up to four readings, the exhortations were often several -- "sometimes two or three at the same assembly, the presbyters first and then the bishop." (Justin Martyr, <em>First Apology</em> (162 AD) at&nbsp;page<a href="http://www.archive.org/stream/firstapologyofju00just"> 92</a> fn. 2.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, even with such minor exhortations sharing the name 'sermon,' they obviously are not the sermonizing with which we are confronted with today -- where someone with the authority of a title as pastor preaches a message where we are far from the text into commentary and one's own thoughts and ideas entering into the lesson.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Regardless, Sozomen and Valesius as well as Viola and Barna still make a good point about what was the <em>general </em>practice: no sermoniznig by a solitary individual. The exceptions are rare in the early church.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Viola and Barna say that "the <strong><em>sermon became a standard practice...by the fourth century</em></strong>." (Viola &amp; Barna, <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Pagan Christianity</span> (2008) at 89.) They point out that this copied the strikingly similar pattern of the sophists of paganism who recruited disciples and then gave speeches on topics for a fee. <em>Id.</em></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, the fact the prevailing church practice did not have a bishop (and no office of pastor at all) who sermonized for four centuries raises an important question. Doesn't this reveal the early church thought it improper to give a bishop (or anyone else) a position of such authority whereby he alone would be preaching / sermonizing repeatedly week after week in the church, thereby controlling thought and content of discussion?</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">(Please note there was no <strong><em>office</em></strong> of pastor in the early church that survived Paul's mention of there being many 'pastors' in the churches which he promoted. See Viola &amp; Barna, <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Pagan Christianity</span> (2008) at 110. So the only possible early 'ruling' authority to study from post-Paul history is this position of 'bishop' aka 'overseer.')</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Assuming Sozomen, Valesius, Viola and Barna are correct about <em>general</em> practices, this supports a narrow role for an overseer / bishop. It is a role that would not violate Jesus's commands, as apparently the more Christ-centric early church even understood.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If the role of the overseer aka bishop is like a modern church secretary, the overseer sets out what might happen in an assembly meeting. The overser has no authority to control the content of those speaking. That belongs to the Lord Jesus and the movement of the spirit during prayer and communion. The group listening should interact, and then correct the one speaking by means of Berean-like testing from the Bible.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In the home-church I mentioned above we had in Costa Rica, whoever's home was the meeting place would serve as overseer of starting off prayer, communion, making sure everything was prepared for worship, etc. But we all participated<strong><em> equally at all points in the worship time</em></strong>. It was completely liberating besides spiritually strengthening to each member of our small group.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Bishop's Role in Settling Doctrinal Disputes Was Non-Binding</strong></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In Acts 15, the Overseer of Jerusalem (James) was called upon to resolve a question of doctrine. The answer was given after consultation with the Holy Spirit, and taking testimony and holding a hearing with the apostles. All opinions were heard first. The answer obviously had to conform to Scripture. James' goal was to find that answer after careful consideration of evidence and opinions. The conclusion was then placed in a friendly letter form. <strong><em>It was not an edict that threatened expulsion of anyone who did not agree</em></strong>. It did not say it was<em><strong> binding</strong></em>. The goal obviously was to let the probable view of God flow through the letter by asking for as much input from other believers as possible. In this way, the Overseer does not assume any authority above and apart from the Lord Jesus. But such an opinion-letter reflected that the bishop could serve as a peacemaker--a role Jesus would approve.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What importance is there that Peter and the other eleven apostles stay out of the dispute? They provide testimony but do not venture any imprimature above the bishop James's ruling. The answer is we must infer James simply rendered an opinion as an elder to try to quell disturbance in the church -- as a peacemaker. His letter's<strong><em> authority depended upon its reasonableness and spiritual correctness</em></strong>. James did not decree that it must be followed merely because James uttered it. Hence, this episode reveals a bishop could try to settle a doctrinal dispute by making what was hoped to be<strong><em> a persuasive non-binding decision</em></strong>. The apostles were not acting in a superior position above James when he acted as Bishop of Jerusalem. Hence, there is no example of hierarchy in Acts 15.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>No Superior Bishop Over Other Bishops</strong></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">A myth later developed that there was one bishop -- the one at Rome -- in Peter's line -- who was superior to all other Bishops. However, this had no foundation in the early church, as we will review here.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But we Protestants cannot criticize this speck in Roman Catholic eyes when we have similar beams in our own. For just as there was no bishop-over-bishops, there can neither be any authority of 'senior pastor' over 'junior' pastor, or elders over pastors, as we pretend is acceptably different within our Protestant church.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As proof there was no hierarchy in the early church among bishops, Reverand Jeremy Taylor from the 1600s went over the early history and concluded, citing Cyprian (died 258 AD) and Sylvius in support:</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[B]y the law of Christ,<strong><em> one bishop is not superior to the other</em></strong>. ...Cyprian in the council of Carthage [in<a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3818.htm"> 257 AD</a>] said: "It remains (saith he) that we all speak what every one of us doth think, judging no man, and refusing to communicate with no man that shall happen to be of a differing judgment:"..."for <strong><em>none of us makes himself a bishop of bishops</em></strong>, or by tyrannical terror compels his colleagues to a necessity of complying : for every bishop hath a liberty and power of his own arbitrement, <em><strong>neither can he be judged by any one, nor himself judge any other</strong></em>; but we all must<em><strong> expect the judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ</strong></em>, who by himself and<em><strong> alone hath power of setting us over the government of his church, and of judging us for what we do</strong></em>."...</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I [Rev. Taylor] only add the saying of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_II">AEneas Sylvius</a> [died 1464 AD], who was himself a pope; "Ante concilium Nicenum, quisque sibi vivebat, et parvus respectus habebatur ad ecclesiam Romanam;" " "Before the Nicene council, <em><strong>every man lived to himself</strong></em>" (that is, by his proper measures, the limits of his own church), "and <strong><em>little regard was had to the church of Rome</em></strong>." (Jeremy Taylor, <em>The Whole Works of The Right Reverand Jeremy Taylor</em> (Ogle Duncan 1822) Vol. 14 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=fpIbJ7aCcXkC&amp;dq=marsilius%20of%20padua&amp;pg=PA71#v=onepage&amp;q=marsilius%20of%20padua&amp;f=false">71</a>-72.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For further research on Cyprian's quote, it is at&nbsp;Cypr. Op. "Council Carth.," p. 229. See this<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ATIJAAAAQAAJ&amp;dq=episcopum%20episcoporum%20constituit&amp;pg=PA300#v=onepage&amp;q=episcopum%20episcoporum%20constituit&amp;f=false"> link</a>.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For further research on Aenaes Sylvius's quote, it is Aen. Sylvius Op. Basil 1571, Ad Mart. Meyer Epistle cclxxxviii [288] p. 802. See this<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_ZwmAQAAIAAJ&amp;lpg=PA386&amp;ots=BbybWtsJMN&amp;dq=parvus%20respectus%20habebatur%20ad%20ecclesiam%20Romanam&amp;pg=PA386#v=onepage&amp;q=parvus%20respectus%20habebatur%20ad%20ecclesiam%20Romanam&amp;f=false"> link</a>.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Also Cyprian wrote in the early church of the 250s of its bishops serving as all equals under Christ as the sole head:</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"There is one church, <strong>divided by Christ into many members </strong>throughout the world; likewise one bishoprick, poured far abroad by the agreeable<strong><em> multitude of many bishops</em></strong>....[And]&nbsp;although bishopricks be divided and sundered by distance of place, yet were they ever knit together as with a garland, and ever ruled by one advice. Indeed the people was ever mingled together; but the <em><strong>bishops were also joined in charity, that every of them was content to be taught and to be led by other</strong></em>.&nbsp;" (<em>The Works of John Jewel id.</em>, Vol. 3 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ATIJAAAAQAAJ&amp;dq=episcopum%20episcoporum%20constituit&amp;pg=PA301#v=onepage&amp;q=episcopum%20episcoporum%20constituit&amp;f=false">301</a>,&nbsp;citing Cypr. Op. Antonian Epistle lv, p. 112.) [Also quoted by <em>Catholic Encylopedia</em> at this <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3818.htm">link</a>.]</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Further testimony of there being no superior bishop among bishops initially, at the Council of Constantinople of 380 AD, it was even "decreed that the bishop there should have even and equal authority to the bishop of Rome." (<em>The Works of John Jewel</em> (Cambridge University, 1848) Vol. 3 at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ATIJAAAAQAAJ&amp;dq=episcopum%20episcoporum%20constituit&amp;pg=PA300#v=onepage&amp;q=episcopum%20episcoporum%20constituit&amp;f=false">300</a>.) Jewel found much evidence for camaraderie among bishops in that early period where none sought to claim any superiority. (<em>Works of John Jewel, Bishop of Salibury</em> (University Press, 1845) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_ZwmAQAAIAAJ&amp;lpg=PA386&amp;ots=BbybWtsJMN&amp;dq=parvus%20respectus%20habebatur%20ad%20ecclesiam%20Romanam&amp;pg=PA386#v=onepage&amp;q=parvus%20respectus%20habebatur%20ad%20ecclesiam%20Romanam&amp;f=false">386</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But can we have one pastor over another? or elders over pastors? Again, to repeat, there was no office of 'pastor' in the early church. Nor were elders an office; they were the older members of a church. (See "What About Elders?" below.)&nbsp;The only mention of pastors and elders in a church setting was by Paul but these references were apparently descriptive of a role, and not an office because such offices were unknown for over 1000 years of early Christianity. So once we created such an office of <em>pastor</em> in our modern era, we have to accept the fact that (a) his superiority over us is baseless; and (b) having a senior pastor over a junior pastor in authority, or elders over a pastor, is contrary to Christ's words as well as the historic features of the office of bishop -- the only office in the early church. But again, the office of pastor was non-existent in the early church. We need to return to the office of bishop which was a very limited role without sermonizing and control.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Where Repetitive Preaching By A Single Voice Leads</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally, later, when individual sermonizing became a standardized practice after the 400s, the talks employed "rhetoric" which "speedily passed into mere unreal and factitious artifice;" the talks in church became no more than "intellectual exercise." (Cheetham,&nbsp;<em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">History of Chiristian Antiquities</span></em> (1880) Vol. 2 at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=omMaAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=liberius%20ordered%20people%20to%20celebrate&amp;pg=PA1689#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">1689</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Church then becomes about admiring the clever rhetoric and even the skill in sophistry of one pastor over another. Then church can descend into absorbing itself in silly issues like predestination, eternal security, and other things that <strong><em>do not promote godliness</em></strong> at all! These discussions clearly <strong><em>promote </em></strong>relaxation and lack of concern about sin. When we take our eyes off Jesus, and focus on textual issues on these topics in Paul's writings, we fall away from Christ. These modern intellectual interpretations of Paul are at total odds with our Lord's words that try to stir our concern about sin by threatening our salvation for a "praxis" (practice) that is sinful. See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+9%3A42-47&amp;version=NASB">Mark 9:42-47</a> (heaven maimed or hell whole); <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+16%3A27&amp;version=NASB">Matt. 16:27</a> (Son of Man "shall give every man according to the <em>praxis </em>/practice of each.")</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Good preaching is instead about exhortation to obedience and love of the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in whom He dwelled.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But instead, modern preaching often turns into divisive intellectual discussions about nonessentials in writings that are not truly apostolic.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And this leads to campaigns to exclude heretics which Paul mandated (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=titus+3%3A10-11&amp;version=NASB">Titus 3:10, 11</a>). But Jesus said <em>no. </em><em>Instead,</em> leave the tares in the congregation. (See our<a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/86-paulinisttares.html"> link</a> for further discussion.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The single pastor system fed debates over non-essential doctrine destructive of concern for our salvation. Telling people to just believe -- a cost-free salvation -- suits a single pastor system because none will walk away as the rich man to Jesus who had a much higher cost to follow Him. &nbsp;Thus, the single-pastor system has led to nothing but divisiveness and has resulted in millions of deluded but reassured so-called 'Christians.' The time is now to proclaim only Christ and His Word, which will have the effect of restoring the <em>true</em> Gospel of "heaven maimed" or not at all! See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+9%3A42-47&amp;version=NASB">Mark 9:42-47</a>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Membership Records?</strong></span></h2>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">When Jesus preached to crowds, I don't think He ever asked whether someone was qualified to listen. There was no checking of membership status in any sense. This continued a long time after Jesus' resurrection: "Not until the<strong><em> second century</em></strong> did the Roman church develop<em><strong> an organization capable of expelling</strong></em> those viewed as 'heretics.'" (Richard I. Pervo, <em>The Making of Paul: Constructions of the Apostle in Early Christianity</em> (2010) at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=RbGDwsknbdsC&amp;lpg=PA351&amp;dq=knox%20marcion&amp;pg=PA351"> 351</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Regardless, if the church is supposed to be about evangelism first, and fellowship second, how can we create <em>formal</em> tiers of people who can and cannot come to church. (There is such a thing as 'shunning,' but that does not require any membership formality, as explained below.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">There is a second reason that no formal membership is necessary for church. Participation cannot lead to expulsion. Jesus taught us against the Roman Catholic principle of excommunication of heretics. Jesus taught this in the Parable of the Wheat &amp; The Tares. He told us to leave tares (heretics) in the congregation. See this<a href="/Recommended-Reading/paulinisttares.html"> link</a> for further discussion. Carlstadt, the co-founder in 1517 of the Reformation with Luther, wrote in 1520 in <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Canonicis Scriptoris</span> that "the threat of excommunication had no biblical foundation." (Saebo: <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=OMlT-FViF40C&amp;lpg=PA578&amp;dq=Canonicis%20Scripturis%20karlstadt&amp;pg=PA578#v=onepage&amp;q=Canonicis%20Scripturis%20karlstadt&amp;f=false">578</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So some might speak out whose ideas are wrong. Jesus says, 'let them fellowship.' It happened to our group in Costa Rica. We listened. We showed love, as Jesus commands. It worked itself out. (Well, some wanted to excercise <a href="/Recommended-Reading/paulinisttares.html">Pauline exclusion</a>, and this Pauline-command disrupted the peace of our little group. Our group was not attune to the problem of Paul at that time.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The concept of shunning in Matthew 18 of wrongdoers is different. Those who do moral wrongs are to be confronted one-on-one personally first, and then by two or more witnesses. If no reconciliation is possible, then Jesus teaches to <strong><em>shun</em></strong> them. Jesus did not say exclude such a sinful person from church -- a place where perhaps God's word would pierce his/her heart and cause repentance. The shunning, in fact, likely had the impact of making someone want to come to church for social acceptance, and would upon entry lead quickly to reconciliation with the person he or she offended. Excluding them from church is thus unnecessary and counter-productive; shunning can be done effectively without and within church meetings. It is not intended to exclude one entirely from church meetings.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Issue About Prayer During Meetings</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">One of the struggles in having church like this is the issue of prayer. Jesus taught:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>5</sup>"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.&nbsp;<sup>6</sup>But when you pray, <strong><em>go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen</em></strong>. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mt%206:5-6;&amp;version=NIV;">Matt: 6:5-6</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus identified it as a wrongful practice to stand publicly in the synagogue or in the street and pray (even apparently quietly to oneself). This praying-on-corners is still done in Israel today. The defect was obviously that the penitent's prayer was to be seen by men to be penitent. You were praying on a street corner or "standing" at an assembly evidently to be recognized for such wholesome behavior. Hence, it is important to understand such practice to see the fault Jesus was condemning.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus said the cure to this fault is to pray at home in private without the public present.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Does this principle extend to worship time in a public church assembly? Yes but only as to a single individual's efforts to pray. Only then is the risk of self-promotion present.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For example, notice the Psalms are songs which are also prayers. If done in a corporate way, a public prayer was certainly legitimate in the Bible. Thus, <strong><em>a joint prayer</em></strong> is clearly appropriate. The Lord's Prayer even appears to imply a corporate usage was intended, "<strong><em>Our</em></strong> Father," forgive "us <strong><em>our</em></strong>" sins, etc.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What about praying at home or in small groups? Obviously, Jesus was saying do not stand as an individual and pray to be seen in an exhibition to the public. Individuals who pray to be seen or heard in front of an audience are taking the risk of self-promotion.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Arguably, Jesus did not intend to prohibit praying at home in private with close friends and family -- a home group. Praying on your couch may be Jesus' way of saying you can pray where not many people can stand and listen. Hence, in a home group meeting on a couch, the others present may not represent an audience in the sense that risks your intention is public approval of you by the fact you are devotely praying.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In other settings like a church meal, I would suggest taking Jesus very literally. When your church in a public gathering wishes to pray a blessing thanking God for food, use a common blessing that all can repeat. Do not pray a solitary prayer in front of others at Church.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1">What about a prayer group at church with about 30 or more present? Isn't this a public audience, and now we are into the risk that prayer is self-promotion if done by individuals?</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1">Perhaps. One remedy if&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1">one thinks the sin Jesus identifies is more the unequal attention and exhibition, make sure there is a prayer rotation, and thus no one is more holy than the other for prayer. Encourage full participation of each person present. If someone is praying more frequently than others to appear more important and sanctified, and whose words show a controlling behavior, then there is a problem. Others should then voice concern about exhibitionist prayer.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I suggest also a process of taking prayer requests, whether in a home group or church prayer meeting. This way the prayers should be about the request, curbing the temptation to use a self-congratulatory prayer which a self-promoter might improperly use.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Otherwise, in any group meeting, during worship, I would follow Jesus' &nbsp;words literally to not pray individually in public. If you still feel your group must have this, then there is no easy answer to this dilemma except the Fear of God -- when people are present talking to God, one would hope that people are mindful of God's displeasure of using prayer as showmanship. Pray the Holy Spirit teach you what Jesus intended by his prohibition on public praying.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What About "Elders"?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The NT talks about elders. Elders are just that -- older men and women.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We are never told that they are an office in the church or hold any formal power at all. As one modern evangelical author&nbsp;Benjamin L. Merkle (Baptist seminary professor) explains in&nbsp;<em>Why Elders?: A Biblical and Practical Guide for Church Members </em>(Kregel Academic, 2009):</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The New Testament&nbsp;<strong><em>does not tell us precisely how much authority </em></strong>the elders of the local congregation should have.&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=2TgtWqCTMuUC&amp;lpg=PA35&amp;dq=pastors%20unbiblical&amp;pg=PA35#v=onepage&amp;q=pastors%20unbiblical&amp;f=false">35.</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We just imagine it is the same authority being excercised in the church we attend today. But this is not&nbsp;<em>evidence</em> of what the reference meant in the early church.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Carlstadt, the co-founder of the Reformation with Luther, had the opinion that the only two offices that existed in the early church were that of bishop and deacon, basing this on Titus 1:5, 10. &nbsp;See&nbsp;Ronald J. Sider,&nbsp;<em>Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt: the development of his thought, 1517-1525</em> (Brill, 1974) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=tI2-w1GKVucC&amp;lpg=PA88&amp;dq=De%20Canonicis%20Scripturis%20Credner&amp;pg=PA138#v=onepage&amp;q=paul&amp;f=false">138</a>. Implicitly, there was no office of elder.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, an elder is indeed simply an older member of a church, and whose years in life give him or her a presumed greater wisdom. Teach respect for elders <em>generally</em>, as the Bible commands. This applies inside and outside of church. Because all older members are elders, you can have an elder board, but then it is made up of everyone over a certain age, without any exception. There are no formal hierarchies in a true church of Christ between men and women of the same age.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">How Jesus' Words Would Help Missions and Charities</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Before going to Costa Rica, I was always part of church leadership because I was their legal counsel. I saw the sad tragic inner workings. One pastor was told by the elder board that<strong><em> if the pastor did not increase offerings</em></strong>, he would be <strong><em>r</em></strong><em><strong>eplaced</strong></em>. Imagine that!</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I saw how <strong><em>building costs</em></strong>, nursery staffing, activities to entertain, etc., ate up budget after budget. I saw how charitable giving by the church-entity was a tiny percentage of the church-tithe back to the community. We were forced instead to fund the para-church organization with most of our "tithe." I saw evangelical opportunity after evangelical opportunity passed by in favor of these other expenses. I saw widowed women and divorcees in shame and distress ask a deacon board for money whose requests were tabled until their sons or daughters (who had no Christian belief) could explain why they were not helping their mom.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">A church today runs on money. And the expenses are not evangelistic or charitable in the majority. It is a sad state of affairs.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If the church returned to Jesus's structure for the church, the support for missions and charities both personally and financially would grow. This is because we would focus on the person in the symbolic chair --- JESUS -- and Jesus's words. The emphasis radically changes for Jesus taught us:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">to provide food, water and clothes to the brethren (in need)(Parable of the Sheep and the Goats);</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">help our neighbor in medical need from a mortal condition (Parable of the Good Samaritan);</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">to provide a tithe which if its original form were revived represents at least 66% of all donations every third year going to widows, orphans and the poor --- the true ratio in the Original Testament (see <a href="/images/stories/Lessons/es app on tithing.pdf">our article</a> on the tithe) while the rest of the time it returned to the giver in a party/festival format;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">nothing about attending a church or weekly worship service or creating an expensive worship center but instead Jesus foresaw a post-temple time of worshipping in "truth and spirit" without such a building expense<strong><em> burdening us;</em></strong> and</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">to go into all the "world" and "not hide our light under a bushel" and preach and teach "all that I (Jesus) have commanded you."</span></li>
</ul>
<h3><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">An Important Step of Healing: Get Rid of Church Buildings</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">An important step of reform would be to resolve to get rid of church buildings. That is, a place used as a worship center which is not a normal home. &nbsp;First, church buildings financially drain the church of money to do good works among [A] non-Christians (to help lead them to Christ as Jesus instructed in Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5:16&amp;version=NIV">5:16</a>) and [B] Christians. Second, modern church buildings perpetuate the system of passive audience-oriented Christianity without true life under Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Most important, the modern church building is totally unbiblical. Even Philp Schaff admits this. Here is an amazing quote from Philip Schaff, the premier modern historian of the church, and himself the product of modern church buildings and systems. Yet he condemns the notion and the costliness of official church structures as unbiblical and without precedent in the early church!</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">That the Christians in the&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">apostolic age erected special houses </span>of worship is out of the question....As the Saviour of the world was born in a stable, and ascended to heaven from a mountain, so his apostles and their successors down to the fourth century,<strong><em> preached in the streets, the markets, on mountains, in ships, sepulchres, caves, and deserts, and in the humblest private dwellings</em></strong>. But how many thousands of costly churches and chapels have since been built in all parts of the world to the honor of the crucified Redeemer. (Philip Schaff, <em>History of the Christian Church</em> (Scribner: 1859) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=NV8sAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=apostolic%20age%20erected%20special%20houses&amp;pg=PA127#v=onepage&amp;q=apostolic%20age%20erected%20special%20houses&amp;f=false">127</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The first mention of 'to go to church' appears in 190 AD -- in a letter by Clement of Alexandria. (Viola &amp; Barna, <em>Pagan Christianity</em> (Tyndale: 2008 ) at 12.) But even then it "refers to a private home that the second-century churches used for their meetings." <em>Id.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">New Testament scholar Graydon F. Synder explains why we can affirm&nbsp;there were no church buildings until under Emperor Constantine in the 300s:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"There is no literary evidence nor archaelogical indication that any such home was converted into an extant church building. Nor is there any extent church that certainly was built prior to Constantine." (Snyder,&nbsp;<em>Ante-Pacem: Archaelogical Evidence of Church Life Before Constantine </em>(2003) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=swtI9Cpyl3kC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;dq=Ante-Pacem%3A%20Archaeological%20Evidence%20of%20Church%20Life%20Before%20Constantine&amp;pg=PA128#v=onepage&amp;q=homes&amp;f=false">128</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, Synder concludes in&nbsp;<em>Ante-Pacem: Archaelogical Evidence of Church Life Before Constantine </em>(Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1985) at 67</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The first churches consistently met in homes. Until the year 300 <strong><em>we know of no buildings first built as a church</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Besides homes, the early church also met in "open places, markets and hired halls." (<em>Id., </em>2003 edition, at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=swtI9Cpyl3kC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;dq=Ante-Pacem%3A%20Archaeological%20Evidence%20of%20Church%20Life%20Before%20Constantine&amp;pg=PA128#v=onepage&amp;q=homes&amp;f=false">128</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, if we had Jesus' concept of church, I bet every week-end we would worship outdoors or in a home as a step toward different afternoon opportunities than we do now. Our money we collect would be used to <strong><em>gain friends for the kingdom</em></strong>. See Luke <a href="http://bible.cc/luke/16-9.htm">16:9</a> ("I tell you, use <strong><em>worldly wealth to gain friends</em></strong> for yourselves...."); Matt.<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5:16&amp;version=NIV"> 5:16</a> ("In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may<strong><em> see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven</em></strong>.") We would help widows, orphans and the poor, as was a main purpose of offerings commanded to Jews in their tithe. (See our PDF article on the tithe at this <a href="/images/stories/Lessons/es app on tithing.pdf">link</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As a result, we would more often end up at a food dispensing service run by Christians for the poor. Or do some charity work where we could meet people who don't know Christ, but due to our charity, will give thanks to God and want to know about Jesus whose example we claim to follow. They will then be open to hear about God and the Lord Jesus's payment for their sins if they turn in repentance and fully trust Him as Lord of their lives.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Jesus' Example</strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Maybe that mobile triage unit is what Jesus actually had in mind when He spoke of His church. Consider Jesus' own example. Did He start any building projects? Wasn't the only money handled by the 12 a money bag for the poor? Was this ever spent on administration costs of staff and a music team? Did Jesus stay in one place and show up week after week at the same synagogue to speak, or instead did Jesus largely give itinerant missionary messages to strangers in open fields? Jesus said He had no place to even lay His head.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This supports a minimal role for a church structure as the central hub of our attention. It does not erase it entirely. Jesus did several times attend synagogue services, and once He participated in the reading from Isaiah at one.</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Our Proper Self-Designation to Reflect Jesus As Sole Master</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I think Luther hit the nail on the head with this one although later he succumbed to pressure to allow exactly the contrary of what he initially protested:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I pray you leave my name alone and <em><strong>not to call yourselves Lutherans</strong></em>, but <em><strong>Christians</strong></em>. Who is Luther? My doctrine is not mine: I have not been crucified for any one...How does it then benefit me, a miserable bag of dust and ashes, to give my name to the children of Christ? Cease, my dear friends, to cling to these party names and distinctions; away with all of them; and <strong><em>let us call ourselves only Christians</em></strong>, after <em><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Him from whom our doctrine comes</span></strong></em>. It is quite proper for Papists should bear the name of their party, because they are not content with<em><strong> the name and doctrine of Jesus Christ</strong></em>....Well, let them own the Pope, as he is their master. For me, <strong><em>I neither am, nor wish to be the master of any one</em></strong>. I and mine will contend for the sole and whole doctrine of <strong><em>Christ, who is our sole master.</em></strong> (P. Schaff, <em>The History of the Christian Church </em>(1910)<a href="http://www.ccel.org/a/schaff/history/7_ch05.htm"> Section 78</a>, reprinted Oak Harbor, Wa., Logos Research, 1997); <em>see also&nbsp;</em>Michelet, <em>Life of Luther</em>, at 262; Stork, <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>The Life of Luther</em><em> </em>at 289.</span>).<br data-mce-bogus="1" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Conclusion</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This topic disturbs modern Pastors who are <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>enriched by Pauline principles of church leaders, pastorates for pay, etc</strong>.</span> But it is time that followers of Jesus speak out for a different way -- the WAY Jesus taught.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This home-church movement can only be reliably dominated by laypersons who are committed to not making any financial gain by their involvement in 'church.' You cannot expect your current pastor or minister will lead the change. It runs counter to what holds them captive -- career preaching of the gospel for pay. By strong financial compulsion, they will explain away Jesus' words. Paul will be cited that ministers are entitled to pay, and that the title of 'pastor' is an office in the church which Jesus 'shares' with them. Thus, you will get nowhere trying to convince them they are on the wrong track. So show them the right track, and your good fruit of helping widows and orphans, the spiritually hurting, etc. Then they might repent. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Anthony Buzzard, a theologian and minister, wrote wisely on a similar topic that there are certain issues which become orthodox not because they are right, <span style="color: #ff0000;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">but because a pastor or minister can only continue to enrich themselves from "God's service" by perpetuating such doctrines</span></strong></span>.</span> Buzzard explains:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Few Christians can conceive the possibility that they may have embraced long-standing error. We have been well schooled by our teachers to wrap protective armor<img src="http://focusonthekingdom.org/old_web/a-buzzard.JPG" width="85" height="142" style="float: right;" /> around our imagined truth, even though it may be indefensible error. We're prone to give unquestioning assent to hallowed church tradition. We're often overwrought by authority and title.<em><strong> Seldom do we pause to consider the religious leadership is in the hands of those who will conform to a prevailing pattern or acceptable thinking and were rewarded for their orthodoxy.</strong></em> But can our present denominational systems, among which there exists serious conflicts and disagreements, faithfully represent God and truth? &nbsp;(Buzzard, <em>The Doctrine of the Trinity</em> (1998) at 306.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, we must turn to Jesus to be our pastor who leads us out of the darkness that currently prevails. And we will find it is easy to follow Jesus when no one is paid to re-inforce doctrines Jesus did not teach. When pastorates-for-pay cease, the scales of incorrect doctrine will finally fall away. Christ's Kingship will have a new renaissance - one long overdue.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">END</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p><strong><span style="color: #800080; font-size: x-large;">NOTES AND COMMENTS</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">What Should We Do Now If We Are Alone? Commentary by Doug</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What should we do now when few share these views? What if we have no friends who agree to worship and organize the way Jesus taught? What if we are alone for the present? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First, we are not truly alone, for worship is with the Father in Heaven who hears our prayers, whether in a crowd or alone. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Yet, on Sabbath, we are to seek a "holy convocation." (See our "<a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/33-sabbathcommand.html">Sabbath Command</a>" article.) However, there is no rule what that means. Obviously, we can have worship anywhere with anyone, even if it is only by yourself. Jesus even told you to go in your room to pray. So you can have a convocation alone with God if that is the only present option.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What if we do not know how to worship alone? Or in small numbers? Consider the alternative -- whether you should truly regularly attend modern Pauline "Christian" churches.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">While I do not see any sin in visiting Pauline Christian churches to occassionally worship -- making mental exceptions as I watch / observe the goings-on that are terrible traditions (see my article "<a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/86-paulinisttares.html">How to Treat Pauline Tares</a>,"), it can grade on your spirit. It can prove harmful over the long-term. I do not make a practice of this.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-size: large;">Kierkegaard has a more negative view which we should consider. Kierkegaard was one of the most recent Christians to recognize the Problem of Paul. Kierkegaard explained how Pauline Christianity is now victorious and ended true Christianity (see <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/83-kierkegaard.html">our link</a>). In this crisis, Kierkegaard wrote in 1854 that it not only is better not to participate in such a church but also that it is sinful to do so:</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"This has to be said; so be it now said,</span></b></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Whoever thou art, whatever in other respects thy life may be, my friend, by ceasing to take part (if ordinarily thou doest) in the public worship of God, as it now is (with the claim that it is the Christianity of the New Testament),<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> thou hast constantly one guilt the less, and that a great one: thou dost not take part in treating God as a fool</span> by calling that the Christianity of the New Testament which is not the Christianity of the New Testament."</span></b></span></p>
<div align="right" style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">S. Kierkegaard, 1854</span></b></span></div>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I don't contend it is a sin to attend a Pauline church because of what Jesus taught in the Parable of the Tares. We should fellowship with fellow believers with Jesus. We cannot determine who is sincere or how deeply they truly love Jesus. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">At best, each of us in this present crisis can pray about whether to enter the modern "Church" enclaves at all or only occassionally. The important thing in all of this is that the choice is truly how to MAKE TIME to worship the Father. &nbsp; </span>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Worship Tools</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I provide suggestions / video / audio links to help on the "<a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/33-sabbathcommand.html" style="line-height: 1.3em;">Sabbath Command</a>" page so you can worship at home, either alone or with others. I suggest you pick 1 p.m. every Sabbath to have your convocation. I also have a page of Music suggestions (with worship video with lyrics) at this <a href="/component/content/article/14-audio/401-music-store-manager.html" style="line-height: 1.3em;">link</a>. Lastly, I collected various prayers and edifying material, including many You Tubes, that can lift your spirits at this<a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/308-prayers-and-edification.html" style="line-height: 1.3em;"> link</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Blessings. Doug</span></p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Suggestion for Service Order</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Frank Viola in my view goes too far in <em>Pagan Christianity</em> to think the right choice is to have absolutely no order of worship. Instead, what you need are two things (a) equal treatment and position of all; and (b) no superiority of any single individual except the King---Jesus. But you can have such a spirit within the framework of a service order. Within it, you can incorporate all the spontaneous contributions from members that arise. So rather than invite chaos, here is what we did in Costa Rica for four years before we left, and it worked great:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">1. Form a circle so no one person is the center of attention. Invite Jesus to participate, and ask Him to take His throne in the room. If it helps your group focus on Jesus as leader and pastor, place an empty chair near the center of the circle or within the circle.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">2. Open in Prayer to God (Yahweh / the Father) in Yahshua's name. (Yahshua is Jesus's true name. See<a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/353-yashua-and-the-name-of-jesus.html"> link</a>. It is preferable because in Judaic thought the sound of a name is the name, not a translated pronunciation.) Sing a hymn or two.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">3. The host family (rotate weekly if possible) asks for individuals to express thanks to God for small and big things of each individual. This is Praise time.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">4. The host family asks for expressions of sorrow for having done an individual wrong, especially another participant/spouse/friend. &nbsp;Such a step helps group unity if sins expressed by one participant toward another are made in public, e.g., "I am sorry I snapped at Bob." But some confessions should be done in private, especially if children are around.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">5. The host family invites prayer requests -- for others to hold up in prayer.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">6. Inviduals pray based upon the prayer requests.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">7. Read a passage of Scripture -- about 12 verses. Then the reader starts over one verse at a time. The reader asks the group what do you think this verse means? The reader does not contribute. When all opinions are canvassed, the reader goes to the next verse. And this repeats itself until all 12 verses are discussed. No one has to have doctorate to comment! <strong><em>You would be amazed about the richness of spiritually-motivated ideas among the faithful.</em></strong> It is far richer experience than listening week-after-week to a 'pastor' teach. We did accept prepared studies to be discussed but kept to 5 minutes or so, yet everyone was free to comment and critique the thoughts as they were expressed. A true discussion format where Jesus / the Spirit was trusted to be the leader and teacher. (You can repeat this several times with different members reading off a verse that the Lord showed them the past week or during the worship time.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">8. Praise God for His Word.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">9. Sing a hymn or read a Psalm. Try to pick songs about God and His greatness. (Many songs are about our pathetic weaknesses and needs. But this is WORSHIP. It is not supposed to focus on us. This is my wife's pet-peeve with the choice of music at most churches. It is not worship on the greatness of God and praise, but commenting on our experience, our needs, etc.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">10. Offer bread (unleavened) and wine to all. Grape juice if you insist.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">11. Do the communion with the words of invocation from Scripture (<em>e.g</em>., Luke). The host or some volunteer should read the Scripture to all.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">12. Sing a hymn or two that are WORSHIP oriented.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">13. Close in Prayer.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">14. Have a lunch or dinner together.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">15. The most important rule: don't make the rules of order more important than the Spirit of God who you always allow to change what you do.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><hr /><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Study Notes / Further Research on Teacher/Leader Issue</span></strong></span></h2>
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Marsilius of Padua 1275-1342 AD</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Marsilius was the first thinker in Roman Catholic Christendom to deny there is any right to hierarchical authority within the church. Marsilius also contended there was no right within the church to punish heresy. And he said that the church has no right to establish an orthodox viewpoint on any doctrine so that&nbsp;it is then becomes beyond dispute. None of those powers were delegated by Jesus to the church. (See Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, editors, <em>History of Political Philosophy</em> (2d ed.)(Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing, 1972) at 251-53.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Strauss/Cropsey's famous text explains:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">but he<em><strong> denies</strong></em> that the ecclesiastical<em><strong> hierarchy is&nbsp;divinely established</strong></em>. According to him all Christian priests are <em><strong>essentially&nbsp;equal</strong></em> in all respects as far as divine right is concerned. He also <em><strong>denies&nbsp;that any priest, even if he be bishop or pope</strong></em>, has by divine right any&nbsp;of the following powers: the <em><strong>power to command or to coerce</strong></em>; the<em><strong> power&nbsp;to decide</strong></em> whether and how coercion is to be <em><strong>exercised against apostates&nbsp;and heretics, be they subjects or princes</strong></em>; and the <strong><em>power to determine&nbsp;in a legally binding way what is orthodox and what is heretical</em></strong>. <em>Id.</em>, at 251.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Marsilius argues that Christ came into the world not to dominate men, nor to wield temporal rule; and he <em><strong>excluded himself, his apostles and disciples and their successors, bishops and priests, from all coercive authority and worldly rule</strong></em>," says Kilcullen,&nbsp;R.J. Kilcullen in "<a href="http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/y6707.html">Tape 8: Marsilius of Padua</a>," Macquarie University&nbsp;POL167: Introduction to Political Theory (1996)&nbsp;citing&nbsp;Marsilius of Padua,&nbsp;<em>In Defense of the Peace</em> (trans.&nbsp;Alan Gewirth)(N.Y.: Columbia University Press, 1956)&nbsp;at 114.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Specifically,&nbsp;Marsilius said "That Christ meant to exclude his apostles from worldly rule is proved by:&nbsp;<strong><em>'The kings of the gentiles lord it over them... But you not so</em></strong>." <em>Id.</em>, citing Marsilius, at 113-40.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For more background, see also "<a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/334-marsilius-of-padua-on-church-hierarchy-knol.html">Marsilius of Padua</a>" <em>Knol Encyclopedia</em>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally,&nbsp;Marsilius's work <em>In Defense of the Peace</em> was&nbsp;the first book that used Christ's principles to say all sovereignty rests with the people who have the right to replace temporal rulers. Marsilius said all political power vests with the people. Five hundred years later, the American Revolution took these principles seriously for the first time. See&nbsp;Fritz Berolzheimer, <em>The world's legal philosophies</em> (Boston: 1912) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_U4uAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=marsilius%20of%20padua&amp;pg=PA109#v=onepage&amp;q=marsilius%20of%20padua&amp;f=false">109</a>.&nbsp;)</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Glasite Movement of 1725-29 Was First To Attempt No Earthly-Pastor System</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">A Presbyterian pastor in Edinburgh, John Glas, in 1730 started up a church that did not have a single pastor, and tried to have all the church members treated as equal brethren. He started well for a long time.&nbsp;Glas's original writings from 1725-1729 echo many of the same points we found above from Jesus's words. Glas's good beginning -- known as the Glasite movement -- is summarized on our website at this&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/137-glasites.html">link</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, because Glas eventually and gradually incorporated Pauline views on pastors, elders, and Paul's doctrine to exclude "heretics" on two warnings, the system degraded into an unbearable tyranny of many equal pastors, rather than the few, who forced all members to submit to these pastors. Total unanimity of opinion on all sorts of matters were required on pain of excommunication (which Paul alone teaches) (Jesus taught tolerating heretics in the Parable of the Tares, and only taught the shunning of moral wrongdoers in Matt. 18.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, the ultimate failure of the Glasite movement to create a true Christian fellowship underscores that Christ's true church cannot flourish as Christ intended it until the authority of Paul is rejected. Paul's words sow divisiveness and the need for a domineering human controller or controllers (<em>e.g</em>,. a person / persons to enforce exclusion on those regarded as heretics on doctrine after two warnings, as Paul taught).</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Reformation Prevented Independent Churches, Even Independent Witnessing</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We have all been told the Reformation changed everything for Christianity. Supposedly, true Christianity was reborn. Not quite. What happened is that Catholicism's stranglehold was loosed, but a new one was attempted to be put on the followers of Jesus -- Paulianity similar to old Marcionism was reborn. Yet, some true Christianity emerged but it was quickly quashed by the new Paulianity.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Carlstadt co-founded the Reformation with Luther in 1517. He tried to take the church in the direction of relying only on Jesus' words, and held they were superior to Paul's. (See "<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/193-carlstadt-research.html">Carlstadt Research</a>.") Carlstadt "<strong><em>granted laymen the right to perform all tasks previously reserved for the ordained</em></strong>." (See&nbsp;Ronald J. Sider,&nbsp;<em>Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt: the development of his thought, 1517-1525</em> (Brill, 1974) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=tI2-w1GKVucC&amp;lpg=PA88&amp;dq=De%20Canonicis%20Scripturis%20Credner&amp;pg=PA137#v=onepage&amp;q=paul&amp;f=false">137</a>.) Carlstadt insisted upon the "<em><strong>layman's right to judge theological disputes and attend general councils, ... to celebrate the eucharist privately</strong></em>...." (<em>Id.</em>, at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=tI2-w1GKVucC&amp;lpg=PA88&amp;dq=De%20Canonicis%20Scripturis%20Credner&amp;pg=PA137#v=onepage&amp;q=paul&amp;f=false">137</a>-38.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Luther by 1522 diverged from Carlstadt, and was angry with his positions on the book of James and handling the eucharist, etc. Luther called Carlstadt the "New Judas," and had him banished from Germany. (See "<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/111-luther-killed-jwo.html">Luther Destroys JWO Movement in Reformation</a>.")</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Luther could do so because he had esconced himself in the favor of several key rulers of Germany. Thereby, Lutheranism became the official church in many parts of Germany. Luther then refused to allow any independent church as a violation of Paul's commands to obey our rulers (Romans 13:1). Any home church would necessarily be in violation of the new state Lutheran church. In fact, any <strong><em>private preaching one-on-one was prohibited</em></strong>. Luther said:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What I say about <strong><em>public preaching</em></strong>, I say even more even more emphatically about <strong><em>private preaching</em></strong> and <strong><em>secret ceremonies</em></strong>. These are not to be tolerated at all. For the rest, anyone may read what he like and believe what he like....[This rule] puts a stop to the knavery of the fellows who <strong><em>preach in corners</em></strong>, who sneak uncalled and unsent, into <em><strong>people's houses</strong></em>, and emit their poison there, before pastors or rulers find them out. These are the thieves and murders of whom Christ speaks in John 10. (Luther, "Commentary on 82d Psalm," <em>Works of Luther</em> (2007) Vol. IV at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hGR548TlX2oC&amp;lpg=PA312&amp;ots=bGJ9J0C3Lf&amp;dq=%22public%20preaching%22%20%22secret%20ceremonies%22%20luther&amp;pg=PA312#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">312</a>; official cite&nbsp;LW 1364; WA 31.1:210,11-12 (citation referenced by MacKenzie: <a href="http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/mackenziechallengeofhistory.pdf">20</a>).</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">On peril of body and soul, no one should listen to such a man but should report him to his pastor or ruler. (Quoted from same passage by&nbsp;James Martin Estes,&nbsp;<em>Peace, order and the glory of God</em> (Brill: 2005) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=nn-YmLxcbPAC&amp;lpg=PA188&amp;ots=nExWjYzQYf&amp;dq=luther%20%22on%20peril%20of%20body%20and%20soul%22&amp;pg=PA188#v=onepage&amp;q=luther%20%22on%20peril%20of%20body%20and%20soul%22&amp;f=false">188.</a>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If true, then what about Jesus's evangelism and His sharing bread in private ceremonies, and telling his apostles to do likewise and visit people in homes? Luther admitted the apostles were commanded to go into people's homes in Mark 16:15, but Luther claimed this was a "<strong><em>special command</em></strong>" only applicable to the apostles! "<strong><em>Since then</em></strong>,<em><strong> no one has had this general command</strong></em>," as Estes summarizes Luther's silly argument. <em>See,</em> James Martin Estes, <em>Peace, order and the glory of God</em> (Brill: 2005) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=nn-YmLxcbPAC&amp;lpg=PA188&amp;ots=nExWjYzQYf&amp;dq=luther%20%22on%20peril%20of%20body%20and%20soul%22&amp;pg=PA188#v=onepage&amp;q=luther%20%22on%20peril%20of%20body%20and%20soul%22&amp;f=false">188.</a>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Luther took this unbiblical position to the point of killing people! Luther promised and delivered a death sentence upon members of independent congregations like the Anabaptists founded. Their independence, by itself, was a basis for Luther finding them <strong><em>guilty of sedition</em></strong>, and subject to a death penalty. While Luther in this quote below highlighted the Anabaptist opposition to infant baptism -- the Anabaptists instead insisted upon a knowing faith-based confession, Luther justified executing Anabaptists simply because the Anabaptists sought independence from the state church now led by himself. This supposedly proved their seditious nature. Luther wrote:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">That <em>seditious articles</em> of doctrine should be <strong><em>punished by the sword </em></strong>needed no further proof. For the rest, the Anabaptists hold tenets relating to infant baptism, original sin, and inspiration, which have no connection with the Word of God, and are indeed opposed to it. ... Secular authorities are also bound to restrain and punish avowedly false doctrine ... For think what disaster would ensue if children were not baptized? ... Besides this the Anabaptists <strong><em>separate themselves from the churches</em></strong> ... and they<strong><em> set up a ministry and congregation of their own</em></strong>, which is also contrary to the command of God. From all this it becomes clear that the<strong><em> secular authorities are bound</em></strong> ... to inflict <em><strong>corporal punishment on the offenders</strong></em> ... Also when it is a case of only upholding some spiritual tenet, such as infant baptism, original sin, and unnecessary separation, then ... we conclude that ... the stubborn sectaries must be put to death." (Dave Armstrong. &nbsp;"Pamphlet of 1536" in<em> Martin Luther and The Protestant Inquisition</em> (Janssen, X, 222-223; pamphlet of 1536.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For the same reason, Luther likewise prohibited anyone serving the role of pastor who was not authorized by the state church. These men should be arrested as likely to stir up rebellion.&nbsp;MacKenzie in the Lutheran <em>Concordia Journal</em> excerpts these passages and comments where Luther refuted Jesus's view that all believers are equal. Instead, Luther created a superior class known as the 'pastor.' (Other than Paul's writings which mention the office of pastor, no early church-history documents reveal any such office of 'pastor). Luther wrote:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"All Christians are priests," Luther said, "but <strong><em>not all are&nbsp;pastors</em></strong>. For to be a pastor one must be not only a Christian and priest but&nbsp;<em><strong>must have an office committed to him.</strong></em> This call and command make pastors and preachers." Those who preach without such authorization&nbsp;are "sure emissaries of the devil." They should be turned over to the&nbsp;authorities for, in Luther's thinking, their purpose is "to start a rebellion, or&nbsp;worse, among the people."</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Source: MacKenzie in "Luther's Two Kingdoms," from the Lutheran&nbsp;<em>Concordia Journal</em> (2007) No. 71 at <a href="http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/mackenziechallengeofhistory.pdf">22</a> (PDF).&nbsp;MacKenzie cites for these three quotes respectively (1)&nbsp;LW 13:65; WA 31.1:211,17-20; (2)&nbsp;LW13:65; WA 31.1:211,26-27; and (3) 65 LW 13:66; WA 31.1:212,4-5.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As Private Preaching Was Banned, Non-Christians Were Compelled To Hear Authorized Public Preaching</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As Luther's command explicitly prohibited private evangelism, how would a non-Christian hear the word? Luther's solution was simple. Luther justified forcing non-Christians to attend the official state church on pain of banishment:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"It is our custom to affright those who ... fail to attend the preaching; and to<strong><em> threaten them with banishment</em></strong> and the law. ... In the event of their still proving contumacious, to excommunicate them ... as if they were heathen." &nbsp;(Dave Armstrong, <em>Martin Luther and The Protestant Inquisition</em> (Grisar, citing LW VI, 263; EN, IX, 365; letter to Leonard Beyer, 1533)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Although excommunication in Pope-dom has been shamefully abused ... yet we must not suffer it to fall, but make right use of it, as Christ commanded." (Dave Armstrong, <em>Martin Luther and The Protestant Inquisition</em> citing&nbsp;Durant, 424-425.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"The spiritual powers ... also the temporal ones, will have to succumb to the Gospel, either through love or <strong><em>through force</em></strong>, as is clearly proved by all Biblical history." &nbsp;(Martin Luther, Letter to Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 1522&nbsp;(Janssen, III, 267; letter to Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 1522)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What about the common people whom Luther originally appealed to for support? What if they did not go along with the Lutheran church once imposed as the state church through most of Germany? Luther's view was harsh and so unlike our Lord's view:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Like the mules who will not move unless you perpetually whip them with rods, so the<em><strong> civil powers must drive the common people, whip, choke, hang, burn, behead and torture them, that they may learn to fear the powers that be</strong></em>." (El. ed. 15, 276, quoted by O'Hare, in '<em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The Facts About Luther</span></em> (TAN Books, 1987) at &nbsp;235.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As Private Preaching Even By Missionaries Was Banned, War Would Spread Christianity</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Having crippled Christianity from private preaching as Christ practiced and Jesus encouraged of his 12 apostles, Luther intended Christianity should now only spread by the sword and war, not by voluntary witnessing:</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"The Word of God can never be advanced without whirlwind, tumult, and danger ... One must either despair of peace and tranquility or else deny the Word. <strong><em>War is of the Lord</em></strong> who did not come to send peace. <strong><em>Take care not to hope</em></strong> that the cause of Christ can be advanced in the world <strong><em>peacefully and sweetly</em></strong>, since you see the battle has been waged with his own blood and that of the martyrs."&nbsp;(Letter of Martin Luther to Georg Spalatin, February 1520.)</span></div>
</div>
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Luther Taught The State Alone Would Adjudicate Church Doctrine</strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">To prevent any private preaching further, and any private discussions on what doctrine might mean, Luther gave the state the sole authority to adjudicate church doctrine. Luther directed:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Let the rulers take a hand. Let them hear the case and command that party to keep silence which does not agree with the Scriptures."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">MacKenzie in "Luther's Two Kingdoms," from the Lutheran <em>Concordia Journal</em> provides this quote with citation, and then comments this means that "the temporal&nbsp;authorities<strong><em> will actually adjudicate a doctrinal dispute.</em></strong>" (See link to MacKenzie's article online at this link to PDF at page <a href="http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/mackenziechallengeofhistory.pdf">21</a>; MacKenzie cites&nbsp;LW 13:63; WA 31.1:209,24-26.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, the Reformation removed one collar and gave us another one. Part of our continued antipathy to home churches arises from the ingrained belief from centuries of torture and persecution of <strong><em>those who practiced what Jesus endorsed</em></strong>. It is time to break free, and courageously stand for Christ's Way! Now we must remember that we have Jesus's words to serve as our sole pastor.</span></p>
<h2><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Pauline Wages To Ministers Is A Seduction</span></span></strong></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus sent the apostles out to preach and teach, but taught them not to take any wages. "Freely you received, freely you give."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This was the view of the original church.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Carl B. Hoch, Jr., professor of New Testament at Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary states: "In New Testament days, </span><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"><em>leaders were normally not paid.</em> </strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">That is, money was given more as a gift than as an income or a salary. ....[M]oney was never to be the driving force of ministry (1 Peter 5:2). Unfortunately, churches today will not call a man until they feel they can support him, and some men will not seriously consider a call if the financial package is 'inadequate.'" (Carl B. Hoch, Jr.,</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;"> All Things New</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1995) at 240).</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Likewise, Lenski states in his <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>Commentary on Paul's Epistle to Timothy</em> that clearly taking wages by preaching elders was not practiced in the early church, despite Paul's best efforts to create such a practice</span>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">It is generally assumed that the elders were paid for their services in the apostolic churches. We are convinced that this assumption is not tenable. The probability is that none of them were paid. The elders of the synagogues were not paid or salaried. Each synagogue had a number of elders, too many to have a payroll that would be large enough to support them. The apostolic congregations imitated the synagogue in this respect. (Lenski,<em> Commentary on Saint Paul's Epistles to Timothy</em>&nbsp;(Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1937) at.683).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul alone in the NT justified paying church leaders for services.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Christians are waking up, and realizing pastorates-for-pay is unbiblical. Paul is the most formidable force to overcome. For as Macarius Magnes pointed out in the 300s (see <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/397-macarius-magnes-on-paul-from-circa-300-ad.html">our link</a>), Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:14 says "those who preach the Gospel should receive their living from the Gospel." For these Christians who wish to teach contrarily, yet&nbsp;stay true to Paul, they take all of Paul's verses that support self-sufficiency in his own ministry, and try to convince pastors today to ween themselves off of the wage-train. Although followers of Paul, these Christians are to be commended, and their site is:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.batteredsheep.com/pastors_salaried.html">http://www.batteredsheep.com/pastors_salaried.html</a><a href="http://www.batteredsheep.com/pastors_salaried.html"></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The Battered Sheep exhort us to a new type of church -- volunteer servants. It gives us this new view which it says revives the original view. Please observe how much it notes if the structural problems identified above disappear (e.g., inequality, superiors, etc.), this would end pastorates-for-pay by necessity:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If our churches truly implemented New Testament patterns of ministry, <em><strong>one wonders whether there would be any real need to support one, full-time pastor?</strong></em> If the local church had a functioning priesthood (as <em><strong>opposed to the passive, spectator event that is the mark of most churches</strong></em>) and an equally shared eldership, there simply <em>would not be the urgency or necessity to hire someone on a full-time basis</em>. This is because (1) leadership responsibilities would be shared; (2)<em><strong> one man and his gifts would not become the focal-point of the meeting</strong></em>; (3) corporate teaching would be shared and <strong><em>not left to one sole pastor</em></strong>; and (4) each member would<em><strong> actively participate and contribute to the meeting</strong></em>. (D.M. Erkel, "<a href="http://www.batteredsheep.com/pastors_salaried.html">Should Pastors Be Salaried?</a>"&nbsp;<em>Battered Sheep </em>(2010).)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Amen. How does Battered Sheep suggest to exit this mistaken path?</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[W]e would highly recommend that pastors secure an additional skill or trade in the event that a congregation's financial assistance runs out (or even if he gets terminated from his church!). Is this not the better of wisdom?</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What is the immediate benefit of changing our structure of operation to one without a single paid pastor?</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The sad truth is that most church boards never bother to consider <em><strong>how much money could be saved for missionary support, the poor, and literature used to advance the furtherance of the Gospel, if they did not have to remunerate a full-time pastor</strong></em>.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Pastorates-for-pay have also clearly gotten out-of-hand. Of course, there are many pastors and ministers who labor for little pay. But the top tier pastors get paid 100s of thousands of dollars. And the televangelists get paid close to millions of dollars.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For a website that is dedicated to documenting the wealthy lifestyles of prominent pastors and televangelists, see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.inplainsite.org/html/tele-evangelist_lifestyles.html">http://www.inplainsite.org/html/tele-evangelist_lifestyles.html</a></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Moses As Pastor</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">A congregational leader did not have a speaking role in Moses's contemplation. He led the people in and out of the congregational assembly, much like we suggested the bishop's role operated in the early church:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying,&nbsp;<sup>16 </sup>Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set <strong><em>a man over the congregation</em></strong>,&nbsp;<sup>17 </sup>Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as <strong><em>sheep which have no shepherd</em></strong>.&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Number 27:15</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">See,&nbsp;<a href="http://reasontostand.org/archives/2009/10/06/the-unbiblical-clergylaity-division">Clergy-laity distinction is unbiblical</a> by Reason to Stand.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1">Once THE PROPHET came, Moses made it clear that we should follow him. See Deuteronomy 18. See our article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/532-the-jesus-words-only-principle-explained.html">The Jesus' Words Only Principle Explained</a>.</span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Email Comments</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hi Doug,</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;" /><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Many greeting from my self and my family! I have been studying several</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;" /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">articles in your website and sharing with some friends.The&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">article,"Words on Church Structure" was wonderful and we surprised how big&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">difference the apostolic church and the modern churches! Bishop and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">pastors are more political rather than servants,the rule with iron&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">fist instead of good example to the believers. I completely agree with</span></span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;" /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">you on this among others.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I think the church of Jesus Christ need over whole reformation on it&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">doctrine or miss the mark of being a virgin to coming Groom. Keep us in</span></span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;" /><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">prayer and have a bless day,</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;" /><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Julius (7/28/2013)</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I was reading (and printed out) your article on church structure and thought similar as to what you suggest here.&nbsp;Many thanks for the encouragement and links, I really appreciate it and feel supported.&nbsp;I feel within my spirit and have for many years that we must hold NT church meetings and your guide helped me very much !!! THANKS&nbsp;Blessings and Shalom&nbsp;Stella (June 24, 2011)</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: large; color: #0000ff;">&nbsp;Other Christians Are Speaking Out In Agreement</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I found on August 30, 2014 a webpage&nbsp;<a href="http://jesusfamilies.org/hot_topics/church.htm">http://jesusfamilies.org/hot_topics/church.htm</a>&nbsp;that supports the same view, and recognizes Paul's contradiction of Jesus on this important topic.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I like his exegesis on John 10:16, and the translators' effort to deflect notice of Paul's contradictions of Jesus. So this article says:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"<span style="color: #ff0000;">I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd</span> (Greek poimen)." (John 10:16)</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How many shepherds? Isn't it interesting that translators at some point decided to translate the Greek transliterated term 'poimen' as 'shepherd' in John chapter 10, and as 'pastor' in Ephesians chapter 4:11. It is the same exact term used in both places and the contexts are the same - they are both talking about leadership. Now why would those translators do that? Perhaps because the Way was too narrow for them and they liked Paul more than Jesus? Perhaps faithfulness to their religious system or prior translation traditions?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;The author has another section that I wish to excerpt in toto, as it is forcefully put so well:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-large; line-height: normal; margin-left: 60px;"><b><span size="5" color="#800080" style="color: #800080; font-size: large;">Pay Other's To Follow Jesus For You</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-large; line-height: normal; margin-left: 60px;"><span size="5" style="font-size: large;">Sadly, christianity as well as its messianic brethren, very much like their mutually self-serving system. They choose, hire and bless their leaders who essentially tell them they are accepted by God if they believe a certain set of doctrine and if they participate in the organization's meetings and rituals ' or at least give them money to support and run it. And of course the leaders are only too glad to tell the people what they want to hear and at the same time be provided a living by making weekly speeches called, 'sermons' or 'the teaching of God's Word' or some other such label. Their leaders also very much like having people say to them in the market place, 'oh, pastor, pastor'. They also get the seats of honor at all the important life events like baby christenings, marriages and funerals ' heck, most even get paid for presiding they are so esteemed! Of course many of their leaders actually think they are helping the people of their flock by substituting for the Good Shepherd, but oh how horribly deceived they are. They think that their counsel to their members is wise and good as it comes from 'a calling', experience, education, or 'God's Word' ' all the while they ignore the most important teachings of the real and living Word.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-large; line-height: normal; margin-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Please listen to what Jesus calls those leaders who accept money to 'pastor the flock':</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-large; line-height: normal; margin-left: 60px;">
<p style="margin-left: 60px;"><span size="5" style="font-size: large;">"<span color="#FF0000" style="color: #ff0000;">I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep</span>." (John 10:11-13)</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-large; line-height: normal; margin-left: 60px;"><span size="5" style="font-size: large;">For those willing to receive it, Jesus calls all men who usurp his role of the 'One Good Shepherd' and accept money to do so, 'hirelings'. And what does he say of the hireling? That when real trouble comes, you can expect him or her to say, 'well, it's been good knowing you, I'll pray for you, good bye'trust in the Lord!' When it really comes to laying down their literal life for you, they will fail, because they love their life in the world. This is why the Real Jesus of Nazareth is the only true "good Shepherd". He will not fail you, and he will lead you to his Father and Life eternal IF you are willing to "listen to HIM" (Matt. 17:5).</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;jkl</p> </td>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Chapter Six: Paul Contradicts Jesus Over Idol Meat</span></h1>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Introduction</span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+2%3A6%2C14&amp;version=NIV">Revelation 2:6, 14</a> takes on those persons teaching the Ephesians that it was acceptable to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Among them Jesus says were the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans were an actual historical group. They taught Paul's doctrine of grace permitted them to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Jesus commends the Ephesians for refusing to listen to the Nicolaitans on the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Yet the Nicolaitans were not merely deducing it was permissible to eat such meat from Paul's doctrine of grace. Paul, in fact, clearly teaches three times that there is nothing wrong per se in eating meat sacrificed to idols. (<span style="background-color: #ffff00;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2014&amp;version=NIV"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;"></span></a></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+8%3A4-13&amp;version=NIV">1 Corinthians 8:4-13</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+10%3A19-29&amp;version=NIV">1 Corinthians 10:19-29</a>. See also, <span style="background-color: #ffff00;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2014&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 48px;">Romans 14:1-23</a>.</span>)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">However, Jesus, as we will see, three times in Revelation says it is flatly wrong. The Bible says when God commands something, we are not free to "diminish" it by articulating our own exceptions. "What thing soever I command you, that shall ye observe to do: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut+12%3A32&amp;version=ASV">Deut. 12:32, ASV</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Let's explore thoroughly the origin of this command against eating meat sacrificed to idols. Let's see also the starkness of the contradiction between Paul and Jesus.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><em>Jerusalem Council Ruling on Meat Sacrificed to Idols</em></span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Acts chapter 15 recounts James' ruling at the Jerusalem Council. The issue presented was whether circumcision was necessary for salvation. The outcome was a decision involving what behaviors Gentiles had to follow as Christians. The first decision was to prohibit Gentiles who wanted to become Christians from committing fornication. The second decision was to prohibit eating meat sacrificed to idols. This principle is drawn from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+34%3A13-16&amp;version=ASV">Exodus 34:13-16</a>.<a href="#pgfId=464128" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 1</a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Paulinists claim that this prohibition on eating meat sacrificed to idols (which was sold in meat markets) was not an absolute command. It was flexible enough to fit Paul's approach. Paul taught idol meat was perfectly acceptable unless someone else thought it was wrong. Paulinists argue that the Jerusalem Council only meant to prohibit eating such meat if it would undermine a weaker brother who thought it was wrong, as Paul teaches.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">However, there is no basis to believe the prohibition in Acts chapter 15 is merely a prohibition on undermining someone else, causing him to violate his conscience. It is clear that eating meat sacrificed to idols is simply wrong in itself. It is also no less absolute a prohibition than the prohibition on fornication. Had the Jerusalem Council ruling intended the eating-idol-meat rule to be only a command to follow during social intercourse, then the council used the wrong words to convey such an interpretation.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">In fact, the prohibition on eating meat sacrificed to idols was stated three times in Acts. It was never once stated with an exception or qualification. There is no hint that eating such meat was permissible in your private meals. In fact, when we later look at Jesus' words in Revelation absolutely condemning such practice, Jesus is talking after Paul's words are written down. Had Jesus intended to affirm Paul's view that eating such meat is permissible, Jesus' absolute directives against ever eating such meat were the wrong way to communicate this. Jesus left no room to find hairsplitting exceptions.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">This absolute prescription first appears at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:20. Initially, James decided that "we write unto them, that they abstain from the pollutions of idols...." (Acts 15:20.) Second, Luke then quotes James' letter to the Gentiles as saying one of the "necessary things" is "you abstain from things sacrificed to idols." (Acts 15:29.) James reiterates this for a third and final time in Acts chapter 21. James is reminding Paul what the ruling was at the Jerusalem Council. He tells Paul that previously "we wrote giving judgment that they [i.e., the Gentiles] should keep themselves from things sacrificed to idols...." (Acts 21:25.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">James restates the principle unequivocally. It is a flat prohibition like any food law or the prohibition on fornication. As James states the rule, it has nothing to do with rules only at social gatherings. It has no limited application. There is no exception to permit eating idol meat at home.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><em>Jesus' Confirmation of Jerusalem Council Ruling</em></span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus in Revelation 2:14 faults the churches at Pergamum for tolerating those who teach it is acceptable to eat meat sacrificed to idols and commit fornication. Jesus says "some... hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock (skandalon) before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication." Jesus does not say the error was eating meat sacrificed to idols only if you believed an idol was real. Nor did Jesus say it was wrong only if the person involved thought eating such meat was wrong. Jesus simply laid down a prohibition. Nothing more. Nothing less.Deuteronomy 4:2 prohibits "diminishing" from God's true inspired words by making up exceptions.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">In this Revelation 2:14 passage, the use of the word skandalon is important. In Matthew 13:41-43, Jesus warned that on judgement day all those ensnared (skandalizo-ed) will be gathered by the angels and sent to the "fiery furnace." Hence, Jesus was telling us in Revelation 2:14 that eating meat sacrificed to idols was a serious sin. He called it a skandalon--a trap. It was a salvation-ending trap.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus reiterates the prohibition on eating meat sacrificed to idols in Revelation 2:20. Jesus faults the church at Thyatira for listening to a false Jezebel who "teaches my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols."</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><img src="/chapter 6html-2.gif" alt="" align="RIGHT" />The church at Ephesus, by contrast, is commended by Jesus on this issue. The Ephesians were the ones who tried those who claimed to be an "apostle and are not, but [are] a liar" (Rev. 2:2.)<a href="#pgfId=464171" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 2</a> The Ephesians were also commended for rejecting the Nicolaitans' teaching on idol meat. (Rev. 2:6.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The Nicolaitans, Jesus notes, taught that a Christian could "eat things sacrificed to idols...." (Rev. 2:14-15.) Jesus thus has commended the church at Ephesus for not only having identified the person who falsely claimed to be an apostle, but also for its having rejected the teaching that it was permissible to eat meat sacrificed to idols. It is no coincidence. The Ephesians' rejection of someone who said he was an apostle but could not be in Rev. 2:2, if this were Paul (see Chapter Ten), would have to go hand-in-hand with the Ephesian's rejection of Paul's doctrine that idol meats were permissible.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Furthermore, the Nicolaitans' true historical background reveal whose underlying teaching that Jesus is truly criticizing. Robertson (a Paulinist) in <em>Word Pictures</em> confesses the Nicolaitans defended eating such meat based on Paul's gospel:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These early Gnostics practiced licentiousness since they were not under law, but under grace. (<a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/robertson_at/word.xxx.ii.html">Robertson's Word Pictures on Rev. 2:14</a>.)<a href="#pgfId=464184" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 3</a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Therefore, we see Jesus extols those who hate the Nicolaitan's grace teaching which says Christians can eat meat sacrificed to idols. Jesus then condemns twice those who teach a Christian may eat meat sacrificed to idols. Jesus is just as absolute and unwavering on this prohibition as James is in Acts. When Jesus says it, we are not free to "diminish" it by making up exceptions. (Deut. 12:32.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Notice too how three times James in Acts repeats the point. Then three times Jesus repeats the point in the Book of Revelation. (Rev. 2:6, 14 (Ephesus); Rev. 2:14-15 (Pergamum); Revelation 2:20 (Thyatira).) In the New Testament, there is no command emphasized more frequently than the command against eating meat sacrificed to idols.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">This three-times principle, incidentally, is not without its own significance. For Paul says three times that it is permissible to eat meat sacrificed to idols, as discussed next. God wanted us to know for a fact He is responding to Paul.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Paul Permits Eating Meat Sacrificed To Idols</span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Paul clearly teaches three times that there is nothing wrong in itself eating meat sacrificed to idols. (Romans 14:21;1 Corinthians 8:4-13, and 1 Corinthians 10:19-29.) The first time Paul addresses the question of "eating meat sacrificed to idols," Paul answers: "But food will not commend us to God; neither if we eat not...." (1 Cor. 8:8.) Paul then explained it is only necessary to abstain from eating such meat if you are around a "weaker" brother who thinks an idol is something. (1 Cor. 8:7, 8:10, 9:22.) Then, and only then, must you abstain. The reason is that then a brother might be emboldened to do something he thinks is sinful. The brother is weak for believing eating meat sacrificed to an idol is wrong. This is thus a sin for him to eat, even though you know it is not sinful to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Thus, even though you know better than your weaker brother that it is no sin to do so, it is better to abstain in his presence than cause him to sin against his weak conscience and be "destroyed." (1 Cor. 8:11.) <a href="#pgfId=464223" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">4</a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Paul is essentially laying down a principle on how to be considerate of others who think it is wrong to eat meat sacrificed to idols. At the same time, Paul insists as a matter of principle, there is nothing wrong eating such meat. If you were instead the weaker brother, and read Paul's epistles on this topic, you certainly would walk away knowing Paul teaches it is permissible to eat meat sacrificed to idols. You would even think your weak-mindedness on this issue should be abandoned. You should no longer burden your conscience on your brother who refrains due to your overly sensitive conscience. With Paul's instructions in hand, you would certainly know that it is permissible to eat meat sacrificed to idols. You can now get over your undue and ill-founded concern about eating such meat.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">In teaching this, Paul is clearly contradicting James and Jesus. He thereby is "diminishing" Jesus' words by contradicting Him. Paul is prohibiting eating such meat only if someone else is foolish enough to think eating such meat is wrong. Paul has turned Jesus' words on their head. Paul developed a relativistic approach that swallowed the rule. He made the prohibition of none effect. Paul's words clearly violate Deuteronomy 4:2 and 12:32. James and Jesus both say eating meat sacrificed to idols is flatly prohibited and wrong. There are no excuses, hairsplitting qualifications, situational-ethics, or easy outs in deciding whether to obey God. It is wrong and prohibited.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Paul Clearly Teaches It is Permissible to Eat Idol Meat</span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Yet, Paul teaches it is permissible to eat idol meat. This is transparent enough that Pauline Christians admit Paul is saying meat sacrificed to idols is clean and permissible. They make these admissions apparently unaware that Jesus in Revelation reconfirmed the prohibition on meat sacrificed to idols.<a href="#pgfId=464236" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 5</a> A Presbyterian pastor unwittingly admits:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Paul says to his readers that even though there is no ontological or theological basis for refusing to eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol, nevertheless out of consideration for brothers and sisters in Christ for whom it was a great problem and in an effort to be sensitive to their struggles, a Christian should be willing to abstain [from idol meat].<a href="#pgfId=464240" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 6</a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">This pastor unwittingly destroys Paul's validity for a person who wants to obey Jesus Christ.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Paul's Antinomianism on Idol Meat Issue versus Jesus</span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">What do we do then with such absolute commands as Jesus gave against eating meat sacrificed to idols? Jesus clearly threatens spewing out of His mouth those committing such deeds.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Modern Paulinists find no problem. First, they apparently share the young Luther's view that the Book of Revelation is noncanonical. Thus, they do not regard Jesus' prohibition on eating meat sacrificed to idols as a hurdle for Paul to overcome. Then what of Exodus' commands (Ex. 34:13-16) designed to prevent eating idol meat? Paulinists defend Paul's position that eating idol meat is permissible by saying the Law was abolished. They then insist this means that any legalistic notion to not eat meat sacrificed to idols was abolished. In fact, these same Paulinists ridicule any first century Christian who would have tried to enforce the command against eating such meats. The Law has been utterly abolished, they explain.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Dan Hill, Pastor of Southwood Bible Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shows you that if you came to the conclusion in the first century that you should not eat idol meat, you were in serious error. You were violating Paul's antinomian morality based on expediency. Pastor Hill describes the error of such a first century crusader against eating such meat:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So you start a crusade, you get a banner, get others to march, you picket the temple and the shambles, you chant, you sing, you light candles, you campaign against the sin of eating the idol's meat.</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And remember, you have some pretty good verses to use on this matter. You can pull them out and get very dogmatic about what God thinks (or what you think He thinks).</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then you go to Bible Class one day and there the Pastor is reading Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. And you find out that... you... have liberty [because Paul teaches]:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">`All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient [i.e., Paul's axiom].'</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You were wrong, especially in trying to force your decision upon others.</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But you would have even been more wrong in thinking that you had to figure out what God thinks... that is part of the fatal assumption of the Law.<a href="#pgfId=464257" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 7</a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Thus, Pastor Hill affirms antinomianism as why Paul said it was permissible to eat meat sacrificed to idols. There is no law. There are no absolute principles. Your first mistake was to think there are any laws. There is just a question of what is expedient. Eating idol meat is only wrong if it is inexpedient to do so. Eating such meat might set you back in evangelism or offend another Christian. It might become inexpedient temporarily. Otherwise, there are no absolute rules against eating such meat.<a href="#pgfId=464262" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 8</a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">What Pastor Hill is saying is that had he been alive in the first century, he would admonish the `trouble-maker' Christian. `Stop trying to make people avoid eating meat sacrificed to idols!' Pastor Hill would not admonish the one eating the meat. They are OK. He would scold you if you said it was wrong to eat such meat.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Unwittingly, Pastor Hill helps us prove how to interpret Jesus' response. Jesus is looking at Paul's entire outlook on the Law. Paul's broader message is because there is no Law any longer, it is permissible to eat such meat. Paul, in fact, says James' command in Acts 15:20 against eating such meat is not binding. The Laws of Exodus are not directed to God's people. You apply an expediency test whether to follow it or not. Jesus was the end of the Law, as Paul says. (Rom. 10:4.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus' remarks prove Pastor Hill's notion cannot possibly be true. Jesus is angry to the hilt in Revelation 2:6, 14. He is upset that Christians are being told they can commit fornication. He is furious they are told they can eat meat sacrificed to idols. If there is no more strict Law for Christians, and just expediency is the test, then Jesus' words are pointless. We are covered. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1.) Jesus apparently had not read that passage. He didn't `learn' its truth. Instead, Jesus is full of condemnation for Christians who violate laws!</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">In truth, Jesus in Revelation chapter 2 is clearly attacking antinomianism. He is laying down absolutes on fornication and eating meat sacrificed to idols. Jesus is highlighting the error of the Nicolaitans. They were known from Irenaeus' writings to be antinomians. Irenaeus said they believed they could eat any foods. The Nicolaitans taught the Law was abrogated and they lived under grace instead.<a href="#pgfId=464278" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 9</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> Jesus' attack on antinomianism is also obvious from Jesus' condemnation of the permissiveness on the issue of fornication. Jesus is not only prohibiting fornication at idol worship ceremonies, as a few Paulinists contend. To save Paul's validity, some seriously contend Jesus meant to prohibit fornication only at idolatrous ceremonies. However, no such limitation can be found in the text. The fornication prohibition is stated just as absolutely as the prohibition on eating meat sacrificed to idols. There are no exceptions. There are no plausible hairsplitting arguments that can construe Jesus as only prohibiting fornicating at a pagan ceremony. (If true, it would imply Jesus permitted fornication otherwise.) This spin to save Paul leads to absurdities.</span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Thus, one cannot read into Jesus' words any expediency-test on eating meat sacrificed to idols any more than you could read such a test into Jesus' words condemning fornication.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Apostle John, who is the human hand of Revelation, took Jesus' attack on antinomianism to heart. He later wrote likewise that those who say they know Jesus but disobey His commands are liars. John's attack on antinomianism appears in 1 John:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.***3:10...whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God.... (ASV)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">John and Jesus are encouraging strictly following Jesus' commands. This includes His command to not eat meat sacrificed to idols. Apostle John has a harsh message for those who claim to know Jesus but who refute His commands. You are a liar when you say you know Jesus. Who else is called a liar by John's pen? The one who told the Ephesians falsely he was an apostle of Jesus. (Rev. 2:2.) We shall see that it is no accident 1 John 2:4 would affix the label liar to Paul for his contradiction of Jesus' command on idol meat. Revelation 2:2 affixes the same label of liar to someone the Ephesians put on trial for claiming to be an apostle and found he was not one. (See the chapter entitled Did Jesus Applaud the Ephesians for Exposing Paul as a False Apostle?)</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Conclusion</span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">In light of the foregoing blatant contradiction by Paul of Jesus, who seriously can hold onto Paul any longer as an inspired person? Who can really believe he is a true apostle?</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus is pointing his arrow at Paul who is long gone when the book of Revelation is written. Unquestionably, Paul had been teaching others to violate Jesus' commands and the commands of the twelve apostles. It is blatant. Jesus takes Paul's teaching to task.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">This brings to mind Jesus' `fruit' test for a false prophet. In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus says:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(15) Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. (16) By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? (17) Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Thus, when Paul teaches someone to violate Jesus' commands to not eat meat sacrificed to idols, is this good fruit or evil fruit? Obviously evil fruit. Jesus says "beware those who come in sheep's clothing." (Matt. 7:15.) What is a sheep in that verse? A Christian. Beware those who come claiming to be a Christian but who have evil fruit. Paul fits both criteria. Jesus then continues, saying even if they come with signs and wonders, He will tell those who work anomia (negation of Mosaic Law) that He never knew them. (Matt. 7:23.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">How many ways must Jesus say it before we recognize He is talking about Paul?</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000080;">FOOTNOTES&nbsp;</span></strong></span></p>
<hr />
<div class="footnotes">
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1. Exodus 34:13 says Jews were to tear down the altars of the Gentiles rather than make a covenant (i.e., a peace treaty). In Exo 34:15-16, God says if you prefer making a covenant and allow their pagan altars, you risk "one call thee [to eat with him] and thou eat of his sacrifice." The command to destroy the pagan altars was so that Jews would avoid eating meat sacrificed to idols even inadvertently at a meal at a Gentile home. This altar-destruction command also had the indirect affect of preventing a Gentile from eating idol meat. For this apparent reason, James in Acts 15:20, 25 and 21:25 prohibits Gentiles from eating idol meat. (On how James construed when the Law applies to Gentiles, see <a href="/chapter 5.#20427" class="XRef" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">See Luther Was Sometimes On the Right Track In This Sermon</a> .) It is ludicrous to argue, as some do, that God was concerned only that one knowingly ate such meat. If true, the Bible could have just prohibited such food as it did with other foods. However, idol meat cannot be identified by appearance. Thus, merely prohibiting eating such meat would not be enough if God was displeased by you eating it unknowingly. Hence, to prevent unknowing eating of such meat, God commands the destruction of pagan altars. Thus, Paul's allowance of eating such meat by not asking questions is precisely what the Bible does not countenance. Rather, if a Jew lived in a society where pagan altars operated and idol meat was sold in the market, the Law intended the Jew not to eat meat whose origin he/she could not be sure about.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2. Later, we will examine whether Jesus was identifying Paul in Rev.2:2 as a false apostle. See et seq.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">3. Irenaeus around 180 A.D. wrote that Nicolas, their founder "departed from sound doctrine, and was in the habit of inculcating indifference of both life and food." (Refutation of All Heresies, 7.24.)</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">4. Paul is thought to teach you should not take communion if one was eating idol meat at a pagan service. In 1 Cor. 10:20-21, Paul says you cannot be partaker of the Lord's table and the "table of devils." This was thus not a flat prohibition on eating idol meat. Most commentators reconcile Paul to Paul by saying Paul means you cannot go to a pagan sacrifice and eat the meat during a pagan service and still partake of communion. There is still thus nothing inherently wrong in eating such meat. In the context in which Paul says this, Paul also repeats his famous axiom, "all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient." (1 Cor. 10:23.) Then Paul says when you buy food or eat a stranger's home, "ask no question for sake of your conscience." (1 Cor. 10:25,27.) Thus, Paul says it is best you not know what you are eating. Don't let your conscience dictate questions about what you are eating. In a sense, Paul believes it is better you not know the meat's origin rather than try to scrupulously avoid eating such meat.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">5. Kenneth Loy, Jr. in My Body His Temple: The Prophet Daniel's Guide to Nutrition (Aroh Publishing: 2001) at 69 writes: "Idol Meat Is Clean (Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8): God had forbidden idol meat originally because it caused the children of Israel to go `whoring after' the gods of other nations. (Exodus 34:15-16.) Since the Gentiles were now equal in the sight of God, this restriction was no longer necessary. Jewish Christians even preferred idol meat since it was usually less expensive in the market place....Paul stipulates another reason why idol meat is permitted: `As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one....' (1 Corinthians 8:4-6)."</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">6. Dr. Peter Barnes (Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Boulder, Colorado), The Question About Christian Freedom (1 Corinthians 8:1-13) (2002) reprinted at <a href="http://www.fpcboulder.org/Sermons/Sermon1-27-02.htm">http://www.fpcboulder.org/Sermons/Sermon1-27-02.htm</a>&nbsp;[As of 2013, this has been removed.]</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">7. Pastor Dan Hill, Romans 6:14 (Grace Notes) (reprinted at <a href="http://www.realtime.net/~wdoud/romans/rom26.html">http://www.realtime.net/~wdoud/romans/rom26.html</a>)</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">8. If you live by Paul's principles, it is totally acceptable to outwardly behave in a manner that does not offend others, while inwardly you do not have to live and believe those principles. What did Jesus repeatedly say to the Pharisees who reasoned to the same conclusion as Paul? Jesus' response is in Mat 23:28: "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (WEB)</span></p>
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<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">9. See text and footnote on <a href="/chapter 6html.#11746" class="XRef" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">See Irenaeus around 180 A.D. wrote that Nicolas, their founder "departed from sound doctrine, and was in the habit of inculcating indifference of both life and food." (Refutation of All Heresies, 7.24.)</a> .</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Email Question about Eating Idol Meats</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">One correspondent argues that Exodus should be construed to only prohibit eating idol meat during a pagan covenant ceremony rather than when invited to eat with a Gentile, as Exodus simply says. The correspondent uses this gloss to limit the otherwise six times Jesus and James state unequivocally a prohibition on eating meat sacrificed to idols. Thus, the correspondent's reading such a limitation without support into these six passages is improper.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Regardless, to be fair, you can read this correspondent's argument and my response at this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/554-idol-meat-issue-paul-versus-jesus.html">link.</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #800080;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></strong></span></p> </td>
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<td valign="top" ><p>Ebionites "thought that it was necessary to&nbsp;<strong><em>reject all the epistles of [Paul], whom they called an apostate from the Law.</em></strong>" Eusebius, <em>Church Hist</em> 3:27 325 AD</p></td>
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<h1><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Luther Killed The JWO Movement In The Reformation</span></strong></h1>
<h2><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Introduction</span></strong></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465679"></a>By the time of the Reformation, Tertullian's lessons in 207 AD about Paul not being a true apostle, and not being authoritative as any of the twelve, and subordinate to Jesus' words were forgotten. [Note: see this <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/74-early-church-views.html">link</a>.#4] Yet, predictably, in the Reformation, there was an immediate revival back to Jesus' Words Only (JWO). This happened in two phases.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465819"></a>The first JWO movement was represented by Carlstadt in 1520-22 -- an early leader of the Reformation whom Luther later crushed. Carlstadt publicly reproved Luther for his undue emphasis on Paul over the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Luke and Mark. Carlstadt wrote in 1520 <em>The Canon of Scripture</em> in which he said:</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; padding-left: 30px; margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is necessary in fact to preserve compliance to the Lord, and as the Spirit of the Apostles is not a guide equal or greater than the Lord, thus also the heart of<em><strong> Paul within his letters does not have as much authority as has Christ</strong></em>. [<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/193-carlstadt-research.html">Link</a>.]</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt also faulted Luther for excluding James' Epistle from canon. Luther relied upon the circular reasoning that Paul's doctrine controlled what was canon because Paul said so even if Paul contradicted someone else, such as James. For background, see our link -- <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/219-luther-and-canon.html">Luther's View of Canon</a>.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465683"></a>The second JWO movement was the Brethren movement. It was smeared as the Anabaptists because they insisted upon a knowing faith-based baptism, thereby rejecting the baptism of infants. The Lutherans and Calvinists persecuted the Anabaptists with torture and death from 1524 forward through the reign of King James. The Brethren's early movement was inspired by Carlstadt's theology. They too taught that James' Epistle embodies Jesus' Gospel. They eschewed any undue emphasis on Paul. They incurred thereby the ire of Luther.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465721"></a>Their efforts at political reform are typically called The Peasant War. However, they were simply Christians demanding the right to worship Christ free from the Catholic church and free from unfair tax burdens by Catholic rulers. The Brethren movement had a spirit similar to the founders of our American Revolution. However, they were crushed when Luther in a published tract told Catholic rulers to kill them as `dogs' because they violated Paul's directive to obey rulers as God's ministers (in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+13%3A1-3&amp;version=ESV">Romans 13:1 et seq.</a>) Yet, they were all Protestants! With Luther's blessings, 100,000 of them were murdered in 1524-25. The only Anabaptists to survive were the most pacific--the Mennonites and Amish--or Brethren groups beyond the reach of these murderous rulers.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=463958"></a>This background demonstrates two important facts about the streak of Paulinism within modern Protestantism.</span></p>
<ul>
<li class="Bulleted" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -13.745pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 13.745pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As orthodoxy in the long history of the church, <em><strong>Paulinism is a rare modern phenomenon</strong></em>. It was heresy in the apostolic era, exemplified by how Marcion was treated. See <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/56-marcionism.html">Marcionism</a>.</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -13.745pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 13.745pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paulinism dominates among Protestantism today only because Paulinist elements in the Reformation were willing to instigate murder against non-Paulinist Protestant opponents</span>.</span></li>
</ul>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=465714"></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=465718"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Because the JWO movement was crushed during the Reformation, we inherit an outlook from within a bubble of the surviving dominant Protestant Christianity. Inside this bubble, we cannot see how truly small this blip of Paulinism is within history. We lack the perspective on the continuum of time and geography that others who live outside our bubble can see. This article will try to step outside the bubble to explain to us how modern Protestantism came to be dominated by Paulinism.</span></span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="16263"></a><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Luther Is Immediately Challenged by Carlstadt With A Jesus' Words Only Non-Pauline Approach</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=463056"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One proof of how Christians ordinarily would gravitate naturally to Jesus' Words Alone as orthodoxy is how quickly it became part-and-parcel of the Reformation. In fact, when reformation first was taken to the masses, it was a Jesus' Words Only movement. It was highly popular and evangelical. Its first popular messenger also was the first true hero of the Reformation: Andreas Rudolf Bodenstein von Carlstadt (1480-1541). Carlstadt's popularity threatened Luther. Carlstadt was quickly crushed by Luther allying with his government friends on the city council of Wittenberg.</span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464963"></a>When Luther arrived in 1511 at Wittenberg, Carlstadt was Professor of Theology at its university. Carlstadt had been twice Rector of the University of Wittenberg. He was also Canon and Archdeacon of the University's church called Stifskirche. It was he who conferred a doctorate on Luther in 1512.<a href="#pgfId=464975" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>1</sup></a> Luther always admitted that Carlstadt was his superior in learning.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464807"></a>In fact, Carlstadt was more the initial leader of the Reformation than Luther himself, with a far greater following initially. At first, Carlstadt as teacher and Luther as pupil were seen as joint allies. In 1517, they worked together on putting up the 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg. They debated Eck together in 1519. They both wrote reformation works on similar themes in 1520. Yet, Luther had the honor alone of making his famous defiant and heroic speech at the Diet of Worms on April 17, 1521. However, Luther then went into hiding for two years at Wartburg (1521-22) in Thuringia. At that juncture, Luther's points were merely debated in academic and clerical forums.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465214"></a>However, then in the two years that Luther was hiding (or was being hidden, as others try to claim), Carlstadt stepped forward. He became the greatest early leader of the reformation among the people of Germany. Prior to that time, Protestantism was not a popular movement. Under Carlstadt, it moved from academic questions in front of prelates to the people. As Bax correctly notes, "Luther had always regarded the authorities as his mainstay [while] <strong><em>Karlstadt appealed to the people</em></strong>."</span></p>
<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></div>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465215"></a>For a variety of reasons, which we will explain, Lutherans and Catholics like to distort and demonize Carlstadt. The recent movie <em>Luther</em>, a cinematically excellent work, tries to portray Carlstadt as leading the charge of mobs who entered churches in 1521 to remove images and statues of saints. The movie depicts Luther was hiding in a tower--his two year hiatus.<a href="#pgfId=465218" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>2</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466222"></a>Yet, there is no proof that anyone but Luther himself had previously made a call to violence as a principle of the reformation.<a href="#pgfId=465221" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>3</sup></a> However, the <em>Lutheran Encyclopedia</em> refers to Carlstadt as the "Revolutionist of the Reformation." As to this charge, however, there is no evidence but a coincidence of mobs cleansing their own Protestant churches of what they deemed to be idols following sermons by Carlstadt against such idols. In the same period, two monks were stoned by students, but no one can link their actions to Carlstadt. As one scholar puts it: "I have<em><strong> no evidence linking Carlstadt</strong></em> directly with the violence that occurred."<a href="#pgfId=465224" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>4</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464516"></a>The movie<em> Luther</em> also tried to make this iconoclast movement of 1521-22 at Wittenberg synonymous with the Peasants War. However, that war was years later -- in 1524-25, led by different men in different cities than the iconoclast episode. While the peasant leaders of the 'war' were Christians, and they were inspired by Carlstadt's theology and teachings, their aims were largely political. Carlstadt cannot be associated with any violent episodes in those events as well.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466252"></a>Bax' famous work <em>The Peasants War</em> (1903) is considered one of the most thorough historical accounts of that war even though Bax had a socialist axe to grind. Bax places the Peasants War in full-swing in other cities in the Rhine, Swabia and Franconia with no role of Carlstadt mentioned until late into the events. Even then, Carlstadt had no role in violence. In fact, his only role was a few sermons that preceded a totally peaceful `revolution' at Rothenberg. Bax tries to play up Carlstadt's role in the War, but according to Bax, Carlstadt only appearance is in 1525 when he was received happily by the peasants of Rothenberg. He gave a few sermons and was ordered expelled by the city council. Then he stayed at Rothenberg anyway. Nevertheless, soon thereafter, the City of Rothenberg without violence voted to join the Evanglical Brotherhood--the new political state the peasants were creating across Southern Germany.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465003"></a>In Bax' account, Carlstadt is not mentioned giving any more sermons thereafter or participating in any of the Peasants War movement. (Bax, <em>supra</em>, ch. 5.) Thus, Carlstadt, if he played a role at Rothenberg, did so in the one town that transformed itself without a shot being fired by anyone. Bax cites no other facts on Carlstadt's role in the Peasants War. We must therefore treat as hyperbole those who stretch Carlstadt's role into something encouraging the violence in the Peasants War. Catholics, Lutherans, Protestants and now Socialists have axes to grind to associate Carlstadt with violence. However, none of them have any facts to support this charge.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Luther Alone Gave Calls To Violence</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=465259"></a>I<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">nstead, the <em><strong>only person who incited the Christian Peasants to violence</strong></em> in 1524 was <em><strong>Luther himself</strong></em> who did so in a 1522 pamphlet entitled <em>Against the Spiritual Estate of the Pope and the Bishops Falsely So-Called</em> (4 July 1522). Why is this part of history ignored? Because throwing blame on Carlstadt for the violence was<strong><em> the only way to make sense of Luther's later call in 1525 to mercilessly slaughter the Christian peasants who rose up in reliance on Luther's initial words exhorting revolt</em></strong>. It was only later -- in 1525 -- that Luther said any Christian who rebels against a ruler is disobedient to Paul's command to obey rulers. (Rom. 13:1 et seq.) Yet, Luther's unequivocal call of 1522 was the opposite. Here is the incongruous earlier incitement by Luther to violence and rebellion which later, when it emerged, Luther endorsed it should suffer the most mercilous suppression:</span></span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465275"></a>It would be <strong><em>better to kill all bishops and to annihilate all religious foundations </em></strong>and monasteries than to let a single soul perish, not to mention losing all souls for the sake of these useless dummies and idols. What good are they, except to live in lust from the sweat and labor of others and to impede the word of God? They are afraid of <strong><em>physical rebellion</em></strong> and do not care about spiritual destruction. Are they not intelligent, honest people! If they accepted God's word and sought the life of the soul, God would be with them, since he is a God of peace. <strong><em>Then there would be no fear of rebellion</em></strong>. But <strong><em>if they refuse to hear&nbsp;</em><em>what could be better for them than to encounter a strong rebellion which exterminates them from the world...</em></strong>&nbsp;? One <strong><em>could only laugh if it did happen,</em></strong> as the divine wisdom says, Proverbs 1[:25-27], "You have hated my punishment and misused my teaching; therefore I will laugh at your calamity and I will mock you when disaster strikes you."</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465277"></a>Not God's word but <strong><em>stubborn disobedience [to God's word] creates rebellion</em></strong>. Whoever rebels against it shall get his due reward. Whoever accepts God's word does not start unrest, although he is no longer afraid of the masks and does not worship the dummies.<a href="#pgfId=465312" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>5</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465308"></a>Thus, in 1522, Luther taught the true rebel is the one who disobeys God's word. The person who accepts God's words, though he rebel against temporal powers, is no rebel.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465264"></a>But then in 1525, as we will discuss later, Luther declared the Christians involved in the Peasants War must all be put to death, and killed as dogs for rebellion<strong><em> against Paul's words in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+13%3A1-3&amp;version=ESV">Romans 13:1 et seq</a>.</em></strong> Luther's flip-flop makes virtually no sense to any Lutheran or Protestant historian. Thus, they have made every effort to paint the Peasants as the sons of Carlstadt who allegedly inspired them to political rebellion. Thus, the Peasants and any of their errors supposedly belong to Carlstadt. This picture is vaguely painted in countless histories. It surfaces in how Carlstadt appears in the recent movie <em>Luther</em>, holding a weapon in his hand during the Peasants War dumbfounded that Luther is not joining in the violence. Yet, it is purely myth.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Why Is Carlstadt Such A Problem for Lutherans?</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=465522"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why is everyone so anxious to shift the blame for the violence of 1524-25 onto Carlstadt instead of on Luther to whom it rightfully belongs? Why is Carlstadt's memory distorted by everyone?</span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465334"></a>As mentioned before, Luther went into hiding from 1521 to 1522. "During [Luther's] absence Professor Andreas von Carlstadt<strong><em> assumed leadership of the Protestant movement in Wittenberg</em></strong>."<a href="#pgfId=464535" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>6</sup></a> Carlstadt preached as the local priest of Wittenberg against celibacy for church leaders, against monastic vows, and against the mass. At Christmas of 1521, he omitted in the service part of the mass the invocation that claimed transmutation. He also distributed communion as both wine and bread for direct handling and drinking from the chalice.<a href="#pgfId=464254" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>7</sup></a> The Wittenberg City Council later approved of all these changes by a decree of 24 January 1522.<a href="#pgfId=464214" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>8</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464209"></a>Carlstadt announced near the same time that he would lay aside the priestly dress and other ceremonies. Two days afterwards he was engaged to the daughter of a poor nobleman in the presence of distinguished professors of the university. Then on January 20, 1522, he was married.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464266"></a>Here was a major hero of the Reformation, taking chances that Luther, hiding out in a tower, was not taking at the moment of greatest danger.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464137"></a>On the issue of iconoclasty, the movie<em> Luthe</em>r did Carlstadt a major injustice in particular. In 1521, Carlstadt had denounced pictures and images as dumb idols, which he argued were plainly forbidden in the second commandment, and should be burnt rather than tolerated in the house of God. He induced the town council to remove them from the parish church. However, the populace anticipated the orderly removal and tore them down. They hewed them to pieces and burnt them. This had nothing to do with the Peasants War. The only violence involved in this period was a stoning against two monks by two young students which cannot be linked to Carlstadt. No one can cite any words or role of Carlstadt in this unfortunate crime.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464148"></a>So why all the blame shifted to Carlstadt and distortions about him? What disturbs Lutherans is how Carlstadt took the reformation in <strong><em>a successful direction with the people</em></strong> while Luther hid for two years. Carlstadt began a Jesus' Words Only movement. Carlstadt repudiated all titles and dignities, since Christ alone was our Master (Matt. 23:8). He cast away his priestly and academic robes, put on a plain citizen's dress, afterwards a peasant's coat, and had himself called<strong><em> brother Andrew</em></strong>. Carlstadt's Protestant theology laid the ground for the Brethren movement which was the inspiration to the Peasants War.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=466104"></a><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Carlstadt On The Hebrew Bible</strong></span></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=464162"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt next opposed the baptism of infants, refusing to even have his young son baptized. More important, it was on the issue of the Hebrew Bible, in particular the Sabbath command, that Carlstadt and Luther would also conflict. Carlstadt pointed out that the Sabbath command's discontinuance was only by papal decree. It came late in Western European history (363 A.D.). Carlstadt insisted this Biblical command was still binding. As Dr. Barnas Spears summarizes in <em>Life of Luther</em> (Philadelphia: 1850) at 401:</span></span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464183"></a>Carlstadt differed essentially from Luther in regard to the use to be made of the Old Testament. With him, the <strong><em>law of Moses was still binding</em></strong>. Luther, on the contrary, had a strong aversion to what he calls a legal and Judaizing religion. Carlstadt held to the <em><strong>divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament</strong></em>; Luther believed Christians were free to observe any day as a Sabbath, provided they be uniform in observing it.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a name="pgfId=464191"></a>Carlstadt's View of Paul Emerges</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=466324"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luther clearly was supported by Paul's epistles in abjuring the need to follow Saturday Sabbath and the Law. How could Carlstadt differ from Paul's view and yet be such a luminary and leader of the Reformation? In some respects, Carlstadt was far more daring than Luther in reformation. In fact, as we shall see, to stop Carlstadt, Luther will join forces with Catholicism to crush Carlstadt, calling him the "new Judas." </span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To do so, Luther will make common cause with Catholic authorities<em><strong> in favor of infant baptism</strong></em> and <strong><em>viewing the host and wine as truly the body and blood of Christ</em></strong>. Why was Carlstadt so different in outlook than Luther, his pupil in reformation principles? Why did Luther feel the need to stop Carlstadt? Because of Carlstadt's different view of Paul when compared to the Gospels. As Wil Durant summarizes:</span></span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464230"></a>Later in the same year [August,1520] Carlstadt issued a little book--<em>De Canonicis Scripturis Libellus</em>-- <em><strong>exalting</strong></em> the Bible over popes, councils and traditions, and <strong><em>the Gospels over Epistles</em></strong>. If Luther had followed this last line, Protestantism might have been <strong><em>less Pauline</em></strong>, Augustinian, and Predestinarian.<a href="#pgfId=464289" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 9</a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As quoted previously, Carlstadt said in <em>Canonicis Scripturis</em> in 1520<em>:</em></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; padding-left: 60px; margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is necessary in fact to preserve compliance to the Lord, and as the Spirit of the Apostles is not a guide equal or greater than the Lord, thus also the heart of<em><strong> Paul within his letters does not have as much authority as has Christ</strong></em>. [<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/193-carlstadt-research.html">Link</a>.]</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt believed Jesus must be given pre-eminance in interpretation. Thus obscure passages of Scripture were to be explained using the clear passages from Jesus Christ. As Sider synopsized this book: "The only one who discloses the meaning of scriptures is the Lamb of God who is born, lives, dies and rises from the dead under the shell of the scriptural letter."<a href="#pgfId=466124" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>10</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466133"></a>As a result, Carlstadt taught, as Snider summarizes, that "<em><strong>Matthew, Mark, John, Luke </strong></em>and Acts belong in the <em><strong>first rank</strong></em>."<a href="#pgfId=466138" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><sup> 11</sup></a> Hence, the words of Jesus come first. Next were the "letters of <em><strong>Paul</strong></em>, 1 Peter and 1 John" in <strong><em>second ran</em></strong>k, adding in German: "Dise Episteln seind on einigs widerred, von den aposteln (wie angezeigt) geschriben."<a href="#pgfId=466151" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>12</sup></a> This apparently means essentially that no one disputes the authorship of the epistles of Paul, 1 Peter and 1 John.<a href="#pgfId=466169" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><sup> 13</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466165"></a>Then in <strong><em>third rank</em></strong> were the remaining materials in the New Testament. Within them, the church can confer authority on a disputed book by "universal agreement and ancient usage."<a href="#pgfId=466160" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> 14</a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[2010 Update: For further discussion of the three tiers that Carlstadt applied to canon, see our webpage on<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/193-carlstadt-research.html"> Carlstadt</a> research.]</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=466348"></a><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Paul versus the Book of James</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=466108"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt, in particular, in this booklet <em>Canonicis</em> openly disagreed with Luther that one could reject the book of James as noncanonical based upon doctrine obtained from Paul. First, Carlstadt said you must first determine what is canon. Then one can determine one's doctrine. His slogan was<strong><em> canonicity before doctrine</em></strong>. If one reverses the procedure, then one's personal doctrine, however commendatory, turns into a weapon by which genuine Scripture is rejected or down-played unnecessarily.</span></span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464322"></a>[A]s early as 1520, Luther's Wittenberg University co-reformer Bodenstein von Carlstadt...<em><strong>condemned Luther's rejection of James</strong></em> and argued that one must appeal either to known apostolic authorship or to universal historical acceptance (omnium consensus) as the test of a book's canonicity, not to internal doctrinal considerations. (Carlstadt, <em>De canonicis, Scripturis libellus</em> (Wittenberg. 1520) para, 50.)<a href="#pgfId=464344" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>15</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466174"></a>Carlstadt explained that both the Latin and Greek fathers accepted the book of James as canon.<a href="#pgfId=466179" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>16</sup></a> Carlstadt also saw no contradiction with Paul.<a href="#pgfId=466191" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>17</sup></a></span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading2" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 18pt 0pt 4pt; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><a name="pgfId=466352"></a><span style="color: #0000ff;">Luther's Aggressive Response</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=466184"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luther was angry with Carlstadt's reforms, his downplay of Paul to second rank behind Jesus, and Carlstadt's theological acceptance of the Epistle of James which Luther in 1522 said was an "epistle of Straw." (Luther, <em>Preface to the New Testament</em>, 1522.)</span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luther went so far as to say that Moses and the Prophets did not speak authoritatively either when they endorsed works in salvation--they too failed to build on gold and precious metals and would be proven later to be burnt up with fire--while the man of God can only hear God's words of grace. (See this<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/196-luther-thoughts-on-inspiration.html"> link</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, in 1521, from his place of hiding, Luther savagely attacked Carlstadt in a book entitled <em>The New Judas</em>, meaning Carlstadt.</span></p>
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<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=466358"></a><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">The Transmutation Controversy: Luther's Eventual Flip-Flop</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=464400"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then Luther backed off in 1522 on the Lord's Supper a bit. In 1522, Luther wrote a pamphlet in which he was upset that people were taking the bread and cup in the service. Some were not "qualified" to take the cup. Luther indirectly acknowledged Carlstadt was correct that no transmutation occurs in the Mass of the bread and wine into Jesus' real body and blood. (Luther had previously in 1520 boldly said <strong><em>no transmutation occurs in the Lord's Supper</em></strong>.)<a href="#pgfId=465010" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>18</sup></a> </span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, in 1522 Luther now said that reform was moving too fast. Some weak in faith might be encouraged to violate their conscience and later have regret, and then not return to church. Thus, in 1522, Luther was "decisively against" the speed of these reforms made by Carlstadt, but he appeared sympathetic on the issue of transubstantiation.<a href="#pgfId=464219" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>19</sup></a></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464618"></a>However, later, in 1524, Luther<strong><em> flip-flopped</em></strong>, and again moved into extreme opposition to Carlstadt, and allied with the Catholic position on transmutation. Luther attacked Carlstadt for Carlstadt's insisting the communion is symbolic. Luther insisted, instead, that "the body of Christ... is <strong><em>really and substantially present in, with and under the Supper</em></strong>...."<a name="pgfId=464618"></a><a href="#pgfId=464460" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><sup>20</sup></a><a name="pgfId=464618"></a>Luther was favoring the Catholic position on transmutation which Luther previously vigorously attacked. Thus, Luther in 1524 denounced Carlstadt's position that the Lord's Supper was symbolic even though in 1520 and 1522 Luther had agreed it was symbolic. Luther was flip-flopping.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466370"></a>Yet, as Dr. Spears relates, by changing position, Luther was able to have authorities expel his opponent Carlstadt from his job at the university as well as from all of Saxony:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464367"></a>The work which he wrote against him, he entitled, `The Book against the Celestial Prophets.' This was uncandid; for the controversy related chiefly to the sacrament of the supper. In the south of Germany and in Switzerland, <em><strong>Carlstadt found more adherents than Luther</strong></em>. Banished as an [alleged] Anabaptist, he was received as a Zwinglian. (Spears, <em>supra</em>, at 403.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464371"></a>The civil power moved to the side of Luther, and crushed Carlstadt for views we now all accept: the supper is representational and we can receive the wine and bread in our hands. "[H]e [Carlstadt] was <strong><em>crushed by the civil power, which was on the side of Luther</em></strong>." (Spears, <em>supra</em>, at 400.) Luther demanded Carlstadt 'get out of town.' The civil authorities at Wittenberg and Saxony officially repeated Luther's demand.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466380"></a>In 1524, Carlstadt was expelled from Saxony. He and his wife were left to wander from place to place. At first, he became a laborer on his father-in-law's farm. Later in 1531 he became a pastor in a Zwinglian church. In 1534, he was appointed professor at Basel. Carlstadt remained there until he died in 1541.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465338"></a>Yet Luther was intent Carlstadt live a life in infamy due to Luther's branding him <em>The New Judas</em>. The great Luther had made it difficult and often impossible for Carlstadt to find work. Ruined and penniless at times, Carlstadt had no one to thank but Luther and the persecuting authorities under Luther's influence.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464623"></a>Thus, Carlstadt was destroyed by Luther based upon disagreement over communion on a point which today all Protestants agree with Carlstadt, not Luther. But, the issue was much deeper than that: Carlstadt took the emphasis off Paul, and put it back on Jesus of the Gospels. This meant James' Epistle cannot be discarded, as it clearly reflects Jesus' teachings.</span></p>
<div>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Lutherans' Demonization of Carlstadt Teaches Another Lesson About Paul.</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464815"></a>The Lutherans' persistent effort to make Carlstadt out to be the one to blame for the Peasants War is a shameless effort to ignore Luther's role in the violence of that war. This blame-shifting highlights Luther's cowardly retreat. Luther failed to take responsibility for his own words which exhorted violence by the laity against Catholic bishop-rulers. It also underscores the fruit of Paul. For Luther relied upon Paul's teachings on submission to governments as God's ministers without any exception to justify his murderous exhortation to the German Catholic rulers. Luther told them to strike down "as dogs" 100,000 of the earliest Protestants who were of Carlstadt's stripe. They supposedly were all seditionists for wanting their own independent churches. Luther's actions expose the evil fruit of Paul's teachings that state officers are "ministers of God" in Romans chapter thirteen.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466384"></a><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">The Goals In The Peasants War</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465563"></a>To begin proving this, we must ask: what were the goals of the Peasants involved in the Peasants War of 1524-25? The demands of the peasants were Christian in spirit and moderate, influenced in content by Carlstadt's preaching and example. They professed that they wanted the right to practice their faith in Christ, free of civil oppression that was inconsistent with Christian principles. Their demands were:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466388"></a> The right to elect their own pastors (conceded by Zwingli, but not by Luther).</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466389"></a>Freedom from the small tithe (the great tithe of grain they were willing to pay).</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466396"></a>The abolition of bond-service, since all men were redeemed by the blood of Christ (but they promised to obey the elected rulers ordained by God, in every thing reasonable and Christian).</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466397"></a>Freedom to hunt and fish.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466398"></a>A share in the forests for domestic fuel;</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466399"></a>Restriction of compulsory service.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466400"></a>Payment for extra labor above what the contract requires.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466401"></a>Reduction of rents.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466402"></a>Cessation of arbitrary punishments.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466403"></a>Restoration of the pastures and fields which have been taken from the communes.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466404"></a>Abolition of the right of heriot, by which widows and orphans are deprived of their inheritance.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466405"></a>All these demands shall be tested by Scripture; and if not found to agree with it, they are to be withdrawn. (Schaff, <em>History of the Reformation</em>, Vol. 7; Bax, <em>The Peasant War,</em> ch. 3.)</span></li>
</ul>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465602"></a>This list, incidentally, reveals the Peasants were Protestant Christians. They wanted the freedom to choose their own minister -- a concept that Carlstadt-Luther had introduced first somewhere between 1517 and 1524. The peasants wanted their proposals to be tested by Scripture, and if proven inconsistent, they would withdraw the offending demand. This was Sola Scriptura in action. They certainly were not Catholic. Yet, they were not Lutherans either.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=466406"></a>What were they theologically? They appear to be the <strong><em>spiritual heirs of Carlstadt</em></strong>. For Carlstadt was the first to take Refomation ideals to the people during 1521 to 1522 while Luther was in hiding. Thus, by 1524, Bax reports there were<strong><em> 250,000 Peasants leading the Evangelical Brotherhood</em></strong> as they called it, drawn from every part of Southern Germany. Yet, even though they were spiritually sons of Carlstadt does not mean Carlstadt handed them their program or methods.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464858"></a>The one item on the Evangelical Brotherhood Peasant list that we know offended Luther was their position at odds with Paul on submission to rulers (#3). There was<strong><em> no other serious doctrinal issue that Luther raised against the Peasants' demands</em></strong>. Luther contended in May 1525 in his work entitled <em>Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants</em> that their movement violated Romans 13:1. Luther reminded them that this verse from Paul imposed on them a duty of obedience to the ruling powers because their rulers are supposedly God's ministers. Paul made no exception for alleged perceived injustice by such rulers, including denial of the right of religious worship. These German rulers prohibited any other church than the Catholic church. Luther repeated his view that nothing was excepted from Paul's principle in Luther's <em>Exhortation ...Against Insurrection</em>:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465344"></a>Hence <em><strong>no insurrection is ever right, no matter how good the cause i</strong></em>n whose interest it is made....My sympathies are and always will be with those against whom insurrection is made, however wrong the cause they stand for . . . God has forbidden insurrection....<a href="#pgfId=465354" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>21</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464660"></a>The Peasants countered by insisting it can be obedience to God that directs a Christian to resist oppression by rulers, citing Biblical passages of how God rescued the Israelites from oppression.<a href="#pgfId=465040" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>22</sup></a> In the Brethren's words are the echoes of our own Declaration of Independance. In it we read the Christian sentiment that we are "endowed by the CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights" which if "any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465099"></a>The Peasants' methods were not treacherous or evil. They made specific written moderate demands. They were willing to use force if their feudel lords or ruling Catholic bishops refused. They used force on several occasions. They were kindly in victory. Each new city enrolled thereupon belonged to the new state which they called the Evangelical Brotherhood. Some cities signed on voluntarily, such as Rothenberg. When the Peasant army approached other city-states, the Peasants engaged in good faith and patient negotiations on the twelve demands listed above.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465105"></a>However, Luther regarded their effort to negotiate political and religious freedom by use of the threat of arms as a violation of Paul's injunction to obey the government. By May 1525, Luther was exasperated trying to convince them any longer.<strong><em> Luther gave his blessing to the Catholic rulers that they should now use ruthless and merciless force on the Christian Protestant peasants</em></strong>. Luther in his famous pamphlet <em>Against the Murderous and Thieving Hordes of Peasants</em> responded with stunning vitriole. He called for merciless punishment of the revolt by the peasants. </span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Relying upon Luther's endorsement, Catholic rulers refused to negotiate any further the demands of the Christian peasants. They began to crush and frankly murder the largely defenseless peasants (by comparison), including women and children. At Frankenhausen, 50,000 were slaughtered. When all was finished, Schaff tallies 100,000 Christian `rebels' killed. Who was responsible for this unyielding murderous response to their moderate demands? Schaff -- the foremost Protestant historian -- does not hide the culprit:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464664"></a><strong><em>Luther dipped his pen in blood,</em></strong> and burst out in a <em><strong>most violent manifesto</strong></em> "against the rapacious and murderous peasants." He charged them with doing the Devil's work under pretence of the gospel. He called upon the magistrates to "stab, kill, and strangle" them like mad dogs.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464674"></a>The myth of associating Carlstadt with this uprising was self-serving. It was a way that Lutheran historians try to make it appear Luther had other doctrinal reasons beyond Paul's injunction to obey officials. How otherwise can one justify<strong><em> killing 100,000 Christian souls</em></strong> based on merely violating Paul's directive to obey the ruling authorities as "God's ministers"? However, no doctrine other than Paul's view of government authority had anything expressly to do with Luther's view of the rebels. The only doctrine Luther ever cited against the peasant rebels was Paul's doctrine that one must support authorities as God's ministers. Based upon this doctrine, Luther simply authorized the most bloody reprisals possible against what was a Christian and Protestant attempt at political action. The Peasant rebellion on moderate grounds was met with merciless slaughter not only with Luther's blessing but also with his firm instigation.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(On Luther's comparable view that any independent church was seditious resistance to the Lutheran church's blessing from German princes, see our discussion of <a href="/JWO/jesus-on-church-structure.html">Jesus's View of Church Structure</a> - toward the end. Luther claimed that once the Lutheran Church supplanted the Catholic religion in a country, no one was free to form an independent Protestant church or even witness for Christ one-on-one.)</span></p>
</div>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">What Luther's Paulinism in the Peasant Revolt Reveals About Paul</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465428"></a>In fact, Luther's action raises another question about the legitimacy of Paul. For Paul once more contradicts Jesus on the core issue that Luther was emphasizing justified repression. Paul indeed did teach rulers are "ministers of God" in Romans 13:1 et seq. It follows, as Paul teaches, we must obey them as if we were obeying God "for conscience sake." There are no exceptions for when you will obey God. Thus there can be no exceptions likewise for when you will obey a ruler. Luther made a correct deduction of Paul's words. Jesus, however, never said this, and contradicted Paul.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465575"></a>Jesus said the sons of God are free from government rules, but we obey so the rulers do not "stumble" and sin by being antagonized. (Matt. 17:26-27.) Jesus' words thus teach we do not obey from conscience sake, as if the rulers and their laws&nbsp;came from God. Rather, we only obey so as not to anger rulers and make them sin. However, <strong><em>Jesus' words open the door to consider disobeying when we do not cause a ruler to sin, but instead the ruler is sinning already by oppression or evil</em></strong>. In that case, Jesus implies we are free to call the ruler to do righteousness, which leads him from sin to goodness. Christian disobedience to unjust demands thus has the same objective as Christian obedience to just demands: to lead rulers away from sin.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465579"></a>Thus, we see <em><strong>Jesus and Paul do not see eye-to-eye on a most important issue</strong></em>. In our own day, the Paulinism of Luther had its ultimate fruit. Many marvel and ask why would German Christians obey Nazi orders to kill innocent babies who were born lame, or to kill the elderly, Gypsies and Jews. But it was not suprising. German Christians were predominantly Lutheran by Hitler's day. <em><strong>They had been taught that Luther was correct that the government, right or wrong, must be followed as God's ministers</strong></em>. There is no exception of when you must obey God's ministers. Following Luther and Paul meant to citizens in Nazi Germany that you must endure patiently, yet perform your duty even if that means killing the innocent, the lame, or the Jew.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465588"></a>Jesus said this is never true. We are never subject to the rules of the government as a matter of conscience. They are man-made rules. <em><strong>We only obey so as not to antagonize and cause our rulers to sin but we are not duty-bound to obey them</strong></em>. Yet, if a Christian is ordered to kill a baby because it is lame, it is murder even if it is a `lawful' order of a government. The ruler sins by ordering something in violation of God's law. You can do no wrong if you call your ruler to be accountable to that higher law.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465594"></a>Based on Paul, however, Luther taught an absolutely strict code of obedience to government no matter what. The Lutheran teachers who prepared the grammar school lessons for children became Hitler's pawns. For the Lutheran professors and grade school teachers always praised Luther's position on the Peasants War. It was a key event in German history. </span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The massacre of 100,000 Peasants at Luther's request was as unforgettable to Germans as our Declaration of Independence is to us. Luther's position was praised based on a Christian's allegedly strict moral duty to obey the government even if the orders appear unjust. Thus, by modern myth-making, Luther was no longer one of the most beastly figures of human history for his instigating Catholic rulers to murder 100,000 people. Instead, Luther was transformed into a wise and Godly-man. No wonder that Hitler's SS men who were trained by Lutheran teachers could justify as a moral duty the commission of similarly beastly acts on the same soil that 100,000 of the Brethren (including women and children) were previously murdered at Luther's adamant insistence.<a href="#pgfId=465646" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>23</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465433"></a>Thus, Luther's excessive reliance on Paul, disregarding Jesus' contrary views, helps expose once more the error of following Paul. Based on Paul, Luther instigated the murder of 100,000 Christian Protestants by Catholic authorities so as to rigidly uphold Paul's teaching against political disobedience.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Why Carlstadt Is Associated With the Peasant's War.</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464406"></a>What other reasons supported associating Carlstadt with this debacle? First, besides lending some principled basis to Luther's call to kill the rebels mercilessly, it tended to justify why Luther turned his back on his friend and had him expelled from Wittenberg. Yet, to repeat, no one can link anything involved in the Peasants War to Carlstadt. Further, blaming the war on Carlstadt takes the blame off Luther's words which previously had endorsed violence against Roman Catholic prelates. No one can find a word of violence on the pen of Carlstadt in his many pamphlets nor in any sermon he ever gave. Carlstadt becomes <strong><em>a scapegoat</em></strong> to pay for the sins that Luther himself committed.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464577"></a>What again then were the doctrines of Carlstadt, who is frequently maligned by Protestants, in particular Lutherans? They were:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464581"></a>Paul's epistles were subordinate to the Gospels.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464585"></a>James was not to be eliminated based on a priori assumption that Paul's doctrines are the test of whether to exclude James.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464586"></a>The Sabbath was never properly abrogated by the Catholic church, and the Hebrew Scriptures and Law remain valid and binding on Christians (<em>i.e.</em>, he rejected antinomianism).</span></li>
</ul>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=464593"></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464611"></a>The Reformation that Carlstadt began was aborted by Luther's intervention. Yet, Carlstadt's reformation came right at the inception of the Reformation. It came just before Luther decided on a retrenchment toward Catholicism. This history demonstrates how clearly Jesus' Words Only as a principle will manifest itself to true Christians. It also shows that Luther intentionally <strong><em>repressed this movement by use of force</em></strong>.&nbsp;Luther allied with city authorities at Wittenberg to expel his old friend, branding him the New Judas. It was an heartless endeavor to render his old friend penniless and irreversibly defamed in Christian circles. Who had the better fruit? Carlstadt or Luther? Between the two, who engaged in slander and hateful destruction of the other?</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Luther is Immediately Challenged by An Anabaptist Jesus' Words Only Movement.</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span>Most Protestants do not know that almost immediately after Luther initiated the 95 Theses with Carlstadt, the so-called Anapabtists challenged Luther's Pauline emphasis. These forty or more sects had a common vision: they claimed to see Luther's error of relying too heavily on Paul, and called everyone to follow Jesus' Words Only. If it could not be found in the Bible, it had no warrant. They called Christians to a purer form of Bible-based Christianity. This movement was first pejoratively referred to by the Roman Catholic authorities as the Anabaptists (re-baptizers). They were a faster growing group than the Lutherans for a long time. In response, Lutherans instigated governors in Germany and Zurich sympathetic to Carlstadt's views to torture and kill sects in agreement with Carlstadt as rebellious heretics. Calvinists did the same later in England under King James.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464836"></a>In fact, in the Reformation, the Anabaptists became <strong><em>Martyrs to the murderous leaders of the Protestant Reformation</em></strong>. These leaders were Luther first at Wittenberg, and Zwingli at Zurich. Each convinced their city's governors to side with themselves against these Protestant Christians, and have them killed due to their<strong><em> `rebellious' difference in doctrine with Luther and Zwingli</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465963"></a>How had this come about?</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465962"></a>Luther and Zwingli elected to live in protected city-state enclaves to print their books and spread their doctrine. They used their new-found political influence to crush and kill the non-Paulinist JWO Anabaptist movement within Protestantism. There is not a single example you can find of Anabaptists killing Lutherans, Calvinists or Zwinglians due to their doctrine. This is because one of the tenets of Anabaptists was their desire of freedom of religion from state churches, such as now existed at Wittenberg, Geneva, and Zurich where Luther, Calvin and Zwingli spiritually reigned.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=460789"></a>Why were these Protestants smeared as Anabaptists? For two reasons. First, it made it appear they were one-issue people. Also, the public bias in those days was that infant baptism was an indispensable fact of Christian life. The populace liked this practice. It was <strong><em>easy to curry favor with the masses by supporting infant baptism's validity</em></strong>. Thus, Luther joined the Roman Catholics to oppose anyone who thought one needed to be rebaptized after becoming a Christian as an adult. These Anabaptists were `Bible-only' theologians. They insisted infant baptism was not able to save. It was not Biblical.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464884"></a>These so-called Anabaptists' initial opponents were the Roman Catholic church. In reply, the Catholic leaders disparaged them, insisting infant baptism by the Catholic church did save. The Catholic hierarchy insisted that no re-baptism as an adult was necessary when you later in life found faith. The proponents of rebaptism held other doctrines of equal importance, but the Roman Catholic view was to brand them Anabaptist, which means re-baptizer. Today we know the Anabaptists by their proper names that show they are a diverse group: the Amish, the Mennonites, etc. These anabaptist groups<strong><em> disliked the excessive reliance on Paul to the detriment of following Jesus' statements and example</em></strong>. As one historical account puts it:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=460256"></a>A thorough-going Christo-centrism is the indisputible tenet of anabaptism. To be a Christian means, <em><strong>not to cling to Paul's `gospel' (or Luther's reading of Paul)</strong></em>-- which invariably seems to set him <em><strong>in opposition to both James and Jesus</strong></em>--but to live in conformity to <em><strong>the way of life taught and demonstrated by Jesus in the gospels</strong></em>.****</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin: 13pt 18pt 6pt 43.2pt; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=460304"></a>When it came to the Bible, Anabaptists <em><strong>started from Jesus and interpreted everything in the light of him-</strong></em>-unlike the Reformers whom Anabaptists suspected of starting from <em><strong>doctrinal passages [from Paul] and trying to fit Jesus into these</strong></em>.<a href="#pgfId=460273" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>24</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An example of this disdain for Paulinism comes from the Mennonite leader Roeleff Martens later named Adam Pastor (d. 1560). He was likewise very popular in Germany at this juncture. His Mennonite group was smeared as Anabaptist along with other independent churches. Martens aka Pastor did not like any emphasis on Paul, believing Jesus's doctrines were superior. See our discussion of<a href="/JWO/adam-pastor.html"> Pastor</a>.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464009"></a>The Anabaptists were treated cruelly by both Roman Catholics and Lutheran Protestants. In the 1500s, Zwingli (a leading Protestant figure) in Swiss territory instigated the council of Zurich to treat <strong><em>re-baptizing as a capital crime</em></strong>. Franz Manz was drowned in the river of Zurich in 1527 at the behest of Lutheran-inspired Protestants. The initial leader of the Anabaptists, Michael Sattler, was tried by a Roman Catholic court in 1527. Despite what appears to have been a well-reasoned defense, on May 20, 1527 his tongue was cut out, he was tortured, and then he was burned alive. He remained faithful unto death for the simple proposition that Jesus' Words alone mattered, and adults baptized as infants but who came to faith as adults should be rebaptized.<a href="#pgfId=460366" class="footnote" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> <sup>25</sup></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464892"></a>During Calvin's spiritual reign over Geneva in the 1500s, Geneva had 57 executions of Christians who held to various Anabaptist tendencies. This murderous solution against Anabaptists was frequently repeated in England under King James at the behest of the Calvinist Puritans who then controlled the church.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464902"></a>Thus, the fact the Jesus' Words Only movement does not predominate today is due to an historical accident. Luther and later Calvin made alliances with authorities to kill Christians who, due to their belief in Jesus' Words Only and rejection of Paulinism, held doctrines against infant baptism and supportive of following Jesus' gospel, not Paul's.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Impact of Anabaptists on Luther</span></strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=460391"></a>The "Jesus Words and Example Only" idea of the Anabaptists apparently touched the heart of Martin Luther in the end. Martin Luther (1483-1546) decided in his last explanation of salvation to join the Anabaptist emphasis on Jesus' words only. In an apparent agreement with the Anabaptists, Luther in the 1531 version of his Catechisms abandoned Paul's salvation formulas. Instead, Luther chose to rely upon Jesus' Words Alone, as the Anabaptists were teaching. Due to this change, Luther in fact has been attacked as a heretic and deceiver by evangelical Christians when they examine these Catechisms in light of Pauline doctrine. Thus, there is really no dispute that something earth-shaking took place late in Luther's life. Prior to that time, Luther was as Pauline as any extreme Paulinist of today. (See Preface, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&amp;pg=PR13">p. xiii</a> <em>et seq.</em>, of <em>Jesus's Words on Salvation</em>.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465983"></a>Late in life, Luther did still disagree with Anabaptists' concern over the need for rebaptism. He still endorsed infant baptism as an alleged command of God. Yet, Luther was diametrically at odds with the Catholic view of infant baptism as a saving sacrament, highly endorsing the concerns of the Anabaptists who insisted it had no saving quality on an infant.<sup>26</sup></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=460421"></a>This demonstrates that Luther in the 1531 version of his Catechisms had come around to the Anabaptist approach of teaching salvation from Jesus' words alone despite how that made Paul look.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=465674"></a>In sum, we need to follow these examples of the early church's emphasis on Jesus (not Paul). We need to see certain Anabaptists were heroes (some less perfect than others) for this cause. Finally, we need to see Luther too came around to Jesus' words only in his Catechisms. This was his penance for having instigated murder against the Brethren during the Peasants' War seven years earlier--people who merely wanted Jesus' Words Only to be the rule of life and doctrine. If God forgave Luther, so can we.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a name="pgfId=463988"></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<hr />
<div class="footnotes">
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">1.</span> <a name="pgfId=464975"></a>Belfort Bax, <em>The Peasants War</em> (1903 edition) (New York: Russell &amp; Russell, 1968) ch. 3.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">2.</span> <a name="pgfId=465218"></a>While some like to portray the agents of the Elector of Saxony holding Luther captive at Wartburg, this is myth. Luther for good reason was in hiding. His life was in danger, and the Elector provided him protection.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">3.</span> <a name="pgfId=465221"></a>Luther's March 1521 statement in <em>Last Bull of the Antichrist</em>, implied the laity would be justified going into armed revolt: "What wonder<em><strong> if princes, nobles and laity should smite the heads of the pope, bishops, priests, and monks, and drive them from the land</strong></em>?" <em>Wider die Bulle des Endchrists; / Assertion of All the Articles Condemned by the Last Bull of Antichrist</em> in WA, VI, 614 ff.; EA, XXIV-2, 38 ff. Luther in his <em>Address to the German Nobility</em> clearly espoused that the rulers themselves should take up arms against the Pope if he would not back down: "It seems to me that if the Romanists are so mad the only remedy remaining is for the emperor, the kings, the princes to gird themselves with force of arms to attack these pests of all the world and fight them, not with words, but with steel. If we punish thieves with the yoke, highwaymen with the sword, and heretics with fire, <strong><em>why do we not rather assault these monsters of perdition, these cardinals, these popes</em></strong>, and the whole swarm of the Roman Sodom, who corrupt youth and the Church of God? Why do we not rather assault them with arms and wash our hands in their blood?" (WA, VI, 347; VIII, 203; EA, II, 107; PE, IV, 203; Wil Durant, <em>Reformation</em>, at 351.) Luther, when confronted with the latter quote, tried to escape his meaning. He claimed that since he does not believe in killing heretics, he should not be interpreted as suggesting we should bathe our hands in the blood of the Romanists. Quoting his original language, he says: "Since I do not approve of burning heretics nor of killing any Christian--this I well know does not accord with the gospel--I have shown what they deserve if heretics deserve fire. There is no need to attack you with the sword." (WA, VII, 645-646.) This was somewhat disingenuous, as the original quote proves, but at least Luther did<strong><em> retract his call to violence </em></strong>against Catholics as heretics. Later, Luther would demand death of the Christian peasants for rebelling against the state (not because of heresy). Luther reasoned that the state officers are, as Paul says, God's ministers and thus any political rebellion was a rebellion against God.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">4.</span> <a name="pgfId=465224"></a>Ross Vander Meulen, "Essay on Revolution `The College's Role in Revolution,'" talk given at Knox College's Opening Convocation on September 7, 1972, reprinted at <a href="http://www.knox.edu/x5040.xml">http://www.knox.edu/x5040.xml</a></span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">5.</span> <a name="pgfId=465312"></a>Martin Luther, <em>Against the Spiritual Estate of the Pope and the Bishops Falsely So-Called (July 4, 1522)</em> printed in <em>Luther Works</em> (American Edition)(ed. H.T. Lehmann)(1955) Vol. 39, at 239-299, quotation from 252-253. This is also quoted in Dave Armstrong, <em>Protestantism: Reflections of An Ecumenical Catholic</em> (2013) at this <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=A_RGCgAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PT91&amp;ots=Y0Km0wnAyG&amp;dq=Not%20God's%20word%20but%20stubborn%20disobedience%20%5Bto%20God's%20word%5D%20creates%20rebellion.%20Whoever%20rebels%20against%20it%20shall%20get%20his%20due%20reward.%20Whoever%20accepts%20God's%20word%20does%20not%20start%20unrest%2C%20although%20he%20is%20no%20longer%20afraid%20of%20the%20masks%20and%20does%20not%20worship%20the%20dummies&amp;pg=PT87#v=onepage&amp;q=Not%20God's%20word%20but%20stubborn%20disobedience%20%5Bto%20God's%20word%5D%20creates%20rebellion.%20Whoever%20rebels%20against%20it%20shall%20get%20his%20due%20reward.%20Whoever%20accepts%20God's%20word%20does%20not%20start%20unrest,%20although%20he%20is%20no%20longer%20afraid%20of%20the%20masks%20and%20does%20not%20worship%20the%20dummies&amp;f=false">link</a>. Armstrong quotes the Against the Spiritual Estate, etc., in full at this <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2015/10/martin-luther-super-pope-de-facto-infallibility.html">2015 blog</a>.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">6.</span> <a name="pgfId=464535"></a>Meulen, <em>id</em>.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">7.</span> <a name="pgfId=464254"></a>Philip Schaff, <em>History of the Christian Church</em>, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation. &sect;66.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">8.</span> <a name="pgfId=464214"></a>Helmar Junghans, "Luther on the Reform of Worship," <em>Lutheran Quarterly</em> Vol. XIII (1999) at 315, 322.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">9.</span> <a name="pgfId=464289"></a>Wil Durant, <em>The Reformation</em> (N.Y.: Simon &amp; Schuster, 1944) at 352.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">10.</span> <a name="pgfId=466124"></a>Ronald J. Sider, "Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt: the development of his thought, 1517-1525," <em>Studies in medieval and Reformation thought</em> (Brill: 1974) Vol. 11 at 91 (based upon <em>De Canonicis</em> reprinted in K.A. Credner, <em>Zur Geschichte des Canons</em> (Halle: 1847) at 316-412.)</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">11.</span> <a name="pgfId=466138"></a>Sider, <em>supra,</em> at 94 fn. 41.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">12.</span> <a name="pgfId=466151"></a>Sider, <em>id.</em>, at 94 fn. 41.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">13.</span> <a name="pgfId=466169"></a>Side, <em>id.</em>, at 95 fn. 46 (summarizing this German).</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">14.</span> <a name="pgfId=466160"></a>Sider, <em>supra</em>, at 94 (summarizing De Canonicis, etc.)</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">15.</span> <a name="pgfId=464344"></a>John Warwick Montgomery, "Lessons from Luther on the Inerrancy of Holy Writ,"<em> God's Inerrant Word</em> (1974), reprinted online at<a href="http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissar37.htm"> http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissar37.htm</a></span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">16.</span> <a name="pgfId=466179"></a>Sider, supra, at 96.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">17.</span> <a name="pgfId=466191"></a>Carlstadt developed a different doctrine on justification than Luther. Carlstadt believed the spirit produces actual righteousness by faith. Thus, Carlstadt taught that Paul in Gal. 2:16 taught "not that faith is reckoned as righteousness, but rather the Spirit and not the unaided will produces righteousness in and thus justifies man," as Sider summarizes. (Sider, <em>supra</em>, at 31.)</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">18.</span> <a name="pgfId=465010"></a>This was in his 1520 pamphlet A Prelude Concerning the Babylonian Captivity of the Church.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">19.</span> <a name="pgfId=464219"></a>Helmar Junghans, "Luther on the Reform of Worship," <em>Lutheran Quarterly</em> Vol. XIII (1999) at 323.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">20.</span> <a name="pgfId=464460"></a>"The Eucharist," <em>International Standard Bible Encyclopedia</em> reprinted online at <a href="http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Def.show/RTD/ISBE/ID/5577">http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Def.show/RTD/ISBE/ID/5577</a></span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">21.</span> <a name="pgfId=465354"></a>Martin Luther,<em> An Earnest Exhortation for all Christians, Warning Them Against Insurrection and Rebellion</em>, in <em>Luther Works</em> (Philadelphia Edition)(1955) III, 201-222, quotes from 206-213, 215-216; also in Works American Edition VIII, 676-687.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">22.</span> <a name="pgfId=465040"></a>The full text of their March 1525 articles appears in Bax' <em>The Peasants War</em> ch. 3. The introduction responds to Luther's charge of violating Paul's words: "For the rest, it followeth clearly and manifestly that the peasants who in their Articles require such Gospel as doctrine and as precept may not be called disobedient and rebellious. But should God hear those peasants who anxiously call upon Him that they may live according to his word; who shall gainsay the will of God? (Rom. xi.). Who shall Impeach His judgment? (Isa. xl.). Yea, who shall resist His Majesty? (Rom. viii.). Hath he heard the children of Israel and delivered them out of the hand of Pharoah, and shall He not to-day also save his own? Yea, He shall save them, and that speedily (Exod. iii 14; Luke xviii. 8). Therefore, Christian reader, read hereunder with care and thereafter judge."</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">23.</span> <a name="pgfId=465646"></a>See Peter. F. Wiener,<em> Martin Luther: Hitler's Spiritual Ancestor </em>(London: Hutchinson, 1944), available online at <a href="http://www.tentmaker.org/books/MartinLuther-HitlersSpiritualAncestor.html#bibliography">http://www.tentmaker.org/books/MartinLuther-HitlersSpiritualAncestor.html#bibliography</a>.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">24.</span> <a name="pgfId=460273"></a><em>So What's All the Fuss About Anabaptism</em> (2004) reprinted at http://anabaptist.lifewithchrist.org/permalink/8135. This article goes on to explain the basis for such statements. Hans Denk, an early Anabaptist leader, famously stated, "No one can claim truly to know Christ unless one follows him in life." For the Anabaptists, the heart of Christian life was not justification by faith or divine election or the inward work of grace but rather the concept of `following Jesus.' Then the author quotes Karsdorf's explanation of Anabaptists: "No other Christian movement between the apostolic era and the modern mission period has articulated and demonstrated more clearly the meaning of discipling than have the Anabaptists. While mainline Reformers rediscovered the great <em><strong>Pauline term </strong></em>`Glaube' (faith), the <strong><em>Radical Reformers rediscovered the evangelists' word `Nachfolge' (discipleship)</em></strong>. People cannot, they maintained, call Jesus Lord unless they are his disciples indeed, prepared to follow him in every way. This was the message they preached, the code they lived by, and the faith they died for." The Roman Catholic critique of Anabaptists is somewhat humorous. The Catholic Encyclopedia creates a myth of a unified Anabaptist Party, lumping all those who attacked infant baptism as necessary for salvation into one group of violent communists who believed in a community of women. The article only admits the presence in the same movement of a "more pacific current" in Switzerland. See <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01445b.htm">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01445b.htm</a></span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">25.</span> <a name="pgfId=460366"></a>"Reformation Radicals: The Anabaptists," Christian History Institute, reprinted at <a href="http://chi.gospelcom.net/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps017.shtml">http://chi.gospelcom.net/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps017.shtml</a></span></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -12pt; margin: 3pt 0pt 0pt 12pt; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">26.</span> <a name="pgfId=460383"></a>Luther wrote in the <em>Larger Catechism</em> XIIIA: "Baptism is valid, even though faith be wanting." Luther then admits that to apply it to an infant is a "wrong use." Yet, Luther says rebaptism is wrong because even though we "make a wrong use of it," it is still valid, because it is a sacrament of the church. Thus, when you are an adult, and you believe now, Luther says you accept your infant baptism as effective even though you "did not receive it aright." Luther concludes that infant baptism is merely a "command" by God to us to do, which means de facto it has no saving power. Luther then says that it is wrong to infer that "where there is no true faith there is no true baptism." Luther uses some bizarre logic to support this. He says that if you "do not do what you ought" (i.e., you are baptized without faith) does not mean "the thing in itself shall be nothing and of no value." Luther was thus saying from the child's perspective, it is insufficient, but we are commanded to baptize children. But Luther's conclusion is nonsense. Of course, anything produced wrongly produces a wrong result. What Luther was really doing is trying to agree with Anabaptists that infant baptism does not save, but also disagree that rebaptism was necessary for adults baptized into the Catholic faith.</span></p>
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<td valign="top" ><span>"The presence of anti-Pauline texts in [Matthew's] Gospel</span><span>, point</span><span> inevitably towards the conclusion that the evangelist himself [sic: really Jesus] was anti-Pauline</span><span>." D.C. Sim [2002:780]</span></td>
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<h1>Paul's Contradictions of Jesus</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Here is a list of the major contradictions by Paul of things Jesus taught. Some of this was mentioned by others, so when applicable I quote and reference the source who mentioned this. This list is as of March 2013. Come back for updates as I continue to add to this list. Please send me any that you have discovered.</span></p>
<h1>Jesus Says Not To Eat Meat Sacrificed to Idols, But Paul Says It Is Ok</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Three times Jesus in the Book of Revelation condemns eating meat sacrificed to idols, even saying this is the doctrine of a false prophet. (Rev.<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%202:6&amp;version=NIV"> 2:6</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%202:14&amp;version=NIV">14</a> (Ephesus);&nbsp;Rev. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%202:14&amp;version=NIV">2:14</a>-15 (Pergamum);&nbsp;Revelation <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%202:20&amp;version=NIV">2:20</a> (Thyatira).)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This absolute prescription also was set forth in James' ruling at the&nbsp;Jerusalem Council in Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2015:20&amp;version=NIV">15:20</a>. Then it is repeated when it was put in a letter.&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2015:29&amp;version=NIV">Acts 15:29</a>.) Finally, James reiterates this for a third and final time in Acts chapter 21. James tells Paul that many claim Paul is teaching lawless doctrine. So James reminds Paul what was the ruling at the Jerusalem Council. He tells Paul that previously "we wrote giving judgment that they [<em>i.e</em>., the Gentiles] should keep themselves from things sacrificed to idols...." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2021:25&amp;version=NIV">Acts 21:25</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Paul clearly teaches three times that there is nothing wrong in itself eating meat sacrificed to idols. (Romans <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2014:21&amp;version=NIV">14:21</a>;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%208:4-13&amp;version=NIV">1 Corinthians 8:4-13</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2010:19-29&amp;version=NIV">1 Corinthians 10:19-29</a>.) The first time Paul addresses the question of "eating meat sacrificed to idols," Paul answers: "But food will not commend us to God; neither if we eat not...." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%208:8-9&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 8:8</a>.) Paul then explained it is only necessary to abstain from eating such meat if you are around a "weaker" brother who thinks an idol is something. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%208:7&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 8:7</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%208:10&amp;version=NIV">8:10</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%209:22&amp;version=NIV">9:22</a>.) Then, and only then, must you abstain. The reason is that then a brother might be emboldened to do something he thinks is sinful. The brother is weak for believing eating meat sacrificed to an idol is wrong. This is thus a sin for him to eat, even though you know it is not sinful to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Thus, even though you know better than your weaker brother that it is no sin to do so, it is better to abstain in his presence than cause him to sin against his weak conscience and be "destroyed." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%208:11&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 8:11</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>Wikipedia</em> </span>says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">A major controversy among&nbsp;<a class="mw-redirect" title="Early Christians" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christians">Early Christians</a> concerned whether it was permissible to eat meat that had been offered in pagan worship, see also&nbsp;<a title="Council of Jerusalem" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Jerusalem">Council of Jerusalem</a>.&nbsp;<a title="Paul of Tarsus" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_of_Tarsus">Paul of Tarsus</a>, who agreed to the&nbsp;<a class="mw-redirect" title="Apostolic Decree" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Decree">Apostolic Decree</a>, also wrote that<strong><em> it was permitted to do so</em></strong>, as long as a blessing was pronounced over it, and provided that&nbsp;<a title="Scandal (theology)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandal_(theology)">scandal</a> was not caused by it. ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idolatry_and_Christianity">Idolatry and Christianity</a>," <em>Wikipedia</em>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For more discussion, see Chapter Six of Jesus Words Only, available at this <a href="/JWO/chapter-six-jwo.html">link</a> to an html page.</span></p>
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<h1><strong>Jesus Says The Law Continues, But Paul Says No</strong></h1>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>CAVEAT</strong>: The Law given Moses applicable to "foreigners/sojourners" (Gentiles) is a relatively small set of moral commands primarily from Leviticus, incorporating most of the Ten Commandments. So if the Law given Moses applies to Gentiles, it is not a burdensome list. Yet, we are still applying literally the Law, just as James did in Acts 15, by treating the term "foreigner/sojourners" versus "Israel" as literally as possible. This distinction perfectly explains why James said circumcision does not apply to Gentiles, <em>i.e.</em>, Leviticus <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2012:1-3&amp;version=KJV">12:1-3</a> only requires sons of "Israel" to be circumcised.&nbsp;See this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/98-law-applicable-today.html">webpage</a> where we discuss this issue in more depth.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Jesus's View on the Law</strong>. Jesus emphasized the validity of the Law up through the passing away of Heaven and Earth, thus confirming its inspiration and ongoing validity. In Matthew <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:17-19&amp;version=ASV">5:17-19</a> we read:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">(17) Think not that I came to destroy<em><strong> the Law [of Moses] </strong></em>or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. (18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in&nbsp;<strong><em>no wise pass away from the Law</em></strong>, till all things be accomplished [<em>i.e.</em>, all things predicted appear on the stage of history].&nbsp;(19) Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and<em> <strong>shall teach men so</strong></em><strong>,</strong> shall be called&nbsp;<strong><em>least</em></strong> in the kingdom of heaven: but&nbsp;<strong><em>whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great </em></strong>in the kingdom of heaven. (ASV)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Compare Luke 16:17 similarly says at a different time than the Sermon on the Mount -- meaning Jesus repeated the same point twice:</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> "<sup class="versenum" style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 21px; font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">&nbsp;</sup>It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law. (Luke<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+16&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;16:16</a>-17 NIV.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, Jesus can never be accused of seducing any Christian from following the Law. Jesus cannot be a false prophet under&nbsp;Deuteronomy <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy%2013:5&amp;version=KJV">13:5</a> (false prophet is anyone who has miracles and wonders but seduces you from following the Law). Jesus said the Law remained valid until the Heavens and Earth pass away. This passing of heaven and earth occurs at the end of the Millennium. This is 1000 years after Christ's Second Coming, according to the Book of Revelation.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Paul's View on the Law</strong>. Paul says the opposite.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul is blunt in Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14, 2 Cor. 3:11-17, Romans<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom.%207:13&amp;version=ASV"> 7:1-3</a> et seq, and Galatians 3:19 et seq. The Law is "abolished," "done away with," "nailed to a tree," "has faded away,' and was "only ordained by angels...who are no gods." If we were to cite Paul's condemnations of the Law in one string, the point is self-evident that Paul abrogated the Law for everyone. See Eph. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph.%202:15&amp;version=NIV">2:15</a> ("setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations"); Col. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=col.%202:14&amp;version=ASV">2:14</a> ("having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out that way, nailing it to the cross;")&nbsp;2 Cor. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor.%203:14&amp;version=ASV">3:14</a> ("old covenant"); Gal.<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal.%205:1&amp;version=ASV"> 5:1</a> ("yoke of bondage"); Rom. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom.%2010:4&amp;version=ASV">10:4</a> ("Christ is <em><strong>the end of the law</strong></em>"); 2 Cor. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor.%203:7&amp;version=ASV">3:7</a> ("law of death"); Gal. 5:1 ("entangles"); Col. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=col.%202:14-17&amp;version=ASV">2:14-17</a> ("a shadow"); Rom. 3:27 ("law of works"); Rom. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:15&amp;version=NIV">4:15</a> ("works wrath"); 2 Cor.<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor.%203:9&amp;version=ASV"> 3:9</a> (ministration of condemnation); Gal. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal.%202:16&amp;version=NIV">2:16</a> ("cannot justify"); Gal. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal.%203:21&amp;version=NIV">3:21</a> (cannot give life); Col. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=col.%202:14-17&amp;version=ASV">2:14</a> ("<em><strong>wiped out</strong></em>" exaleipsas); Gal. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23:1-15&amp;version=NIV">3:19</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal.%204:8-9&amp;version=NIV">4:8-9</a> ("given by angels...who are no gods [and are] weak and beggarly celestial beings/elements").</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Finally, in Romans<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+7%3A1-6&amp;version=NKJV"> 7:1-6</a>, Paul claims when Jesus died, the husband died and this dissolved the Law's bonds between the husband (God of Sinai) and wife (God's people). This henceforth made the "law dead to us." (Romans <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%207:4&amp;version=NKJV">7:4</a>.) This death-of-God-the-husband released the Jews, Paul contends, and when Christ resurrected the bonds of marriage with the old God were not renewed. &nbsp;(The implication, we contend, was Paul meant a new God emerges or otherwise if the same husband-God resurrected, why wasn't the bond to the Law renewed? Paulinists come near to admitting this is the only <em>logical</em> meaning while even confessing they are uncomfortable with the passage's 'seemingly' polytheistic explanation... Uggh. On our thorough analysis of Romans 7:1-6, see our&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/167-romans-7-a-major-incongruity.html">webpage</a> discussion.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For more discussion on Paul's abrogation of the Law, see chapter five of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>Jesus Words Only</em></span> excerpted at this<a href="/JWO/chapter-five-jwo.html"> link</a>.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">How do those devoted to every word from both Paul and Jesus resolve the contradiction? Here is a perfect example:</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If [Jesus] is saying [in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A17&amp;version=NIV">Matt 5:17</a> by saying He fulfilled the Law, and meant] he is the 'end of the Law' [as Paul taught in Romans 10:4], then why does he say in the next verse that the Law will never disappear? ...There is something exasperating about trying to understand a verse like this....What the verse seems to say<strong><em> contradicts what we know from other verses in the New Testament</em></strong>. The truth is <strong><em>we cannot be expected to understand this vers</em></strong>e.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Bivin, David. Blizzard, Jr., Roy.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em> Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights From A Hebraic Perspective</em></span> (Destiny Image, 2001) at 113.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally, Bivin-Blizzard offer a Hebrew approach that Jesus' means by saying he did not come to destroy the Law means his interpretations will not weaken its meaning, and <em>to fulfill</em> means to make it more lasting. Even with that, Bivin-Blizzard realize they haven't removed the contradiction between Paul and Jesus.</span></p>
<hr />
<h1>Paul Says The Pharisees Followed The Law Rigorously, But Jesus Says They Were Lax About The Law</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says in Philippians <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians%203:5-6&amp;version=KJV">3:5-6</a> that as a result of his time as a Pharisee that "as touching righteousness,&nbsp;<strong><em>found blameless</em></strong>." Cf. Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2026:5&amp;version=NIV">26:5</a> where Paul says "I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Of course, Jesus taught contrarily that the Pharisees were lax in teaching and obeying the Law. See Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2023:23&amp;version=KJV">23:23</a>.&nbsp;<em>See also</em>, Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2015:6,9&amp;version=KJV">15: 6,9.</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This contradiction between Paul and Jesus has probably had the most important impact on doctrine. By perceiving the Pharisees through Paul's eyes, we are led to believe Jesus condemned the Pharisees as legalists -- Paul's view. However, Jesus condemned the Pharisees as<em><strong> ANTI-LEGALISTS</strong></em>. Jesus condemned them as teachers abrogating the Law by their man-made ordinances. (Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2015:6,9&amp;version=KJV">15:6</a>). And Jesus condemned them as those who taught the lesser commands of the Law while ignoring the more weightier commands of the Law. (Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2023:23&amp;version=KJV">23:23</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, a wrong deduction is achieved by using Paul's contradictory perception of the Pharisees. Paul says the Pharisees are<strong><em> legalists</em></strong>; but Jesus says they are <em><strong>anti-legalists</strong></em>. These are <strong>radically opposite perceptions</strong>. If Paul's view were correct, then Jesus impliedly condemned obedience any longer to the Law by criticizing the Pharisees. However, if Jesus's view of the Pharisees as lax about the Law is correct (and who can deny our Lord's veracity!), then Jesus condemned any teaching that either marginalized the Law or contradicted the Law.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This fits precisely into Jesus's statement:&nbsp;"he that teaches and keeps the Law of Moses <em><strong>will be great</strong></em> in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt.<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%205:19&amp;version=KJV"> 5:19</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, because Paul depicts the Pharisees - enemies of Jesus - as law-keepers, Paul is understood to be "condemning all who are zealous of the Law of Moses as an enemy of Messiah." (Cosette,&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at 21.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This means Paul indirectly<strong><em> condemned our Lord Jesus Christ</em></strong> when Paul condemned those who were teaching the Law should be followed, both big and little commands.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>CAVEAT</strong>: Please note that I have explained that the Law does not have but a relatively modest number of provisions that apply to non-Israelites/sojouners. It has provisions that specifically extend rules to sojourners/non-Israelites who join with the community.&nbsp;See this&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/98-law-applicable-today.html">webpage</a> where we discuss this issue.</span></p>
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<h1><strong>Jesus Says Only God Is Your Spiritual Father, and Call No Man on Earth Your Father, But Paul Says He Is The Corinthians' Only Spiritual Father</strong></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus said:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">and ye may not call [any] your father on the earth, for<strong><em> one is your Fathe</em></strong><strong><em>r</em></strong>, who is in the heavens, (Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2023:9&amp;version=YLT">23:9</a> YLT)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But Paul says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have<strong><em> only one spiritual father</em></strong>. For <em><strong>I became your father</strong></em> in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. (<a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/4-15.htm">1 Cor. 4:15</a>, NLT)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally,&nbsp;based on Paul, the Roman Catholic Church has countenanced the direct violation of our Lords words in calling a priest father. See “Call No Man Father: Understanding Matthew 23:9,” <a href="http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0089.html">http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0089.html</a> (accessed 2010).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Furthermore, Jesus' likely primary point was He intended people to stop venerating Abraham, calling him "Father Abraham" in place of "Our Father" in heaven. Jesus makes this subtle point in a parable about one in hell who called out to "Father Abraham" in a prayer rather than to God Himself. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/16-24.htm">Luke 16:24</a>.) In that light, then it is significant Paul violates Jesus' words a second time when Paul refers to "Abraham is the father of us all." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%204:16&amp;version=ASV">Romans 4:16</a>.) Only "Our Father" in heaven is the "father of us all." To exalt Abraham to that level, Jesus intended us to understand is idolatry - putting Abraham on the same level as God.&nbsp;Jesus wants to call no one father in that venerating sense. Paul invited such spiritual veneration for himself as well as Abraham -- all in contradiction to Christ's words.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<h1><hr />Jesus Says Salvation Initiates And Continues By Repentance From Sin and Obedience Besides Faith; Paul Says This is Heresy</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul's main&nbsp;salvation verses&nbsp;<em>at odds </em>with Jesus are well-known:</span></p>
<ul>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://bible.cc/romans/3-28.htm">Romans 3:28</a> ("man is justified by faith apart from observing the law").</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://bible.cc/romans/4-5.htm">Romans 4:5</a> ("To the man who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness").</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://bible.cc/galatians/5-4.htm">Gal. 5:4</a> ("You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace").</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://bible.cc/romans/7-6.htm">Romans 7:6</a> ("Now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in a new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code").</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://bible.cc/galatians/2-16.htm">Gal. 2:16</a> ("A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, because by observing the law no one will be justified").</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+2%3A8-9&amp;version=NIV">Ephesians 2:8-9</a> ("For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith, this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.")</span></li>
</ul>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Here where it matters most, Paul has a different voice than our Lord Jesus. Paul's themes are alien to Jesus's message of salvation. They undercut, if not destroy, the message of Jesus. The true sheep of Jesus recognize His voice, and will not follow another. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010:27-29&amp;version=NIV">John 10:27-29</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus teaches instead the following -- in each instance contrasted with the teachings of Paul:</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[This chart below is available in <a href="/images/stories/JWO_Online/2006 Final Chapters/Chapter 17-JesusvPaulchart.pdf">PDF</a> in an easily shared chart]:</span></p>
<table><caption>
<h6 class="TableTitle2">Salvation Checklist -- Jesus versus Paul</h6>
</caption>
<tbody>
<tr><th>
<p class="CellHeading">Jesus</p>
</th><th>
<p class="CellHeading">Paul</p>
</th></tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The one who repents from sin is "justified." (Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. Luke <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2018:10-24&amp;version=KJV">18:10-14</a>.) The son who was dead but now repents is "alive again" (born again). (Parable of the Prodigal Son,<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2015:1-32&amp;version=NIV"> Luke 15:1-32</a>, viz. v. 24.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One is not justified nor born again by repentance from sin, but by faith alone. (Eph. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians%202:8-9&amp;version=KJV">2:8-9</a>; Rom. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=KJV">4:4</a>. See also Romans<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%203:28&amp;version=KJV"> 3:28</a> especially as <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/252-pauls-terrible-influence-over-luther.html">Luther defends here</a>.) Any such addition to Paul's salvation by faith alone doctrine is the heresy of "works salvation." (Wilkin, Stanley, Hodge.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The one who relies upon God's election to salvation and does not repent goes home unjustified. (Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. Luke 18:10-14.)</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The one who relies upon God's election alone for salvation is relying on the right thing. (Rom. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%208:33&amp;version=KJV">8:33</a>.) God elects you to salvation by means of predestination, and hence without any work on your part. Faith is given to you as part of God's work in you. (Phil <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians%201:6&amp;version=KJV">1:6</a>) (Wilkin, Stanley.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To have eternal life, follow the Ten Commandments, deny yourself (<em>i.e</em>., repent and do works worthy of repentance) and then follow Jesus. If you give up fathers, mothers, and brothers for Jesus, deny yourself, take up your cross, and "follow Me," you "shall have eternal life." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2019:27-29&amp;version=NIV">Matthew 19:27-29</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2010:37-39&amp;version=NIV">Matthew 10:37-39</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2012:25-26&amp;version=NIV">John 12:25-26</a>.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To have eternal life, say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe He is resurrected. (Rom. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2010:9&amp;version=NIV">10:9</a>.) Do not add any work. "Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt."(Rom. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=NIV">4:4</a>.) If salvation depends on keeping the Law, then salvation by faith is made void. "[I]f they that are of the law are heirs, faith is made void..." (Rom.4:14.) In&nbsp;Romans 3:20, Paul says: “For no one is put right in Gods sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make man know he sinned.”</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A Christian will go to hell if they deny Christ under pressure. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2012:4-9&amp;version=NIV">Luke 12:4-9</a>.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If we deny Jesus, He will deny us, but in the end God will still accept us because He cannot deny Himself. (Stanley.) Paul says: "if we shall deny him, he also will deny us: if we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for He cannot deny himself." (2 Tim. 2:12-13.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As part of an answer on how to have eternal life, Jesus tells a rich man to repent by giving his wealth to the poor. The man is grieved. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2019:16-26&amp;version=NIV">Matthew 19:16-26</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2010:17-31&amp;version=NIV">Mark 10:17-31</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2018:18-26&amp;version=NIV">Luke 18:18-26</a>.) Jesus tells another rich man who repents and repays those he stole from that "Today salvation has come to this house...." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2019:9&amp;version=NIV">Luke 19:9</a>.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Salvation could not possibly depend on any works of repentance. Salvation is by faith alone. (Eph.2:8-9; Rom. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=NIV">4:4</a>.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The thief on the cross, in front of a crowd hostile to Jesus, says: "Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom."(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2023:42&amp;version=NIV">Luke 23:42</a>.) Jesus had said that if you "confess me before men" then he will confess you before the angels in Heaven. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2012:8&amp;version=NIV">Luke 12:8</a>.) Jesus thus tells the thief "this day you will be with me in Paradise."</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Salvation could never depend on a confession of Jesus before men. If it was a means of salvation, this would be works righteousness. Instead, even though Paul said that if you "say Jesus is Lord with your mouth" and believe He was resurrected, then you shall be saved (Rom. 10:9), faith is all you need to be saved. (Rom. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=NIV">4:4</a>.) Paul must mean that such confession will flow naturally from faith rather than salvation is produced by a public confession. (Wilkin.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Salvation is based on God forgiving your sin. If you do not forgive others after you receive forgiveness, God will revoke your forgiveness and send you to hell to be tormented. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2018:25-35&amp;version=NIV">Matt. 18:28-35</a>; cf. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%206:12&amp;version=NIV">Matt. 6:12</a>.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Salvation is not contingent on your forgiving others. Salvation only has one condition: a one-time faith. (Romans <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=NIV">4:4</a>.) If you ever once had faith (Romans 10:9), you are no longer able to be condemned. (Romans 8:1.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus promised those who "kept guard" of His word "should never taste death." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%208:51&amp;version=NIV">John 8:51</a>.) "He who continues to trust/believe/obey unto the Son should be saved." (John 3:16.) (<em><strong>Obey unto</strong></em> is the actual meaning of<em> pisteuosin eis</em> in the famous 3:16. See our<a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/161-chapter-26-1jwos.html"> link</a>.) He who continues to "disobey" the Son continues to be under God's wrath. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%203:36&amp;version=NIV">John 3:36</a>.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There is no endurance in any action required. Only a one-time faith is necessary for salvation. (Romans <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=NIV">4:4</a>.) One could fail to keep and guard Jesus' word and still be saved because one is eternally secure based on a one-time faith. (Romans 8:1, 10:9.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus said "a branch in me" that produces no fruit because it failed to keep staying "in me" will be thrown "outside" the vineyard. It is as a branch that died (dried up). It is gathered up into the fire and is burned. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2015:1-6&amp;version=NIV">John 15:1-6</a>.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If fruit or works were necessary to avoid being thrown outside God's vineyard, becoming dead and then being burned in hell, it would be a salvation by works. Instead, salvation is by faith without any works. (Romans 4:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=NIV">4</a>, 14; Eph. 2:8-9.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A servant of Jesus who produces no fruit is useless, and he will be "thrown...into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 25:14 et seq.) This place of weeping and gnashing is the "fiery furnace." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2013:42,%2050&amp;version=NIV">Matt. 13:42, 50</a>.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="CellBody"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If fruit or works were necessary to avoid being thrown outside and be burned in hell where there is weeping and gnashing, it would be a salvation by works. Instead, salvation is by faith without any works. (Romans 4:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=NIV">4</a>, 14; Eph.&nbsp;2:8-9.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If you receive the word with joy and "believe for a while," but in time of temptation, you fall away, you are lost. If you are choked by the pleasures of this world, and bring no fruit to completion, you are lost. If on the other hand, you bring forth fruit to the end, in patient endurance, you will be saved. (Luke 8:13-15.) You "shall be saved" if you "endured to the end." (Matt. 10:22.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If you receive the word with joy and believe for a while, you are eternally saved. (Romans 8:1; 10:9.) Salvation cannot depend on you or anything you do thereafter. Otherwise, it is salvation by works. (Romans 4:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=NIV">4</a>, 14; Eph. 2:8-9.) Thus, if you fall away or are choked with the pleasures of this life and have no fruit, you are still saved. There is no need to endure in faith as long as you believed once.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Among the sheep and goats who both call Jesus Lord, the group who serves Jesus by feeding the brethren in need, clothing them, and giving them water, goes to heaven. The other group who calls Jesus Lord but who fails to provide such charity are, as a consequence, sent to "eternal fire." (Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Matt. 25:32 et seq.). A faith that ignores the poor brethren is "dead" and "cannot save." (James 2:14-17.) "Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." (Matt. 7:19.)</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Anyone who "shall call" on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13.) This is permanent, and no condition subsequent can be put on this that you must be charitable or have fruit thereafter. Otherwise, it is salvation by works. (Romans 4:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%204:4&amp;version=NIV">4</a>, 14; Eph. 2:8-9.) Hence, it cannot be true that if the goats, in fact, ever once called on the name of the Lord that they should be sent to hell. James' statement that paraphrases the principle of Matthew 25:32 et seq. contradicts Paul, and we are not to believe even an angel from heaven if he should contradict Paul. (Gal. 1:8.)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"I keep telling you the one who keeps on listening to my teaching and keeps on believing in [or "obeying to"] the one who sent me keeps on having eternal life and does not come into condemnation but has departed out of death into life." (John 5:24.).</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Once in Christ, there is now no condemnation. This entry is by a one-time faith. (Rom. 10:9). As a result, freedom from condemnation is not secured by any continuity in listening to Jesus' teaching or believing in /obeying God-the-Father.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">NOTE: Incidentally, in the Reformation, Melancthon, Bucer and later apparently Luther came to teach double justification. This interpreted Paul as saying our salvation initiates by faith, but is maintained by works, including repentance. See our book, JWOS <a href="/images/stories/Salvation/preface specially formatted.pdf">Preface</a> (PDF). For a very good defense of this notion, using Paul's present v. past tense reference to saved, see this<a href="http://www.christian-history.org/not-by-faith-alone.html"> webpage</a> from Christian History.org. However, the error in this is Jesus says salvation initiates, such as for the Prodigal, by repentance from sin, while Paul contrarily says, and double justification continues the notion, that it initiates by faith alone.</span></p>
<hr />
<h1>Jesus Tells Apostles To Teach His Commands Given Prior to His Ascension While In The Flesh, But Paul Says Not To Do So (Per Bultmann's Reading)</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">After the Risen Lord proved He had the same nail holes as He had on the cross, Jesus' final words just before He ascended into heaven were that the then Apostles should teach "<strong><em>everything that I commanded you</em></strong>...." Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt.%2028:20&amp;version=NIV">28:20</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus must have meant to teach all His commands prior to the Cross, and not simply any given after He rose from the dead and prior to Ascension. How do we know that?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The reason we know this is true is because none of the four gospels contain any post-cross commands. If Jesus meant by His command to teach the world "all that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:20) to teach only His commands <strong><em>post-resurrection</em></strong>, the four gospels would have contained such commands. However, there are none quoted except the command in Matt. 28:20 to teach Jesus'commands previously given. Hence, Jesus clearly meant by "everything I commanded you" to be His words in His earthly ministry <strong><em>before His resurrection</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, Jesus could only have meant that post-Ascension the apostles were to teach the <strong><em>pre-Cross teachings of Jesus</em></strong> -- while He was clearly "in the flesh."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 5:16 is interpreted to justify rejecting this.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>16</sup>Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though <em><strong>we have known Christ after the flesh</strong></em>, yet now <strong><em>henceforth know we him no more</em></strong>. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%205:16-17&amp;version=KJV">KJV</a>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The famous and influential evangelical theologian Rudolf Bultmann said 2 Corinthians 5:16 means we no longer know Christ in the flesh,&nbsp;<em>i.e.</em>, we supposedly can dispense with Jesus's teachings when He was in the flesh. Paul tells us that only the messages Paul received from the resurrected Christ -- who supposedly no longer had flesh -- is the means to know Christ any longer. Indeed, Origen and Clement in the early church read "in the flesh" in 2 Cor. 5:16 to mean the period of Christ's earthly preaching. (See our discussion at this&nbsp;<a href="/JWO/2-corinthians-516.html">link</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Read this way by Bultmann, Paul tells us we no longer know or need to know Jesus' message delivered pre-Resurrection when He was in the flesh.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This is also how the Christian theologian and physician&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer">Albert Schweitzer</a> (1875-1965) viewed 2 Cor. 5:16 in his book of 1911&nbsp;<a href="http://archive.org/details/MN41519ucmf_2"><em>Geschichte Der Paulinischen Forschung </em></a>(J. C. B. Mohr) [Archive.org] at 191 (and in English translation,&nbsp;<a href="http://archive.org/details/paulandhisinterp00schwuoft"><em>Paul and His Interpreters: </em><em>The conception of authority in the Pauline writings</em> (1918) at 36</a>.) Schweitzer explained: "since the death and resurrection of the Lord [Paul believed] conditions were present that were so <strong><em>wholly new</em></strong> that they <em><strong>made his [Jesus's] teaching inapplicable</strong></em><em>.</em>" (<em>Id</em>.) Thus, Albert Schweitzer says this is what explains Paul's failure to mention any significant teachings of Jesus: "If we had only St Paul to guide us, we should not know that Jesus spoke in&nbsp;parables, that He spoke the Sermon on the Mount and taught His people the Lord's Prayer."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Indeed, with the sole exception of the eucharistic formula at 1 Cor 11:24-25, Paul does not quote any sayings of the historical Jesus as found in the written Gospels. Furthermore, Paul never even once alludes to the panorama of the Savior's life story from the Nativity up to the Passion, as well as Jesus's elaborate teaching, which fill the pages of the first four books of the New Testament.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">By contrast, and astonishingly, at Acts 13:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2013:24-25&amp;version=NIV">24-25</a> Paul does quote <em>John the Baptist from the written gospels</em>! &nbsp;And the Jesus of Paul quotes Greek works more frequently than Jesus's words. See our article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/300-pagan-influences-in-writings-of-paul.html">Pagan Influences on Pau</a>l. Hence, Paul was&nbsp;a well-read man but never thought Christ's teachings in the flesh which we find in the gospels were of any importance to relate to the Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Thessalonians, etc.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As a result, Bultmann saw things the same way as did Albert Schweitzer. As one commentator on Bultmann summarized his influential view of 2 Corinthians 5:16, Paul deliberately ignored Jesus' teachings during His earthly ministry because Paul discovered a new and different preaching than what Christ taught pre-resurrection. This rendered supposedly defunct that prior message of Jesus:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Bultmann...regards the <em>historical Jesus as irrelevant</em> as to the <em>kerygma</em> [<em>i.e.</em>, preaching]&nbsp;of the risen Lord whom Paul proclaimed. Bultmann understood 2 Corinthians 5:16 ("even though<em> we once knew Christ</em> <em>kata sarka </em>[through/by<em> means of the flesh</em>], we<em> know him thus no longer</em>") to mean that <em>Paul chose not to employ his knowledge of Jesus kerygmatically</em> [<em>i.e.</em>, for preaching], a view with which Bultmann agreed [with Paul.]. Accordingly, the influential scholar of Marburg [<em>i.e.</em>, Bultmann] declared Paul the "founder of Christian theology." (Paul Barnett, <em>Paul: Missionary of Jesus</em> (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2008)&nbsp;at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=J7tnFxRTlbYC&amp;lpg=PA13&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA13#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">13</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, Paul is viewed to instruct us no longer to teach Jesus' teachings while Jesus was in the flesh, i.e., from His earthly ministry (2 Cor. 5:16). But Jesus commanded to the contrary that we do so in Matthew 28:20. Hence, 2 Cor. 5:16 contradicts Matt. 28:20 as Paulinists construe 2 Cor. 5:16.</span></p>
<hr style="font-weight: bold;" />
<h1 style="font-weight: bold;"><strong>Paul Says Elders Are Entitled To Pay for 'Preaching &amp; Teaching,' But Jesus Says No</strong></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In 1 Tim. 5:17, Paul wrote: "The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching." Then Paul uses a verse about not muzzling an ox in an odd extension to imply churchgoers have a duty to pay the elders for their service. (1 Tim. 5:18.) Elsewhere, Paul says:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel <em><strong>should receive their living from the gospel</strong></em>.&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+9%3A14&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 9:14 </a>NIV.)</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But I thought Jesus said to His disciples to lay no cost on anyone they served by preaching and healing? "Without cost you have received; <strong><em>without cost you are to give</em></strong>." (Matt. <a href="http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew10.htm" style="font-weight: bold;">10:8</a>, NAB.) Jesus in the prior verse was commanding the apostles to go out and preach the gospel, so the context makes quite clear that <em><strong>no charge was to be made on auditors to hear preaching of the gospel or healing ministries</strong></em>.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, 1 Tim. 5:17-18 and 1 Cor. 9:14 contradicts Jesus in Matthew 10:8.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally compare: Micah 3:11 WEB which says similarly to what Jesus says:</span></p>
<p class="p3" style="margin-left: 60px;"><span data-mce-mark="1" style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">11 Her leaders judge for bribes,</span><br /><span data-mce-mark="1" style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">and<strong><em> her priests teach for a price</em></strong>,</span><br /><span data-mce-mark="1" style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">and her <em><strong>prophets of it tell fortunes for money</strong></em>:</span><br /><span data-mce-mark="1" style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">yet they lean on Yahweh, and say,</span><br /><span data-mce-mark="1" style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">“Isnt Yahweh in the midst of us?</span><br /><span data-mce-mark="1" style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">No disaster will come on us.”</span></p>
<hr style="font-weight: bold;" />
<h1 style="font-weight: bold;">Jesus Teaches There Are Only 12 Apostles Into Eternity, But Paul Adds Himself To The List As a Thirteenth</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Matthias was voted to replace Judas in Acts 1. Hence, the 12 were established long before Paul became a Christian.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, our Savior made the permanent tally of the Apostles established at exactly twelve --- for obvious reasons of historical symbolism. One can see the historical symmetry at Rev 21:12-14. Twelve apostles to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul was never&nbsp;numbered in that circle; not even Barnabas in his Epistle recognizes Pauls Apostleship!: "[The Apostles] to whom he gave the power of the Gospel to preach; and<em> there are twelve as a testimony to the tribes</em>, because there are<strong><em> twelve tribes </em></strong>of Israel." (Epistle of Barnabas<a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/barnabas.html"> 8:3</a>).</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Paul repetitiously claimed he was an apostle. Yet, not once did Jesus ever call Paul an apostle. Read for yourself Paul's vision accounts in Acts 9, 22 and 26<strong>. In these accounts, Jesus said Paul would be a <span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>martus</em></span>. </strong>That means "<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">witness</span></strong>," not "<span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">apostolos</span>" (messenger).</span></p>
<h3 style="font-weight: bold;"><hr /></h3>
<h1 style="font-weight: bold;"><strong>Paul Exhorts Celibacy, But Jesus Clearly Says It is A Choice Not Within Everyone's Power</strong></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul taught against being married. He wrote in 1 Cor. 10:27-28:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Are you bound to a wife? &nbsp;Do not seek to be free. &nbsp;Are you <em>free from a wife</em>? <strong> Do </strong><em><strong>not seek marriage</strong></em>. &nbsp;But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does not sin."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In line with this Paul also wrote:</span></p>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"I wish all were as I am," meaning unmarried. (1 Cor. 7:7.)</span></div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;</span></div>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">To help prevent the desire to be married, Paul said: It is good that a man should not touch a woman. (1 Cor. 7:1.)</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> If Paul is a true prophet and wishes something, such as avoiding touching a woman and to not "seek to be married," then Paul clearly endorses celibacy for us too as a superior way of life.</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Jesus speaks differently of celibacy as something for some but not all disciples. It is not a command or even an exhortation. It is merely a legitimate option. "He who is able to receive this, let him receive it." Matt. 19:12.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The contradiction arises because Jesus never says or implies "do not seek marriage." Significantly, Jesus never applies any moral suasion or pressure to be celibate, while Paul clearly does so.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold;">&nbsp;</p>
<hr style="font-weight: bold;" />
<h1 style="font-weight: bold;">Jesus Says There Is One Pastor and Teacher (Himself), But Paul Says There Are Many Pastors and Teachers</h1>
<p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus said there is One Pastor and One Teacher:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, <em><strong>one shepherd/pastor</strong></em> (Grk <em>poimen</em>)&nbsp;(John 10:16.)</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"But be not ye called Rabbi: for <em>one is your teacher</em>, and all ye are brethren...." (Matt. <a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/23-8.htm">23:8</a>)(ASV)</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: bold;" class="p3"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Nor are you to be called '<em>teacher</em>' (Rabbi), for you have one <em>Teacher&nbsp;</em>(didaskolos), the Christ." (Matt. <a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/23-10.htm">23:10</a>, NIV)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Paul says "And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, <em><strong>some pastors</strong> </em>(shepherds, Greek <em>poimenas</em>) and <em><strong>teachers </strong></em><strong>(didaskolos)</strong>...." (Eph. 4:11.)</span></p>
<h1 style="font-weight: bold;"><hr />Paul Says God Is The God of the Dead, But Jesus Says God Is Not The God of the Dead</h1>
<p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul speaks of the "Lord of <em><em>the dead</em></em> and the living." (Romans 14:9.)&nbsp;But Jesus says "God is <em><em>not</em> </em>the God <em><em>of the dead</em></em> but the living." (Luke 20:38.)</span></p>
<hr style="font-weight: bold;" />
<h1 style="font-weight: bold;"><strong>Paul Says God Does Not Live in Temples Made of Human Hands, But Jesus Says He Does</strong></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says&nbsp;"God who made the world and everything in it is <strong><em>the Lord of heaven</em></strong> and earth and <em><strong>does not live in temples built by hands</strong></em>." (<a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017:24&amp;version=NIV">Acts 17:24</a>). However, Jesus said, in a correction of Pharisees who thought an oath offered "by" articles offered at the Temple were binding but not an oath by the Temple at Jerusalem itself: "And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by<em> <strong>the one who dwells in it</strong></em>." (Matt.<a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2023:21&amp;version=NIV"> 23:21</a>.) Hence, Jesus's logic was that because the article of the Temple is less important than the Temple<em> where God dwells </em>at Jerusalem, an oath "by" the Temple is as binding as an oath by an article. The importance of this is Jesus affirms God does live in a temple made of human hands, but Paul says this is untrue. [Added 9/22/2010]</span></p>
<hr style="font-weight: bold;" />
<h1 style="font-weight: bold;"><strong>Jesus says Nations Of The World Are Under Satan, But Paul Says Their Rulers Are Agents of God</strong></h1>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Compare Lk 4:5-8, Jn 18:36, 19:18, Ac 4:26 (Ps 2:2) versus Paul in Rom 13:1-5.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The celestial kingdom is described in the Gospels as of another order from the entire realm of the nations, which are ruled by Satan and whereby Christ was crucified. (See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/244-satans-domain-over-world-rulers.html">our webpage</a> discussion.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">On the other hand, the secular authorities with all their weaponry (including Mk 15:16 ff) are stated by Paul to be God's own agents. (Romans 13:1-5.) (Source: Metalog) [Added 9/25/2010]</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul also contradicts Hosea <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hosea%208:4&amp;version=NIV">8:4</a> (700s BC): "They set up kings without my consent;&nbsp;&nbsp;they choose princes without my approval." (NIV)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Cf. Thomas Aquinas recognized a Christian had no duty to obey unjust laws, implicitly recognizing the world's rulers are not God's agents. (Summa Theolgia (Copleston) Question 96, Art. 6; see Feldman at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=OgmO06LHLrIC&amp;lpg=PA315&amp;dq=Calvin%2C%20Commentaries%20on%20the%20Epistles%20o%20f%20Paul%20the%20Apostle%20to%20the%20Philippians&amp;pg=PA307#v=onepage&amp;q=Calvin,%20Commentaries%20on%20the%20Epistles%20o%20f%20Paul%20the%20Apostle%20to%20the%20Philippians&amp;f=false">307 fn. 125</a>.)</span></p>
<hr />
<h2>Jesus Teaches Rapture is Of Evil Ones First, But Paul Teaches The Opposite</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For full discussion, see our <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/209-jesus-v-paul-on-rapture-.html">webpage</a>.</span></p>
<hr />
<h2>Jesus Says A Call Is Revocable, But Paul Says It Is Irrevocable</h2>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"'The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable' (Rom 11:29). The birthright of Esau was revoked, as was the calling of the House of Eli. If 'many are called, but few are chosen' (Matt 22:14), then the calling is revocable."&nbsp; (Femi Aribisala, Nigerian Christian, "<a href="http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Faith/ArticleOfFaith/5634526-183/story.csp">A-Paul-ing Epistles.</a>")</span></p>
<hr />
<h2>Jesus Says Some Are Righteous, But Paul Says It Is Impossible</h2>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says in the OT it teaches none are righteous. Romans<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%203:10-18&amp;version=ASV"> 3:10-18</a>. However, Jesus extols those who feed, clothe and give drink to the brethren, and calls them the "righteous," and says they alone go to heaven, but those who do not do these works are 'goats' who are sent to hell. Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:37&amp;version=ASV">25:37</a>.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Paul says that none is righteous under the law, that obedience to the law justifies no one before God, and that the law was a curse:</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Ro 3:10 - As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Ro 3:19 - Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Gal 3:10 - For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>But the Lord Jesus says there were many who were righteous under the law:</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Mt 13:17 - For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Mt 23:3 - That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Mt 23:29 - Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>In fact, some of the righteous under the law during the lifetime of both Jesus and Saul were:</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of John the Baptist: Lu 1:6 - And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Simeon, who waited to see the Messiah: Lu 2:25 - And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Joseph the husband of Mary, and Mary herself who was chosen to be Jesus mother: Mt 1:19 - Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example,was minded to put her away privily.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">John the Baptist: Mr 6:20 - For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Why did Saul contradict the Lord? The answer is simple: Saul misunderstood the relationship between the Law and the Love. &nbsp;[See <a href="http://false-apostle-paul-archive.blogspot.com/2009/12/post-from-michaeleden-of-theology.html">Messenger's article</a> 2006]</span></p>
<h2><hr /></h2>
<h2>Paul Excludes Eating With Sinners But Christ's Example We Are To Follow Is Contrary</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In 1 Cor. 5:9, Paul clearly writes:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 5:11 But now I have written unto<em> you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat</em>. 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 5:13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What did Pharisees like Paul say was Jesus' sin or error?<strong><em> Eating with sinners.</em></strong> Hence, 1 Cor. 5:9 contradicts Jesus's clear practice of eating with sinners.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The only argument Jesus agrees with Paul comes from Jesus' direction that within the church, we were to confront brothers / sisters with sins against us, and only after this process is taken in two unsuccessful steps, then you should treat the sinner as a tax collector / sinner. See Matt. 18. Yet, it is not clear that this means not eating with them, as Jesus made a point to eat with tax collectors and sinners. Treating someone as a tax collector apparently meant treating them differently. This could be not giving them greetings of shalom or visiting them in their home as John speaks to limit contacts with certain heretics. It does not necessarily mean not eating with them, and in light of Jesus' practice of eating with sinners, we should not construe it to prohibit doing so.</span></p>
<hr />
<h2><strong>Paul Teaches In Original Sin But Jesus Contradicts</strong></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Truth Seekers explains:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul has managed to contradict Jesus in almost every single area of faith and practice. Jesus says that there is no original sin (Mark 9:13-14) while Paul says there is (Rom. 5:12-14).&nbsp;("<a href="http://www.truthseekers.co.za/content/view/87/53/">Can Paul Be Trusted</a>")</span></p>
<hr />
<h2>Jesus' Command About Callling Anyone Fools</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Truth Seekers argues:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If you think you are wise by this world's standards, you will have to become a fool so you can become wise by God's standards.” I Corinthians 3:18 (NLT).&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[T]hese statements... contradict Jesus who said: “Whosoever shall say, Thou fool , shall be in danger of hell fire” (Mathew 5:22). According to Jesus, calling someone a fool may make you worthy of Hell yet becoming a fool is a prerequisite of faith according to Paul! Also see Romans 1:22 where<strong> Paul calls the Romans “fools.”</strong> ("<a href="http://www.truthseekers.co.za/content/view/87/53/">Can Paul Be Trusted</a>.")</span></p>
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<h2>Who Should We Follow/Imitate? Paul? or Jesus?</h2>
<p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Peter tells us to imitate Christ. The author of Hbtebrews (Barnabas) likewise says Jesus is our example. But Paul says we are to imitate and follow himself. I am quoting here from "Church Myths -- Church of Christ or Paul" by an anonymous author:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In church do the sheep learn all about Jesus and what He instructs? Not as a rule. They are taught the gospel of Paul and not the gospel of Jesus. Well you may ask what is the difference. Well the main difference is that Jesus was God proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom. Jesus was to be our perfect example on how to live, yet Paul in his letters tells us how to live. Jesus told us to follow Him alone, yet Paul says 1Co 4:16 "Wherefore I beseech (beg) you, be ye followers of me." ...&nbsp;It is the Pope of Rome that instructs "his" church to be followers and imitators of himself. As a follower of Christ, I would NEVER tell some one to follow me. We follow Jesus only! Paul says,"Brothers, be imitators together of me, and mark those who walk this way, for you have us for a pattern." Phi 3:17&nbsp;(Church Myths - Church of Christ or Paul? June 23, 2005&nbsp;http://www.justgivemethetruth.com&nbsp;reprinted at this<a href="http://www.truthseekers.co.za/content/view/17/30/"> link</a>.)</span></p>
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<h1 style="font-weight: bold;">Feed The Poor But Paul Puts Up Barriers</h1>
<p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I am quoting here from "Church Myths -- Church of Christ or Paul" by an anonymous author:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What Jesus taught and what Paul taught was two different things. Here is a few quick example. Jesus instructs us to feed the poor. Paul says, "For even when we were with you we gave you orders, saying, <em><strong>If any man does no work, let him not have food</strong></em>. For it has come to our ears that there are some among you whose behavior is uncontrolled, who do no work at all, but <strong><em>are over-interested in the business of others</em></strong>."2Th 3:10 Jesus said to feed the poor. He did not say feed the poor unless they are over interested in other people's business. This is what Paul does. He pontificates endless rules of conduct, yet from the other side of his mouth he says we are free in Christ?&nbsp;(Church Myths - Church of Christ or Paul? June 23, 2005&nbsp;http://www.justgivemethetruth.com&nbsp;reprinted at this<a href="http://www.truthseekers.co.za/content/view/17/30/"> link</a>.)</span></p>
<hr style="font-weight: bold;" />
<h1 style="font-weight: bold;">Faith Alone Or Obedience to Christ?</h1>
<p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I am quoting here from "Church Myths -- Church of Christ or Paul" by an anonymous author:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul paints a picture of us being free from the law because of Jesus' sacrifice. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus came to fulfill the law and to empower us with His Holy Spirit so that we can keep the law. Yet Paul says, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds (works) of the law." Rom 3:28 Elsewhere he sates that God "...imputes righteousness without works." Rom 4:6 Paul is saying here that salvation is through faith alone and that we do not need works such as works repentance and works of righteousness. Jesus says, "And why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?" Luk 6:46&nbsp;(Church Myths - Church of Christ or Paul? June 23, 2005&nbsp;http://www.justgivemethetruth.com&nbsp;reprinted at this<a href="http://www.truthseekers.co.za/content/view/17/30/"> link</a>.)</span></p>
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<h2>Paul Denies Obedience Grants Any Righteousness Unto Life, But Jesus Says It Does</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says that&nbsp;"<em>if there HAD been a law given which&nbsp;<strong>could have</strong> given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." (</em>Gal 3:21). This tells me that Paul believed that no such Law ever existed that could give eternal life. This is in direct contradiction with Jesus; "If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." (Mat 19:17) &nbsp;[Contributed by David B. 12/3/2011]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Saul preached that the law cannot justify or make man righteous before God:</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Ro 3:20 - Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Ro 4:15 - Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Ga 2:16 - Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Ga 3:11 - But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>In contrast, the Lord affirmed the law, came to fulfill his part in it, and exhorted his hearers to obey it. Thus:</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Mt 5:17 - Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Mt 7:12 - Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And the Lord added that, beyond or on top of the life that the law gives, he offers perfection to those who would follow him. Thus:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Mt 19:16 - And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>In summary, Pauls gospel says:</strong> Never mind the law; just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you are saved. Thus many believers disregard the Ten Commandments without feeling guilty, believing that they have been saved by faith in Christ, and that once saved, always saved. But if they cannot enter life, how can they go to perfection?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>But the Lords gospel says:</strong> Obey the law and enter life, then achieve perfection by following him. Faith in him makes easier entry to life and achievement of perfection, because the Holy Spirit puts and writes the law in our minds and hearts. But the Holy Spirit does not dwell in unclean vessels. The correct sequence therefore is: Repent, forgive, believe in Christ, be baptized, and the Holy Spirit will indwell us and lead us to life (by obeying the Law) and perfection (by following Christ in agape love).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul quoted from Psalm 14 and used a tiny truncated phrase to make a huge generalization to set aside the Law. Fully read, Psalm 14 clearly states that while none is righteous among the fools and children of iniquity, God always has a righteous generation who keep the Law. [<a href="http://false-apostle-paul-archive.blogspot.com/2009/12/post-from-michaeleden-of-theology.html">Messenger 2006</a>.]</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<h1><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus Sends The Apostles to Baptize, But Paul Says Jesus Did Not Send Him to Baptize</span></strong></span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><strong><span size="5" style="font-size: large;" data-mce-mark="1">Baptism</span></strong></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span size="5" data-mce-mark="1" style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1 Corinthians 1:17&nbsp;<br />For Christ sent me <em><strong>not to baptize</strong></em>, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span size="5" data-mce-mark="1" style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">Matthew 28:19&nbsp;</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-large; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, <em><strong>baptizing them</strong></em> into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [The last sayings of Jesus to the eleven Apostles after resurrection]</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span size="5" style="font-size: large;" data-mce-mark="1"><span size="5" style="font-size: large;" data-mce-mark="1">From&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sonofman.org/paul1.htm">Why Jesus' and Paul's Teachings Differ</a> (1/27/2013)</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Jesus Says Do Not Pray Individually In Public -Do That Privately Alone; Paul Says The Opposite</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Matthew 6:5-6, Christ commands and teaches his disciples, (his followers) how to pray.</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Mat 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Mat 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest,<em><strong> enter into thy closet,</strong></em> and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Christ instructs his disciples not to pray like the hypocrites - the Pharisees! Christ explains in detail how the Pharisees love to pray everywhere, from praying in the synagogues to praying on every street corner, to be seen of men. Christ clearly outlaws and forbids his disciples from praying in this manner! Christ also ordains only one place of prayer - in a secret place like a closet with the door shut. However, this teaching of Christ comes to an end for many Christians, for in just a few Bible books after Christ's teaching we find 1Timothy 2:8.</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1 Tim 2:8 I will therefore that<em><strong> men pray every where</strong></em>, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Pharisee Paul in this one simple verse reverses the true teaching of Christ and teaches Christians to pray everywhere lifting up holy hands. Everywhere includes the synagogues, and every street corner. And as a student in a classroom raises his hand to let the teacher know he has a question, the Pharisee Paul instructs Christians to lift up their holy hands to be seen and recognized by men to be praying. The Apostle Paul teaches Christians to pray like the hypocrites, to be seen of men and not in a secret place. Is 1Timothy 2:8 is another antichrist teaching in God's holy place?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">By<a href="http://www.bernardharland.com/"> Bernard Harland</a> (2013).</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: x-large;">Pleasing To All Men: A Good Thing or a Bad Thing?</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says: "Even as I please all <em>men</em> in all <em>things</em>, not seeking mine own profit, but the <em>profit</em> of many, that they may be saved."<a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/10-33.htm"> 1 Cor. 10:33</a> (KJV)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Contrast what Jesus says about winning over all men so they speak well of you:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">'Woe to you when <em><strong>all men shall speak well of you</strong></em> -- for according to these things were their fathers doing to false prophets." (<a href="http://bible.cc/luke/6-26.htm">Luke 6:26</a> YLT)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Then Paul contradicts himself, implying that what he says in 1 Cor. 10:33 proves he is not serving Christ. Good luck to the Paulinists to unravel this:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>10 </sup>Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or<em><strong> am I trying to please people? </strong></em><em><strong><sup></sup></strong></em><em><strong>If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ</strong></em>. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+1%3A10&amp;version=NIV">Gal. 1:10</a> NIV)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Source: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN6nZdistUs&amp;feature=relmfu">Apostle Paul - Contradictions</a>," YouTube 2010 (Feeding the 144000) at 2 min 20 sec mark</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: x-large;">Jesus Says Merciful Receive Mercy, But Paul Says Only Those God Chooses Arbitrarily Will Receive Mercy</span></h2>
<p>(From <a href="http://www.voiceofjesus.org/paulvsjesus.html">Edgar Jones' Paul v. Jesus: A List of Incompatible Statements</a>)</p>
<p><big style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; background-color: #fff0f0;"><big><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1"><small><small><big><big>On whom God has mercy:</big></big><br /></small></small></span></big></big></p>
<div style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; background-color: #fff0f0; margin-left: 40px;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says:<br /></span>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV2&amp;byte=5202985" style="font-weight: bold;">Rom.9</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">[</span><b>15</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">] For he says to Moses, "I will have</span><b>&nbsp;mercy</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;on whom I have</span><b>&nbsp;mercy</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."&nbsp;</span><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">[</span><b>16</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">] So it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's</span><b>&nbsp;mercy</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">.&nbsp;</span><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">[</span><b>18</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">] So then he has</span><b>&nbsp;mercy</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills.</span></div>
<big><big><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1"><small><small><br />Jesus says:<br /></small></small></span></big></big>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV2&amp;byte=4576340" style="font-weight: bold;">Matt.5</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">[</span><b>7</b><span style="font-weight: bold;">]&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;">Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain</span></span><b style="color: #ff0000;">&nbsp;mercy</b><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #ff0000;">.&nbsp;</span></div>
</div>
<h2><hr /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Paul Says Salvation Does Not Depend Upon Exertion, But Jesus Says It Does</span></h2>
<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" data-mce-mark="1">(From&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.voiceofjesus.org/paulvsjesus.html" style="color: #517291; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Edgar Jones' Paul v. Jesus: A List of Incompatible Statements</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" data-mce-mark="1">)</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" data-mce-mark="1"><big style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; background-color: #fff0f0;"><big><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1"><small><small><big><big>&nbsp;On unconditional election:</big></big></small></small></span></big></big><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; background-color: #fff0f0;" /></span></p>
<div style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; background-color: #fff0f0; margin-left: 40px;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says:</span><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV2&amp;byte=5202985" style="font-weight: bold;">Rom.9</a><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1"><br />[16] So it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy.</span></div>
<big><big><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1"><small><small><br />Jesus says:<br /></small></small></span></big></big>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV2&amp;byte=4586790" style="font-weight: bold;">Matt.7</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">[</span><b>21</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">]&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.&nbsp;</span></span><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">[</span><b>22</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">]&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?</span>'&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">[</span><b>23</b><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1">]&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.</span></span></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<big><big></big></big></div>
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<h2><hr /></h2>
<h2><span style="font-size: x-large;">Extra Material: Paul's Contradictions of Yahweh in Original Testament</span></h2>
<h3><strong><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #3366ff;">God Will Not Justify Ungodly But Paul Says He Does</span></strong></h3>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"I will <strong><em>not justify the ungodly</em></strong>." (Exodus <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2023:7&amp;version=KJV">23:7</a>, KJV, ASV.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"He that <strong><em>justifieth the ungodly</em></strong> ...[is] <strong><em>an abomination</em></strong> to Yahweh." (Proverbs <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%2017:15&amp;version=KJV">17:15</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on <em><strong>him that justifieth the ungodly</strong></em>, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Romans&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%204:4-5&amp;version=KJV">4:5</a>, KJV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In context, all mainstream scholars concur Paul means God justified Abraham before Abraham repented of unrighteousness. Unlike Exodus and Proverbs quoted above, Paul in Romans 4:3-6 intends us to understand that by faith alone, <em>i.e.</em>, believing God as did Abraham (which was that he would have a child through Sarah in his old age) while we are ungodly, we are justified. This is why all mainstream scholars say Paul taught justification <strong><em>without repentance from sin</em></strong>, but based upon faith alone.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, in Ezekiel we learn that only upon repentance including turning from evil did the ungodly receive life (<em>i.e.</em>, eternal life) and hence were justified.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>14</sup>Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if<em><strong> he turn from his sin</strong></em>, and <strong><em>do that which is lawful and right</em></strong>;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>15</sup>If the <strong><em>wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live</em></strong>, he shall not die.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>16</sup>None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. (Ezekiel <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel%2033:14-16&amp;version=KJV">33:14-16</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Likewise, Jesus teaches justification is solely by repentance from sin in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. The one who went home "justified" is the one who beat his breast and asked God to be "merciful to me, a sinner," but the Pharisee (who believed in Yahweh) was smug that he had not sinned and went home unjustified. See Luke&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2018:9-14&amp;version=KJV">18:9-14</a>.</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #3366ff;">&nbsp;</span></strong></h3>
<h3><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul Delivers A Slave Back to His Master, Contrary to Scripture</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While in prison, Paul met a runaway slave, Onesimus, the property of a Christian -- presumably Philemon. Paul sent the slave back to his owner. This action is forbidden in Deuteronomy 23:15-16:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee."</span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him."</span></strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Rather than give the slave sanctuary, Paul returned him to his owner. Paul seems to hint that he would like Philemon to give Onesimus his freedom, but does not actually request it.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Paul Says Jesus is An Image of God in Violation of First Commandment</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul in the same passage that he says Jesus is a created being -- "the first-born of creation" -- says Jesus is an "image of God." (Col. 2:15.) This is a violation of the first commandment which prohibits using a creature (as Paul viewed Jesus) as an image of God. See our <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/322-paul-claims-jesus-is-the-image-of-god.html">webpage article</a>.</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul Says Rulers of This World Are God's Agents In Violation of Holy Scripture</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Not only does Paul contradict Jesus in this doctrine, Paul violates passages in the Original Testament. See our <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/244-satans-domain-over-world-rulers.html">webpage</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1><span style="font-size: x-large;">Paul's Contradictions of Himself</span></h1>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #3366ff;">1. 'Resurrection At Baptism' - Oops! 'I Meant Resurrection Has Not Yet Happened!'</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul in 2 Timothy 2:18 condemns heretics who claim "The resurrection has already taken place."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One commentator points out the heretics had reasonable support in the words of Paul for what Paul condemns in 2 Tim. 2:18:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Concerning the resurrection, Pauls baptismal theology might be&nbsp;seen to imply that<em><strong> the believer has risen with Christ in baptism</strong></em> (Rom. 6; Col. 2). Concerning the&nbsp;body, Paul had said that <strong><em>flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God</em></strong> (1 Cor.15:50). In&nbsp;other words:<strong> could not the heretics attacked in the Pastorals claim Pauls support for their&nbsp;doctrines?</strong> There is, in fact, a distinct possibility that they did so. (Oskar Skarsaune, “Heresy and the Pastoral Epistles,” <em>Themelios</em> 20.1 (October 1994): 9-14, at 10 available in PDF at this <a href="http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/heresy_skarsaune.pdf">link</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Skarsaune cites in support several scholars who construct the arguments of condemned groups who relied upon Paul's words for this very doctrine that the resurrection of Christians already has happened:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Elaine Pagels, “The mystery&nbsp;of the resurrection”: A Gnostic reading of 1 Corinthians 15,<em> JBL</em> 93 (1974), pp. 276-288; idem, <em>The Gnostic Paul.&nbsp;Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters</em> (1975); and the wise cautions in A. Lindemann, <em> Paulus im ältesten&nbsp;Christentum. Das Bild des Apostels and die Reception der paulinischen Theologie in der frühchristlichen Literatur&nbsp;bis Marcion</em> (Beiträge zur hist. Theol. 58, Tübingen, 1979), pp. 297-343.</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #3366ff;">2. 'Circumcision Will Cause Christ No Longer To Benefit You Unless I Arrange For You To Be Circumcised'</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul was willing to appear he and his closest followers were outwardly righteous but inwardly Paul did not believe in the necessity of believing in the external action performed to appear righteous.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example, as to Timothys circumcision, Luke records:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">“Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him.” (Acts16:3)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But elsewhere Paul says: “I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision,<strong><em> <em><strong>Christ will be of no advantage to you</strong></em></em></strong>. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that<strong><em> he is obligated to keep the whole Law</em></strong>” (Gal5:2).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So was Timothy now obligated to keep the whole Law? Or did Timothy and Paul participate in a hypocritical show of obedience to the Law just like the Pharisees whom Jesus condemned for such behavior?</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #3366ff;">3. 'We Are Released From The Law But We Also Uphold The Law'</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An identical self-contradiction in Paul arises relating to Paul's view of the Law.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">“But now&nbsp;<strong><em>we are released from the Law</em></strong>.. we serve not under the old written code but under the new life of the Spirit” (Romans7:6).</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Compare this with</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">“Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary,&nbsp;<strong><em>we uphold the law!</em></strong>” (Romans 3:31).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Which way is it?</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #3366ff;">4. 'Outer Cup Clean Is Enough Even Though I Do Not Have To Obey The Law'</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We see Paul's willingness to mold himself to whom he wishes to win rather than have a non-hypocritical integrity. Listen to this next quote, and keep in mind what Jesus said about Pharisees like Paul who wash the outside of the cup but inwardly do not have the heart that follows their actions -- they are hypocrites.&nbsp;Paul says he is all things to all men in this passage:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">“To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. <strong><em>To those under the law I<strong><em> became as one under the law</em></strong> (though&nbsp;<strong><em>not being myself under the law</em></strong>)</em></strong> that I&nbsp;<strong>might win those under the law</strong>. To those outside the law<strong><em> I became as one outside the law</em></strong> (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that&nbsp;<strong><em>I might win those outside the law</em></strong>. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have<em><strong> become all things to all men, that I might save some</strong></em>.” 1Cor9:20+.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">With this hypocritical strategy, Jesus said the Pharisees could not save anyone,&nbsp;<em><em>i.e.</em>,</em> could not lead anyone to God. Instead, Jesus said their followers would become twice the sons of hell (Matt.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23:1-15&amp;version=NIV">23:15</a>) as the hypocritical teachers who taught like Paul explicitly does.</span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong>5. Bearing Burdens of Others or Just You of Yourself</strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is a clear self-contradiction by Paul that has no explanation:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>2 </sup>Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+6%3A2&amp;version=NIV">Gal 6:2</a> NIV)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>5 </sup>For every man shall bear his own burden. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%206:5&amp;version=KJV">Gal 6:5</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So am I supposed to bear your burden, and you mine, or each of us is to bear our own burden?</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">By the way, the true God teaches neither is correct. Instead:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><em>“Cast your burden on the Lordand He will sustain you.”</em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Psalm 55:21</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Peter talks likewise:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><em>“Cast all your cares upon Himbecause He cares about you!”</em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1 Peter 5:7</span></p>
<h3>&nbsp;</h3>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #3366ff;">Conclusion</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While Paul may say some things worthy of praise, Paul is fraught with contradictions of Jesus, the Original Testament, and with his own self! Paul could not be a true inspired individual in every word he spoke, and thus we have erred treating Paul's words in that manner.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr style="font-weight: bold;" />
<h1 style="font-weight: bold;">Links to Other Websites:</h1>
<p style="font-weight: bold;">"<a href="http://www.voiceofjesus.org/paulvsjesus.html">Paul Contradicts Jesus</a>" (Voice of Jesus)</p>
<p style="font-weight: bold;">"<a href="http://www.jesusfamilies.org/wwbelieve/paul.htm">Are Paul's Writings Faultless</a>" (Jesus Families) [good presentation of quotes that Paul wanted believers to submit to himself, not Jesus as Lord, etc.]</p>
<hr />
<h1>&nbsp;Study Notes</h1>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><strong>Does Paul Materially Misquote the Communion Liturgy Jesus Gave? No, But Offers Proof Paulinists Put Paul Beyond Any Proof Against Him</strong></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As you know, the Psalmist prophesied not one bone of Jesus' would be broken, which the Gospel of John mentions was fulfilled when the soldiers decided not to break Jesus' legs. See&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/john/19-36.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">John 19:36</a>&nbsp;("These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "<em><strong>Not one of his bones will be broken,</strong></em>")&nbsp;But Paul in the King James version of 1 Cor. 11:24 says to the contrary that Jesus claimed His body was to be "broken," and in doing so, Paul would misquote Jesus' communion words from Matthew&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A26-27&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">26:26</a>&nbsp;and Luke <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22%3A19&amp;version=NIV">22:19</a>.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In 1 Cor. 11:24, Paul in the King James quotes Jesus saying "this is my body<strong>&nbsp;broken&nbsp;</strong>for you." (KJV, Aramaic, King James 2000, American King James, Websters, Weymouth, World English, Young's Literal). </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, many translations do not have "broken." See Biblios&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/11-24.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">1 Cor. 11:24</a>. So the following translations only say "my body is for you" -- NIV, NLT, ESV, NASB, ISV, God's Word, Darby. There are some variants that support this, which I will discuss in a moment. But what is <em><strong>most interesting to see is how Paulinists of the past</strong> </em>who are believers in the Textus Receptus upon which the KJV is based, <em><strong>explained away the contradiction</strong></em>. They were apparently unaware that any textual variant offered an escape.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So this led to humorous but also tragic arguments by Paulinists. They claim <span style="background-color: #ffff00;"><strong>Jesus supposedly spoke directly to Paul to correct Matthew</strong></span>!!!! So Barnes, without telling us precisely what is the difference, writes:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1" style="color: #001320; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd;">And when he had given thanks - See the note on&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/26-26.htm" style="color: #0092f2; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd;">Matthew 26:26</a><span data-mce-mark="1" style="color: #001320; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd;">. Matthew reads it, "and blessed it." The words used here are, however, substantially the same as there; and this fact shows that<span style="background-color: #ffff00;"> since this was communicated to Paul "directly" by the Saviour</span>, and<em><strong>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: #ffff00;">in a manner distinct from that by which Matthew learned the mode of the institution, the Saviour designed that the exact form of the words should be used in its observance</span></strong></em>, and should thus be constantly borne in mind by his people. (See "Barnes' Notes on the Bible at Biblios on<a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/11-24.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">&nbsp;1 Cor. 11:24.</a>)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd; font-size: medium;" data-mce-mark="1">Other commentators unwilling to engage in such absurd elevation of Paul over Matthew realize Paul directly contradicts Luke whose words are "given" not broken. So they try to reconcile Paul to the Gospel's claim that none of Jesus' bones were broken:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd; font-size: medium;" data-mce-mark="1">broken for you; for though a bone of him was not broken, but inasmuch as his <span style="background-color: #ffff00;">skin and flesh were torn and broken by blows with rods and fists,</span> by whippings and scourgings, by thorns, nails, and spear; and body and soul were torn asunder, or divided from each other by death; (Gill's Exposition Biblios on&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/11-24.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">1 Cor. 11:24</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd; font-size: medium;" data-mce-mark="1">So to save Paul from contradiction, Paulinists who accept the KJV's manuscript source insist either (a) Matthew got it wrong / incomplete, and Jesus had to talk to Paul to get it right, or (b) that Jesus did say his "body was broken" but this just meant broken skin or the separation of his spirit from his body. <span style="background-color: #ffff00;">When you see how strained and strange are the efforts at reconciliation, one can see how wed Paulinists are to their hero.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd; font-size: medium;" data-mce-mark="1"> But alas, the "broken" text relied upon in the KJV is likely a mistake in transmission, and Paul did not likely contradict Christ in this passage. So please scratch this from your list of possible contradictions.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd; font-size: medium;" data-mce-mark="1">First, what Jesus' truly said in Matthew&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A26-27&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">26:26-27</a>&nbsp;was:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd; font-size: medium;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A26-27&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it</span><sup class="crossreference" value="(&lt;a href=&quot;#cen-NIV-24081A&quot; title=&quot;See cross-reference A&quot;&gt;A&lt;/a&gt;)" style="font-size: 0.65em; line-height: normal; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;and gave it to his disciples, saying,&nbsp;</span><span class="woj" style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">“Take and eat;&nbsp;<strong>this is my body.</strong></span></a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd; font-size: medium;" data-mce-mark="1">Luke fills in a little more detail at direct odds with the KJV text for Paul:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd; font-size: medium;" data-mce-mark="1"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: normal; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">19&nbsp;</sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it,</span><sup class="crossreference" value="(&lt;a href=&quot;#cen-NIV-25884A&quot; title=&quot;See cross-reference A&quot;&gt;A&lt;/a&gt;)" style="font-size: 0.65em; line-height: normal; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;and gave it to them, saying,&nbsp;</span><span class="woj" style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">“This is my body<em><strong>&nbsp;given for you</strong></em>; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22%3A19&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">22:19</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus did not say, and could not possibly have said, as John 19:36 confirms, what Paul per the KJV attributes to Jesus: "This is my body <em><strong>broken</strong></em> for you."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So what is the truthful answer? Is this another contradiction? No.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Many translations do not have "broken" unlike the KJV. &nbsp;See Biblios&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/11-24.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">1 Cor. 11:24</a><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. So the following translations only say Paul quotes the liturgy as "<strong>my body is for you</strong>" -- NIV, NLT, ESV, NASB, ISV, God's Word, Darby. There are some legitimate variants of 1 Cor. 11:24 that support this: see this&nbsp;</span><a href="http://web.ovc.edu/terry/tc/lay161co.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">list</a><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. It explains:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 21px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">TEXT:</strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;"This is my body which is for&nbsp;</span><sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"><span size="-2" data-mce-mark="1">pl</span></sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">you."</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">EVIDENCE: p</span><sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">&lt;font=-2&gt;46</sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;S* A B C* 33 1739*</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">TRANSLATIONS: ASV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example P 46 means Papyrus 46. This papyrus indeed has coverage of 1 Cor. 11. And it dates from 175-225 AD. ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_46">Papyrus 46</a>,"&nbsp;<em>Wikipedia</em>.) The S* is the oldest complete NT from 340 AD - the Synaiticus.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Let's compare this with the sources for "broken" for you:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">NOTES:</strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;"This is my body which is broken for&nbsp;</span><sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"><span size="-2" data-mce-mark="1">pl</span></sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">you."</span></span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;" /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">EVIDENCE: S</span><sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">&lt;font=-2&gt;c</sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;C</span><sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">&lt;font=-2&gt;3</sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;D</span><sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">&lt;font=-2&gt;b,c</sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;G K P Psi 81 104 614 630 1241 1739margin 1881 2495 Byz Lect three lat syr(p,h)</span></span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;" /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">TRANSLATIONS: KJV ASVn RSVn NASVn</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The keys to abbreviations such as this are at this <a href="http://web.ovc.edu/terry/tc/layabbre.htm">site.</a>&nbsp;The Sc is a "corrector" of the Sinaiticus, so it comes later than the earlier Sinaiticus. The C3 is Ephraemi Rescriptus from the 5th Century. Psi and all numbered manuscripts are from 5th Century forward. Thus, Papyrus 46 must be deemed <strong><span style="color: #000000;">the best and most original, confirmed by the Sinaiticus</span></strong>.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So while Paul is not guilty of a contradiction here, &nbsp;Paulinists are exposed that they would even invent that Paul had Jesus tell him words missing in the gospels to save Paul while ignoring and explaining away "broken" to absurd lengths. In other words, there are no limits to what they won't say to defend Paul.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;</span></p> </td>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: #800080;">The Famous Bultmann's Exalting Paul Leads To A Complete Invalidation of Paul</span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Introduction</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Beginning in the Reformation, Paul's epistles often supplanted any need to focus on the words of Christ. "Zwingli's copy of the NT was <strong>confined to Paul's Epistle<em>s</em></strong> and Hebrews." (Schaff, <em>Creeds of Christendom</em> Vol. 1 sec. <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TyAoqFIemNwJ:www.lectionist.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.ix.ii.i.html%3FscrBook%3DGal%26scrCh%3D5%26scrV%3D1+carlstadt+paul's+epistles&amp;cd=172&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=us">51</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Luther too emphasized Paul's words over the gospels. Luther quashed the co-founder of the Reformation - Carlstadt - when in 1520 Carlstadt wrote a book on canon which insisted Jesus's words had a priority over Paul's words. (See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/193-carlstadt-research.html">Carlstadt Research</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The young Luther, however, triumphed and Carlstadt was banished.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Eventually, a rationale was needed to justify the continued maginalizing of Jesus' doctrines. For unlike Paul, Jesus taught justification is by repentance, not faith (Parable of the Publican and the Tax Collector, Luke <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2018:9-14&amp;version=ASV">18:9-14</a>). And unlike Paul, Jesus taught a necessary means to heaven by a believer is "heaven maimed" (by repentance) or you can go to hell "whole" (with no repentance). (Mark<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%209:42-47&amp;version=KJV"> 9:42-47</a>.) A faith that was alone could not save -- if you based your doctrine solely upon Jesus' words.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">To keep Paul's faith alone doctrine, Jesus' words had to be somehow marginalized. By 1929, a means was found that was explicitly based upon Paul's own direction to us in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor.%205:16&amp;version=ASV">2 Cor. 5:16</a> to ignore Jesus's words "in the flesh."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">It was Bultmann who established first this modern notion that Paul correctly viewed Jesus' teachings in the flesh as irrelevant and we must realize the only way to follow Christ is to follow Paul.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Although living in Germany,&nbsp;Bultmann professed Protestant Christianity and became the "dominant theological figure of his day." (<a href="http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/American/?view=usa&amp;ci=9780195341676">D'Elia</a>.) Bultmann is now regarded as one of the four most influential Christian theologians of the 20th Century. (<a href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Paul_Tillich">Tilich bio</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In 1929, Bultmann quashed the "From Paul to Jesus" movement led by William Wrede with the argument you are about to hear. This is what explains the modern trend to explicitly acknowledge that Paul's Gospel differs from Jesus's Gospel but trumps Jesus anyway. (For examples, see this<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/200-paulinism-examples.html"> link</a>.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Synopsis of Bultmann's Thesis That Marginalizes Jesus's Words To 12 Apostles Prior to Paul</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann admitted the lack of importance to Paul of Jesus's teachings when Jesus was in the flesh. That is, Paul did not consider important the teachings Jesus gave the 12 which are recorded in the Gospels. For Paul never quotes Jesus except the liturgy which is taken from Luke's Gospel anyway.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Bultmann claims this was deliberate, and<strong> perfectly explains Paul's meaning in 2 Cor. 5:16. </strong> Bultmann says we must obey this passage from Paul which tells us to reject any further obedience/adherence to Jesus's words while "in the flesh" <em>i.e.</em>, the period when Jesus taught the 12 apostles prior to Jesus' Ascension.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:16 that "even though&nbsp;<strong>we <strong>once knew Christ </strong></strong> by means of the <strong>flesh</strong><em><strong><em> [</em></strong></em> kata sarka], we know him thus <strong>no longer.</strong>"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann interprets this to mean that Paul tells us that we once knew Jesus by means of doctrines delivered when in the flesh to the twelve, but now we know Jesus through messages delivered to Paul when Jesus was in his resurrected 'spiritual' body. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann ignores thereby that the same resurrected Jesus told the apostles to remember to teach everything he had previously "commanded" them. (<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Matt.&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028:20&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; outline: none; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">28:20</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.) How could this command entirely change if Jesus was taken up into heaven?</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Ironically, Bultman gives Paul's Jesus this unique authority over the pre-ascended Jesus&nbsp;<strong>even though Paul never even quotes the Ascended Jesus to support any teaching of Paul.</strong><em><strong>&nbsp;</strong></em>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">How can Bultman justify that Paul met a Jesus who had no flesh, and then could use Paul's words to exclude any attention of the Jesus who taught the 12?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First, Bultman's application of 2 Cor. 5:16 assumes Paul encountered a voice and light version of Jesus without flesh on the Road to Damascus. (See Acts 9:7-11.) This is not clear that Jesus no longer had human flesh after ascending. Luke's accounts do not say. This is a crucial gap in Bultman's reasoning.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Another problem is that Paul's only quote of the Ascended Jesus in Paul's epistles is in 2 Cor. 12:8-9. Yet, this is so highly problematical of a quote that no one can believe the true Jesus actually uttered it. It contains a denial by the "Lord" to release Paul from the dominion of an "Angel of Satan" for this "Lord" says he showed enough grace to Paul already. Most scholars agree our Lord Jesus could not have refused to release Paul from a dominion of Satan in Paul's flesh. They excuse this passage as somehow being garbled, and it should be ignored.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Here is a summary of that account. Paul asked his Jesus that the "skolops" -- a sharp prod in his flesh which Paul says came from an Angel of Satan -- to be removed. In response, the "Lord" (presumably Jesus) told Paul&nbsp;<em>no</em>, explaining&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor.&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-8.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">12:8-9</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">.)</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Next, in light of that failure, Bultman's thesis, to have any legs, has to show us a verse that truly potentially qualifies as from the true Jesus being quoted by Paul. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The only other event that Paul records that constitutes a post-Ascended statement by Jesus is in Acts 22:17. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Here, in Acts Paul testifies about an encounter with "Jesus" in a trance while Paul was praying at the Jersusalem in which that Damascus-Road Jesus told Paul not to go see the 12 apostles for the first time. At that point,&nbsp; the 12 apostles were 25 yards away, as it was their daily practice to meet at the Temple's portico. In this quote, Paul's Jesus explained to Paul that the disciples -- the apostles in context)&nbsp; -- would not believe Paul had met the true Jesus.&nbsp; Rather than appear to the 12 and all disciples meeting on the portico to convince them, Paul's Jesus urged Paul to flee Jerusalem immediately and go to the Gentiles. See our articles: <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/500-pauls-trance.html">Paul's Trance</a> and <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/593-proofs-that-paul-did-not-truly-meet-jesus-outside-damascus.html">Who Did Paul Meet Outside Damascus?</a>&nbsp; </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Who can believe the true Jesus could appear in the wilderness to Paul -- a blasphemer by his own admission -- but could not take a couple of minutes to appear to the 12 just 25 yards away from the spot Paul had this Jesus appear in a trance?&nbsp; </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, using Bultman's criteria of how to read 2 Cor. 5:16, we have no quote anyone can imagine was truly uttered by the true Lord Jesus.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, how can Bultman think we must still listen to Paul when the Ascended Jesus' words that Paul quotes after Damascus only twice -- once in an epistle and once in Acts -- is someone to rely upon?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> Bultmann necessarily must be implying that everything Paul wrote in his letters are as if Jesus was writing constantly through Paul even though Paul never says this is the case. And that Paul was telling us, impliedly, in 2 Cor. 5:16, to only listen to the Jesus revealed "in me" (Paul) even though no attribution is given by Paul to Jesus for what Paul is writing except 2 Cor 12:7. Again, that passsage is where Paul&rsquo;s Jesus leaves Paul subject to control and influence of a demon -- an "angel of Satan."&nbsp; Bultmann ignores that fact &mdash; a passage that is so embarrassing to Paul fans that they reject this passage nowadays as authentic. That is how deep is the chagrin of Paul-leaning scholars about the only unique quote of Jesus by Paul in all of his epistles. (The modern Paul defenders claim this passage could not be how Paul intended it to read.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, based on such a reading of 2 Cor. 5:16, Bultmann exalts Paul's words as if 100% inspired and from the Ascended Jesus although never actually quoting the Ascended Jesus in support. We are supposed to treat the words exclusively from Paul as superior to the pre-Ascended Jesus by some presumed constant inspiration of Paul in every word. And this is thus supposedly why&nbsp; Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:16 that we are "no longer" to know Jesus from the time Jesus taught while in the "flesh." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, the one epistle that attributes words to Paul&rsquo;s Ascended Jesus &nbsp;&mdash; 2 Cor. 12, Bultmann ignores, leaving later Paul supporters to likewise ignore this. Or they reject this passage as truly from Jesus as this Jesus expressly left Paul under demonic influence, refusing Paul&rsquo;s repeated prayers for release from an &ldquo;angel of Satan.&rdquo; We clearly have a problem: the words of the Ascended Jesus quoted by Paul are rejected or ignored by all modern Christianity but the words of Paul that never quote the Ascended Jesus except once are given a priority over the pre-Ascended Jesus. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We surely are in a mess listening to Paul.&nbsp; As Moses made clear, prophets who do not quote God or "the Prophet" of Deuteronomy 18:15-19 who God speaks over and tells us to "listen to him" (i.e.., Jesus at his transfiguration) are to be ignored.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Bultmann Concedes Jesus Pre-Cross Is Irrelevant To Paul</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">William&nbsp;<span class="highlight">Wrede</span> (1859-1906) in his book <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Paul/WePYAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=william+wrede+paul&amp;printsec=frontcover"><strong>Paul</strong> </a>(1904) had argued Paul's writings show little knowledge of the teachings of Jesus reflected in the Gospels. This led to the "back from Paul to Jesus movement" which is now largely forgotten due to Bultmann's influential reply. (Andreas J. K&ouml;stenberger, L. Scott Kellum,&nbsp;<strong>The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament</strong> (B&amp;H Publishing Group, 2009)&nbsp;at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=g-MG9sFLAz0C&amp;lpg=PA369&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA370#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">370</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="Quoted">Rudolf Bultmann, a famous theologian, conceded the point of Wrede's in Bultmann's&nbsp;<strong>Significance of the Historical Jesus for the Theology of Paul</strong> (1929) -- also republished in </span><strong>Faith and Understanding</strong> (New York: Harper &amp; Row, 1969) Vol. I at 220. However, Bultmann turned it around as a proof that we should<strong> only be following Paul</strong> because of Paul's direction in 2 Cor. 5:16.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann thus starts by admitting that Jesus's teachings (pre-resurrection) were indeed irrelevant to Paul:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="Bodytextflush" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"It is most obvious that Paul does not appeal to the words of the Lord in support of his. . . . views. When the essentially Pauline conceptions are considered, it is clear that <strong>Paul is not dependent on Jesus</strong>. Jesus' teaching is -- to all intents and purposes --<strong> irrelevant for Paul</strong>." <em>Id.</em>, at 223.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As others summarize Bultmann's initial point, they state:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann noted that Paul rarely alluded to or quoted from the teachings of Jesus, and that these quotations and allusions were related to ethical rather than theological matters. (Andreas J. K&ouml;stenberger, L. Scott Kellum, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=g-MG9sFLAz0C&amp;lpg=PA369&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA369#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament</a> (B&amp;H Publishing Group, 2009)&nbsp;at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=g-MG9sFLAz0C&amp;lpg=PA369&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA369#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">369</a>.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Bultmann Interprets Paul As Saying To Ignore The Pre-Cross Jesus</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann next turned around this admission as a point in favor of Paul because Paul supposedly deliberately ignored Jesus's teachings while "in the flesh." Bultmann says Paul gives us a pattern that we should imitate rather than be revulsed by, as William Wrede had portrayed its consequence.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For proof, Bultmann relied upon Paul's remarks in 2 Corinthians 5:16. Bultmann said this verse meant we no longer know Christ in the flesh,&nbsp;<em>i.e.</em>, we can dispense with Jesus's teachings when He was in the flesh. Bultmann said that only the messages Paul received from the resurrected Christ - who supposedly no longer had flesh -- is the means to know Christ any longer. This reading of "in the flesh" is compatible with how Origen and Clement read 2 Cor. 5:16 in the early church, although they did not deduce this meant we are now free to ignore Jesus's earthly teachings. (See our discussion at this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/177-2-corinthians-516.html">link</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann's view was first put forth by Christian theologian and physician&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer">Albert Schweitzer</a> (1875-1965). In Schweitzer's view of 2 Cor. 5:16 in his book of 1911 <em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=J8HhOwAACAAJ">Geschichte Der Paulinischen Forschung</a> </em>(J. C. B. Mohr)&nbsp;at 191 (and in English translation, <span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"></span><a href="http://archive.org/details/paulandhisinterp00schwuoft" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">Paul and His Interpreters</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;(1911) - archive.org /&nbsp;</span><a href="/images/stories/JWOBook/Part_1_Schweitzer_Paul_and_His_Interpreters_1911.pdf" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">PDF</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">-Part 1 &nbsp;&nbsp;</span><a href="/images/stories/JWOBook/Part_2_Schweitzer_Paul_and_His_Interpreters_1911.pdf" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">PDF-Part 2</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;/&nbsp;</span><a href="/topicindex/446-schweitzer-paul-and-his-interpreters-1911.html" style="color: #517291; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">Cleaned Text</a>&nbsp;<em></em>at page 36), Schweitzer explained: "since the death and resurrection of the Lord [Paul believed] conditions were present that were so wholly new that <strong>they made his</strong> [<em>i.e.</em>, Jesus's]<strong> teaching inapplicable</strong>." (<em>Id</em>.) Thus, Albert Schweitzer says this is what explains Paul's failure to mention any significant teachings of Jesus: "If we had only St Paul to guide us, we should not know that Jesus spoke in&nbsp;parables, that He spoke the Sermon on the Mount and taught His people the Lord's Prayer." This was stated by Schweitzer to prove Paul intended us to similarly ignore such lessons from Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Schweitzer concluded we know Christ no longer in His historical teachings but through the spiritual Jesus of Paul's visions. Schweitzer wrote:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The truth is, it is <strong>not Jesus as historically known</strong>, but as spiritually risen within, who is significant for our time and can help it. <strong>Not the historical Jesus</strong>, but the spirit which goes forth from Him...which overcomes the world. (Quoted in Mark Powell,&nbsp;<strong>Jesus as a figure in history: how modern historians view the man from Galilee</strong> (Westminster John Knox Press, 1998) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=IJP4DRCVaUMC&amp;lpg=PA19&amp;ots=KVHP56_wWM&amp;dq=bultmann%20acceptance%20evangelical%20christianity&amp;pg=PA19#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">19</a>, quoting Schweitzer.)</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann saw things the same way, but took it further. Bultmann said the post-resurrection Jesus of Paul now held exclusive importance <em><strong>because Paul said so</strong></em>. As one commentator on Bultmann summarized his influential view of 2 Corinthians 5:16:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann...regards the <strong>historical Jesus as irrelevant</strong> as to the <em>kerygma</em> [<em>i.e., </em>preaching]&nbsp;of the risen Lord whom Paul proclaimed. Bultmann understood 2 Corinthians 5:16 ("even though<strong> we once knew Christ</strong> <em>kata sarka</em> [through/by<strong> means of the flesh</strong>], we<strong> know him thus no longer</strong>") to mean that Paul chose not to employ his knowledge of Jesus kerygmatically, a view with which<strong> Bultmann agreed</strong> [with Paul.]. Accordingly, the influential scholar of Marburg [<em>i.e.</em>, Bultmann] declared Paul the "founder of Christian theology." (Paul Barnett, <strong>Paul: Missionary of Jesus</strong> (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2008)&nbsp;at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=J7tnFxRTlbYC&amp;lpg=PA13&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA13#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">13</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Bultmann was blunt: Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16 meant the pre-cross messages from Jesus were irrelevant because Jesus was then in the flesh. Jesus now had a resurrected body, and Paul says we now no longer know Jesus from the time He was in the flesh. Bultmann said that on the road to Damascus, Paul met the resurrected Christ, and Paul was <strong>passing those post-resurrection messages to us</strong>. The pre-cross Christ represented Jesus in the flesh whose doctrines, Paul wishes us to understand (per Bultmann), were now supposedly irrelevant for the NT church.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As a consequence of this view of 2 Cor. 5:16, Bultmann said it was nonsense to imagine we would abandon Paul and find Jesus as Wrede claimed. Bultmann insisted rather that "one could <strong>only find Jesus through Paul</strong>," as the authors of&nbsp;<strong>The Cradle, the Cross</strong>, etc.<em>, </em>summarized Bultmann's interpretation of Paul.&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=g-MG9sFLAz0C&amp;lpg=PA369&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA370#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">370</a>. Hence, Bultmann ridiculed as nonsense the notion of "the back from Paul to Jesus" movement.&nbsp;<em>Id.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann's view has become a key justification today for modern dispensationalism that disposes of Jesus' words as entirely intended for a prior dispensation under the Law. See our collection of dispensational quotes in our article on <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/200-paulinism-examples.html">Paulinism</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This view has filtered into popular opinion. In one post quoting 2 Cor. 5:16, the writer was blunt that Jesus in the Synoptics is dead and gone and now we only look to the Resurrected Jesus (whom Paul it is claimed presented): </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"The<strong> story</strong> that is chronicled in the Gospels and has been trumpeted by the church systems for two thousand years is one about the Jesus that is <strong>forever gone,</strong> never to walk the paths of earth again." (<a href="http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/995258-worshipping-jesus-man-idolatry.html">Elmer 6/30/2010</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, in this analysis by Bultmann, he is guilty of an obvious logical fallacy of <strong>circular reasoning</strong>. While Wrede doubted Paul's authority because Paul treated Jesus' teachings as irrelevant, Bultmann affirmed Paul's own words as proving <strong>why</strong> Paul ignored Jesus's teachings as<strong> proof of Paul's authority</strong>. But that means Paul's authority to eradicate the historical Jesus's importance <strong>rests on no proof but the assumption of Paul's authority</strong>. This is <strong>circular logic</strong>. It assumes as a premise -- Paul has authority -- its own conclusion which is that Paul has authority over the historical Jesus'words in the flesh. Bultmann clearly engaged in the bootstrap fallacy but no one has ever pointed out this obvious defect in his reasoning</span>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">How This Aligns With Paul's Teaching That Flesh Cannot Inherit Eternal Life</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Regardless, Bultmann's view of 2 Cor. 5:16 appears a correct interpretation of Paul. (But a terribly wrong path for those following Jesus.) &nbsp;Bultmann's interpretation lines up with Paul's view that "flesh cannot inherit eternal life" (1 Cor. 15:50-54). That verse confirms Paul's experience with a post-ascension "Jesus" was with a being who did not have flesh. For 1 Cor. 15:50-54 with 2 Cor. 5:16 support believing<strong> Paul admits he never met a Jesus who had flesh</strong>. Thus, Paul must have encountered someone on the Road to Damascus who said he was Jesus and did not have flesh, but had a "spiritual body" without flesh. The blinding "light" and "voice" version of Jesus in the three appearance accounts, we are left to understand, was a "spiritual body" without flesh. For more on the distinction between a body of flesh and a spiritual body, see&nbsp;"<a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/178-bodies-upon-ascension.html">Bodies After Ascension</a></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">How 2 Cor. 5:16 Aligns Further With Barnabas' Statement in Hebrews 6:1</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tertullian ca. 200 AD said Barnabas wrote Hebrews. (See our <a href="/component/content/article/9-bible/272-authorship-of-hebrews.html">link</a>.) Barnabas' ideas in Hebrews have many cross-mixtures with Paul's ideas, especially in its Christology. Plus Paul and Barnabas were missionary allies at one point. The Epistle to the Hebrews has a similar statement about leaving behind Jesus' doctrine, including repentance from sin / works (now denigrated as 'dead works), and instead building salvation doctrine upon faith alone, as Bultmann found in 2 Cor. 5:16. We read in Hebrews <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews%206:1&amp;version=ASV">6:1</a>:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&ldquo;Therefore<strong> let us abandon</strong> (or<strong> leave behind</strong>)(Gk. <em>aphentes</em>) the<strong> elementary doctrine of Christ</strong> and go on to more maturity, <strong>not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works </strong>but of faith toward God.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The same verb <em>aphentes</em> is properly translated in Mark 1:18 as "<strong>threw aside</strong>." (Donahue &amp; Harrington, <strong>The Gospel of Mark</strong> (2005)&nbsp;at&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/178-bodies-upon-ascension.html"> </a><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=FfAWQh9ybFYC&amp;lpg=PA74&amp;ots=zDVZRI48A-&amp;dq=aphentes%20greek&amp;pg=PA74#v=onepage&amp;q=aphentes%20greek&amp;f=false">74</a>.) Some translate as "forsook." (Mark 1:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201:18&amp;version=KJV">18</a>, KJV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Barnabas draws a parallel between "elementary doctrine of Christ" and "a foundation of repentance from dead works...," thereby speaking derogatorily about a beginner's version of Christ's doctrine -- a <strong>foundation of repentance from dead works</strong>. Barnabas says this is now supplanted by a superior doctrine of "faith toward God" instead.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hebrews 6:1 thus can be viewed just like 2 Cor. 5:16. If so, it represents a<strong> brazen attack</strong> by Barnabas upon<strong>&nbsp;the Christianity taught by Jesus.</strong> In this verse, Barnabas arguably implied that Jesus&rsquo; teaching was immature, while Barnabas was able to take Christianity to the next level. Hence, if Hebrews 6:1 is speaking just like 2 Cor. 5:16, Barnabas saw the message of Jesus in the same way that Bultmann read Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16. Barnabas would be seeing Jesus's doctrine as irrelevant, superseded by the new teaching brought by Paul about faith. This possible reading of Hebrews 6:1 thus lends credence that Bultmann is properly reading 2 Cor. 5:16 to make a similar point.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Bultmann's Argument Implodes Unwittingly Any Validity for Paul</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">No one has seen how Paul has invalidated himself if Bultmann's influential interpretation of 2 Cor. 5:16 were examined carefully.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">From what Bultmann just said, Paul is claiming the message of the flesh-bound Jesus no longer applies once Jesus resurrected, right? Then this means the resurrected Jesus whom Paul met did not have flesh? Right? In fact, didn't Paul simply describe Jesus as a "light" and a "voice" when He returned to visit Paul? Indeed, because Paul teaches "flesh" cannot inherit eternal life (1 Cor. 15:50-54), Paul must have met a Jesus (so he assumed) who only had a "spiritual body," and not flesh.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And from what Bultmann says, it follows that the person communicating to Paul taught the commands Jesus gave in His earthly ministry no longer applied after the resurrection, right?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Each of these consequences of Bultmann's reading of 2 Cor. 5:16 separately <strong>destroy </strong>Paul's validity.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Paul Did Not Meet The Resurrected Jesus If Bultmann Has Read 2 Cor. 5:16 Correctly</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First of all, didn't Thomas discover something unusual when Thomas met the resurrected Jesus? Jesus had flesh. But Paul seems to think that the resurrected Jesus has no flesh, right? For we are now no longer to know Jesus that way -- "through the flesh" -- the time Jesus had flesh, so Paul teaches. Paul encountered solely a Jesus without flesh - at least Paul thought it was Jesus. However, Thomas saw the nail holes in Jesus' hands and the scar on His side. That sounds like flesh to me. Doesn't it to you? Jesus even said to Thomas to handle him to prove He was "flesh and bone." (Luke <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2024:39&amp;version=KJV">24:39</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, the person Paul claims to have encountered in the wilderness outside Damascus as Jesus in a post-resurrection period<strong> must not really have been Jesus</strong>. If it were the true Jesus, Paul should have seen Jesus' nail-holes and scars, and realized Jesus still had flesh. (See also <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">our discussion </a>of Matt 24:24-27 that Jesus said not to believe someone who says "I am Jesus" in the wilderness.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16, as Bultmann reads the passage, did not believe the resurrected Jesus whom Paul met in the wilderness had flesh, right? And the Paul who wrote&nbsp;1 Cor. 15:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor.%2015:50&amp;version=ASV">50</a> did not believe "flesh" could inherit eternal life, but that is precisely what Jesus enjoys "in the flesh" that He took into heaven. Both passages confirm Paul met in the wilderness only a spiritual body, and <strong>one lacking flesh</strong> -- a body wholly unlike what Thomas encountered when Thomas met the resurrected Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is further confirmed by the 3 appearance accounts of Acts 9, 22, and 26 where Paul's account says Jesus merely appeared in the wilderness outside Damascus as a blinding "light" and a "voice." This apparently was a spiritual body.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now we realize something that did not cross our mind earlier when studying the appearance accounts of Paul in Acts. Nowhere in Paul's encounters do we know <strong>how Paul identified Jesus </strong>as Jesus. It appears Paul simply relied upon a spiritual body (lacking flesh) to tell Paul "I am Jesus." What did that prove? Paul <strong><em>n</em>ever realized he could not just trust the voice</strong> in his appearance accounts to say "I am Jesus." Paul should have realized<strong> he needed to see the nail-holes to validate whom Paul saw </strong>truly was Jesus. That's what Apostle Thomas saw.&nbsp;Yet, in none of Paul's three appearance accounts in Acts 9, 22 and 26 <strong>does Paul ever validate</strong>, like Thomas did visually, that <strong>this indeed was Jesus</strong>. Now we know why: Paul met a spiritual body who only was simply a blinding light and voice.&nbsp;&nbsp;"The journey is interrupted when Paul sees a blinding light, and communicates directly with a divine voice." ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_of_Paul">Conversion of Paul</a>," <em>Wikipedia</em>.)&nbsp;Paul did not meet a flesh-and-blood being--although a glorified one--who was Jesus Christ.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Devil-in-Disguise Principle Eluded Paul</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul describes Jesus in Acts as a disembodied light. In the first account, Jesus is a light; in the next a great light, and in the third a light brighter than the Sun. (See Acts 9:1-9; 22:3-11; 26:9-20.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Apparently all it took to convince Paul that he was hearing the voice of Jesus was for the voice to say so."&nbsp;&nbsp;(Delos B. McKown,&nbsp;<strong>Behold the Antichrist: Bentham on Religion</strong> (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2004) at&nbsp;122.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">McKown, a professor on religion, acknowledges that "taken at face value, this reveals credulity (or gullibility) of a high order." <em>Id. </em>at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?ei=TOTOTIyKD8SCngfG9vjeCQ&amp;ct=result&amp;id=qh3XAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=(Delos+B.+McKown+Behold+the+Antichrist:+Bentham+on+Religion&amp;q=gullibility#search_anchor">122</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul knows that the devil can disguise himself as an angel of light. See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+11%3A14&amp;version=NIV">2 Cor. 11:14</a>. Yet the Devil-in-Disguise Principle was not applied by Paul on this occasion. Luke gives us no sign of any effort by Paul to verify the light and voice was truly from Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Delos B. McKown while critically summarizing Bentham's <em>Not Paul But Jesus</em> realizes the validity of some points of Bentham. So McKown recounts his exchange with a student on this point when a student claims Jesus told him to do something outrageous, and then McKown applies this to Paul for our benefit on how to interpret Paul's experience on the Road to Damascus:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To this I said, But how can you be sure it was Jesus and not the <strong>Devil disguised as Jesus</strong> who told you to do as you are doing (see 2 Cor. 11:14 for Paul's description of the prowess of the Devil as a deceiver)? The waif, clearly shaken by the application of what I call the<strong> Devil-in-Disguise (DID) Principle</strong>, fell silent for a time. Then confidently, serenly he assured me saying, 'Oh, it was Jesus all right.' Having done my best to <strong>'test the spirit'</strong> in question, I bade my visitors farewell. Even if we grant that Paul heard an extramental voice addressing him on the Damascus road, <strong>why did he not apply the DID principle</strong>? Why did the [author of Acts] not make inquiries about this and <strong>tell us how Paul verified the genuiness of the voice</strong>? &nbsp;(Delos B. McKown, <strong>Behold the Antichrist: Bentham on Religion</strong> (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2004) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?ei=TOTOTIyKD8SCngfG9vjeCQ&amp;ct=result&amp;id=qh3XAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=(Delos+B.+McKown+Behold+the+Antichrist:+Bentham+on+Religion&amp;q=verified#search_anchor">155</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Indeed, in light of what Bultmann says, we have a serious factual flaw in Paul's encounter with a disembodied voice. Jesus could not be recognized in that manner, even if the voice said he was Jesus. In fact, our Lord warned that "many will come in my Name," but are false. They will point to terrestial appearances of Jesus with great "signs and wonders" (blinding light?) and many will be deceived. (Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&amp;version=NIV">24</a>.) &nbsp;Jesus says in Matthew <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt.%2024:5&amp;version=NIV">24:5</a> (NIV) in particular that very soon some will come in 'my name" and say "I am the Messiah"-- several verses prior to Jesus warning about the false Christs that will come:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For many will come <strong>in my name</strong>, claiming, <strong>&lsquo;I am the Messiah,&rsquo;</strong> and will deceive many.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul did not care much for Jesus' words in the flesh, but these words among them would have warned him that a 'blinding light' whose 'voice' says "I am Jesus" (Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:5&amp;version=NIV">9:5</a>) is precisely the kind of statement Jesus warned about in Matthew 24:5. It is someone coming in Jesus' name claiming 'I am the Messiah,' <em>i.e.</em>, I am Jesus. But&nbsp;Jesus said this kind of statement could lead astray <em>even</em> the elect to follow a false Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul credulously, nay gullibly, believed this voice was from Jesus. It could not be because the post-resurrection Jesus had flesh, and 2 Cor. 5:16 proves Paul did not meet a flesh-and-blood Jesus.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Had Jesus Come Back To Paul In A Different Manner Than When He Left?</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another incongruity is that if Jesus returned as a "voice" and "light" to Paul, it contradicts the angel's message in Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%201:11&amp;version=KJV">1:11</a> that "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so&nbsp;<strong>come in like manner </strong>as ye have seen him go into heaven." Jesus left as a body of flesh. If He returned to visit Paul, He should still have had a body of flesh. This is what the angel prophesied.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Recap on Bultmann's Point #1</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In sum on point #1, Bultmann's reading of 2 Cor. 5:16 (combined with&nbsp;1 Cor. 15:50-54)&nbsp;reveals Paul had a misapprehension that Jesus no longer had human flesh after the resurrection. Paul is utterly and completely invalidated unwittingly by Bultmann. Hence, a pro-Paul reader of 2 Cor. 5:16 -- Bultmann -- actually found an interpretation that unwittingly destroyed Paul's validity.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Paul's Command To No Longer Know Christ According To The Flesh Contradicts Christ</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, Jesus' final words on earth as He ascended into heaven were that the Apostles (the ones he taught during His ministry; Paul was not there) should teach "<strong>everything that I commanded you</strong>...." Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028:20&amp;version=NIV">28:20</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If Paul is correct in 2 Cor. 5:16 as Bultmann construes him, then the Jesus of Matt. 28:20 is in total conflict with the "Jesus" who inspired 2 Cor. 5:16. Jesus is still in the flesh post-resurrection, as proven to Thomas. He wants teachings while still in the flesh taught to all the world. But Paul in reliance on the "Jesus" he met says <em>NO! </em>This proves the message of 2 Cor. 5:16 is not a message from the true Jesus. Paul's "Jesus" contradicts completely the final words on Earth of the true Jesus. The true Jesus could only have meant that post-Ascension the apostles were to teach the <strong><em>pre-Cross</em></strong> teachings of the true Jesus when our Divine Lord was clearly "in the flesh."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Paul taught we are "no longer" to know Christ through the teachings of Jesus while in the flesh (2 Cor. 5:16), when the true Jesus says the opposite to His true Apostles in Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028:20&amp;version=NIV">28:20</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And the true Jesus gives us an ominous warning if we follow Paul's command to no longer know Jesus according to Jesus' teachings while in the flesh: "He who rejects me and <strong>does not receive my sayings</strong> has a judge; the word that I have spoken <strong>will be his judge</strong> on the last day." (John <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2012:48&amp;version=NIV">12:48</a>.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Conclusion</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While very weak efforts have been attempted by scholars to refute Bultmann -- Voulgaris, for example, argues that knowing Jesus "according to the flesh" in 5:16 means knowing Jesus "as a Jew" -- these efforts only strengthen one's confidence that Bultmann's reading is the correct one. Bultmann's view is also consistent with the reading in the early church of 2 Cor. 5:16, although the early church did not extrapolate that we should disregard Jesus in His earthly ministry. See our discussion of the various readings of 2 Cor. 5:16 at this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/177-2-corinthians-516.html">link</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This means, if Bultmann is correct, that Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16 deliberately sought to displace the commands that Jesus gave to his true apostles with a set of commands Paul got from a stranger who lacked flesh -- who could not have had the verifying evidence of scars and flesh-wounds that Thomas saw -- and who gave a direction to dispense with the words of Jesus's earthly ministry contrary to Christ's command in Matt. 28:20.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, <strong>if Bultmann is correct </strong>in his scholarly interpretation of 2 Cor. 5:16, and we have little reason to doubt it is correct, Paul was a<strong> total dupe of some strange figure who did not reveal any flesh, and this is why Paul assumed Jesus had solely a spiritual body. <span style="font-weight: normal;">This figure intended Paul not to see that he lacked the scars and nail-holes that would verify whether the blinding light and voice were from the true Jesus Himself.</span> The true Jesus would have no reason to conceal these wounds<span style="font-weight: normal;"> from Paul if Paul had met the true Jesus. Someone other than Jesus, however, would have motive to conceal his true identity from Paul, and thus only appear as a "voice" and "light," leading Paul to think Jesus no longer had a body of flesh in His resurrected state. </span></strong>We need not speculate on who that figure was of <strong>blinding</strong> light at this juncture. It is more important that we can say that we confidently know who it was NOT. If Bultmann is correct in interpreting Paul,<strong> it could not be the true Jesus.</strong></span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Further Study</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">On the Bible identifying Satan as Lucifer, an angel of blinding light -- in Hebrew <em>helel</em> -- from <em>Helios</em> -- the name of the "<strong><em>Sun-God</em></strong>" of paganism, see this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/223-who-is-the-blinding-angel-of-light.html">link.</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann has had a long acceptance among evangelicals. However, he was loose in terms of our NT text. He concluded any "I sayings" of Jesus in the Gospels were not actually uttered by Jesus. He says they came from the Palestinian or Hellenistic church. See&nbsp;Daniel S. Dapaah, <strong>The relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth</strong> (University Press of America, 2005) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=S0P18O3fGR4C&amp;lpg=PA33&amp;ots=1LXOZqgO25&amp;dq=%22The%20Gospel%20of%20Thomas%3A%20Does%20It%20Contain%20Authentic%20Sayings%20of%20Jesus%3F%22&amp;pg=PA14#v=onepage&amp;q=%22The%20Gospel%20of%20Thomas:%20Does%20It%20Contain%20Authentic%20Sayings%20of%20Jesus?%22&amp;f=false">14</a>-15. Professor Martin Hengel was the one evangelical scholar who tried to debunk Bultmann's pessimism about the authenticity of these portions of our NT. See<a href="http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2009/07/the_champion_wh.html"> this</a> <strong>Christianity Today</strong> discussion.</span></p>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;">2 Corinthians 5:16: Any Alternative to Bultmann's View That Destroys Paul?</span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What are the various historical interpretations of 2 Cor. 5:16? We are aware Bultmann saw it as Paul's direction that we no longer are to know Christ "according to the flesh," and now we know Jesus solely through His resurrected nature. Bultmann thus interpreted Paul as teaching we can safely ignore Jesus' pre-resurrection teachings, just as Paul had done. For a full discussion, see our webpage "<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/176-bultmann-on-paul.html">Bultmann's Exalting A Paul Who Treated Jesus as Irrelevant</a>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In this page, we will explore the scholarly attempt to rebut Bultmann. Volgouris will contend that Paul meant we no longer know Jesus as a Jew, but as a resurrected being. <br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even so, it does not negate Bultmann's understanding. <br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Volgouris' argument is frankly so weak and forced that it reminds us how likely accurate indeed is Bultmann's reading of Paul. (We of course at "Jesus Words Only" endorse Jesus' post-resurrection statement that the true apostles were instructed to "teach everything I have commanded you" - meaning teach what He commanded prior to His resurrection. Hence Paul's teaching as understood correctly, it appears, by Bultmann is falsified by Jesus himself.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">View That Christ's Teachings In The Flesh Are Unimportant Based Upon 2 Cor. 5:16</span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In the scholarly article by Christos Sp. Voulgaris, "2 Cor, 5:16 and the problem of St. Paul&rsquo;s opponents in Corinth," <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Theologia Review</span> 46 (Athens 1975), reprinted online at this link, he recognizes Bultmann's point. Voulgaris summarizes that Bultmann claimed that 2 Cor. 5:16 proves Paul's view was that it is irrelevant to know of the earthly teachings of Jesus. Voulgaris says 2 Cor. 5:16 highlights the</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">long debated problem of Paul&rsquo;s<em><strong> acquaintance with the historical person of Jesus Christ</strong></em>, either previous or subsequent to his conversion, and its legitimacy for salvation in Jesus Christ by faith, which he preached. Id.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Voulgaris goes back to Clement of Alexandria from the patristic era. Clement intended us to understand "according to the flesh" in 2 Cor. 5:16 to mean prior to Christ's exultation. After this point is implied "the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the believers, following Christ&rsquo;s exultation." (Christos Sp. Voulgaris, "2 Cor, 5:16 and the problem of st. Paul&rsquo;s opponents in Corinth," &nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Theologia Review</span> 46 (Athens 1975), reprinted online at this<a href="http://www.myriobiblos.gr/bible/studies/voulgaris_2cor5-16.asp"> link</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Clement's view coincides with Bultmann's view that "according to the flesh" meant the period prior to Christ's exultation / resurrection / ascension.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Voulgaris does not mention Origen, but Origen had a similar view that Paul's reference to Christ "in the flesh" meant a period prior to Jesus's exultation/ascension. Origen spoke of:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">announcing Himself as flesh, He calls to Himself those who are flesh, that He may in the first place cause them to be transformed according to the Word that was made flesh, and afterwards may lead them upwards to behold Him as He was <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>before He became flesh</strong></span>; so that they, receiving the benefit, and ascending from their great introduction to Him, which was according to the flesh, say, "Even if we have known Christ after the flesh, yet henceforth know we Him no more." (Origen <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Against Celsus</span> Book VI at 353.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But we, who can truthfully boast that "if we have once known Christ after the flesh, but now no longer do we know Him so," Origen <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Commentary on Matthew</span> Book XI at 177.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Later scholarship moved in the same direction. "Thus &laquo;???? ??????&raquo; is again referred to Christ&rsquo;s human existence &laquo;according to external distinctions&raquo;, &laquo;by what he is in the flesh&raquo;." (Voulgaris, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">id</span>., citing A. Plummer, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corintians</span> (I.C.C., 5th ed., Edinburgh 1956) at 176.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann pointed at the question of what does "according to the flesh" modify, for it affects interpretation. "R. Bultmann put it, whether &laquo;???? ??????&raquo; &laquo;??????&raquo; and&nbsp;&laquo;???????&raquo; or the verbs&nbsp;&laquo;???????&raquo;, &laquo;?????????&raquo; and &laquo;??????????&raquo;" (Voulgaris, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">id</span>., citing K. Grobel,<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Theology of the New Testament</span>, E.T. (New York: T.I.P., 1951) at 238-239. &nbsp;Cf. Bultmann, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Exegetische Probleme des zweien Korintherbriefes</span> (Uppsala 1947) at 17.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann leans towards "after the flesh" modifying the verbs:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann himself leans towards the second alternative...for he says that &laquo;&hellip;this decision means nothing for the sense of the total context, for a &lsquo;Christ regarded <strong>in the manner of the flesh</strong>&rsquo; is just what a &lsquo;<strong>Christ after the flesh</strong>&rsquo; is&raquo; (Voulgaris,<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> id</span>. citing<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Theology of the New Testament</span>, at 239.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann and Schweitzer took this then in the direction of what was supposedly the right gospel to preach -- just the Jesus that Paul knew - his kerygma, and not the one known by Apostles Matthew and John in their gospel accounts:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This, as we all know, has taken immense dimension ever since A. Schweitzer&rsquo;s &ldquo;Quest of the historical Jesus&rdquo;, and was climaxed in R. Bultmann&rsquo;s thought, where the emphasis lies not on the historical person of Christ &ldquo;according to the flesh&rdquo;, but rather on its existential meaningfulness proclaimed by the kerygma. (Voulgaris,<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> id</span>.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Voulgaris's Attempt To Find A Different Interpretation</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Voulgaris tries to refute that interpretation of verse 16 as seen by Bultman and Schweitzer by first examining its context:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">the highly theological expressions in vss. 14-21 exclude the possibility that Paul is here defending himself against charges that he had or had not known Christ &ldquo;according to the flesh,&rdquo; as all interpreters suggest. (Voulgaris,<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> id.</span>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Voulgaris begins his case by saying gar (for, because) in verse 13 proves vv 11-15 are one unit:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This means that vss. 11-15 are bound together and form a literary unit. (Voulgaris, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">id</span>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This does not necessarily follow. But it proves unimportant to dispute this.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, Voulgaris points to the topics in vv 14-15 are the same:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is further supported by the fact that the content of vss. 14 and 15 deal with the same concept, <em>i.e</em>. Christ&rsquo;s death and its effects upon men. (Voulgaris, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">id</span>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Third, Voulgaris concedes the grammar presents a problem, but tries to unravel it:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But this double &ldquo;????&rdquo; in the beginning of vss. 16 and 17 creates a confusion to the exegetes who regard it as introducing a double conclusion from vss. 11-15. &nbsp;And since, according to them, this cannot possibly be correct, they detach vs. 16 and connect vs. 17 with vs. 15 as its actual conclusion. &nbsp;(Voulgaris, id.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Fourth, Voulgaris reconstructs the conditions and results so v. 16 stands as part of the overall passage:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Grammatically, this is not so as overlooking certain facts, and first of all the fact that vs. 16 contains two complete clauses separated by a semicolon. &nbsp;This first clause (16a) is a result clause related directly to vss. 14-15. &nbsp;The second clause (16b) is a concessive clause introduced by&nbsp;&ldquo;?? ???&rdquo; which commonly admits that a condition exists (granting that), but does not regard it as a hindrance. &nbsp;Then vs. 17 begins naturally with a conditional sentence by &ldquo;????&rdquo; which gives it the form of a conclusion. &nbsp;This successive use of two consecutive clauses is not unusual, as W. Schmithals thinks, but it serves to emphasize the conclusion or expand it further into a new direction. (Voulgaris, id.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Finally, Voulgaris says this proves all the verses are conjoined on one topic:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Summing up, we believe that 2 Cor. 5:11-21 is a literary unit distinguished for its organic coherence.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But what does this prove? How does this impact interpetation? He says verse 16 is added to undermine the assumption of the opponents of Paul. But this seems in line with how Bultmann reads the passage. Voulgaris explains:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is followed by his conclusion (vs. 16) which is contrary to the assumption of his opponents (not stated but implied) and is expanded into a new direction (vs.17 which is developed then into a wider theological statement (vss.18ff). (Voulgaris, id.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Voulgaris then says for us to understand "according to the flesh" in verse 16 we should realize Paul has taught the abolition of the Law to the Corinthians:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The abolition of the law, of circumcision and of the descent from Abraham Paul had made absolutely clear to the Corinthians during his visit to them to preach the Gospel (cf.1 Cor. 2:1f) and repeated it in his first letter (1 Cor.1:22f; 7:17-20). &nbsp;He also stated here that &gt;????? ?? ???? ?????????? ?????? ???????????&rdquo; (1 Cor.7:17).</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The foregoing discussion helps us to understand better the meaning of &ldquo;???? ??????&rdquo; in vs. 16. (Voulgaris, id.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So what is this alternative interpretation?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Voulgaris says Paul used "flesh" in different ways in other passages. In Gal. 1:16, Paul used it in an expression to say "man as such." Paul did not discuss his divine call with "man as such." In Gal. 2:20, Paul uses it in a phrase to mean a natural human relationship, i.e., the bonds of Israel. In Romans 4:1 Paul speaks of Abraham as a natural human progenitor by this term "flesh." This leads to this conclusion by Voulgaris:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is to be noted that in all these cases &ldquo;???? ?????&rdquo; modifies substantives and the reference is to <em><strong>natural human relationship, precisely to the Jews</strong></em>. &nbsp;(Voulgaris, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">id</span>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This conclusion has been the aim of all Voulgaris' belabored steps.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, it is a bit of a leap to say "flesh" in verse 16 points to "Jews" because in those other contexts that it happens to be Jews according to the flesh was in view. It is an extrapolation or abstraction even in those other verses, and not what the word "flesh" actually means in them. More importantly, verse 16 of 2 Cor. does not limit the context to just Jews. Regardless, Voulgaris concludes -- and we include most of this so one can see the progression of his thought:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In view of this situation therefore, the dilemma posed by scholars with respect to the correct meaning of &ldquo;???? ?????&rdquo; in 2 Cor. 5:16 cannot be regarded as a dilemma at all. &nbsp;As in the other cases, so here, too, the reference is to natural human relationship. &nbsp;The background is the same. &nbsp;Paul refutes the ideas of his opponents referred to in vs. 12. &nbsp;****</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now on the basis of Paul&rsquo;s explanation, we can infer the nature of the ideas of his opponents. &nbsp;Paul&rsquo;s emphasis upon the universality of Christ&rsquo;s death and resurrection leaves no doubt that his adversaries tried to minimize the independence of the Gospel from the law and turn it into an internal affair of the Jewish national and religious system on the basis of Christ&rsquo;s descent &ldquo;???? ?????&rdquo; from Abraham. &nbsp;In other words, they tried to present Christ as one of the great teachers of Judaism. &nbsp;Undoubtedly this served the ultimate purpose of Judaism to maintain its national unity and eventually its very existence in view of the Church&rsquo;s expansion among Jews and Gentiles. &nbsp;This, as was noted, constituted the most serious threat against the Church&rsquo;s existence.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">****</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Against the Jewish misconceptions regarding the Gospel, Paul opposes Christ&rsquo;s love for all men stresses the universal character of his death. &nbsp;&lsquo;Christ&rsquo;s love, he says, forces us; &ldquo;??????? ????&rdquo; to assume that one died for all; therefore all died&rsquo; (vs. 14). &nbsp;In other words, Christ&rsquo;s death did not affect certain persons, but humanity &nbsp;as a whole in its very nature. &nbsp;And he died for all, he continues, so that those who live by having appropriated his death, &ldquo;?????? ??????? ????? ???? ?? ???? ????? ?????????? ??? ?????????&rdquo; (vs. 15). Therefore, from now on we regard no one according to his descent&nbsp;(&ldquo;???? ?????&rdquo;); and even though we have known Christ as a Jew according to his descent, we know him thus no longer (vs. 16). &nbsp;Thus whoever is in Christ, he is a new creation&nbsp;(&ldquo;????? ??????&rdquo;); the old standards have passed away, behold everything has become new (vs. 17).</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">That this thesis is absolutely in line with Paul&rsquo;s expressed elsewhere needs not be mentioned. &nbsp;(Voulgaris, id.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">My Comment on Voulgaris</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Voulgaris wants us to understand that verse 16 means "we have known Christ as a Jew" rather than we have known him "according to the flesh." Voulgaris built this grand scheme up to make a point that is simply counter-textual. Paul <strong>did not say "Jew" when he used the word "flesh" in the verse examples cited by Voulgaris</strong>. The claim "flesh" means as a "Jew" was an abstraction not an interpretation by Voulgaris of 5:16 and those supposed proof texts. Moreover, the literal usage of the term "flesh" in those other passages simply concretely dealt with people or events which differ from verse 16.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Moreover, even if one conceded Voulgaris's point, so what? It is still compatible with what Bultman said. For if we no longer know Jesus as a Jew, it means we no longer know Jesus when He preached the Law's continuity in Matthew 5:17-19, and quoted the Law repeatedly in His earthly ministry. If Paul no longer wants us to know Jesus was a Jewish prophet, as Voulgaris's contends, it still carries the implication of what Bultmann said was Paul's express meaning. We can &nbsp;supposedly dispense with the message of Jesus when in the flesh (of a Jew) and who taught Jewish legal principles because Paul allegedly has the greater message that the Law is abolished.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Indeed, Voulgaris himself says Paul declared the Law abolished, and thus the refutation of Jesus's words in Matt. 5:17-19 by Paul is plain and clear even in Voulgaris's mind. So whether "in the flesh" meant as a pre-ascension human as Bultmann claimed or as a Jew, as Voulgaris claimed, Paul meant for us to no longer know Jesus through that period of His teachings. We are supposedly only to know Jesus through the post-Ascension period which prior to John's Revelation would mean we were 100% to know Christ through Paul's gospel.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In sum, Voulgaris's highly strained argument which makes no great advance on reading the passage. Bultmann's reading thus appear that much stronger. This is especially true if this is the kind of case one must raise to fight against it.</span></p>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Carlstadt: Elevating Jesus Over Paul</span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In 1517, Andreas Bodenstein von Carlstadt (or Karlstadt) (1486-1541) and Luther began the Reformation together. (See <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hruQ386SfFcC&amp;lpg=RA1-PA254&amp;dq=Canonicis%20Scripturis%20karlstadt&amp;pg=RA1-PA253#v=onepage&amp;q=Canonicis%20Scripturis%20karlstadt&amp;f=false">bio</a> by Beitenholz; see also "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Karlstadt">Carlstadt</a>," <em>Wikipedia</em>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, Carlstadt was as much or more of the Reformation's founder than Luther. This fact is obscured because of a later falling out between Carlstadt and Luther over their differences on issues like Paul. How Luther expelled Carlstadt and his followers from the Reform movement, see our&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/111-luther-killed-jwo.html">webpage</a> on those issues.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One of the key issues that divided these two men was Carlstadt's clear position in 1520 which held that <strong><em>Jesus's words hold supremacy over those of Paul's</em></strong>, and hence James's epistle is not to be dismissed as canon merely upon the fact it contradicts Paul.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This issue is discussed in detail in Charles Beard's&nbsp;<em>Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany</em> (1889). Beard explains that Carlstadt's treatise<em> De Canonicis Scripturis</em> (Wittenb. 1520) divided the NT similar to how the Jews had divided the OT canon -- Law, Prophets and Writings. (For a graphic on how the OT was originally divided, go to this <a href="http://www.originalbiblerestored.com/bibleorder.html">link</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For the NT, Carlstadt made a parallel division: (1) the Gospel and Acts were of first rank; (2) the 16 Epistles comprising Paul and 1 John and 1 Peter were of second rank; and (3) Revelation, and the remaining epistles, including Hebrews were in third rank. (Bleek: <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=d9oUAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=Canonicis%20Scripturis%20karlstadt&amp;pg=PA274#v=onepage&amp;q=Canonicis%20Scripturis%20karlstadt&amp;f=false">274</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">By doing so, Carlstadt placed <strong><em>Paul's words as inferior to Christ's words</em></strong> in the Gospels, just as in the Jewish canon every Prophet was viewed inferior to Moses's words in the Law. Beard explains:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"But his most remarkable position -- one which Luther would have fiercely contested -- ...is that the first [books of the NT] are to be preferred to that of the second....<strong><em>On this ground, the word of Paul is not to be put on a level with that of Christ</em></strong>." (Reprint 2009 at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=emIdSf6gTR0C&amp;lpg=PA278&amp;ots=k26bn6FeJ5&amp;dq=carlstadt%20canon%20paul&amp;pg=PA278#v=onepage&amp;q=carlstadt%20canon%20paul&amp;f=false"> 278</a>; 1896 edition at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=YlzNSeh7YgMC&amp;dq=Paulinum%20sub%20literis&amp;pg=PA401#v=onepage&amp;q=Paulinum%20sub%20literis&amp;f=false">401</a>, quoting Carlstadt, <em>De Canonicis Scripturis</em> (ed. Credner) section 161)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Beard cited the Latin which supported this conclusion in which Carlstadt wrote:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Oportet enim servos dominis obsequi, atque sicut Spiritus Apostoli in came non fuit par vel major Domino, ita quoque pectus <em><strong>Paulinum sub literis non habet autoritatus tantundem, quantum habet Christus</strong></em>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In translation, Carlstadt said:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is necessary in fact to preserve obedience to the Lord, and as the Spirit of the Apostles is not a guide equal or greater than the Lord, thus also the heart of<em><strong> Paul within his letters does not have as much authority as has Christ</strong></em>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Beard correctly understands Carlstadt's principle as meaning that Pauline doctrine could not thrive unless one could find the same message in Christ's words:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Plainly the adoption of Carlstadt's principle would have made it impossible for the Reformer to embrace <strong><em>a Pauline theology</em></strong>, <strong><em>except under the condition</em></strong> of<em><strong> finding it</strong></em> in the books of first and greatest authority, <strong><em>the Gospels themselves</em></strong>. <em>Id.</em>, (1896) at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=YlzNSeh7YgMC&amp;dq=Paulinum%20sub%20literis&amp;pg=PA401#v=onepage&amp;q=Paulinum%20sub%20literis&amp;f=false"> 401</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And while Luther rejected James' epistle because it contradicted Paul, Carlstadt instead put James and Paul on the same level. Thus, neither could cancel the other out. Carlstadt's defense of James caused a "rift" between Luther and Carlstadt. (Beitenholz:<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hruQ386SfFcC&amp;lpg=RA1-PA254&amp;dq=Canonicis%20Scripturis%20karlstadt&amp;pg=RA1-PA254#v=onepage&amp;q=Canonicis%20Scripturis%20karlstadt&amp;f=false"> 254</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(Luther instead used subjective criteria, mainly derived from Paul's Gospel, to reject four NT books which are still recognized canon today, <em>i.e.</em>, Revelation, James, Jude and Hebrews. Luther also dismissed&nbsp;Esther, Job, and Chronicles. See our page on <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/219-luther-and-canon.html">Luther and canon</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Beard <strong><em>incorrectly</em></strong> then concluded these points by Carlstadt had little influence upon the Reformation. Instead, they were highly influential. In fact, Luther had to use considerable influence and civil authorities to crush the Protestant movement in Germany under Carlstadt that shared this perspective. See our webpage on<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/111-luther-killed-jwo.html"> Luther's Crushing the JWO movement in the Reformation</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Schaff in&nbsp;<em>History of the Christian Church</em> (Scribner: 1888) , Volume 6 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=KmAsAAAAYAAJ&amp;lpg=PA35&amp;ots=pyhPQ8DDiO&amp;pg=PA35#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">35</a> fn. 1, similarly summarized Carlstadt's book of 1520. Carlstadt put Moses and Jesus in first priority in canon, while the prophets and epistles regardless of authorship were in second tier:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In this distinction Carlstadt had preceded him in his book,&nbsp;<em>De Canon. Scripturis </em>(Wittenb. 1520, reprinted in Credner's&nbsp;<em>Zar Gesch. des Kanons, </em>1847, p. 291&mdash; 412). Carlstadt divided the books of the canon into three&nbsp;<em>ordines: </em>(1)&nbsp;<em>libri <strong>summae dignitatis </strong></em>(the Pentateuch...and <em><strong>the Gospels</strong></em>); (2)<em><strong> secundae dignitatis</strong></em><em> </em>(the Prophets and <strong><em>15 Epistles</em></strong>); (3)&nbsp;<em>tertiae dignitatis </em>(the Jewish Hagiographa and the seven Antilegomena of the New Testament).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One of the motivations of Carlstadt was he thought Luther too easily dismissed the book of James as not valid. If Paul is in first priority, the fact James contradicts Paul would require exclusion of James from canon, as Luther essentially did. If, however, Paul and James stood on the same second level of authority, then it was for the reader to determine which of the two was correct in light of first tier works such as the Torah and/or the words of Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is clear that Carlstadt feared a salvation doctrine would arise that omitted Jesus's requirements of works/repentance besides faith. Specifically, on the issue of Luther's decision to exclude James, Carlstadt expressed the fear that <strong><em>faith alone without love</em></strong> would now reign as the gospel instead of what Jesus taught. Carlstadt wrote:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"I am grieved by the bold deprecation of James [by Luther].... Beware that you do not take a paper and&nbsp;<strong><em>loveless faith</em></strong> for the greatest work." (George H. Williams,&nbsp;<em>The Radical Reformation</em> (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962) at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?ei=j8KVTIOVN4P0tgOrtonACg&amp;ct=result&amp;id=apwIAQAAIAAJ&amp;dq=george+williams+radical+reformation&amp;q=greatest+work#search_anchor"> 40</a>, quoting Carlstadt <em>Canonicis</em>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt's fear soon became reality as 'sola fide' without any works (love or otherwise) became Luther's rallying cry.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Ironically, Luther later realized this was a mistake to teach as the path for salvation for a Christian. From 1530 onward, Luther, Bucer and Melancthon tried to restore Jesus' doctrine in the '<strong><em>double justification</em></strong>' movement. By 1541, their efforts almost bore fruit. Then after Luther's death in 1546, Melancthon made double justification official Lutheran doctrine. However, after Melancthon's death, in 1580 Lutheranism reverted back to Luther's young ideas, and officially made 'faith alone' the means of salvation for both the non-believer and the Christian. For a detailed history of the 'faith alone' fiasco in the Reformation and Luther's ultimately unsuccessful effort to reverse himself by the 'double-justification' solution, see our [1] <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/227-preface-2-jwos.html">Preface</a> to <em>Jesus Words on Salvation </em>and [2] our article "<a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/226-george-major-and-melancthon.html">George Major and&nbsp;Melancthon</a>."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">STUDY NOTES</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt aka Karlstadt believed that his view of salvation requiring obedience/works was still consistent with justification by faith, and not the deeds of the law. His idea was very similar to the double-justification solution that Luther, Melancthon and Bucer pushed in the ecumenical conference of 1541. Carlstadt said that once the Spirit was reborn by faith, it is now free to do righteousness, and hence the spirit, and not the will unaided, will produce righteousness that justifies the man. See&nbsp;Ronald J. Sider,&nbsp;<em>Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt: the development of his thought, 1517-1525</em> (Brill, 1974) at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=tI2-w1GKVucC&amp;lpg=PA88&amp;dq=De%20Canonicis%20Scripturis%20Credner&amp;pg=PA31#v=onepage&amp;q=paul&amp;f=false"> 31</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt's book <em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=gplvQAAACAAJ">Canonicis Scripturis</a></em><em> </em>was&nbsp;reprinted by Karl August Credner in <em>Zur Geschichte des Kanons</em> (1847) at pages 291-412.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt came to reject predestination. He taught we have the ability to choose to believe and obey; God does not force anyone into disobedience and unbelief. Otherwise, God would become the author of evil. (Madeleine Grey, <em>The Protestant Reformation</em> (Sussex Academic Press, 2003 ) at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Z1qRnlLwWsgC&amp;lpg=PA34&amp;ots=qi-FZCcgOC&amp;dq=andreas%20karlstadt%20writings&amp;pg=PA34#v=onepage&amp;q=andreas%20karlstadt%20writings&amp;f=false"> 34</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt in his pamphlet "Regarding the Sabbath and the Statutory Holy Days" depicted the Law as a positive. It was a guide to make us more like God in character. "It arouses our desire to become holy as God is holy." &nbsp;(Edward Allen, "<a href="http://www.auss.info/auss_publication_file.php?pub_id=1119&amp;journal=1&amp;type=pdf">Was Karlstadt a Proto-Sabbatarian</a>," <em>Seminary Studies</em> 44 (Spring 2006) at 134.) "God has given us His commandments and counsels that we might become holy and conformed to God, which is to be like God, and as he is. Thus the Sabbath has become instituted by God that we might desire to become holy and is holy, and rest like Him, letting go of our works as He did." <em>Id.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The young Luther of 1525 condemned Carlstadt's positive view on the Law:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We must &nbsp;see to it that we retain Christian freedom and<strong><em> do not force such laws and works on the Christian conscience, as if one &nbsp;through them were upright or a sinner</em></strong>. Here questions are in order concerning the place which images, foods, clothing, places, persons, and all such external things, etc., ought to have. . . . From which you now see that Dr. Karlstadt and his spirits&nbsp;<strong><em>replace the highest with the lowest</em></strong>, the best with the least, the first with the last. Yet &nbsp;he &nbsp;would &nbsp;be considered the greatest spirit of &nbsp;all, &nbsp;he &nbsp;who &nbsp;has devoured the Holy Spirit feathers and all." (Luther, "Against &nbsp;the &nbsp;Heavenly &nbsp;Prophets in the Matter &nbsp;of &nbsp;Images and Sacraments" &nbsp;(1525), &nbsp;in Luther &nbsp;<em>Works</em> 40, ed. &nbsp;Conrad Bergendoff &nbsp;(Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1958) at 83.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt's view of the Law sharply contrasts with the young Luther's view which gave the Law only two functions: one for the magistrates to correct us and second for us to know our need for grace.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt elevated Sabbath to a high level:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"All who<strong><em> desire to be &nbsp;saved </em></strong>have been given and commanded the Sabbath."&nbsp;&nbsp;Bodenstein von Karlstadt, "On the Sabbath," in <em>The Essential Carlstadt:&nbsp;Fifteen Tracts</em>, trans. and ed. E. J. Furcha (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1995) at 320-21.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Carlstadt also did not highly regard the Book of Revelation. It was a book in the "third order," which he did not "reject" (as Luther did outright for the early part of his career) but did not give it as much authority as other books. (<em>Penny cyclopaedia</em> (The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 1833) Vol. I at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=swsDAAAAYAAJ&amp;lpg=RA1-PA162&amp;ots=r2pDXHVLsH&amp;dq=carlstadt%20view%20apostle%20paul&amp;pg=RA1-PA162#v=onepage&amp;q=carlstadt%20view%20apostle%20paul&amp;f=false">162</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Lutheran Historians Demonizing Carlstadt</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If you want to see religious propaganda against Carlstadt at its worst, read Ernst Bruegemann's The Life of Dr. Martin Luther</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;(Concordia Publishing House, 1904). He places Carlstadt among those who supposedly wanted to kill all priests and ungodly men and were dangerous "fanatics," involved in "communism and anarchism." We read at pages&nbsp;</span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=IOArAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=martin%20cellarius&amp;pg=PA56#v=onepage&amp;q=martin%20cellarius&amp;f=false" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">56</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;and 57.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=IOArAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=martin%20cellarius&amp;pg=PA56&amp;ci=181%2C758%2C731%2C515&amp;source=bookclip"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=IOArAAAAYAAJ&amp;pg=PA56&amp;img=1&amp;zoom=3&amp;hl=en&amp;sig=ACfU3U1FQQTKOgx7JdqVkhn0n9NbPPK9Rg&amp;ci=181%2C758%2C731%2C515&amp;edge=0" alt="" /></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=IOArAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=martin%20cellarius&amp;pg=PA57&amp;ci=83%2C147%2C733%2C193&amp;source=bookclip" style="line-height: 1.3em;"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=IOArAAAAYAAJ&amp;pg=PA57&amp;img=1&amp;zoom=3&amp;hl=en&amp;sig=ACfU3U1tLmEN74FWaXep-Aml0lV8Lfqohg&amp;ci=83%2C147%2C733%2C193&amp;edge=0" alt="" /></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Cellarius, for example, was a well-educated and scholarly theologian never guilty of such behavior. See "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Cellarius">Cellarius</a>," Wikipedia. He was indeed anti-trinitarian, but this did not place him among an unsavory murderous lot of men.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Who were these Zwichau prophets? Were they murderous fanatics, engaging in communism and anarchism? The Zwickau prophets were claiming a charismatic experience with the Holy Spirit:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"<span data-mce-mark="1">A group of Anabaptists claimed to be receiving direct divine inspiration. They were known as the Zwickau prophets." (<a href="http://www.dtl.org/hardcopy/charismatic.htm">Test the Spirits</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">Carter Lindberg says the Zwickau prophets were Carlstadt (aka Karlstadt) and Muntzer. But this is false: Carlstadt was not one of them. The Wikipedia gets this right although it exaggerates as "atrocities" the cost in human life due to a justified rebellion against tyranny that was ruthlessly suppressed at Luther's urging. We read:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">Preachers such as Zwickau prophet Nicholas Storch and Thomas M&uuml;ntzer helped instigate the German Peasants' War of 1524&ndash;25, during which many atrocities were committed, often in Luther's name. ("<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther">Martin Luthe</a>r," Wikipedia.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Lindberg next lumps Carlstadt with Muntzer, and then says that based upon these two men, "Luther created <em><strong>a stereotype</strong></em> which he then found...confirmed in the Peasant's War." (Lindberg, <em>The Third Reformation</em> (Mercer, 1983) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=gz7K5jJxbRUC&amp;lpg=PA125&amp;ots=Ty7VqdT2yP&amp;dq=zwickau%20prophets%20charismatic%20movement&amp;pg=PA125#v=onepage&amp;q=zwickau%20prophets%20charismatic%20movement&amp;f=false">125</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">That is, Luther made up the stereotype that associated Carlstadt with the Peasants War. Lindberg is correct to that extent. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But what Lindberg does not realize is that Lutherans exaggerated the Peasants War beyond belief into allegations that the peasants were murderous, anarchistic, and Communists. But these stereotypes were false through and through, both in drawing any connection between Carlstadt and the Peasants War, and then between the Peasants and allegations of being unjusfiedly murderous, as well as anarchistic and communist.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What is interesting is that Lutheran propagandists ignore that Karlstadt and Luther worked together to have Karlstadt publish a work to deny his involvement in the Peasants' War, and Luther even wrote an introduction.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When the Peasant War broke out, Karlstadt was threatened and wrote to Luther and asked for assistance. Luther took him in, and Karlstadt lived secretly in Luther's house for eight weeks. However, Karlstadt had to sign a pseudo retraction, titled &ldquo;Apology by Dr. Andreas Karlstadt Regarding the False Charge of Insurrection Which has Unjustly Been Made Against Him.&rdquo; It also contained a preface by Luther. ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Karlstadt">Andreas Karlstadt,</a>" Wikipedia.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Lindberg alludes to this preface by Luther as a "generous deed" on page 126 of his work <em>The Third Reformation:</em></span><br /></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><img src="/images/luther_preface_for_karlstadt.png" alt="luther preface for karlstadt" width="620" height="181" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, it was not so generously treated by subsequent Lutherans who listened only to Luther's earlier rhetoric, and not the language of the Preface to Carlstadt's <em>Apology</em>.&nbsp;Forgetting this event between Luther and Carlstadt, where Luther demanded Carlstadt explain his teachings that the Peasants copied (having no priests, no pastors, and all were brothers), and make sure Karlstadt declare himself not in support of the Brethren movement. But that apology hardly justifies that one concluded Karlstadt instigated it. Especially in light of this episode which all Lutheran historians know about, but typically do not shed much light upon. Brueggeman must be deemed at the top of that list</span>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What was Luther's earlier rhetoric? He blamed Carlstadt for the violence in the Peasants' War although Carlstadt (unlike Luther) always preached non-violence. Here is the Wikipedia discussion of what preceded the Apology discussion:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;">On 22 August 1524, Luther preached in&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Jena">Jena</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;">. Karlstadt hid in the crowd during Luther&rsquo;s preaching, and wrote to Luther, asking to see him. This led to the well-known confrontation at the Black Bear Inn in a conversation recorded by a Martin Reinhardt and published within a month. There were a number of misunderstandings between the two men. For example, Luther said that he was convinced that Karlstadt had revolutionary tendencies, despite the fact that Karlstadt had all along rejected violence in the name of religion, and rejected&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M%C3%BCntzer" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Thomas M&uuml;ntzer">Thomas M&uuml;ntzer's</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;">&nbsp;invitation to join the League of the Elect. Karlstadt's answer was published in 1524 in Wittenberg, and is still extant. This showed that Karlstadt continued to reject the violence that led to the&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Peasants%27_War" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="German Peasants' War">German Peasants' War</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;">. Another defamation was Luther's accusation that Karlstadt was not authorized to preach at the city church in Wittenberg during Luther&rsquo;s stay at Wartburg. The conversation ended when Luther gave Karlstadt a&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilder" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Guilder">guilder</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;">&nbsp;and told him to write against him. In September 1524 Karlstadt was exiled from Saxony by</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_III,_Elector_of_Saxony" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Frederick III, Elector of Saxony">Frederick the Wise</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;">&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George,_Duke_of_Saxony" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="George, Duke of Saxony">George, Duke of Saxony</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;">. Luther also wrote against Karlstadt in his 1526&nbsp;</span><em style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sacrament_of_the_Body_and_Blood_of_Christ%E2%80%94Against_the_Fanatics" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none;" title="The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ&mdash;Against the Fanatics">The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ&mdash;Against the Fanatics</a></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;">. ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Karlstadt">Andreas Karlstadt</a>,"&nbsp;<em>Wikipedia.)</em></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In other words, Luther knew and had a witness to prove it that Carlstadt did not support violence, and did not support the Peasant's War. Only Luther had prior to the rebellion urged violence by Christians against Roman Catholic authorities. But Luther was willing to scapegoat his old partner, blame him for it all - even as the Peasants rebelled -- even though the peasants only cited Luther's words as their support, and then castigated Carlstadt on any religious topic Luther chose, e.g., in 1526, the issues about the Sacraments. (There Luther flip-flopped, and claimed now that the communion truly transformed the wine into Christ's blood, and the bread into Christ's body, which he and Carlstadt previously agreed was symbolic.)</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Bibliography</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/29696947/The-Essential-Carlstadt-Fifteen-Tracts-by-Andreas-Bodenstein">The Essential Carlstadt</a> -- 15 tracts (Scribd)</span></p> </td>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Examples of Paulinism Defended</span></strong></span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Here are various defenders that Paul's Gospel of Grace supplants Jesus's Gospel of Salvation, and justifies ignoring Jesus's words or regarding words in Matthew attributed to Jesus as inauthentic.</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Richard Jordan, President Grace School of the Bible</span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In this YouTube video with the title <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxpR4kgy3AQ&amp;feature=youtu.be">Christian Prayer, How to Pray to God</a>, Richard Jordan defends that nothing Jesus taught applies to us. Only what Paul taught, first recorded in Acts and continued in the Epistles, applies to us today.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">I found this video on April 27, 2016 simply by accident. I was trying to learn how to pray better. I chose this video with no purpose to find yet another extraordinary and shocking example of Paulinism.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Richard Jordan beginning at 4:57 minutes into the video says most Churches teach things that "have nothing to do with the dispensation of grace" that applies today -- most teach Jesus' words in his earthly ministry which Jordan says is an error, for those words of Jesus supposedly have no validity for today; only Paul's word are valid today.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jordan says </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"when you go back to the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, ....where He is proclaiming what He calls the Gospel of the Kingdom....Jesus then dies, is crucified and resurrected, and then the Holy Spirit comes in the Book of Acts. [6:01] When you go back into these books back here [underscoring with chalk on a board the 4 gospels], and you try to go back there and get your prayer promises, and your prayer instructions, you're gonna have a problem ...because&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John where Christ is preaching the kingdom has nothing to do...those are instructions that have nothing to do with what God is doing today in the dispensation of the grace of God</strong>....</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If you relax a minute, and don't blow a gasket, just take a minute and relax, take a deep breath, ...I know what I am saying to some people is <strong>shocking</strong>. Is jarring. But I just challenge you. ...Look at Romans 15 verse 8, "Now I say Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision." So here is back in his ministry in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and he [Paul] says He is a minister of the circumcision"...'to confirm the truth of God to confirm the promises to the fathers.' These are promises God made to the nation of Israel. And Jesus came in his earthly ministry to do what? He came to confirm those promises. ... You see the message that Jesus Christ is preaching about this coming over here [i.e., a later point in a time line] setting up a kingdom delivering the nation of Israel from the wrath of God in the tribulation period.... In Matthew 4:23 ...Jesus is preaching the gospel of the kingdom. </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>What you have back here in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is you have a Jewish Messiah preaching a Jewish message to the nation of Israel about the kingdom that is coming....He is Israel's Messiah. He has come as the minister of Israel. And he is preaching about Israel's coming kingdom</strong>....</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus told his disciples that He was sent to the Lost Sheep of Israel....It doesn't mean God does not care about the Gentiles. It just meant the salvation of God would go through Israel down here to the Gentiles. The blessing of God is going to go to the Gentiles out here [i.e., the time when we are in the tribulation with the Anti-Christ]. In order for Gentiles to get it, Israel has to be converted. "All Israel will be saved," as it is written [by Paul]. That's what prophecy is about. That is what the kingdom program is about. [10:38] </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are about that issue</strong>....</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The message you hear today, of most churches, most preaching you hear today is really the kingdom Gospel, the kingdom commission, the kingdom signs, the kingdom<strong><em> laws</em></strong>, the kingdom principles, and the kingdom promises. And when you go back here and try to take those Jewish kingdom promises, and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>put them on us today</strong>.. where <strong>Christ in heaven has been revealed through Apostle Paul -- a new ministry</strong> --&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">for the church, the body of Christ -- this was kept a secret [11:20] -- these people [i.e., pointing to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John] <em><strong>did not know about it back here</strong></em>. He doesn't reveal it until you come to the ministry of Paul. The body of Christ where there is no Jew or Gentile...but were one in Christ. When you get over here [i.e., Paul's ministry] and you go back there [i.e., Jesus' earthly ministry] and take that information [i.e,. Jesus' teachings] and put it over here, well that's when you must be rightly dividing the word of truth. If you don't make that distinction that God makes, you are <strong><em>going to end up with heartache and ruin</em></strong>. You're going to try to talk to God on a basis that He is not talking to you. ...You gotta get in your book, and <em><strong>rightly divide your book</strong></em>, so you can see what God is doing today. And the <strong>dispensation of Grace is found in the books of Romans to Philemon</strong>. That's where we are today in the dispensation of grace....If you <em><strong>claim promises back over here</strong></em> [i.e., Jesus' earthly ministry], they are going to <em><strong>just be a burden.</strong></em>&nbsp;[13:01]</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Pettingill &amp; Torrey, 1997</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In <strong><em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZY1LAAAACAAJ">1001 Bible Questions Answered</a></em></strong>, two evangelical scholars -- Pettingill and Torrey -- write that Jesus's Gospel is not to be taught until the tribulation; for now we are only to teach what Paul taught -- a gospel of grace.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We are convinced that this [<em>i.e.</em>, the belief that the church was commissioned to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom] is in <strong><em>error</em></strong>. It would be a strange thing to find the Church's commission in the Kingdom Gospel. (William Pettingill and R.A. Torrey,&nbsp;<strong><em>1001 Bible Questions Answered</em></strong> (Inspirational Press, 1997) at 120.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">They continue:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">I have long been convinced, and have taught that the<strong><em> Great Commission</em></strong> of Matthew 28:19-20 is <em><strong>primarily applicable to the kingdom</strong></em> rather than to the Church. If this were kept in mind we should not fall into confusion regarding our marching orders, which are found in Acts 1:8, with details in the Epistles to the Churches. <strong><em>The Matthew commission</em></strong> [<em>i.e.</em>, the command to preach Jesus's commands] will come into force for the Jewish Remnant<strong><em> after the Church is caught away</em></strong>. (<em>Id.</em>,&nbsp;<strong><em>1001 Bible Questions Answered</em></strong>, at 127</span>.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But it gets worse:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Mark's Gospel, like Matthew's and Luke's is primarily a kingdom book, and I am satisfied that <strong><em>none of them contains the Church's marching orders</em></strong> -- not even the so-called Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20....To be sure, we are to preach the gospel to every creature but what Gospel? The only gospel known to the synoptics was the gospel of the kingdom. <strong><em>Our gospel of the kingdom [i.e., the one that he thinks matches Paul] is found among the four evangelists only in John</em></strong>.&nbsp;(<em>Id.</em>,&nbsp;<strong><em>1001 Bible Questions Answered</em></strong>, at 113.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">They mean John supposedly speaks of Paul's faith-alone gospel in a few verses, and those apply today, but all the faith-plus-works and follow-the-Law teachings of Jesus are supposedly effective only in the future during the tribulation.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally, their reading of John's gospel toward this end depends upon the modern mistranslation of<strong> pisteousin</strong> by Luther and our English translators. It was partly innocent because scholars had not found out yet in the 1500s that the Greek Septuagint of 257 BC rendered 'obeying' by the verb <em><strong>pisteuo</strong>. </em>Hence, the Septuagint Greek Bible was only dissected in the modern age, and it now allows us to unlock pisteousin (the present participle active form of <em>pisteuo</em>). This important change&nbsp;has been resisted due to centuries of dogma based upon its inadvertent mistranslation by Luther in 1522. For discussion, see our webpage on <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/161-chapter-26-1jwos.html">the erroneous translation of John 3:16</a>.</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Zwingli, 1520s</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In the Reformation, Zwingli believed Paul's epistles supplanted any need to focus on the words of Christ. "Zwingli's copy of the NT was&nbsp;<strong><em>confined to Paul's Epistles</em></strong> and Hebrews." (Schaff,&nbsp;<strong><em>Creeds of Christendom</em></strong> Vol. 1 sec.&nbsp;<a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TyAoqFIemNwJ:www.lectionist.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.ix.ii.i.html%3FscrBook%3DGal%26scrCh%3D5%26scrV%3D1+carlstadt+paul's+epistles&amp;cd=172&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=us">51</a>.)</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">E.P Sanders's Preferred Anti-Law Gospel Renders "Inauthentic" Any Law-Emphasizing Doctrine of Jesus in Matthew or Luke</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Ed Parish Sanders is a New Testament scholar renown as "the principal proponents of the New Perspective on Paul." ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._P._Sanders">E.P. Sanders</a>," <strong><em>Wikipedia</em></strong>.) His perspective places Paul as dealing with contemporary issues of Judaism, and whether its customs and laws made one superior versus Hellenistic customs and laws. Paul supposedly said the law did not have this effect, and Jews were not superior to Gentiles for obeying their Torah.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In 1985, Sanders wrote that the Jesus of Matthew 23 who excoriates the Pharisees for not following the Law enough cannot possibly be the "historical" Jesus, <em>i.e.</em>, these are not truly Jesus' words. Why? Obviously because they conflict with Paul's views of the Pharisees as legalists (when Jesus says they are not, but too lax. See Matt. 23:23). Here are Sanders' words:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As I argued in the preceding chapter, the Jesus of Matt. 23:5-7, 23-26 is <strong><em>not the historical Jesus</em></strong>. He is one who objects to the Pharisees because they are <strong><em>not righteous enough</em></strong>, and he favors <strong><em>a higher righteousness according to the law</em></strong>, while not denying any of the law, even its minutiae (see also Matt. 5:17-20, 43-8, 6:1-8, 16-18). Further, the charges of Matt. 23 are related to the use of tax collector to mean 'outsider,' which I take <strong><em>not to be an authentic saying of Jesus</em></strong>....We can be certain that Jesus did not use 'tax collector' as it is used in Matt. 5:46, and this counts <em><strong>against the authenticity of the passage</strong></em> on the hypocrites. [Matt.](6:1-4, 5-8, 16-18), and consequently<strong><em> against the authenticity of the charges against the Pharisees in Matt. 23</em></strong>.&nbsp;(E.P. Sanders, <strong><em>Jesus and Judaism</em></strong> (Foretress Press: 1985) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Ng9JaKKaeCIC&amp;lpg=PA277&amp;dq=jesus%20obey%20the%20pharisees&amp;pg=PA277#v=onepage&amp;q=jesus%20obey%20the%20pharisees&amp;f=false">277</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, Sanders simply eliminates any emphasis by Jesus upon righteousness from the Law because it does not fit Paul's view that the Pharisees were strict in obeying the Law. However, as we demonstrate elsewhere, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Josephus both record the Pharisees were lax on the Law, while esteeming their own traditions not found in the Law. Jesus was right they were lax; Paul was wrong that they were strict adherents to the Law. See our<a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/127-chapter-9-jwos-pharisees.html"> chapter nine</a> from JWOS.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What Sanders overlooks, but implicitly negates, is that Luke has Jesus give a virtually identical message to Matthew 5:17-19 on the Law never being abolished until all generations cease in Luke 16.</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Carl Stange: Lutheran Who Paulinizes Jesus' Message</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Carl Stange wrote an influential article in 1924 entitled "Zur Ethik der Bergpredigt," in <strong><em>Zeitschrieft fur Systematische Theologie </em></strong>at 58. The Paulinizing aspects of this are summarized in an article entitled "Carl Stange, Lutheran Paulinizing of Jesus's Message." It can be found in Clarence Bauman's book<em>, <strong>The Sermon on the Mount: Its Modern Quest for Meaning</strong></em> at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=EFrsW_cJTFYC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;pg=PA177#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">177</a>. [Google books displays a different title, but this is a typo.]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">One of the quotes Bauman cites from Stange is:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Fellowship with God is not achieved through ethical performance. From an ethical standpoint, it is a derogation of the idea of the good to seek its realization by <strong><em>imitating Jesus</em></strong>. The teaching about the ideal.... only serves to make plain the reprehensibility of the human condition... The meaning of the moral demand is not that it gives us the power for the good but rather that it shows us <em><strong>our impotence for the good</strong></em>." <em>Id.</em>, at 177, quoting Stange, <strong><em>Zur Ethik</em></strong>, at 59.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Stange is thus deliberately saying Jesus is not an example to imitate. Such effort would supposedly "derogate" the very notion of what it means to be good. And any of Jesus's commands to be good were not intended to incite obedience, but rather the realization of our weakness that we can ever truly obey God. This is solely derived from Paul being superimposed on Jesus's words.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Professor Bauman aptly summarizes the message of Stange:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Stange&rsquo;s central axiom is derived <strong><em>not from Jesus but from Paul </em></strong>and reflects <strong><em>not the content of the Sermon on the Mount</em></strong> but the influence of Reformation dogma."</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Stange made claims about the Sermon on the Mount which its content does not validate. He <strong>read into it theories and experiences foreign to its sphere</strong>. Stange&rsquo;s misinterpretation of the Sermon on the Mount exemplifies the characteristically Lutheran hermeneutical incongruity of <strong><em>superimposing upon the teaching of Jesus the theology of Paul</em></strong>." (Baumann, <em>id., </em>at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=EFrsW_cJTFYC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;pg=PA185#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">185</a>.)</span></p>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus Had Supposedly No Inspiration Until He Spoke to Paul!</span></strong></span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Dr. Dubose taught at the University of the South whose review was the <em><strong>Sewanee Review</strong>. </em>Dubose was in the Theology Department. Dubose in effect, in conjunction with this 'review,' taught Jesus did not truly speak with inspiration until the messages He gave Paul when resurrected because Jesus only then supposedly for the first time spoke with true inspiration.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First, let's begin with the book review entitled &ldquo;Dr. Dubose's Gospel in the Gospels,&rdquo;&nbsp;<strong><em>Sewanee Review</em></strong> (University of the South: 1907) at 113. It explains Paul with &ldquo;extreme rarity&rdquo; mentions any words from Jesus. This makes Paul&rsquo;s doctrine comprise a &ldquo;fifth gospel&rdquo; which has virtually nothing in common with the four gospels.&nbsp;Instead, &ldquo;the Gospel, as [Paul] understands it, is&nbsp;<strong><em>not the teaching of Jesus while on earth, nor even His life on earth,</em></strong> but the work and the Person of the Risen Christ...The Risen Christ is St. Paul&rsquo;s Gospel.&rdquo;&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=36g5AAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=Dr.%20Duboses%E2%80%99%20Gospel%20in%20the%20Gospels%2C%E2%80%9D%20Sewanee%20Review%20(University%20of%20the%20South%3A%201907)&amp;pg=PA113#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false"> 113</a>. And thus, only the Risen Christ gives us the true gospel, and this Dubose claims, is "best stated by Apostle Paul."&nbsp;<em>Id. </em>See also William Porcher Dubose,&nbsp;<strong><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_zQ1AQAAIAAJ&amp;ots=adiRr1uRuX&amp;dq=Duboses%20Gospel%20in%20the%20Gospels&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false"><em>The Gospel in the Gospels</em> </a></strong>(1906) at books.google.com.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What does Dubose mean and the Sewannee Review which is the journal at the school DuBose teaches? They mean that Jesus' words on earth (rather than after Resurrection when Jesus supposedly communicates with Paul) are not as authoritative or inspired as when relayed through Paul when Jesus is now Resurrected.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First, Dubose asks whether Jesus taught on earth from wisdom or instead from divine inspiration.&nbsp;<em>Id. </em>at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_zQ1AQAAIAAJ&amp;ots=adiRr1uRuX&amp;dq=Duboses%20Gospel%20in%20the%20Gospels&amp;pg=PA75#v=snippet&amp;q=extreme&amp;f=false">75</a>. Then Dubose answers that it is obvious Jesus spoke with human wisdom, but then deflects our concern by saying it was no less true than inspired truth:</span></p>
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<p class="gtxt_body" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">On the other side, whatever its ultimate source, it&nbsp;<strong><em>does not come to us out of the mouth of Jesus with the immediate or unmediated force of an utterance from heaven</em></strong>. Jesus Christ speaks to us simply in the capacity and with the authority of the inherent and essential truth of the things He says. I speak that I do know, and testify that I have seen, &mdash;<strong><em> that is all the authority He will give us</em></strong>. No matter whence or how the truth, the authority of the truth is that it is the truth.&nbsp;<strong><em>Of course our Lord does say always, My truth is not mine but His that sent me, &mdash; but what authority had He for saying that, or what proof could He give of it?</em></strong> At the last the only authority lay in the fact of its&nbsp;<em>being </em>the truth, and all the proof simply in the power of the truth to prove itself. I repeat, then, that the immediate capacity in which Jesus Christ taught was that of the truth which He taught. That was the truth,&nbsp;<em><strong>whether divine or human or both, but the whole actual&nbsp;truth of humanity</strong></em>, of human existence, human life, human destiny. He was Himself that truth &mdash; incarnate, personal, consummated. And He was not only the truth consummated, but the consummation or consummating of the truth; not only the truth and life of humanity, but<em><strong> the process or way by which humanity comes to the knowledge of its truth and attains to the living of its life</strong></em>.</span></p>
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<p class="gtxt_body" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The&nbsp;<strong><em>truth for which Jesus Christ stands is distinctly and definitely the truth of man, of human life</em></strong>. And when He says of it, I speak that I do know and testify that I have seen, He means that what He says of it is matter of&nbsp;<em><strong>His own personal human experience</strong></em>. He has Himself been through the whole of human experience, and is competent to testify as a witness to all that is in it. He knew what was in man, because He was Himself all of man. The fact that from the first opening of His mouth as a teacher Jesus speaks with the authority of perfect truth does not contradict the fact that<em><strong> He had humanly learned the truth</strong></em>.&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_zQ1AQAAIAAJ&amp;ots=adiRr1uRuX&amp;dq=Duboses%20Gospel%20in%20the%20Gospels&amp;pg=PA75#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">75-76</a>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">While the Sewanee Review is proudly defending that Paul alone came with the inspired truth which the Resurrected Jesus alone attained, Bonhoeffer has the better view: such a view represents a&nbsp;<strong><em>Christianity without Christ</em></strong>! Jesus becomes a sacrificed figurehead without any relevant personal message. This embarrassing family secret among Christians has leaked out to non-Christians, causing discredit on Jesus until we Christians rectify this error.</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Google Review of JWO Says Paul's Gospel, Not Christ's Saves</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Here is an example of Paulinism to rebut my book,<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em> Jesus' Words Only</em></span>, posted as a review at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3VFnsDuxBPcC&amp;sitesec=reviews">books.google.com</a>:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The author [of Jesus' Words Only] needs to learn to rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). He also needs to learn the difference between Mystery (Body of Christ) and Prophecy (Isreal). <strong><em>Paul's gospel is the only gospel that saves today</em></strong>. After the rapture of the church, Israel's New Testament law comes back into effect.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The commands given to Israel are not the same as the commands given to the Body of Christ. The Jewish Church (Israel) is to inherit the earth, the Gentile Church (Body of Christ) are to inherit the heavenly places. The calling between Israel and the Body of Christ are <strong><em>different callings, with different commands</em></strong>, both reconciled to God by one cross and one saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ</span>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul Supposedly Had The Secret Doctrine</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In Ernst von Bunsen's&nbsp;<em><strong>The Hidden Wisdom of Christ and the Key of Knowledge</strong></em> (Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, &amp; Green, 1865) Vol. 2, the author claims that Matthew wrote down the public sayings of Jesus, omitting the secret and more perfect teachings of Jesus which Paul first preached.</span></p>
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<p class="gtxt_body" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=1YhYvSf-UjEC&amp;lpg=PA295&amp;ots=71LSapYLuE&amp;pg=PA296#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">296</a>] The Gospel of Matthew was the first ever written, and contained principally, if not exclusively, those<em><strong> public sayings of Christ</strong></em> which the Apostles agreed to publish in Hebrew and for the Hebrews of Palestine. It did not contain any of those of the Lord's sayings which<strong><em> he had secretly confided to his disciples</em></strong>. As far as it referred to Christ's sayings, or in its doctrinal part, it must have been essentially identical with the Gospel of the Hebrews, which even in the fourth century was called, according to a Father of the Church, 'the authentic Gospel of Matthew.' ****</span></p>
<p class="gtxt_body" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=1YhYvSf-UjEC&amp;lpg=PA295&amp;ots=71LSapYLuE&amp;pg=PA297#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">297</a>] the more perfect, because more complete, Hidden Gospel of Christ, as first openly proclaimed by Paul.</span></p>
<p class="gtxt_body" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">[<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=1YhYvSf-UjEC&amp;lpg=PA295&amp;ots=71LSapYLuE&amp;pg=PA299#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">299</a>] the Great Apostle's doctrine [proved to be] the secret doctrine of Christ</span>.</span></p>
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<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 34.80000305175781px; font-size: 24px; color: #66869a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul Supposedly Had Secrets Jesus Never Revealed to 12 Apostles</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><br /></span></strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">At the website doctrine.org operated by Don Samdahl, you find one of the most erudite Paulinist websites on the internet. Samdahl presumably wrote each article. Samdahl avowedly and unabashedly treats Paul as having the right to a sole emphasis over any lessons passed on by the 12 apostles, as we will quote momentarily. This website is thus useful to properly understand what Paul truly teaches without any forced gloss to try to make Paul sound more consistent with Jesus' teachings in the gospels. Hence, <em><strong>you can see Paul vs. Jesus' contradictions in an unvarnished way by reading this website</strong></em>. Yet the author is generally properly construing Paul's meaning, sharing with us along the way the true Greek. But the author's hermeneutic has the obvious flaw that he is <strong><em>ignoring that such contradiction</em></strong> of Jesus's teachings to the 12 is <strong><em>fatal to Paul's validity</em></strong>. And the author hastily assumes that Paul met the true Christ when the wilderness experience of Paul fits precisely the warning by Jesus of an imposter-Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew 24:5-6, 24-27 (see our <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">link</a>). Regardless, here is a paragraph where the article "<a href="http://doctrine.org/follow-paul/">Follow Paul</a>" says Paul taught Jesus' "secrets," and then the author explains we must solely follow Paul because Paul solely has the gospel of the true risen Jesus, not the pre-ascension Jesus:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul commanded believers to imitate him. We have seen that while personal behavior was sometimes in view, (</span><a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/2%20Thessalonians%203.7" class="rtBibleRef" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: -webkit-link; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.219999313354492px; text-align: justify;" data-reference="2 Thessalonians 3.7" data-version="nasb95" data-purpose="bible-reference">2 Thessalonians 3.7</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/2%20Thessalonians%203.9" class="rtBibleRef" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: -webkit-link; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.219999313354492px; text-align: justify;" data-reference="2 Thessalonians 3.9" data-version="nasb95" data-purpose="bible-reference">9</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">) Paul&rsquo;s <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">primary concern was that believers follow the doctrine they had received from him</span>.</span></strong> Paul had received his doctrine from the risen, glorified Lord. Paul called these doctrines &ldquo;mysteries&rdquo; or &ldquo;secrets.&rdquo; Paul used this term because the teachings the <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord gave him were secrets, i.e., doctrines the Lord had not revealed to anyone before</span></strong></span>. The ascended Lord saved Paul to become a prototype for a new creation, namely, the Church, the body of Christ. As believers today, <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">to imitate Paul means to recognize and obey the truths Paul revealed</span></strong></span>. Such obedience is essential to the process Christians call sanctification. Apart from it, the believer in Christ cannot mature spiritually and conform to the image of His Son (</span><a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Romans%208.29" class="rtBibleRef" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: -webkit-link; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.219999313354492px; text-align: justify;" data-reference="Romans 8.29" data-version="nasb95" data-purpose="bible-reference">Romans 8.29</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">). <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Only by obeying the doctrines the glorified Lord revealed to Paul can we grow into the person Christ has destined us to be.</span></strong></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Samdahl differentiates that the 12 apostles taught the "gospel of the kingdom" but Paul taught the "gospel of grace." (See footnote 3 on <a href="http://doctrine.org/follow-paul/">his webpage</a>.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This differentiation typically implies the author understands Jesus supposedly preached a gospel for a kingdom that was offered, but supposedly rejected by Jews, and then having failed to be accepted, Jesus after his Ascension allegedly went to a Plan B -- Paul's gospel of grace. Then Paulinists teach this Plan B was supposedly accepted in great numbers, saving Christianity from its extinction. This, however, is mythology which Paulinists promote contrary to the history that proves the apostolic church, not Paul's church, was the successful center of Christianity even in Gentile lands. This remained true until under Emperor Constantine of Rome in the 300s gave Paul's doctrines ascendancy. This was because Constantine desired to abolish Sabbath and move observance of a weekly rest to the day to worship the Sun-God Sol Invictus on Sunday. This required Constantine's prelates to give emphasis to Paul who in 2 passages "abolished Sabbath," as scholars put it. This was the first time Christianity made Paul a major figure to follow -- almost 300 years after Christ! See our discussion<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/242-paul-abolished-sabbath.html"> link</a>.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></strong></span></h2>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span data-mce-mark="1">You are Supposedly Lost If you believe in Jesus' Salvation Gospel</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In a Messianic page debate, Linda says she believes in Yeshua and obeys the Torah/Law. Vince G. tells her that she is lost based upon Paul's doctrine of grace. Listen to Vince G on <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/alt.messianic/browse_thread/thread/cdf2588c57cdd9fd/a3ffca1d72e5749e?pli=1">12/29/2009</a> rebuff this obedient follower of Jesus/Yeshua. Vince even brushes aside valid quotes from Rev. 14:12 to insist Linda is lost:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[Vince] You're wrong. DEAD wrong. You are, in fact, a false teacher by that&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">statement.</span></p>
<div id="qhide_252820" class="qt" style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&gt; [Linda] And I believe that there is only one way to be saved, &nbsp;by faith in&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&gt; Yeshua.</span></div>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[Vince] Those words mean nothing apart from what you mean by them. If you mean&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"I am saved by faith, but REAL faith means I keep the Law" <em>you are lost</em></span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&gt; [Linda] Trust and obey.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[Vince] If you mean what I think you do by that, <strong><em>you have mixed law and&nbsp;<br />grace/works and faith, and are on your way to hell</em></strong> with other messianics&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&gt; [Linda] Rev.14:12 &nbsp;:Here is the patience of the Saints: here are they that&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&gt; keep the Commandments of God, and the faith of Yeshua</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[Vince] There you go: "Faith PLUS keeping the law gets me into heaven"&nbsp;I am afraid your words indicate<strong><em> you have no more salvation than the </em></strong><strong><em>judaisers</em></strong> who also believed Christ was messiah, and they should keep the&nbsp;law.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>My Comment</strong></span>: It unfortunately is Vince who will have to answer for why Vince rejected Jesus' words in favor of Paul's doctrine of grace. Vince teaches based upon Paul's doctrine of grace that disobedience to the Law (a) does not matter for salvation and (b) is preferred over any effort to obey because by trying to obey and be righteous - "heaven maimed or hell whole" as Jesus taught (Mark 9:42-47) -- supposedly results in "hell maimed" (repenters from sin who do so for salvation sake supposedly go to hell). Vince believes you obtain "heaven whole" --- unrepentant from sin solely because you believe in Jesus's resurrection per what Paul teaches in Romans 10:8 (and 1 Cor. 15:1-4) as the guarantee of heaven. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What Vince is saying is so incongruous with Jesus that I believe if Vince truly just spelled out his thoughts, compared them to Jesus' words such as in Mark 9:42-47 or the words of Rev. 14:12, Vince would see things differently. He would realize it is himself, and not the messianic he is rebuffing, who will suffer hell if he stays on his current path without repentance from sin as measured in God's Law which Jesus says continues. See Matt. 5:17-19.</span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Grace Alive Ministries - "Do Not Follow Earthly Jesus"</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In an article 'What would Jesus Do?' at Grace Alive Ministries (non-profit from Pennsylvania), it proves Paul and Jesus had different messages on the Law in three areas. So then he admits they have different directions, and says as a result, the only commands to follow are the commands of the Ascended Christ funnelled through Paul. What is interesting is how he admits that the last thing Jesus did was clearly expand that His commands should go to the nations:</span></p>
<p class="Newsletter-Body-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">At the end of Christ&rsquo;s earthly ministry<em><strong> the audience was expanded to the nations</strong></em> of the earth. However, the message still focused on &ldquo;the promises made unto the fathers,&rdquo; the establishment of the earthly kingdom. Those nations were also to observe the Law of Moses, &ldquo;all things whatsoever I [Christ] have commanded you.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: <em>Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you</em>: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:19,20</span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> But then when the author tries to separate the need of the 12 to teach even the NATIONS everything 'I commanded,' the author abandons this recognition, and ignores it. He claims Jesus' ministry is solely to Jews, and thus Paul's ministry is the only one to follow. To avoid any accusation that I am taking anything out of context, here is this outrageous claim to ignore the teachings of Jesus, and only listen to Paul (who in his epistles never directly quotes Jesus but the liturgy):</span></p>
<p class="Newsletter-Body-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The ministry of Paul is in contrast to the principles of the earthly ministry of Christ. Paul&rsquo;s epistles establish the context of his ministry.</span></p>
<p class="Newsletter-Body-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Unlike the earthly ministry of Christ that </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">excluded</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> the Gentiles, the ministry of Paul specifically </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">targeted</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> the Gentiles.</span></span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Galatians 2:9</span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. Romans 11:13</span></p>
<p class="Newsletter-Body-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In another contrast to Christ&rsquo;s earthly ministry Paul <strong><em>dealt with &ldquo;mystery&rdquo; information rather than promises previously made by the prophets.</em></strong></span><em> </em></span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: Romans 16:25,26</span></p>
<p class="Newsletter-Body-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Rather than encourage people to keep the Law of Moses,<strong><em> Paul urged people not to be subject to the bondage of the law.</em></strong></span><em> </em></span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:14</span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Galatians 5:1-<wbr />4</span></p>
<p class="Newsletter-Body-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em>What Paul would do is very different from what Jesus would do</em></strong>. In the three areas of Christ&rsquo;s earthly ministry discussed, <strong><em>Paul did the exact opposite</em></strong>. Who then should we follow? Should we ask, &ldquo;What would Jesus do?&rdquo; or, &ldquo;What would Paul do?&rdquo; This is <strong><em>the Bible&rsquo;s answer </em></strong>to that question.</span> [NOTE: This is not the Bible, but Paul speaking -- the fallacy in his argument.]</span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I [Paul] have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. I Corinthians 4:15-<wbr />17</span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Be ye followers of me, even as I [Paul] also am of Christ. I Corinthians 11:1</span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I [Paul] write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. I Corinthians 14:3</span></p>
<p class="Scripture-Text-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. I Timothy 1:15,16</span></p>
<p class="Newsletter-Body-P" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The <strong><em>pattern for believers in the Age of Grace is Paul</em></strong>, the apostle of the Gentiles. Paul followed the <strong><em>ascended Christ</em></strong>. He gave the pattern for following that same heavenly Christ. <strong><em>We do not follow the earthly Christ</em></strong>; we follow Paul as he followed the heavenly Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">To this, I can only say UGGH!</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus' Words In Red Are Less Important than Paul's Words in Black</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In a January 2014 YouTube "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGarIPZzMuc&amp;feature=youtu.be">Jesus' Words in Red Are Less Important than Paul's Words In Black</a>," we have another sickening rejection of Jesus' authority in the church that goes by his name. If you listen, you will hear the standard sermon that Christ was trying to bring the old covenant, not a new covenant even though Jesus said his sacrifice was to initiate a "new covenant." The distortion from Paulinists is on clear display in this video. They think Paul alone brought a new covenant, and consigning Jesus solely to an old covenant despite Jesus saying that is not the case.</span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jared, Worship Pastor in Omaha: Only Ask What Would Paul Do?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In a March 2011 article entitled "<a href="http://jaredtotten.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-would-paul-do.html">What Would Paul Do?</a>" Jared says Jesus' did things we cannot because Jesus was God. The healings, walking on water, etc. 'So isn't it better to turn to Paul?' he effectively asks. I know this is not a serious scholar, but still&nbsp;Jared claims he is a Grace University graduate and Worship Pastor at Redeemer Church in Omaha. So here are his words:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I was thinking about WWJD bracelets today (don't ask me how I got there) and I suddenly realized that, in so many instances, that question is irrelevant, verging on incoherent. Almost like asking, "What would my iPad do?" Jesus, while human, was (and is) also God and that makes the position from which he did and said everything completely other.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">****</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So I was thinking&mdash;as heretical as this sounds&mdash;that <strong><em>a better question</em></strong> to ask yourself as a Christian is simply "<strong><em>What would Paul do</em></strong>?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hold on, before you pick up stones to stone me. Paul himself wrote "<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Follow my example,<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span> as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1)</span>. Throughout his teaching, Paul seemed to have an uncanny grasp of how the Gospel impacted our everyday life. It speaks into our marriages, our employment, our relationships. The list goes on and on.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So perhaps "WWPD?" is too near-heretical to be beneficial for most Christians. But<strong><em> I would suggest that there are better alternatives to WWJD that actually have biblically grounded answers we can directly apply to our lives</em></strong>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So WWPD is a "better alternative to WWJD...." There it is again ... abandoning Christ, preferring Paul.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">On the Millard Community Church website is "<a href="http://www.millardcommunitychurch.com/Pages/wwjd.htm">What Would Jesus Do?</a>" which claims it is blasphemy to ask 'what would Jesus do?' to measure the moral decision-making we need to resolve. I kid you not! Even Paul said "put on the mind of Christ" and Peter says "be imitators of Christ...." So this has now gone to outrageous positions.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Only Paul's Gospel Saves - Pastor in Indianapolis - You Tube Video</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This was posted March 2014 at this<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcTI-T-SJAE"> link</a>. This pastor is not identified by name. However, his words are latent in most evangelical Churches. Without Paul, we would not know from Jesus' words alone we are saved by a simple faith, without obedience to any laws or commands from God previously given.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGarIPZzMuc&amp;feature=youtu.be">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGarIPZzMuc&amp;feature=youtu.be</a></span></p>
<h1>&nbsp;</h1>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Amirault: God Supposedly Destroyed Temple System in 70 AD Which Saved Us From 12 Apostles' Errors</span></strong></span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Gary Amirault in his article on the "<a href="http://www.tentmaker.org/Dew/Dew7/D7-TheBookOfJacob.html">Book of Jacob</a>" Tentmaker.com provides this hostile but honest analysis of the Book of James in the Bible:</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, SansSerif, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 30px; background-color: #f0f8ff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">James seemed to teach a combination of grace and works. (James Chapter 2) There is disagreement among Protestant churches as to just what James taught. I used to teach that he taught that we were saved by grace which would produce the works God gave us to do. In other words faith would bring forth the works given us from before the foundations of the world. I no longer believe that. I think he mixed law and grace together. Paul constantly mentions church leaders who <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">were destroying his work by a mixture of Mosaic law and grace</span></strong>. Galatians is full of exhortations to stay away from this kind of teaching. <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">James, I believe, is an example of this kind of teaching, which Paul says that those who teach this kind of heresy should castrate themselves</span></strong>.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, SansSerif, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 30px; background-color: #f0f8ff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The Jerusalem church, which preached a "gospel of the circumcision" <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>never came into the pure message of Paul</strong></span>. It <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">reverted back to the Mosaic Law</span></strong>. If God did not destroy the Temple, the Priesthood, and the genealogical records in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70AD, <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">the Jameses of the church would have destroyed Paul's gospel and we would not have known what he preached</span></strong>. God <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">vindicated the "gospel of the uncircumcision"</span></strong> in the overthrow of those who still had confidence in the Temple and its rituals.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, SansSerif, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 30px; background-color: #f0f8ff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">**** <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;But <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Satan</span> picked up this discarded gospel which mixes law and grace and has injected it into most of the church. It was only supposed to be <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>a transitory gospel</strong></span> to aid the Jew born under the Mosaic Law to enter into the New Covenant of Grace. When that <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">generation died, this gospel was to end</span></strong>.</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In truth, the Gospel of Paul misled his companion Trophimus to defile the temple by entering in an uncircumcised state. By God's Law, God had to destroy the Temple soon thereafter for such a violation. The Temple destruction proves the negative result of Paul's Gospel, not its vindication. See our article <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/65-trophimus.html">Trophimus</a>. Also, please note that this indirectly is saying the 12 Apostles' Gospel -- the Gospel of Jesus -- was a "transitory gospel" -- a valid Gospel for a time, and this was Jesus' Gospel before Paul came along and delivered the supposedly true Gospel.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">My friends, this shamelessly says that the Gospel of Jesus was a transitory gospel until Paul came along. Uggh!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Statistical Analysis Proves Jesus Is Ignored</span></strong></span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">One of the most troubling thoughts is that Paul has so supplanted Jesus that when we study a Bible topic, most modern pastors quote Paul 90% of the time, and Jesus less than 5%. For 5 years, I kept charts of sermons as I listened, and found it averaged <em><strong>13 quotes of Paul to 1 of Jesus per sermon</strong></em>. This was shockingly true even when a parable of Jesus was being discussed. And we do this unconsciously because Paulinism is so saturated into the evangelical church. We do not perceive it because we are conditioned to think Paul's doctrines are just as valid as those from Jesus, and there is thus no harm to this subservience of Jesus to Paul.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For example, here is an evangelical article -- "<a href="http://www.marriagemissions.com/scriptures-on-marriage/">Scriptures on Marriage</a>" -- giving advice for married persons. There is no Pauline slant to the doctrine expressed. But still, there is an enormous weight given to Paul. It is <strong><em>as if Jesus never spoke about Love, kindness, forgiveness, seeking to make things right with one angry at you</em></strong>, <em><strong>the nature of marriage</strong></em>, etc. All NT principles on these topics are solely quoted from Paul with few exceptions where Jesus gets a word in edgewise.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In the article, there are <strong><em>111</em></strong> citations of Scripture, 95% quotes.<em><strong> Paul is quoted 38 times</strong></em>, often with long explanations. Of the quotes, <em><strong>Jesus is only quoted 6 times</strong></em>. And barely an explanation of His words appear. See below. In equal distance almost is James and Apostle John's letters which are each quoted 3x. Solomon does well, as we might expect, and Proverbs is quoted <strong>27</strong> x.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Let's review how Jesus' words were used to help on this important topic of marriage.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First, Jesus is cited but not quoted from Matthew talking about God's plan that man and woman would form one flesh. An important passage, but not quoted and briefly mentioned. The article "Scriptures on Marriage" simply cites Matt. 19:4-6.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Second, Jesus is cited in a long string cite, referencing Matt. 6:23. There is no indication of what Jesus says there. Must not be very important, it appears.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Third, without a quote, we learn: "As you read&nbsp;<a href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&amp;passage=Matthew+5%3A31-32" class="bibleref" title="NIV Matthew 5:31-32">Matthew 5:31-32</a> you can see that 'Jesus is trying to move us from easy divorce to a deeper commitment to marriage.'&rdquo;&nbsp;<em>(</em>quoting<em> Dr. Roger Barrier)</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Sadly this verse is not discussed or quoted even though it is apparently about marriage!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Next Jesus is quoted 2x but it is the same verse -- John 17:23, as part of this author's prayer -- "my prayer for marriages."&nbsp;&ldquo;May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.&rdquo;<em> </em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>(<a href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&amp;passage=John+17%3A23" class="bibleref" title="NIV John 17:23">John 17:23</a>)</em> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We are not told Jesus' prayer is similar; we are simply given the author's prayer. Poor Jesus, didn't He have a similar prayer? I guess we can just push Him aside, judging from this article, and call it 'my prayer.' (My tongue is firmly planted in my cheek.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Then Jesus's words on marriage are finally brought forth:&nbsp;&ldquo;So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.&rdquo;<em>(<a href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&amp;passage=Matthew+19%3A6" class="bibleref" title="NIV Matthew 19:6">Matthew 19:6</a>)</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Next, we learn this from Jesus: "Jesus said,&nbsp;&ldquo;I came that they might have life and have it to the full&rdquo; <em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">(<a href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&amp;passage=John+10%3A10" class="bibleref" title="NIV John 10:10">John 10:10</a>)</span>.</em> Amazing! Just a quote finally of just Jesus speaking. Hard to hear him normally in this article, but finally we hear the Lord speak on His own!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The article ends with many quotes, and among these are 3 quotes from Jesus:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&bull;&nbsp;But wisdom is proved right by her actions <em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">(<a href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&amp;passage=Matthew+11%3A19" class="bibleref" title="NIV Matthew 11:19">Matthew 11:19</a>)</span>.</em></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&bull;&nbsp;But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment; for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned <em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">(<a href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&amp;passage=Matthew+12%3A37" class="bibleref" title="NIV Matthew 12:37">Matthew 12:37</a>)</span>.</em></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&bull;&nbsp;My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this &mdash;that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command <em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">(<a href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&amp;passage=John+15%3A12-14" class="bibleref" title="NIV John 15:12-14">John 15:12-14</a>)</span>.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">That tallies to just <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>six quotes of Jesus</strong></span> -- the ONE who came to shed His blood for us. But <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul gets quoted in full 38 times</span></strong>. The ratio is thus 38:6 in favor of Paul, or <strong>better than 6 to 1 in favor of quoting Paul over Jesus. </strong>This is an objective example of what I am saying has happened to our commitment to Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, it pretty much appears Jesus has disappeared from view, and is of marginal importance. We call Him Lord but pretty much make Paul our Lord. Sad but true.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Videos That Endorse Paulinism (Preferring Paul over Jesus' Ministry Teachings)</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xw7rVCbW4o&amp;feature=youtube_gdata_player">Jesus v. Paul: The Two Gospels Compared</a> (Feb 2010) on You Tube, you hear first-hand the normative teaching today that indeed Paul and Jesus differed on things like idol meat, the law, etc., but Jesus was not preaching to Christians -- only Paul was. However, we supposedly need only follow Paul. Why? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Because Second Peter calls Paul "scripture," and everything Paul said is thus supposedly infallible. [This is entirely bogus. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/757-second-peter-does-not-commend-paul-as-an-apostle.html">link</a>.] And thus the only way the two contradictory views between Jesus and Paul on doctrine can be reconciled is by casting off Jesus' words to a defunct dispensation, and thus supposedly we need listen to ONLY Paul, so says this video-author. Uggh!</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paulinism's Slant Is Unconsciously Practiced Too</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In a political liberal's website called <a href="http://www.liberalslikechrist.org/about/Paulvsall.html">Liberals Like Christ</a>, he notes that Paulinism thrives over the teachings of Jesus. This reveals to us who are Christians that Paulinism is detectable by non-Christians, and thus <strong>they see we disrespect our Master.</strong> We are blind to Paulinism's effect because it is so indoctrinated into us. One free of that incessant spelling out what Christianity represents through Paul can see the truth. This non-Christian site writes:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Although they may not recognize it, Conservatives are much more enthused about the teaching of Paul than that of Jesus.&nbsp; Just&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">listen</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;to them, or look at what they write.&nbsp; Most of the time, when they mention Jesus' name, it isn't to promote&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">his teaching about himself</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">, but to promote&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul's teaching about Christ</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">.&nbsp; Here is a perfect example of </span><a href="http://www.liberalslikechrist.org/about/Paulianity.html" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 33px; background-color: #faf0e6;">how "Christian Conservatives" view their identity as "Christians"&nbsp;</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">, not by what Jesus taught, but by the teaching of Paul.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Slanting Preaching: My Monitoring Normative Pauline Churches</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I will study various churches to see what normative conservative evangelical Presbyterian or Evangelical churches preach today. &nbsp;If you wish to see the results, you will find them at this link: <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/708-slanted-pauline-preaching.html">Slanted Pauline Preaching.</a></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paulinist Admits He Clings To Paul Because To Just Rely Upon Jesus Would Change "the message completely."</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We read at this webpage <a href="http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/3755/how-do-we-know-paul-wasnt-a-false-apostle">How We Know Paul Wasn't A False Apostle</a>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I want to preface this by saying I don't believe Paul was a false Apostle. I must either view his Apostleship as authentic, or throw away everything I believe. Removing Paul's writings and influence from the New Testament would <strong>change the message completely.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;I wonder sometimes if people actually read what they are saying.</span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Worshipful Statements About Paul</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"By any account, Paul was the most intelligent and best-trained of the apostolic band...." (Tektonics, <a href="http://www.tektonics.org/esch/paulend.html">Preterist Exegisis in Paul</a>.)</span></p>
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<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Is It True Book of Acts Is More Important Than the Gospels?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In chapter six of&nbsp;<strong><em>The Shocking Truth</em></strong> by Rev. Inlow, he relates that some of the KJV editors say that the book of Acts is the most important book of Christianity:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We will start with a very startling quote provided by the highly renowned Bible scholars who wrote the Holy Bible [authorized or King James version] school and library reference edition. &ldquo;The books of the New Testament were all written after the death of our Lord and before the close of the first century. Of these books, <em><strong>the most precious single book is that of Acts</strong></em>. Because, if we lost one of the Gospels, we should still have three left, and if we lost one of the epistles, we should still have quite a number left. But if we did not have the Acts, we should not have any story of the foundation of the Christian church. The Gospels close with the ascension of our Lord. Then in order of time, comes the first epistle to the Thessalonians. Here we find a man named Paul, calling himself an Apostle, and writing to a church in Thessalonica.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I have not yet been able to verify this quote in the King James editors' comments. (1/1/2013)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt;">REBUFF FROM OUR LORD TO DISPENSATIONALISM</span></strong></span></p>
<h1>&nbsp;</h1>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If anyone is&nbsp;<strong>ashamed of me and my words</strong>, the Son of Man will be ashamed&nbsp;of him when he comes in his glory (Luke 9:26).&rdquo;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"As for the person who&nbsp;<strong>hears my words but does not keep them,</strong>&nbsp;I do not judge him.&nbsp;For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that&nbsp;<strong>very word which I spoke will condemn&nbsp;him</strong>&nbsp;at the last day."&nbsp;(John 12:47-48).</span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">For Further Study</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">"<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdispensationalism">Hyper-Dispensationalism</a>," Wikipedia.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Robert Breaker<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjs2fxjC3Tk"> The Apostles Doctrines v Paul's Revelations (pro -Paul)</a>-YouTube</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Robert Breaker, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djA5kpIdKng">Why Paul is in the Bible (pro Paul)</a> - YouTube</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Robert Breaker, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VATqbEwc2E&amp;feature=youtu.be">Jesus v Paul</a> (Pro-Paul) - YouTube -- Breaker says it is his "most important sermon" ever. (Breaker erroneously thinks Roman Catholicism was anti-Paul, and it reflected "Peter" point-of-view. Breaker says Peter's views were worthy of rejection because based upon Jesus who was solely for Jews, not Gentiles. The truth is Roman Catholicism embraced Paul's anti-Law doctrine, espcially his anti-Sabbath rule, so as to permit Constantine's decree to move the day of rest to Sunday. This was a big change from the early church pre-Roman Catholicism that resisted Paul-onlyism in <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/56-marcionism.html">Marcionism </a>from 144 AD-325 AD, primarily based on the Law not being abrogated for Christians.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Robert Breaker, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQhaOCKswnk&amp;feature=youtu.be">Peter v Paul</a> (pro-Paul -- seems like warmup to Jesus v. Paul) - Pro-Paul. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Robert Breaker, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMB4ZTYFsbA&amp;feature=youtu.be">The Great Commission </a>(says Gentiles should only go to Paul, not Jesus of 12.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Robert Breaker, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq2HI4fxfXE&amp;feature=youtu.be">How Others Viewed Paul </a>- YouTube&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Anti-Dispensational Videos&nbsp;</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="https://youtu.be/QOCMi8VchjY">ABC of Kingdom of God</a> (2017) -- I greatly respect Anthony Buzzard, and I am thus sure you will learn alot in the 3 hours necessary to watch or listen to his deconstruction of dispensationalism. I confess I listened only 2 minutes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Rev date: </span>1/1/2013</p> </td>
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<td valign="top" >"Second century Christians...continued to recognize that the teachings of Jesus--not Paul--were the central tenets of Christianity." (Bercot, <em>Theologians </em>(2010) at 51.)</td>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Paul's View On The Rapture Is At Odds With Jesus &amp; The Bible</span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[<a href="/images/stories/Lessons/paul rapture theory.pdf">PDF version</a>]</span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why One's Rapture Concept Can Be Harmful</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997602"></a>If we think we are raptured prior to the tribulation--a terrible time of woe--then we might rely upon that and not prepare our minds to endure the kind of woes which God describes taking place during the tribulation. This Christian-first rapture theory can pose a problem because Jesus warned us repeatedly to be strong and endure the tribulation as His followers. (See details below.) However, we have adopted the view that we are not even here. As a result, the repeated warnings from Christ are (a) diluted and (b) undermined. Hence, a Christians-first rapture theory&nbsp;<strong><em>can be harmful to preparing for the tribulation because it undermines Jesus's words to be ready and prepared for it</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997615"></a>We shall see that Paul incorrectly understood a rapture of Christians when Jesus and the Bible only had one group in mind for the rapture: <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">the evildoers who are removed from the Earth when the Son of Man comes</span> </strong>to conquer the Earth and brings to a close the tribulation. The righteous inherit the earth rather than are plucked out of it before the tribulation. Paul misundestood this, and misapplied (a) the timing and (b) who is raptured.</span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=997601"></a><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Paul's Rapture Theory At Odds With Jesus' Teaching</strong></span></span></h2>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=997469"></a><span data-mce-mark="1">Prior to the 300s, none of the early church leaders ever repeated Paul's theory of a rapture of Christians. Paul's Christian-rapture view never was mentioned as part of any end-time anticipation by anyone between 100-373 A.D. Not once! The early church believed in what can be termed in today's terminology a<strong><em> non</em></strong>-Christian rapture premillenialism. As Michael Vlach points out: "The earliest Christians looked for three things: (1) the return of Jesus Christ; (2) a cataclysmic end to the present age; and (3) a bodily resurrection [from the dead]." (Michael J. Vlach, <em>Eschatology in Church History</em> (2003), printed at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theologicalstudies.org/page/page/1572935.htm">http://www.theologicalstudies.org/page/page/1572935.htm</a> (last accessed in 2005).</span></span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997620"></a>No rapture away from earth of Christians at Christ's coming was anticipated. Vlach continues: "The one thousand year reign of Christ mentioned in Revelation 20:1-6 was viewed eschatologically and futuristically." Vlach points out that among the premillennialists in the early church were Papias (60-130), Irenaeus (130-200), Justin Martyr (100-165), and Tertullian (160-225).</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">However, in the late 300s, the first mention is ever made that Paul taught an initial rapture of Christians. The writer was Ephraem the Syrian. He is the only ancient source to cite Paul's passage to argue for such a rapture. His writing dates to 373 A.D. &nbsp;Up to that time, no one formulated any end time view based on Paul's teaching that Christians will be raptured into heaven away from earth at the Second Coming of Christ.</span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997636"></a>Ephraem the Syrian's commentary on <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&amp;version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:15-17</a> from 373 A.D. was recently translated. It is entitled<em> On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World</em>. He states: "All the saints and elect of God are gathered together <strong><em>before the tribulation</em></strong>, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that <strong><em>they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins</em></strong>."</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997365"></a>How stark were the differences between Paul and the Book of Revelation? There is no way to insert a rapture of Christians into the non-rapture premillenial view set forth in the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation clearly teaches there is<strong><em> no rapture of Christians preceding in any way the Second Coming of Christ</em></strong>. Yet, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&amp;version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:17</a> does. Some Paulinists recognize the conflict.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">To save Paul, some try to dismiss the importance of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&amp;version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:17</a>. While they admit 50 verses in the Bible say there is a rapture first of evildoers--not Christians, they try to save Paul by insisting as to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&amp;version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:17</a>, "We should not establish doctrine on one single scripture." (H. Speed Wilson,<em> Rapture: Prophecy or Heresy?</em> (1989), a paperback book, and a shortened version is available online at this <a href="http://www.preteristarchive.com/dEmEnTiA/1989_wilson_10k-challenge.html">link</a> (last accessed in 2010).)<a name=";pgfId=997653"></a></span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997661"></a>They go on to spin Paul in implausible ways to be talking entirely in spiritual language. Paul supposedly was not speaking of a physical real rapture. However, Paul is far too clear to permit such a solution. In the next section, we will prove precisely the Bible's clearly inspired books contradict Paul on the rapture.</span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Some argue for a secret rapture of Christians at Christ's Second of what represents three total returns. (Wayne Jackson debunks that idea in light of Jesus' words. See <a href="https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1577-what-does-the-bible-say-about-the-rapture">link</a>.)</span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Paul versus the Book of Revelation and Jesus</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">In contrast to Paul, Revelation's end-time teaching did not permit any opportunity for a rapture of Christians before or after Jesus' Second Coming. Paul is the sole source of the idea that Christians are raptured when Jesus Christ returns. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&amp;version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:17.</a>)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997386"></a><a name="38657"></a>It appears Paul misunderstood the twelve apostles' teaching about the rapture of evildoers when Christ returns. Paul must have thought the apostles were talking about a rapture of Christians.<strong><em> Paul's idea of a rapture of Christians that leaves evildoers behind cannot fit into any scenario Jesus gave or which Revelation states</em></strong>. This is why we have all the conflicting versions of the rapture of Christians: pre-tribulation, post-tribulation, premillennial and post-millenial. Every solution to Paul's contradiction with Revelation has its rebuttal. These mutually repugnant theories are the direct result of trying to fit a square peg (Paul) into a round hole (inspired canon).</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997387"></a>This may sound provocative until one makes an effort to clear their mind of the incessant Paul-inspired lessons we experience, such as from the film series<em> Left Behind</em>. The notion of a rapture of Christians has taken on a life of its own. However,<strong><em> if you read Jesus in Matthew and Revelation alone, you find the one and only rapture.</em></strong> It leaves Christians behind to inherit the earth. This is because Jesus and Revelation <span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>only speak of a rapture of evildoers</strong></span>.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997388"></a>Jesus twice and Revelation once says that when Jesus returns the evil are raptured out of the earth first, leaving behind the Christians. First, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:37-42&amp;version=KJV">Matthew 24:37-42</a>, Jesus taught when He comes, it will be <strong><em>like in the days of Noah</em></strong> when the "flood came and <em><strong>took them</strong></em> [<em>i.e.</em>, evildoers]<em><strong> all away</strong></em>." It is in that context Jesus says one will be taken and another left. The verb taken regarding the person at the mill is the same word as in the flood...<em><strong>took them all away</strong></em>. Just as the flood took all the evildoers away first, so will the evildoers be plucked out of the earth first and taken away at the Second Coming. Thus, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:37-42&amp;version=KJV">Matthew 24:37-42</a> intends the reader to understand by a paralellism that the true Christian is left behind. The evildoers are the ones taken.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">What helps confirm this is the Hebrew Matthew -- the oldest version of Matthew upon which the modern Greek translation was built. It has a variant that confirms <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:40&amp;version=KJV">Matthew 24:40</a> is talking of the rapture of evildoers, not Christians. See this <a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/222-rapture-in-hebrew-matthew.html">link</a>.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997389"></a>Furthermore, Jesus more clearly in Matthew ch. 13 made this identical point of rapturing evildoers first. This starts out as the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. When the angels come with Him in the clouds, they are<strong><em> careful to not take the wheat first</em></strong> (<em>i.e.</em>, the Christians on earth). Instead, the command will go forth: "Gather up<strong><em> first the tares</em></strong> [<em>i.e</em>., evildoers]...to burn them." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13%3A30&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 13:30</a>.) Jesus then explains the parable's meaning: Jesus says this is precisely what will happen when the Son of Man returns. The evildoers will be<strong><em> taken first</em></strong> and then the wheat (Christians on earth) are gathered into God's barn. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2013:40&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 13:40</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997390"></a>This precisely matches the Book of Revelation. Jesus' Second Coming is at <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2014:1&amp;version=KJV">Revelation 14:1</a> (standing on Mount Zion with the 144,00 Christian saints who endured the beast on earth). Then in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2014:14&amp;version=KJV">Revelation 14:14</a></span><span data-mce-mark="1">, Jesus is up in the clouds hovering over the earth. It is then that Jesus puts forth</span><strong><em> a great sickle from the clouds to remove all the evildoers for punishment</em></strong><span data-mce-mark="1">. </span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>14</sup>And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.<sup>15</sup>And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. <sup>16</sup><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped....</span></strong>. <sup>19</sup>And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the <span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>wrath of God</strong></span>. <sup>20</sup>And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2014:14-20&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:14-20 KJV.</a>)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Are the Christians already gone when the evildoers are removed? Absolutely not. They are on Mount Zion on earth in Revelation 14:1 when this happens. There is no rapture of Christians in Revelation at the Second Coming. Instead, Christians inherit the earth. Those Christians alive then will inherit the earth, and Christ will begin his reign over them at Zion.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997391"></a>Thus, Jesus twice and Revelation once says the rapture is <em><strong>first</strong></em> of evildoers at Jesus' Second Coming. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2013:30-40&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 13:30-40</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:37-42&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 24:37-42</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2014:1-4,%2014-20&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:1-4; 14-20</a>.) Christians are left behind in the place where Christ is coming so as to greet Him: Earth.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997392"></a>The same principle appears repeatedly in Hebrew Scripture. The evil are to be removed, leaving the righteous, the poor, etc., behind to inherit the earth.</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997693"></a><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2037:9-11&amp;version=KJV">Ps 37:9-11 (KJV)</a> "For <strong>evildoers shall be cut off</strong>; but those who wait on the LORD, they shall <strong><em>inherit the earth</em></strong>. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, <strong><em>you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more</em></strong>. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997697"></a><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%202:21-22&amp;version=KJV">Prov 2:21-22</a> "For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; But the wicked will be<strong><em> cut off from the earth</em></strong>, and the unfaithful will be<em><strong> uprooted </strong></em>from it."</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997735"></a><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%2010:30&amp;version=KJV">Prov 10:30</a> "The righteous will <em><strong>never be removed</strong></em>, but the <strong><em>wicked will not inhabit</em></strong> the earth." </span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://theology101.org/bib/jps/zep003.htm">Zechariah 3:11 JPS</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=zephaniah+3%3A11&amp;version=ASV">ASV</a> "In that day [when God sets up the kingdom on earth]...I will <strong>take away out</strong> of the midst of thee thy proudly exulting ones....Thou shall no more be haughty in my holy mountain." <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zephaniah+3&amp;version=ASV">3:12 </a>"But I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor [EBION] people, and they shall take refuge in the name of Yahweh."</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997396"></a>Thus, Paul contradicts two passages of Matthew and the entire eschatology of Revelation, besides a great number of Original Testament passages</span>.<a name="pgfId=997747"></a></span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=997746"></a><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Paulinist Re-Interpretation of the Book of Revelation</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997748"></a>The Christian-rapture proponents believe the rapture is implied somewhere in Revelation ch.12, and thus precedes Jesus' Second Coming at <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:1&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:1</a>. However, they develop unreasonable interpretations to make this claim. How so?</span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997759"></a>In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2012:1&amp;version=KJV">Revelation 12:1</a>, we see a woman who later is said to have given birth to Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2012:5&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 12:5</a>.) Incongruously, rapture-proponents equate this woman who<strong><em> gave birth to Jesus</em></strong> with the<em><strong> church</strong></em>. The reason they do so will be explained momentarily. But equating her to the church is grasping at straws to sustain their rapture-of-Christians view inherited from Paul.</span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997766"></a>It is Jesus who gave birth to the church, and not vice-versa. This woman cannot be the church giving birth to Jesus. That is offensive.</span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997771"></a>What is appealing about this woman representing the church to Paulinists/Paul-rapturists is this woman <strong><em>takes flight to the mountains</em></strong>. The rapture-proponents equate this flight to the rapture. However, even if this woman were the N.T. church (she cannot be), her flight to the mountains is on earth, <span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>not a rapture into heaven</strong></span>. Revelation is often figurative, but it is too far<strong><em> a stretch to say a flight to mountains is a flight to heaven</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997772"></a>Then who is the woman really? She represents the <em><strong>sons of Israel</strong></em>. That is how she gives birth to Jesus. It cannot be the church per se because the church did not give birth to Jesus. This woman must pre-exist Christ's birth. Yet, she is displayed here as the victor with Christ.<a name="pgfId=997773uot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;The woman represents Israel, the bride of God as God so often calls Israel. Why do we think so?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="></a></span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">More Details From Revelation</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=997398"></a><span data-mce-mark="1">Let's delve a little deeper into Revelation's prediction. When Christ returns and sets foot on Mount Zion (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:4&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:4</a>), He is welcomed by the 144,000 "saints." These had been previously sealed and thus protected from God's outpouring of wrath while they lived on earth. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%207:3-4&amp;version=KJV">Revelation 7:3-4</a>.) After that period of wrath but prior to Jesus' return at <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:4&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:4</a>, the beast comes to persecute and martyr them. This killing of the `saints' continues from Revelation ch. 7 through ch. 14. This is the tribulation period. They were persecuted by the beast, and many were killed. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2011:7&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 11:7</a>. See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=dan%207:25&amp;version=KJV">Daniel 7:25</a>.) Many suffered for "their testimony of Jesus." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2020:4&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 20:4</a>.) Numerous times in Revelation, Jesus urges the churches to be prepared for this tribulation period and to be overcomers.</span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997402"></a>Who are these 144,000 saints who suffer for the "testimony of Jesus"? Based upon a presupposition of Paul's validity, these saints are portrayed by Paulinists as Jewish non-Christian evangelists. This is because these commentators believe Paul teaches Christians were raptured pre-tribulation. However, this notion that no Christian is on earth during the tribulation is nonsense. J<strong>esus says the tribulation is shortened for the "elect's sake."</strong> (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2013:9-12&amp;version=KJV">Mark 13:19-20</a>.) This makes no sense unless Christians are present and suffering in the tribulation. And more important, Jesus is telling us we will be here so as to be prepared for the challenge rather than looking forward to a quick escape if we become a believer.</span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997559"></a>Further, Jesus tells us that "<strong><em>after</em></strong> the tribulation" that He will come on the clouds, and we will "see" this. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:29-34&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 24:29-34</a>.) Jesus' portrayal is that Christians will be looking up from earth and see Him coming on the clouds. If there are no Christians continuously on earth before and during the tribulation, then Jesus' words have no significance as warnings, as clearly He intended.</span></p>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997563"></a>Thus, Christians are in the tribulation according to Jesus in Mark and Matthew, and continuously so. Otherwise, Jesus's warning that we can "see this" is pointless. Accordingly, the 144,000 have to be the elect and faithful Christians. Revelation says they were in the tribulation which Jesus says was shortened for their sake as the "elect."</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997403"></a>Thus, Christians did not disappear on earth between Revelation ch. 7 and ch. 14 (<em>i.e.</em>, the tribulation period.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997404"></a>Next, Jesus' Second Coming begins at Revelation 14:1. Jesus is standing on Mount Zion with the Christian saints who endured the beast. Then Revelation ch. 14 describes how Jesus is seen in the clouds with His great sickle to harvest the earth. Then the<em><strong> evildoers are removed </strong></em>from earth by the <em><strong>two sweeps of the great sickle</strong></em>. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:16-18&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:16-18</a>.) The remnant of the faithful "saints" (the 144,000) are <strong><em>left behind to inherit the earth</em></strong> for their "testimony of Jesus." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2020:4&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 20:4</a>.) Then the New Jerusalem comes down to earth. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2021:1,5&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 21:1,5</a>.) The song the faithful sing then thanks God that "we shall reign on the earth." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%205:9-10&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 5:9-10</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997441"></a></span><img src="file:///C:/Websites%20You%20Manage/JWOPDF/Lessons/paul%20rapture%20theoryhtml-1.gif" alt="" align="RIGHT" /><span data-mce-mark="1">Thus, as Revelations tells it, the 144,000 saints are: (1) on earth before Jesus' return; (2) persecuted and frequently martyred just prior to His return for their faith in Christ; (3) seen on earth after Jesus' return; and (4) continue on earth inside the New Jerusalem where they live and reign. There is no mention of a rapture of living-Christians to go up seven years prior or when Christ returns who then come back with Christ. There is only mention of the evildoers being raptured, leaving the remnant Christians to inherit the earth. Those who disagree (e.g., Gundry) on the meaning of Revelation ch. 14 do so by untenable explanations.</span><a href="file:///C:/Websites%20You%20Manage/JWOPDF/Lessons/paul%20rapture%20theoryhtml.html#pgfId=997444" class="footnote"><sup><span data-mce-mark="1"> </span>1</sup></a><a name="pgfId=997802"></a></span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=997806"></a><span style="color: #0000ff;">Gundry's Explanation</span></span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=997790"></a>Bob Gundry, a teacher at Westmont college, struggles to explain away this rapture of evildoers in Revelation ch. 14. He equates it instead with a rapture of Christians. He does this by first abstractly identifying this event as a grain harvest. He says Jesus "reaps a harvest of grain" in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:14-20&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:14-20</a>. (Bob Gundry, <em>First the Antichrist</em> (Baker Books: Grand Rapids, 1997) at 98-99.) Gundry then compares this to Paul's vision of Jesus taking us in a grain harvest. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%2015:23,%2035-49&amp;version=KJV">1 Cor. 15:23, 35-49</a>.) Gundry then says this grain harvest is presented as a blessing, citing <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:13&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:13</a>. However, this verse does not say those caught away by Jesus' sickle are blessed. It says "blessed are the dead who die in the Lord...." It is clear in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:18&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:18</a> that "grapes" are caught away from the earth in this harvest to be put in the winepress of the wrath of God "outside the city." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:19-20&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:19-20</a>.) When pressed out, the juice that flows is identified as "blood." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:19-20&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 14:20</a>.) This is a destruction of evildoers outside the city, not a blessing of those inside the kingdom of God. Gundry is wrong. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:19-20&amp;version=KJV">Revelation 14:14-20</a> is speaking of the taking of evildoers at his Second Coming, identical to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt.13:30-40&amp;version=KJV">Matt.13:30-40</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt.%2024:37-42&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 24:37-42</a>.</span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Conclusion</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The fact there is no Christian rapture is something easily understood by someone living in the 300-400 A.D. period. They have not experienced the media hype we hear about of the rapture of Christians. To a Christian thinker in the 300s, Paul's idea of a Christian rapture at Christ's coming would be easily recognized as at direct odds with Revelation's prophecy as well as the words of Jesus. Clearly, in Revelation, there is no Christian rapture to heaven first. Instead, in Revelation ch. 14 the first rapture is of the evildoers, just as Jesus twice said in the gospel accounts.</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Further Study</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An even more detailed examination is in an email written to Ed. See this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/209-jesus-v-paul-on-rapture-.html">link</a>.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even one who accepts Paul as valid believes the Rapture of Christians as an escape from tribulation is a dangerous deception. See Speed Wilson, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=AcK-9BBx3LYC">Rapture: A Dangerous Deception</a> (2009).</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Compare Enoch:&nbsp;Cf. Enoch 100:4,5 (remove evil first from Earth before resurrecting the dead.). See August Dillmann, <em>The Book of Enoch</em> (Clarendon Press, 1893) at 287.</span></p>
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<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>First Fruit's Messianic Ministry Agrees</strong></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In October 2013, I received this email newsletter from First Fruits ffoz.org. It totally accords with what we conclude above:</span></p>
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<li><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Noach</strong>&nbsp;(?? | Noah)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Torah</strong>: Genesis 6:9-11:32</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Haftarah</strong>: Isaiah 54:1-55:5</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Gospel</strong>: Luke 1:5-80</span></li>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Yeshua indicates that during the time just before His return, although the warnings will be sounded, most people will just carry on with life as usual. This is the thrust of Matthew 24:38 which says that just as in the days preceding the flood, so also will it be like the days preceding the return of the Messiah. In those days, even though Noah was building the ark and preaching righteousness, people were ignoring him. They were living their usual life-getting married, gathering food, etc. Noah's message was being ignored. So will it also be in the days preceding the return of Yeshua. The message of repentance will be preached, but most people will give little heed to it.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">"For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be." (Matthew 24:37-42)</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Yeshua describes His return as being accompanied by a judgment. Just as the flood came and judged the people of Noah's generation, so also will His return bring judgment. He goes on to speak of those who will be taken away in judgment and those who will be left behind.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Then there&nbsp;<em>will be&nbsp;</em>two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. (Matthew 24:40-41)</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">These verses are often interpreted to mean that when Yeshua comes, the one taken is whisked away to meet him in the sky. The one left working in the field was not a believer. That is why he was left behind. The one left grinding at the mill was not a believer. That is why she was left behind.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt;">However, the "taking away" which Yeshua speaks of is not the "rapture," as some people interpret. Rather, since it is compared to the flood taking away people in judgment, the "taking away" refers to people being taken in judgment. His disciples asked, "Where [will they be taken] Master?" He answered, "Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered." (Luke 17:37) Thus we should understand those "left behind" as the righteous, not those taken away. "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming." (Matthew 24:42)</span></p>
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<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>Isaiah Chapters 24-27 Cover This Period: Evil Are Taken Leaving Behind God's People</strong></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Isaiah prophesies of taking all the evil out of the earth (24:1) to heaven for punishment there (24:21), leaving a small remnant (24:6) behind who rejoice (24:14). God then punishes the "host of heaven in heaven" (24:21) as well as the "kings of earth on earth." (24:21.)</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here are those passages:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1 Behold, the Lord will <em><strong>empty the earth</strong></em>[or land] and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and <strong><em>scatter its inhabitants</em></strong>. (24:1, ESV) 6 Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and <strong><em>few men are left</em></strong>. **** 14 They lift up their voices, they<em><strong> sing for joy</strong></em>; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west [or sea] **** 21 On that day the Lord will <em><strong>punish the host of heaven, in heaven,</strong></em> and the kings of the earth, on the earth. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+24%3A1%2C6%2C14%2C21&amp;version=ESV">Isaiah 24:1,6,14,21</a>, Bible Gateway, ESV.)</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Isaiah prophecies that such persons (the "host" or great numbers) who came from earth who are now "in heaven" will be kept in a "prison, and after many days will be punished." (Isaiah 24:22.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Then these events are restated with the accompanying signs.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Isaiah mentions that the moon will be "confounded" and the "sun ashamed." (Isaiah 24:23.) Jesus said likewise of this time: ""There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/21-25.htm">Luke 21:25</a>.) In Matthew, these events with the sun and moon are after the tribulation and before Jesus is visibly over the entire earth:</span></p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Immediately <em><strong>after the tribulation</strong></em> of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/24-29.htm">Matt 24:29</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Next, Jesus says the earth will see the sign of the son of Man in the heavens coming in clouds of glory.&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, Matt 24:30.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then Revelation 14 tells us the removal of the evil by the sickle is at this point, leaving behind the good to rejoice (Isaiah 24:6), while the evil are removed to heaven, and shut in a prison to await punishment. (Isaiah 24:21.)</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Isaiah in chapter 25 prophesies of God setting up His reign from the Holy Mountain in Jerusalem, ending death forever, and wiping away all tears, in a very eloquent moving prophecy:</span></p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">On this mountain the&nbsp;Lord [Yahweh]&nbsp;of hosts will make for all peoples</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">7&nbsp;And he will swallow up&nbsp;on this mountain</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the covering that is cast over all peoples,</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the veil that is spread over all nations.</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He will<em><strong> swallow up death forever;</strong></em></span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">and&nbsp;the Lord&nbsp;God&nbsp;will <em><strong>wipe away tears from all faces</strong></em>,</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;and&nbsp;the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;for the&nbsp;Lord [Yahweh]&nbsp;has spoken.</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">9&nbsp;It will be said on that day,</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Behold, this is our God;&nbsp;we have waited for him, that he might save us.</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is the&nbsp;Lord; we have waited for him;</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.&rdquo; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+25%3A6-10&amp;version=ESV">Isaiah 25:6-10, ESV</a>)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+26%3A19&amp;version=ESV">Isaiah 26:19</a>, the prophet says "your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!" This is a resurrection on earth from the grave - rising into the New Jerusalem that is spoken about previously. This is evidently of those who keep righteousness and faithfulfness in Isaiah 26:2.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then in Isaiah 26:20 appears a command about an historical moment that precedes the promise that the faithful shall rise. This is about a period of tribulation on earth, and how the faithful are to endure it. There is no promise in Isaiah 26:20 that we will be removed and never have to experience this. Similar to Jesus's warning that we should flee to the hills when we see the events of tribulation, we read in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+26%3A20&amp;version=ESV">Isaiah 26:20</a>:</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span id="en-ESV-18151" class="text Isa-26-20" style="position: relative; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">Come, my people, enter your chambers,</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span class="indent-1" style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; line-height: 0;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="text Isa-26-20" style="position: relative;">and shut your doors behind you;</span></span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span class="text Isa-26-20" style="position: relative; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">hide yourselves&nbsp;<span class="crossreference" style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;" data-link="(&lt;a href=&quot;#cen-ESV-18151A&quot; title=&quot;See cross-reference A&quot;&gt;A&lt;/a&gt;)" data-cr="#cen-ESV-18151A"></span>for a little while</span><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span class="indent-1" style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; line-height: 0;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="text Isa-26-20" style="position: relative;"><em><strong>until the fury has passed by</strong></em>.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While the faithful hide in their chambers, God says Yahweh "is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their inequity." (Isaiah 26:21.) God is directly implying that the inhabitants on earth who are faithful are protected by an action of hiding performed by the faithful -- because warned by Isaiah (and later by Jesus) to take this action.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This is similar to the first passover where the faithful of Israel had to stay indoors and do something to avoid the angel of death: smear blood of a lamb on their doorposts. That 'hiding' commanded both by Yahweh to Isaiah, and by Jesus to us is the means of the tribulation passover which Isaiah is talking about. This time God will know who is who. The prophetic warning is simply hide yourselves for a "little while," and the fury will pass. Jesus added that it would be prudent to flee cities, and go to the countryside during this time of tribulation.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The danger of the pre-tribulation theories is that both Isaiah's and Jesus' direction on how to endure the tribuluation will (a) be not publicized as much as they should be; and (b) people who made a commitment to Christ will be disheartened when they go through tribulation of the nature that clearly fits Jesus' warnings. As a Christian can truly fall, and is not guaranteed salvation for a moment of belief, we should pray we will not be tempted to deny Christ by means of torture, etc. Both spiritual strength and physical distance are good antidotes to those temptations. Heeding Isaiah and Jesus is the key to enduring to the end, and if we do so, Jesus promises to save us. As Jesus said about the tribulation period: "<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But the one who endures to the end will be saved." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/24-13.htm">Matt 24:13</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Doug</span></p>
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<hr /><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;"><strong>Is This Isaiah Passage About the Return of Christ ? Or Restoring Israel A Second Time (1947-49)?</strong></span>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Isaiah 11:11 It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall&nbsp;set His hand again&nbsp;<strong>the second time</strong>&nbsp;To recover the remnant of His people who are left.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Is this about the rapture? </span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Barnes comments on this passage as talking of Jesus' return to gather the remnant of God's people on earth a "second time." &nbsp;This is a stretch. Even so, I would only underscore this 2d rescue would be like the first -- a physical return from scattered parts on earth to Israel, and not upward into the sky. Barnes writes (see this <a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/11-11.htm">link</a>):</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p class="Body"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify; background-color: #fffefd;">The second time - sh&ecirc;nyth. This word properly means, as it is here translated, the second time, implying that the prophet here speaks of a deliverance which would resemble, in some respects, a "former" deliverance or recovery. By the former recovery to which he here refers, he cannot mean the deliverance from Egypt under Moses, for at that time there was no recovery from scattered and distant nations. Besides, if "that" was the reference by the former deliverance, then that mentioned here as the 'second' deliverance would be that from the Babylonian captivity. But on the return from that captivity, there was not a collecting of the Jews from all the nations here specified. When the Jews were led back to Judea under Nehemiah, there is no record of their having been collected from 'Egypt,' or from 'Cush,' or from 'the islands of the sea.' It is evident, therefore, I think, that by the former deliverance to which the prophet here alludes - the deliverance which was to precede that designated here as the "second" - he refers to the return from the captivity of Babylon; and by the 'second,' to some still more future recovery that should take place under the administration of the Messiah. This is further confirmed from the fact that the whole scope of the prophecy points to that future period.</span></p>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The Blinding Angel of Light</span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul's three visions accounts of Jesus never mention anything but a blinding light and a voice:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"The journey is interrupted when Paul sees&nbsp;<em><strong>a blinding light</strong></em>, and communicates directly with a divine voice." ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_of_Paul">Conversion of Paul</a>,"&nbsp;<em>Wikipedia</em>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul never specifically says he saw Jesus in the flesh. In fact, Bultmann contends 2 Cor. 5:16 means Paul did not ever meet Jesus in the flesh in Jesus' <strong><em>post-resurrection</em></strong> state. Bultmann claims Paul rightly believed this made Paul's experience superior to the experience of the 12 apostles who could claim they heard Jesus speak in the flesh and not by visions. (See our<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/176-bultmann-on-paul.html"> link</a> for discussion.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Jesus went out of His way to prove to Thomas that His <strong><em>post-resurrection</em></strong> state included true flesh - with wounds in His hands and side. And in Acts, as Jesus in the flesh ascended, an angel told the apostles that in the same way He departed, He will return: "This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven will <strong><em>come in just the same way</em></strong> as you have watched Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">That means as Son of Man in human flesh Jesus will be seen by us when He comes in judgment on the clouds of glory. That means <strong><em>Jesus should have had flesh had Paul truly met Jesus</em></strong>. But Bultmann says Paul insists otherwise. At least this is how Bultmann, the famous theologian, reads 2 Cor. 5:16 (where Paul says we 'once knew Jesus in the flesh but no more in that way'). Bultmann even emphasizes this Jesus-without-flesh whom Paul supposedly met differentiates the Jesus whom Paul met from the Jesus whom the 12 knew.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So who is this blinding light figure that Paul met if not Jesus because it lacked flesh?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Let's see what the Bible and commentators says about Satan as a blinding angel of light.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"How art thou fallen from heaven,&nbsp;<em><strong>O Lucifer</strong></em>, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" (Isaiah 14:12.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"The Hebrew word,<em> hele</em><em>l</em>, which is translated&nbsp;<strong><em>Lucifer</em></strong> in Isaiah 14:12, entered English through Greek and German. In the Greek we have Helios, the <em><strong>sun god</strong></em>. In German, this became&nbsp;<em>hellen</em>, from which came the word&nbsp;<em>helder</em>, meaning, "clear" or "shiny." But there is also a sense of "<strong><em>blinding</em></strong>," that is,&nbsp;<em><strong>blinded by the light</strong></em>, in this; and thus&nbsp;<em>helel</em> entered English as "hell," a covered place, a place of&nbsp;<em>darkness as if blinded</em>, a place "far off from God."&nbsp;<em>Helel</em>, when split apart can read<strong><em> bright or clear god,</em></strong> or god of hell. The early Christian church clearly understood that <em>Helel</em> was a proper noun, and that Lucifer matched him not only in the meaning of the name, but also in character." ("<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/la2/prophet1/prayingtoanewgod.html">Lucifer, Angel of Light, Father of Lies</a>.")</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Helel, a<strong><em> shining one</em></strong>"&nbsp;<a href="http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/1966.htm">Strong's # 1966</a></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong> "</strong>Lucifer [in Isaiah 14:12] is the Latin translation of Helel, which means <strong>&ldquo;brightness</strong>.&rdquo; ("<a href="http://jnormanii.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/satan-the-true-father-of-cain/">Satan, the True Father of Cain</a>.")</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The original Hebrew word translated as Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12 (<em>helel</em>) comes from a verbal root that means "to&nbsp;<strong><em>shine brightly.</em></strong>" See "halal," in Strong's&nbsp;<a href="http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/1984.htm">#1984</a>.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an<strong> angel of light</strong>." (2 Cor. 11:14 NIV)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"He&nbsp;<strong><em>snatches away the Word of God</em></strong> sown in the hearts of the unsaved&nbsp;(Matt. 13 :19), sows his&nbsp;<strong><em>counterfeit Christians</em></strong> among the sons of the kingdom&nbsp;(Matt. 13 :25, 38,39),&nbsp;<strong><em>blinds the minds </em></strong>of men to the Gospel&nbsp;(II Cor. 4:3-4), and&nbsp;<strong><em>induces them to accept his lie</em></strong> (II Thess. 2:9-10). Often he transforms himself into 'an angel of light' by&nbsp;<strong><em>presenting his apostles of falsehood as messengers of truth." </em></strong><em>(II Cor. 11: 13-15)." ("Satan,"&nbsp;<em>PICTORIAL BIBLE DICTIONARY </em>(Zondervan, 1971).)</em></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Thou sealest up the sum, </span><strong>full of wisdom</strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">, and </span><strong>perfect in beauty</strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; </span><strong>every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold</strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast</span><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span>perfect in thy ways</strong> <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">from the day that thou wast created,</span><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span>till iniquity was found in thee</strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">." (Ezekiel 28:12-15)</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"The journey is interrupted when Paul sees </span><strong>a blinding light</strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">, and communicates directly with a divine voice." ("</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_of_Paul"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Conversion of Paul</span></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">,"&nbsp;Wikipedia.)</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"I saw Satan fall like <strong><em>lightning</em></strong> from heaven." (Jesus, Luke <a href="http://bible.cc/luke/10-18.htm">10:18</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul claims to have continued to have messages from this "Lord" he met that day on the road. Are there any particular doctrines which Paul taught that proves Paul was listening to a Blinding Angel of Light / Lucifer and not our Divine Lord Jesus?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">There are two such doctrines that stand out among many examples:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul <strong><em>teaches us to obey Roman rulers</em></strong> (Romans 13:1-2), treating their words as from God Himself -- Paul says they are God's agents, and thus Paul says our conscience must afflict us if we disobey.</span></li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Jesus says the worlds' rulers are part of Satan's domain</strong>, not God's. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+4%3A5-8&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Lk 4:5-8</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;(Satan offers his authority to Jesus to rule the kingdoms of the world),&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+18%3A36-40&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Jn 18:36</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;("my kingdom is not of this world")&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+19%3A18&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">19:18</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;("they crucified him"),&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+4%3A26&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Acts 4:26</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;("rulers of the world rise up against the Annointed One")&nbsp;</span>Jesus also says as Sons of the Kingdom we are truly exempt from obligations to them. However, we obey so as not to offend them (thereby avoiding them to suffer anger and then sin) rather than because they enjoy any holy agency from God.</span></li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See our article Why Does Paul Say World Rulers are God's Agents, but Jesus says they are Under Dominion of Satan? at this&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/topicindex/244-satans-domain-over-world-rulers.html">link</a>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Paul three times teaches it is <strong>acceptable</strong> for a Christian to eat meat sacrificed to idols which Jesus three times condemns in the Book of Revelation.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See Jesus' Words Only Chapter 6 on <a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/topicindex/108-chapter-six-jwo.html">Eating Meat Sacrificed To Idols</a>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, four facts point toward the notion that Paul met Lucifer, not Jesus, on the road to Damascus:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1. Paul admits He did not meet Jesus in the flesh when Jesus should have had flesh (Acts 9, 22, 26 (blinding light/voice); 2 Cor. 5:16);</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2. The angel at Jesus's ascension told the 12 that Jesus would return in the same way that He appeared to them when He ascended, i.e., implicitly in a physical flesh (Acts 1:11);</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">3. Paul saw a blinding light in a vision accompanied by a voice that Paul took for Jesus but having no way of identifying that it was indeed Jesus because Paul saw no flesh; and </span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">4.&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span>Paul's doctrines serve Satan in two clear examples if not many more, </span>i.e., (1) treating the rulers of this world (who Jesus says are under Satan, the prince of this world) as agents of God and (2) the permissibility of eating meat sacrificed to idols<span>.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Thus, it appears likely that indeed Paul met Lucifer, not Christ, on the road to Damascus.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Compare and contrast also that Paul meets "Jesus" in a light-and-voice appearance on earth, but John in Revelation is taken up <strong><em>into heaven where he sees Jesus in bodily form</em></strong>. Why did John see Jesus in heaven? Because the Lord Jesus was not supposed to return until the Second Coming. So who instead was on earth to meet Paul who was bright like lightning? Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." (Luke <a href="http://bible.cc/luke/10-18.htm">10:18</a>.) Again, more reason to believe Paul met Lucifer, not Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul was, however, an </span><em><strong>innocent dupe</strong></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. Paul mistook the light as goodness, ignoring that it caused blindness which is the mark of Lucifer's light. Jesus's light should have brought clarity, not blindness.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Does anyone have a contrary view? Any reasons to defend that contrary point of view? Write me if you you think I am wrong, and I will post here any credible disagreements. Truth is what we want to discover.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus' Prophecy in Matthew 24:5</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Matthew 24, Jesus gives a series of chronological events that lead up to the end. Some occur very early because Jesus identifies in the Shem-Tob version of Matthew that the first event occurs in the lifetime of His listeners. Verse 5 says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For many shall come in My Name &nbsp;saying I am He, the Messiah / Christ; and shall lead <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">you</span> / <s>many</s> astray.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is not the same as the &ldquo;false Christs&rdquo; who come chronologically much later, and are mentioned in verse 24. Rather, Jesus is saying the chronology of future church-history begins with someone coming in His name. He will say he is Jesus, but he is a counterfeit who will deceive &ldquo;you,&rdquo; Jesus says. The &ldquo;you&rdquo; means the present listeners will be led astray as a result. Thus, this is certainly an early event in the history of what Jesus says is to come to pass.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Where in Scripture do we learn that someone told anyone in the early apostolic church he was Jesus but it could be a deception of that person?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul after seeing a blinding light encountered a voice whom Paul asked who this was and the voice replied: &ldquo;I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.&rdquo; (Acts 9:5.) This identically fits this passage. The spirit-voice came in &ldquo;my (Jesus) name&rdquo; and said in substance &ldquo;I am He, the Messiah.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, the Shem-Tob Hebrew Matthew, with ancient roots in the original Matthew, points to a first century fulfillment of part one of Jesus' prophecy in Matt. 24:5. The blinding light episode could have duped Paul, and through his claims, many of those in the early church.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Supplemental Evidence</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There is other evidence Paul unwittingly did not realize the voice he was listening to was Satan.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul admits he has a "skolos" from an "Angel of Satan" with him at all times. Paul tells us this Messenger of Satan tortures him to keep Paul from being Arrogant. (See our fuller discussion <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/372-skolops-sent-by-an-angel-of-satan.html">here</a>.) However, if Paul truly was a servant of the Creator, then why would Satan want to keep Paul from being arrogant? Satan would want arrogance, and not be torturing Paul to keep him humble. But if Paul's message was from Satan, then Satan would want Paul's natural arrogance toned down to be more palatable to a religious audience.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Also, in Acts, Paul encounters a demon possessed woman popular at Philippi as a soothsayer whom people paid for prophecies.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If this woman is demon possessed and Paul were following the true Christ, then her declaration to others to listen to Paul for salvation represents a house divided against itself. It makes no sense.&nbsp;But if Paul were following unwittingly a false Christ, then this makes perfect sense. (For detailed discussion, see our <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/373-spirit-of-python-promoted-paul-in-acts-16.html">webpage</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, this is further confirmation that Paul was unwittingly serving Satan.</span></p>
<hr /><hr />
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Study Notes</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What does it mean that Jesus will be called "the <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bright and Morning Star</span></strong>" in Rev. 22:16? Satan had a similar but different title in Isaiah 14:12-15. There it means in Hebrew "<strong><em>Shining Star, Son of the Morning</em></strong>." It means that Satan wants to be Christ. But He is the Anti-Christ - an imitation of Christ. Satan is not described as the "Bright and Morning Star" as Jesus is in Rev. 22:16. Lucifer has similarities in title, but not the same. He is a poor imitation. A poor imposter. Satan can imitate or serve as an imposter, but the flock can make critical assessments to figure out who is the true Jesus. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It appears that God is sending us a subtle message that Jesus and Satan may appear the same -- Jesus is a Bright and Morning Star (Rev. 22:16) while Satan is a Shining Star, Son of the Morning (Isaiah 14:12-15.) They will be hard to tell apart, right? So Paul could easily be fooled by what Paul thought he was seeing as truly Jesus, when the real test was whether Jesus was seen by all peoples from eastern to western sky, which did not happen in Paul's encounter. Thus, the Ascended Jesus and Satan could appear to be almost identical to a human if one judges by appearance. Instead, we must apply a righteous judgment.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">3/25/2012</span></p> </td>
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<td valign="top" ><p style="text-align: right;">"It is of great importance to straighten out this inverting of the relationship, criticizing Christ by Paul, the Master by the disciple." <em>Kierkegaard,</em><em> My Task (1855)<br /></em></p></td>
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<h1>Did Paul Abolish The Sabbath?</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Under the Law given Moses, most commands do not apply to sojourners / foreigners (<em>i.e.</em>, Gentiles), but only to Israel. For example, circumcision only mentions sons of Israel. (See Leviticus <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+12&amp;version=NIV">12:1-3</a>.)&nbsp;One of the exceptions was the Sabbath command. The Sabbath command equally applies to Gentiles living in community with Israel as to any member of Israel.&nbsp;See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%205:12-15&amp;version=YLT">Deut. 5:12-15</a> ("sojourner within thy gates");&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2025:6&amp;version=YLT">Lev. 25:6</a> ("sojourner settling with thee"); <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2023:12&amp;version=YLT">Exo 23:12</a> (sojourner). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, God conditioned His promise of salvation in the New Covenant for&nbsp;Gentiles, eunuchs, etc., upon them, among other things, keeping the Sabbath. Specifically, the promise in Isaiah 56 of salvation and blessings to such ones -- just after ch. 53 says salvation is through Messiah's sacrifice -- was predicated on two things: "<em><strong>keep the Sabbath</strong></em> from profaning it and <em><strong>keep his hand from doing evil</strong></em>" (Isaiah <a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-2.htm">56:2</a>) and "who <em><strong>keep My Sabbaths</strong></em>, and choose things that please Me, and<em><strong> take hold of my covenant</strong></em>." (Isaiah <a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-5.htm">56:4,6</a> -such a Gentile&nbsp;will be given an eternal name).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul said anyone in Christ's movement did not have to follow the Sabbath any longer.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul wrote in Col.<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=col.%202:16-17&amp;version=KJV"> 2:16-17</a>:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>16</sup> Let no man therefore<em><strong> judge you</strong></em> in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of <em><strong>the sabbath days</strong></em>:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>17</sup>Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.</span></p>
<h2>Luther Agrees Paul Abolished Sabbath</h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Martin Luther in a sermon entitled <em>How Christians Should Regard Moses</em> given August 27, 1525&nbsp;says of this passage:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464139"></a>Again one can prove it from the third commandment that Moses does not pertain to Gentiles and Christians.&nbsp;<em><strong>For Paul [Col. 2:16]...abolish[ed] the&nbsp;sabbath</strong></em>, to show us that the sabbath was given to the Jews alone, for whom it is a stern commandment.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Martin Luther, "How Christians Should Regard Moses,"&nbsp;<em>Luther's Works: Word and Sacrament</em> I (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960) Vol. 35 at 161-174; Martin Luther, <em>Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings</em> (ed. Lull &amp; Russell) (Fortress Press, 2005) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Ve7Sybjp5s8C&amp;lpg=PA127&amp;dq=luther%20For%20Paul%20and%20the%20New%20Testament%20abolish%20the%20sabbath&amp;pg=PA127#v=onepage&amp;q=luther%20For%20Paul%20and%20the%20New%20Testament%20abolish%20the%20sabbath&amp;f=false">127</a>.</span></p>
<h2>Calvin Agreed Paul Abolished Sabbath</h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times; font-size: large;">Calvin wrote on Colossians 2:16: "We see now that the Sabbath is done away with and the people are&nbsp;free from it."&nbsp;(John Calvin, <em>Commentaries on the Epistles o f Paul the Apostle&nbsp;to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians</em> (trans. John&nbsp;Pringle) (1948) at 191.) Calvin added that this passage meant "Christ has by his death abolished ... the observance of rites" (<em>i.e.</em>, Sabbath).</span></p>
<h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 33.6363639831543px; font-size: 24px; color: #66869a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tertullian Agrees Paul Abolished Sabbath</h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tertullian read Col. 2:16 the same way Luther and Calvin read it. Tertullian believed that Paul abolished all the Law (even though Tertullian says he does not want to discuss the validity of that conclusion), commenting: "We do not now treat of the<em> Law</em>, further than (to remark) that<strong><em> the apostle here teaches&nbsp;clearly how it has been abolished</em></strong>, even by passing from shadow to substance - that is, from figurative types to reality, which is Christ."&nbsp;&nbsp;(Tertullian, "Against Marcion" 5, 19, ANF III, 471, 472&nbsp;(emphasis supplied).)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Numerous Christian scholars agree Paul abolished Sabbath in Colossians 2:16-17: Paul K. Jewett, C.S.Mosna, J. Danielou, and W. Robertson Nicholl.</span></p>
<h2>Paul In Romans Abolishes Sabbath Again</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul will repeat this abolition of Sabbath in&nbsp;Romans<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2014:5-6&amp;version=KJV"> 14:5-6</a>.&nbsp; Paul writes: "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Christian commentators explain this means regarding Sabbath: "Christians are permitted to make up their own minds about a special day."&nbsp;Dan Corner,<em> Six Facts For Saturday Sabbatarians To Ponder</em> at <a href="/Dan Corner, Six Facts For Saturday Sabbatarians To Ponder at http:/www.evangelicaloutreach.org/sabbath.htm">http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/sabbath.htm</a> (last accessed 2005).</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="file://tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%205html.html#pgfId=464154" class="footnote"></a>You can take it or leave it. It is up to you.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Likewise, scholar, J.Danielou, sees this clearly the same way: "St.Paul<strong><em> proclaimed the end of the Sabbath</em></strong> (Rom.14:6)." (Jean Danielou, <em>Bible and Liturgy</em> (Light &amp; Life: 1956) at 228.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, many commentators are sheepish on this topic. When they realize Paul would be a false prophet by definition found in the Law and Prophets for so teaching (Isaiah <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%208:20&amp;version=KJV">8:20</a>; Deut. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut.%2013:1-5&amp;version=KJV">13:1-5</a>), they try to do a retreat. But Luther, Calvin, Danielou and Corner are correct -- Paul claimed Sabbath was henceforth abolished.</span></p>
<h2 class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Ehrman Says Paul in Galatians Curses Those who Obey Sabbath</span></strong><br /></span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times; font-size: large;">In Galatians, Paul bemoans Galatians who wish to keep sabbath and observe the new moon as provided in the Law. Paul then says "anathema" -- cursed -- are those who wish to be just / justified by keeping such parts of the Law, <em>i.e.</em>, sabbath, monthly festivals, etc. For otherwise, Paul argues, they will have to keep "all" of the Law, and not selected parts. (Gal. 1:6-12; Gal. 2:14-16 (cursed if not continue in all points of law); Gal. 3:9-12 (under a curse, misquoting Deuteronomy, as explained at this <a href="/topicindex/360-paul-misquotes-of-scripture.html">link</a>), Gal. 3:21.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times; font-size: large;">Paul's words are a clear echo of Col. 2:14-16 that effectively abolished obeying any "holy day, new moon or Sabbath day."<br /></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times; font-size: large;">In Galatians, Paul adds to this an attempt to freighten the reader that to keep the Law meant the males had to also be circumcised -- a painful operation for a Gentile adult of that era. Unfortunately, Paul did <strong>NOT</strong> help assuage such fear by recognizing James' rationale in Acts 15 for not extending to Gentiles the law on circumcision. It was because<strong><em> Leviticus 12:1-3 on circumcision clearly says it applies only to "sons of Israel,</em></strong>" and did <strong><em>not extend to Gentiles</em></strong> unless they wished to partake of passover dinner. But Sabbath clearly extended to "sojourners' (non-Jews in community with Israel) under the Mosaic Law.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times; font-size: large;">Regardless, Paul not only curses those who are resting on Sabbath to observe the Law's demand but also those who teach us to obey this command to obey Sabbath from the 10 Commandments. As Bart Ehrman, a professor on the New Testament, explains:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;" class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times; font-size: large;">“Paul is absolutely clear [in Galatians] that he thinks non-Jews are not to do these things [<em>i.e</em>., keep Sabbath, holidays, etc.] once they believe in Christ. In fact,... <strong>he lays a curse on anyone who thinks that Gentiles who come to believe in Jesus should engage in such practices</strong>.” (Bart D. Ehrman, Peter, Paul &amp; Mary Magalene (2006) at 117.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, if Paul curses those Gentile Christians who obey Sabbath and those who spread knowledge of the Sabbath's application to Gentiles, this confirms Paul abolished Sabbath, at least for Gentiles who joined the community of God's people.</span></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large;">Mainstream Anti-Sabbitarians Defend Paul Abolished Sabbath</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Unaware of the implication that Paul is invalidated as an inspired voice by abolishing Sabbath (<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 20px;">Isaiah&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%208:20&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">8:20</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 20px;">; Deut.&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut.%2013:1-5&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">13:1-5</a>), a defender of Sunday as the new Sabbath, William Armstrong, wrote of these passages from Paul in his book <em>Is Saturday or Sunday the Christian Sabbath?: A Refutation of Sabbatarianism</em> (Philips &amp; Hunt, 1880) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=qpYQAAAAYAAJ&amp;pg=PA90#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">90</a>. He articulates<em><strong> how clearly Paul intends indeed to abolish the Sabbath command</strong></em> from the Ten Commandments. Armstrong is completely unaware how <strong><em>the Bible then condemns Paul as a false prophet</em></strong> because the Bible says the Law including this Sabbath command would be "eternal for all generations" -- repeated 12 times in Scripture, <em>i.e.</em>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2027:21&amp;version=KJV">Ex. 27:21</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2030:21&amp;version=KJV">30:21</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%206:18&amp;version=KJV">Lev. 6:18</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%207:36&amp;version=KJV">7:36</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2010:9&amp;version=KJV">10:9</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2017:7&amp;version=KJV">17:7</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2023:14&amp;version=KJV">23:14</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2023:21&amp;version=KJV">21</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2023:41&amp;version=KJV">41</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2024:3&amp;version=KJV">24:3</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers%2010:8&amp;version=KJV">Num. 10:8</a>. Armstrong writes:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="gtxt_body"> Much has been written on this text, and many commentators, <strong><em>fearful of its effect on the institution of the </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>Sabbath</em></strong></span><span class="gstxt_hlt">, </span>have referred this&nbsp;<span class="gstxt_hlt">Sabbath </span>(not&nbsp;<span class="gstxt_hlt">Sabbath </span>days as the translators have rendered it) to the</span><span class="gtxt_body"><em><strong> annual Sabbaths</strong></em></span><span class="gtxt_body">, while other commentators, as learned, among which are </span><span class="gtxt_body"><em><strong>Whedon, have referred it to the weekly day</strong></em></span><span class="gtxt_body">. I agree with the latter. The use of the words, "Shadow of good things to come," is </span><span class="gtxt_body"><em><strong>no evidence</strong></em></span><span class="gtxt_body"> that the&nbsp;<span class="gstxt_hlt">Sabbath </span>in the text refers at all to</span><span class="gtxt_body"><strong><em> the annual Sabbaths </em></strong></span><span class="gtxt_body">which are all included under the words, holy day. We have the new moon, the annual holy convocations, and the&nbsp;<span class="gstxt_hlt">Sabbath, </span>all expressed in the text. The&nbsp;<span class="gstxt_hlt">Sabbath </span>day was a shadow of good things to come.... We have seen that the Jewish [Sabbath] day was a commemoration of deliverance, and as such was a shadow of the deliverance through Christ....</span><span class="gtxt_body">The<strong><em> Saturday </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>Sabbath</em></strong> </span>being a sign of the Mosaic covenant, and of the deliverance from Egypt, </span><span class="gtxt_body"><em><strong>must pass away with that covenant</strong></em></span><span class="gtxt_body">. </span><span class="gtxt_body"><em>Id.</em>, at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=qpYQAAAAYAAJ&amp;pg=PA90#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false"> 90</a>.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman',times;">Thus, this author who trusts Paul as inspired admits Paul abolished Sabbath. The author unwittingly thereby proves&nbsp;<strong><em>Paul is a false prophet under the Word of God that preceded Paul</em></strong>. Paul taught believers in Christ (whether Jew or Gentile) not to follow a command from God in the Ten Commandments (aka 'the Testimony') -- the Sabbath command -- which <strong><em><span style="color: #ff0000;">proves him a false prophet.</span></em></strong> (Deut. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut.%2013:1-5&amp;version=KJV">13:1-5</a>.). See also Isaiah <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%208:20&amp;version=KJV">8:20</a> ("To the law and to the testimony [<em>i.e.</em>, the Ten Commandments]: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.")</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large;">What About Sunday? Any Necessity To Go To Church or Rest Then Either?</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And, importantly, if one accepts Paul's reasoning in Romans 14:5-6, what happens to Sunday as our replacement-Sabbath? Our substitute? If you follow Paul, no one has to adhere to that either. It is just custom, and unlike the true Sabbath, Sunday has utterly no Biblical support for it as a day of observance of rest. As Peter Ditzel confesses from a Pauline-approving perspective:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Lets face it. Paul makes no exception. He says it is <strong><em>perfectly acceptable to esteem every day alike, which is the same as esteeming no day in particular</em></strong>. He gives no hint whatsoever that either the seventh day or the first day are exceptions to what he is saying. (Pete Ditzel, "What is the Christian Sabbath?"<a href="http://www.wordofhisgrace.org/christiansabbath4.html"> Part 4</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The only denomination that follows this Pauline principle to its letter are the Jehovah Witnesses:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Jehovah's Witness <em><strong>do not observe any day as the sabbath</strong></em>, they meet on different days of the week as is convenient... Usually Sunday, but not always, as they <em><strong>believe that the old testament was done away</strong></em> with which includes the Torah and the 10 Commandments. ("<a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_day_is_Jehovah's_Witnesses_sabbath">Which Day Is The Jehovah Witnesses' Sabbath</a>,"&nbsp;<em>WikiAnswers&nbsp;</em>(12/14/2012).)<br /></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So it is fair for us to say Paul not only abolished sabbath but all kinds of religious festivals.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The consequence is Paul must be a false prophet by God's stern criteria in Deut. 13:1-5.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-size: large;">END</span><hr /></span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><b>Further Study</b></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/287-millgram-on-paul-a-sabbath.html">our reprinting</a> of ch. 20 of the work by a Jewish scholar, Abraham Millgram, <em>Sabbath: Day of Delight</em> (1965) where he discusses "Paul abolished Sabbath." He discusses also how this did not catch on until the 300s when the Gentile-dominated church supplanted finally the teachings of Jesus and the original apostles who Millgram says were Torah-observant on Sabbath and other Torah-principles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For a rebuttal claiming the Sabbath was not "perpetual" for all generations, even though OLAM in Hebrew of Original Testament is translated that way, and instead it supposedly could mean a "long time," see "<a href="http://www.wordofhisgrace.org/christiansabbath2.html">What Is The Christian Sabbath, part 2</a>." &nbsp;However, while true, the Bible said the Law would exist OLAM for all generations. This means it would endure for all generations. Thus after there is no more generations, i.e., until there is no more giving in marriage, the Law endures.<br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The same article incorrectly argues: "The only people in the New Testament who try to enforce Sabbath keeping and who accuse others of Sabbath breaking are the Pharisees and their ilk." <em>Id.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> But the issue there between Jesus and the Pharisees was <strong><em>not about keeping Sabbath any more</em></strong>, but <strong><em>when was work a violation</em></strong>. Jesus said in essence that doing good is never prohibited on Sabbath. He did not say there is no more Sabbath, and thus no more need to even bother with the issue whether you can violate it by doing good works or not. Jesus' answers all assumed the Sabbath principle continues. Jesus just corrected the over zealous analysis by the religious leaders of what 'rest' vs. 'work' meant in interpretation of a Sabbath violation.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This same article quotes in triumph against the notion we should keep Sabbath that Luther says that if we must keep sabbath, we must also keep circumcision when we all know James interpreted we do not have to do so:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">“Indeed, if Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath - that is to say, Saturday - must be kept holy; he would truly make us Jews in all things, and we should come to be circumcised: for that is true, and cannot be denied, that<strong><em> he who deems it necessary to keep one law of Moses, and keeps it as the law of Moses, must deem all necessary, and keep them all</em></strong>” (“Against the Celestial Prophets” as quoted in <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>T</em><em>he Life of Martin Luther in Pictures</em></span>, p. 147).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But again, the circumcision command was only upon Israelites in Leviticus 12:1-3. Otherwise, the Bible said the Sabbath had to be obeyed by all sojourners / foreigners in community with Israel. Hence, one can defend a Gentile-Christian should keep Sabbath but that is not the same as defending a Gentile must be circumcised. Torah / the Law makes this distinction and is perfectly consistent. Those who say otherwise are simply ill-informed about the Law which is not surprising because they denigrate it as totally void.</span></p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">God's Prophecy Of Sabbath in The Kingdom of God</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman',times;">Bernard Harland makes a good point about the Sabbath in prophecy in Isaiah as contradictory of Paul's claims -- at this <a href="http://www.bernardharland.com/">link,</a> which I excerpt a portion here:<br /></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman',times;">The prophet Isaiah prophesied of a time in the future (in the Kingdom of God) when every nation will come to worship the Lord in accordance with the laws and ordinances of Moses. However, they are the same laws and ordinances that Paul says Christ nailed to his cross. If this were true (and it is not) then Christ destroyed these words of the prophet Isaiah also.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman',times;">Isa 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman',times;">If Christ did nail these holy ordinances to his cross, then this prophecy of Isaiah could never be fulfilled. Why would God require all flesh (the citizens of the new world) to keep a law that Christ abolished on his cross? No sane person would burn down a house that would be needed in the future!</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman',times;">The Law of Moses will be kept by the citizens of the Kingdom of God because heaven and earth will not have passed away at that time. The Law of Moses will be in effect until Rev 21:1 is fulfilled.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman',times;">Revelation 21:1 says:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-size: large;">And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea</span>.<br data-mce-bogus="1" /></span></p>
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<td valign="top" ><p>"But [Carlstadt's] most remarkable position [in 1520]...[was] the<em><strong> word of Paul</strong></em> is not to be put on a level with Christ." Beard <em>Luther </em>(1899)</p></td>
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<h1>Introduction</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why does Paul contend the rulers of this world are God's agents when Jesus says they are under the dominion of Satan?</span></p>
<h1>Satan's Control Over World's Rulers</h1>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The<em><strong> kings of the earth</strong></em> take their stand and the rulers <strong><em>gather together against the LORD</em></strong> and against his Anointed One (Messiah). (Ps. 2:2.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him<strong> all the kingdoms of the world</strong>, and the glory of them;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4&amp;version=KJV">4:8</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus refers to Satan as the "<em>ruler/prince of this world</em>" three times (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>31</sup>Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the <strong><em>prince of this world</em></strong> will be driven out. (John <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2012:31&amp;version=KJV">12:31</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>30</sup>Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the<em><strong> prince of this world</strong></em> cometh, and hath nothing in me. (John <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2014:30&amp;version=KJV">14:30</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Of judgment, because the <strong><em>prince of this world</em></strong> is judged. (John <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2016:11&amp;version=KJV">16:11</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus says His kingdom is not of this world:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus answered, My kingdom is <em><strong>not of this world</strong></em>: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (John <a href="/Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.">18:36</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Similarly Apostle John writes: "whole world lieth in the evil one." (1 John<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20john%205:19&amp;version=ASV"> 5:19</a>.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1>Paul Teaches World's Rulers Are Ordained of 'God'</h1>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>1</sup>Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which <strong><em>God has established</em></strong>. The authorities that exist have been established by God.&nbsp;<sup>2</sup>Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.&nbsp;<sup>4</sup>For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.<sup>5</sup>Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.&nbsp;<sup>6</sup>This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. (Romans <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2013&amp;version=NIV">13:1-6</a>, NIV)</span></p>
<h1>Conclusion</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is further evidence that Paul did not meet the true Jesus on the road to Damascus, as we claim based upon comparing Jesus' warning in Matthew 24:4-5, 24-27 and Paul's vision in Acts 9:5-9. This is because Satan would send a message through the pseudo-Jesus that says the world rulers are God's agents when Satan actually has dominion over them.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<h1>Jesus Unflatteringly Prophesies Of Paul in Matthew 5:17-19</h1>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Scholars going all the way back to Augustine say Paul was playing on the meaning of his name as "least" when he tells the Corinthians:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">For I am the&nbsp;<strong><em>least</em></strong> of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015:9&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 15:9</a>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">However, these scholars' admissions will lead to the unraveling of Paul under a prophecy of our Lord.</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Paul's Name is Paulus</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Luke tells us Saul was "also known as Paul." (Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2013:9&amp;version=KJV">13:9</a>.) In the Greek, "Paulos." Paulos means 'small one' in Greek.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Whence came that name? And what does it mean?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">First, "Paulos" (Acts 13:6) is a transliterated Greek version of the Latin name "Paulus." In other words, Paulos is the Greek form of the Latin "Paulus."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">In Latin, "Paulus" is a shorted form of the name "Pauxillus," just like we say "Joe" for the name "Joseph."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Why did Paul have a Latin name? Luke tells us Saul of Tarsus was a Roman citizen by birth. Acts<a href="http://bible.cc/acts/22-28.htm"> 22:28</a>. This is verifiable because 100 years earlier,&nbsp;Roman politician Anthony had conferred Roman citizenship upon all the inhabitants of Tarsus, and this was later attested to by Emperor Caesar Augustus. (See<span style="text-decoration: underline;" data-mce-mark="1"> Barnes' Commentar</span>y notes at this&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/acts/22-28.htm">link</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">However, to receive Roman citizenship, a Jew had to give the child a second name in Latin belonging to the benefactor bestowing citizenship:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">"When a foreigner received the right of citizenship, he<em><strong> took a new name</strong></em>, which was ar­ranged on much the same principles as have been ex­plained in the cases of freedmen. His original name was retained as a sort of&nbsp;<em>cognomen</em>, and before it were written the praenomen that suited his fancy and the&nbsp;<em><strong>nomen of the person, always a Roman citizen, to whom he owed his citi­zenship</strong></em>.&nbsp;" Harold W. Johnston,&nbsp;<em>The Private Life of the Romans </em>(Revised by Mary Johnston) (Scott, Foresman and Company: 1932) ch.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston_2.html">2</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">So besides a Jewish name like Saul, his father had to give his son a Roman name -- this is evidently why Paul has a Latin name Paulus. He would be known as "Paulus Saul." In the Greek NT, Paulus was transliterated as "Paulos."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, because Paulus is a shortened form of the name Pauxillus, what does it mean in Latin?</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Paulus/Pauxillus Means 'Least"</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Paulus / Pauxillus in Latin means "<em>least</em>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">In the&nbsp;<a href="http://jfb.biblecommenter.com/1_corinthians/15.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a> to explain why Paul calls himself the "least" of the apostles in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015:9&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 15:9</a>, they point out the meaning of Paul's true Latin name:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">"The name, "Paulus," in Latin, means "<em><strong>least</strong></em>." (See also Biblos <a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/15-9.htm">quote</a> of Jamieson).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Likewise, we read in Farrar, <em>The Life and Work of St. Paul </em>(E.P. Dutton, 1880) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Nx5VAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=paulus%20means%20least&amp;pg=PA200#v=onepage&amp;q=paulus%20means%20least&amp;f=false">200</a> the meaning of Paul's name, and how Augustine ca. 390 AD explained Paul used it in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015:9&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 15:9</a>:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">"Paulus, a contraction of Pauxillus, means '<em><strong>least</strong></em>.'" (citing a reference in Augustine's <em>Sermons</em> clxix.)[The correct citation is to Sermon 169:5. Cf <em>Works of St. Augustine: A Translation for 21st Century</em> (1992) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=jY2VQH-w1gIC&amp;lpg=PA10&amp;ots=HhUxH2xMIf&amp;dq=augustine%20sermon%20169&amp;pg=PA225#v=onepage&amp;q=augustine%20sermon%20169&amp;f=false">225</a>.]</span></p>
<p>(Note: In Latin, "paulum" primarily means "little." See <a href="http://translate.google.com/">translate.google.com</a>. And "pauxillus" primarily means "small." <em>Id. </em><em> But the latter also meant "least," as pointed out by scholars</em><em>.</em>)</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul knew his audience understood his name meant <em>least</em>. This explains why he&nbsp;once did a pun on his own name:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">For I am the <strong><em>least</em></strong> of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015:9&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 15:9</a>)</span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Jesus Says The Kingdom Occupants Will Call The One Teaching Against the Law 'The Least"</strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Who will the occupants of the kingdom of heaven call "least," according to our Lord Jesus? After mentioning the Law given Moses and the Prophets, Jesus says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">'Whoever therefore may loose one of these commands -- the least -- and may teach men so,&nbsp;<strong>least</strong> he shall be&nbsp;<em><strong>called in the reign of the heavens</strong></em>, but whoever may do and may teach&nbsp;<em>them</em>, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.&nbsp;&nbsp;(Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:19&amp;version=YLT">5:19</a>, YLT.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The pastor of the Bethel Church of God explains correctly, as I detail below on the Greek grammar, "<span data-mce-mark="1">This text does not infer that those who break the commandments and teach men so will be </span><em>in</em><span data-mce-mark="1"> the kingdom of heaven, but <strong><em>they will be called the least by those who are there</em></strong>." ("<a href="http://www.bethelcog.org/church/understanding-paul/understanding-paul-1">Understanding Paul</a>," Bethel Church of God, Eugene, Oregon (Nov. 17, 2012).)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally, the Greek for "loose" is "luo" and means "relax" or "loosen."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">This verse thus literally says&nbsp;"the least (<em>elichistos</em>) he shall be called [by those] in the kingdom of heaven" who looses/relaxes any of the commands in the Law given Moses.</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Scholarly Agreement 5:19 Is Anti-Paul Statement</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Because the “least” is the one who loosens the Law in Matthew 5:19, Johannes Weiss (1863-1914), Professor of Theology at Heidelberg (see photo below), in </span><em><a href="http://ia700302.us.archive.org/10/items/dasurchristentum00weisuoft/dasurchristentum00weisuoft.pdf">Das Urchristentum</a></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"> (1917) said “least” in Matt 5:19 is a prophecy about Paul. In 1951, scholar S.G.F. Brandon agreed with Weiss, “that the </span><strong><em>least in the kingdom of heaven is a reference to Paul</em></strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">, the least of the apostles (cf </span><a style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015:9&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor 15:9</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">).” (See D.C. Sim, “Matthews anti-Paulinism: A neglected feature of Matthean studies,” </span><em>HTS</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"> 58(2) 2002 at 767 </span><em>et seq</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">. [</span><a style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/290-matthew-as-anti-pauline-text.html">link</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">], citing S.G.F. Brandon, </span><em>The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"> (2nd edition. London: SPCK, 1957) at 232-34.)</span></p>
<p><img src="/images/stories/JWOBook/weiss_author_of_dasurchristentum00weisuoft_0006.jpg" width="210" height="318" alt="weiss_author_of_dasurchristentum00weisuoft_0006" style="float: right;" /></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Even the famous and highly influential pro-Paul Christian theologian Rudolf Bultmann acknowledged the plausibility of Weiss' contention, saying that Matthew 5:19 (with its reference to "least" for the Law-loosening teacher) is a reference "<strong><em>perhaps to Paul himself</em></strong>." (Rudolf Bultmann, <em>Theology of the New Testament</em> (Trans. Kendrick Grobel)(N.Y.: Charles Scribner's &amp; Sons, 1972) at 349 / <em>Id.</em>, (1951) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Lhazug-q5YAC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=Rudolf+Bultmann+Theology+of+the+New+Testament&amp;hl=en&amp;src=bmrr&amp;ei=JclSTY7zK4uCsQPtpKG_Bg&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CD0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;q=%22perhaps%20to%20Paul%22&amp;f=false">54</a>.) <em>See also</em>, F.F. Powell, <em>Robbing Peter to Pay Paul</em> (2010) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=UiqtUuoosL4C&amp;lpg=PA64&amp;ots=9r-VRkOJFg&amp;dq=%22perhaps%20to%20paul%20himself%22%20bultmann&amp;pg=PA64#v=onepage&amp;q=%22perhaps%20to%20paul%20himself%22%20bultmann&amp;f=false">64</a>, quoting Bultmann.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">In accord, David&nbsp;Hill in&nbsp;<em>The Gospel of Matthew</em> (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981) notes:&nbsp;"Many have found in this verse an attack on the work and teaching of Paul" (<em>Id.</em>, at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?ei=Fn5TTYXcFpOssAOEy8TqAw&amp;ct=result&amp;id=n1wpE3DnnB8C&amp;dq=david+hill+gospel+of+matthew&amp;q=least#search_anchor">119</a>), and "it is claimed the term 'least' is a reference to Paul."&nbsp;<em>See also </em>"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_5:19">Matt. 5:19</a>,"&nbsp;<em>Wikipedia. </em>Bromily in the <em>International Bible Standard Encyclopedia</em> (Eerdman's 1995) mentions some make the "argument that the warning in Mt. 5:19 about the man who 'relaxes one of these least commandments and teaches men so'<strong><em> is a covert attack</em></strong> by stricter Jewish Christians <em><strong>on Paul</strong></em>." <em>Id.</em>, at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=wo8csizDv0gC&amp;lpg=PA823&amp;ots=jqPOxQdxkp&amp;dq=5%3A19%20attack%20on%20paul%20least&amp;pg=PA823#v=onepage&amp;q=5:19%20attack%20on%20paul%20least&amp;f=false">823</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"> William David Davies &amp; Dale C. Allison try to cast the issue less than certain (what in history is 100% certain?) by speculating others were equally anti-Law, and not just Paul, and perhaps Matthew did not know Paul's name meant "least." But otherwise, they admit too much. As followers of the Messiah-Yashua, we believe Jesus is speaking. The fact Matthew could not reasonably have known Paul's name meant 'least' in Latin bolsters this is a prophecy of our Lord rather than raises a question mark about whether Matthew understands what he is saying could apply to Paul. Indeed, the fact Matthew would lack the necessary knowledge of Latin to forge a prophecy like this into the text proves it is a true prophecy from our Lord Jesus about Paul. For Jesus certainly foresaw prophetically the Paul of several years in the future who would have a name meaning "least" in Latin. The fact Matthew would have no clue to a Latin meaning to "Paul" proves this is a genuine original prophecy of our Lord Jesus recorded by Apostle Matthew. Here is their nervous admissions: </span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">It has, from time to time, been urged that Matt 5:19 adverts to Paul, who in one place called himself the 'least' of the apostles. (1 Cor. 5:19, the <strong><em>Latin Paulus = small</em></strong>). Now there is no doubt the polemical tone of 5:19: <strong><em>the verse was obviously formulated with laxness toward the Law in view. And we cannot exclude the possibility that Paul was originally the intended target</em></strong>. But this possibility remains far outside the bounds of certainty. There were many besides Paul who, at least in the eyes of others, sat loose to the Law....And in any case one cannot be certain that Paul was known as the 'least. (</span><a style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" title="A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew: in three volumes. Introduction and commentary on Matthew 1-VII, Volume 1" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=z79ltm3TFWwC&amp;pg=PA497&amp;dq=weiss+paul+least+in+kingdom&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=GFhJT9qvK8rciQKcwazaDQ&amp;ved=0CFsQ6AEwBw">A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"> </span><em>According to Matthew</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"> (1988) at </span><a style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=z79ltm3TFWwC&amp;lpg=PA497&amp;vq=paulus&amp;pg=PA497#v=snippet&amp;q=paulus&amp;f=false">497</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">But the skepticism of these scholars that Matthew could not likely know Paul's name meant 'least' to discount this applies to Paul is proof itself this is a prophecy of Jesus. For only Jesus, and not the writer Matthew, would know for certain the true meaning in Latin of the name of the law-loosener to come -- Paul.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">For an elaborate scholarly demonstration of several anti-Pauline passages in Matthew (from Jesus) including 5:19, see D.C. Sim, "Matthews anti-Paulinism: A neglected feature of Matthean studies,"&nbsp;<em>HTS</em> 58(2) 2002 at 767 <em>et seq., </em>which we have excerpted here at this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/290-matthew-as-anti-pauline-text.html">link.</a> See also Sim, <em>The Gospel of Matthew and Christian Judaism</em> (1998) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=9QeLhZyR6EQC&amp;lpg=PA2&amp;dq=Sim%20The%20Gospel%20of%20Matthew%20and%20Christian%20Judaism%20The%20history%20and%20social%20setting%20of%20the%20Matthean%20community%20Edinburgh%3A%20T%26%20T%20Clark%201998&amp;pg=PA200#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">200</a> <em>et seq.</em></span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">So Who Is Called "Least" and Taught The Relaxation Of The Law?</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul taught “the Law was our custodian until Christ came” (Gal.3:24) but since then, Jesus was “<strong><em>abolishing in his flesh the Law of commandments and ordinances</em></strong>” (Ephesians 2:15).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">And Paul's name means "least" in Latin!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">What prescience and subtlety had our Lord.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">And thus all Paulinists who proudly proclaim Paul as their own wear the brand of our savior on their doctrine as one condemned. They are all followers of the "Least."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Called By Those in the Kingdom Does Not Place The Least One In The Kingdom</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Some try saying 5:19 is about "the least<strong><em> in</em></strong> the kingdom of heaven," and thus the least is at least saved. Implicitly, this response seeks to weaken our concern if we follow the 'least' man, as Jesus describes this law-loosening teacher.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">However, please scrupulously note it does not say in 5:19 the "least<strong><em> in</em></strong> the kingdom of heaven," but instead says "the least [he is]&nbsp;<strong><em>called in the kingdom of heaven</em></strong>," as the YLT correctly translated this verse. The Greek words&nbsp;in Matt 5:19 are "<em>elechistos kiethestai en te basileia ton ouranon</em>." Literally "<strong><em>least shall [he] be called in the kingdom of heaven</em></strong>." It NEVER SAYS the "least in the kingdom; rather "least shall [he] be called in the kingdom of heaven." The presence of the verb "<em><strong>call</strong></em>" between "<em><strong>least</strong></em>" and "<em><strong>in the kingdom</strong></em>" makes clear Jesus is not saying this "least" man is in heaven. Rather, those "in the kingdom" shall call this law-loosener "the Least."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">The YLT brings out this important grammatical difference, which I will quote again so one can see the true grammatical construct of the sentence:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>19</sup>`Whoever therefore may loose one of these commands -- the least -- and may teach men so,&nbsp;<strong><em>least he shall be called in the reign of the heavens</em></strong>, but whoever may do and may teach [them], he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens. (Matt.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:19&amp;version=YLT">5:19</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">It is verse 20 that proves the "least" one is lost (absent repentance) because Jesus then requires an obedience from us greater than the Pharisees. Jesus elsewhere explained why: the Pharisees had a shallow view of the Law which Jesus identified in Matt. 23:23 (regard for the lesser command of tithing but the Pharisees leave the rest undone).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">As a result, <strong><em>every scholar</em></strong> found who addresses this issue concurs that 5:19 means the “least” one remains outside the kingdom and is lost (absent repentance). For example,&nbsp;Adam Clarke, the famous Methodist commentator, explained in 1825 that “least” in 5:19 is understood as excluded from heaven, proven by 5:20:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">“He who, by his mode of acting, speaking, or explaining the words of God, sets the holy precept aside, or explains away its force and meaning, shall be called<em><strong> least</strong></em> --<em><strong> shall have no place in the kingdom of Christ here, nor in the kingdom of glory above</strong></em>. That this is the meaning of these words is evident enough from the following verse [i.e., 5:20].” (Adam Clarke, <em>The Holy Bible</em> (1825) Vol. V at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=I6kGAAAAQAAJ&amp;dq=shall%20have%20no%20place%20in%20the%20kingdom%20of%20Christ%20here%2C%20nor%20in%20the%20kingdom%20of%20glory%20above%20clarke&amp;pg=PT35#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">56</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Likewise, Alexander B. Bruce,&nbsp;DD, Professor of Apologetics and New Testament Exegesis in the Free Church College&nbsp;in his&nbsp;<em>The Kingdom of God</em> (1897) at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=gqUMAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=Alexander%20Bruce%20in%20his%20The%20Kingdom%20of%20God%201897%20inauthor%3Aalexander%20inauthor%3Abruce&amp;pg=PA66#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false"> 66 </a>says the "least" of 5:19 means to apply to a Pharisee identified next in 5:20 who “cares more for the little than the great commandments [Matt.23:23], [which] has no moral worth and is <strong><em>not in the kingdom at all</em></strong>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">In accord in reading 5:19-20 i<span data-mce-mark="1">s the Protestant classic text, </span><span data-mce-mark="1"><em>Theological Dictionary of the New Testament</em> (ed.G.W. Bromiley)</span><span data-mce-mark="1"> (1985) at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ltZBUW_F9ogC&amp;lpg=PA612&amp;ots=4zXFOVoRiz&amp;dq=Theological%20Dictionary%20of%20the%20New%20Testament%20%201985%20no%20moral%20worth&amp;pg=PA574#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false"> 574</a> which says of 5:19, Jesus means “those who erode the Law while supposedly protect</span><span data-mce-mark="1"></span><span data-mce-mark="1">ing it will </span><strong><em>not even enter</em></strong><span data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em> the kingdom</em></strong> (5:20).”</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Similarly,<span data-mce-mark="1"> James Blair, a famous theologian, in 1722 gave an insightful discourse which recognized this aspect to 5:19. He said: “The expression of </span><span data-mce-mark="1">least ...</span><span data-mce-mark="1"> [must] signify to be</span><span data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em> totally excluded</em></strong> </span><span data-mce-mark="1">from [the kingdom of heaven].” (See </span><span data-mce-mark="1">James Blair,<em> </em></span><span data-mce-mark="1"><em>Our Saviors Divine Sermon on the Mount</em></span><span data-mce-mark="1"> (5 vols.)(London: 1722) quoted in Edward L. Bond,<em> </em></span><span data-mce-mark="1"><em>Spreading the Gospel in Colonial Virginia: Sermons and Devotional Writings </em></span><span data-mce-mark="1">(Lexington: 2004) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=1os91kGUjdUC&amp;lpg=PR10&amp;dq=Edward%20L.%20Bond%2CSpreading%20the%20Gospel%20in%20Colonial%20Virginia%3A%20Sermons%20and%20Devotional%20Writings%20lexington&amp;pg=PA193#v=onepage&amp;q=Edward%20L.%20Bond,Spreading%20the%20Gospel%20in%20Colonial%20Virginia:%20Sermons%20and%20Devotional%20Writings%20lexington&amp;f=false">193</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Matthew Henry, the famous commentator, had the same opinion:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">He that does so, shall be called&nbsp;<em>least in the kingdom of heaven,</em> in the kingdom of glory; he shall <em><strong>never come thither, but be eternally excluded</strong></em>; or, rather, in the kingdom of the gospel-church. He is so far from deserving the dignity of a teacher in it, that he shall not so much as be accounted a member of it. (<a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/matthew/5.html">Henry on 5:19</a>, Bible Study Tools.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Gill in his famous treatise suggests initially two possibilities on what "least" means, but then in light of 5:20, he ends up pointing toward exclusion from heaven as what 'least' signifies. He writes:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em>the least in the kingdom of heaven</em></strong>;&nbsp;meaning either the church of God, where he shall have neither a name, nor place; he shall not be in the least esteemed, but shall be cast out as a worthless man; or the<strong><em> ultimate state of happiness and glory, in the other world</em></strong>, where he <strong><em>shall not enter, as is said in the next verse</em></strong>; (Gill on 5:19, <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/matthew-5-19.html">Bible Study Tools</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>Cf</em>. Augustine <em>Sermon on the Mount</em> ch. <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf106.all.html">VIII</a> from Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene ("'the least one in the kingdom of heaven'...perhaps he will not be in the kingdom of heaven at all.")</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">This vast consensus underscores Jesus was speaking of Pharisees, which includes Paul, and Jesus identified that henceforth those who would be teachers that the Law is annulled / loosened and not to be obeyed would be called "Paul" / "Paulinists." The "Least One / Ones."</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Parallels Jesus' Fault With Pharisees On Law, And Their Consequent Damned Status At The Time</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">What confirms the lost status of the least one who loosens the law (absent repentance) is Jesus identically criticized the Pharisees as loosening the Law except tithing and then Jesus says they and their children are not entering the kingdom as a result:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span class="woj" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>23</sup> “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a<em><strong> tenth of your spices</strong></em>—mint, dill and cumin. But you have&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em>OMITTED</em></strong> </span>(KJV)<strong><em><span data-mce-mark="1"> <span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">LEFT UNDONE</span></span></em></strong> (ASV/Wycliff)<em><strong><span data-mce-mark="1"> <span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">neglected</span></span> (NIV/YLT) &nbsp;the more important matters of the Law</strong></em>—justice, mercy and faithfulness.&nbsp;<em><strong>You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former</strong></em>.</span> <span class="woj" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>24</sup> You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.****</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span class="woj" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>33</sup> “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being<em><strong> condemned to hell?</strong></em></span> <span class="woj" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>34'****</sup></span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span class="woj" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>13</sup> “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in peoples faces. You yourselves&nbsp;<em><strong>do not enter</strong></em>, nor will you<strong><em> let those enter who are trying to</em></strong>.</span> <span class="woj" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>[14]</sup> <sup>[<a title="See footnote b" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-23933b">b</a>]</sup></span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="woj" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>15</sup> “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. &nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23&amp;version=NIV">Matt. 23</a> NIV.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">So here we see Jesus threatens hell (if no repentance) upon the Pharisees and those following their teachings which minimize the Law to tithing, omitting, neglecting or leaving undone the weightier matters of the Law. It is the same point Jesus made in Matt. 5:19-20.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">This does not mean all who accept Paul in canon are not going to enter heaven; it means all those who disregard the Law in reliance upon the Pharisee Paul, and do not do better in relation to the Law, will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Obedience to God's Law is crucial.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">(FYI: The Law applicable to Gentiles is expressly far more narrow in the Law itself. It predominantly includes several chapters in Leviticus which largely repeat the 10 commandments apply to Gentiles. For discussion, see&nbsp;<a href="/JWO/law-applicable-today.html">http://www.jesuswordsonly.com/JWO/law-applicable-today.html</a>.)</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Matthew 5:19 Is Hence Another Amazing Prophecy of Jesus</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus therefore prophesied -- for those who have ears to hear -- of Paulus -- the one who would come teaching men to no longer follow the Law. It was supposedly done away with, nailed to a tree, and made "dead to us." (Romans 7:1-6.) Indeed the one so teaching has that very name -- the "Least" -- Paul -- and will forever be called by that name by those entering the kingdom of heaven!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">What an amazing prophecy of our Lord! It ranks up there right next to His prophecy that the Temple would one day be torn down. And His prophecy of the ravening wolves.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Unfortunately, this means that unless Paul and every Paulinist repented / repents before death of such doctrine and<em><strong> turns in obedience</strong></em>, it appears their doctrine is a damning one.</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Confirmation from Book of Revelation That Jesus Warns of Paul</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Corroboration that Jesus intended in Matthew 5:19 to prophesy about Paul (as a test) comes from examining how SUBTLY Revelation chapter two does likewise. It is an entire chapter of our Lords words. This prophecy about Paul is admitted by Renan, a defender of Paul, but he claims Rev. 2:2 were words put in Jesus' mouth by the early church leaders who hated Paul.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Renan in his famous defense of Paul in 1875 discounted Revelation chapter two as inauthentic because it was supposedly fabricated by Apostle John and the other apostles out of jeolousy against Paul. However, if we conclude Jesus really spoke it, then the same<strong> subtle message</strong> against Paul is in Revelation chapter two just as we find in Matthew 5:19.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Renan argued:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">“The <strong><em>second and third chapters of the Apocalypse are a cry of hatred against Paul</em></strong> and his friends. This church of Ephesus, which owes so much to Paul, is praised for not being able to bear with them which are evil; for having tried them, which say they are apostles and are not &nbsp;for having found them liars; for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitanes,... because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel,<em><strong> to eat things sacrificed unto idols</strong></em>....” (Ernest Renan, <em>Saint Paul</em> (G.W. Carleton, 1875) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=NN8TAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=intitle%3ASaint%20intitle%3APaul%20inauthor%3ARenan&amp;pg=PA220#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">220</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Why is Revelation chapter two supposedly a hateful diatribe? Because Renan is aware that Paul teaches three times that there is nothing wrong in itself eating meat sacrificed to idols. (Romans 14:21;1 Cor. 8:4-13, and 1 Cor. 10:19-29.) And the words in Jesus' mouth in Revelation chapter two condemn this figure as a false prophet and apostle exposed at Ephesus.</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Paulinists Know Paul Is Targeted by Matthew 5:19 and 23:23</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">For reasons similar to Renan's argument, the NT scholar E.P. Sanders in <em>Jesus and Judaism</em> (Foretress Press: 1985) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Ng9JaKKaeCIC&amp;lpg=PA277&amp;dq=jesus%20obey%20the%20pharisees&amp;pg=PA277#v=onepage&amp;q=jesus%20obey%20the%20pharisees&amp;f=false">277</a> defends Paul by saying Matt. 5:19 which contradicts Paul cannot thus be “an authentic saying of Jesus.” Sanders likewise says the related verse of Matt. 23:23 which portrays Jesus as believing the Pharisees are “not righteous enough” and that Jesus “favors a higher righteousness according to the law” which is at total odds with Paul proves Matt. 23:23 also does not reflect “the historical Jesus.” (As discussed above, Matt. 23:23, 31 confirms Jesus teaches the Pharisees had an anti-Torah position, except tithing, that Jesus said was damning.)</span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Desperation To Destroy Three Passages From Jesus</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">So the Paulinist is forced to deflect Jesus criticizes Paul -- subtly obviously -- by insisting Matthew 5:19 and 23:23 as well as all of chapter two of Revelation were fabrications. This is what Renan and Sanders collectively say is necessary to conclude so as to prevent our recognition that Jesus condemns Paul!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">But for the one following Jesus Christ--our one and only teacher--the solution is not to dump Jesus' words in favor of Paul's. Rather, we discard Paul's contrary teachings. We need to hold onto those of our Lord Messiah.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Conclusion</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Why then did Paul end up in Scripture?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">It is a test from God. In Deut. 13:1-5, God says He permits false prophets to come and potentially seduce us to see whether we Love the Lord our God with our whole heart, mind and soul. We have to look at fruit as well as consistency with Torah/the Law and the Messiah's Words. Paul fails in every respect.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Have you passed the test from God on how to weigh Paul?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-mark="1">The End</span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Study Notes: Dead Sea Scrolls and Josephus Say Pharisees Are Loose About The Law</span></strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">E.P. Sanders in the quote above dismisses the authenticity of Matthew 23:23 because he 'knows' the Pharisees were legalists, not anti-legalists. However, only Paul in the NT says the Pharisees were the "strictest" sect and that Paul was fully "righteous" when he complied with Pharisee training.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, history has now caught up with Paul, and confirmed Jesus had the correct historical truth about the Pharisees. They were loose, not strict, about the Law. Here is the evidence:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The Dead Sea Scrolls (250-50 B.C.) speak comparably to what Jesus said about the flaws in the Pharisees' doctrine on the Law which meant they were heading to damnation. The DSS say the Pharisees were "<strong><em>smooth interpreters</em></strong>" of the Law. Horsley says this means the Pharisees' rulings "were <strong><em>l</em></strong><strong><em>ax and liberal</em></strong>" on how to interpret the Law. He says this is ironic, because the DSS give "quite a different picture from the <em><strong>Christian traditional stereotype</strong></em> of [the Pharisees] as <strong><em>strict legalists</em></strong>." (Richard A. Horsley,<em> Hearing the Whole Story: The Politics of Plot in Mark's Gospel</em> (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001) 153.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus's view of the Pharisees as anti-legalists is also confirmed by Josephus -- a Jewish scholar -- in his work<em> Antiquities of the Jews</em> (78 A.D.) For Josephus in 78 A.D. will explain there were two primary parties in Judaism in Jesus' day. They were the Sadducees and Pharisees. He will explain the Sadducees taught strict obedience to the Law. The Sadducees rejected the Pharisees precisely for their opposite approach on the Law of Moses. They believed the Pharisees supplanted the Law of Moses with mere traditions of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were negating the Law of Moses by their traditions.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=474017"></a>Here is Josephus, the First Century Jewish historian, identifying what divided these two parties:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are&nbsp;<em><strong>not written in the Law of Moses</strong></em>; and it is for this reason that the<em><strong>Sadducees reject them</strong></em>, and say we are to esteem those&nbsp;<em><strong>observances that are in the written word</strong></em>, but are&nbsp;<strong><em>not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers</em></strong>. (Josephus Flavius,&nbsp;<em>Antiquities of the Jews</em> 13.10.6 (13.297)(Whiston translation (1841) at 360.)</span></p>
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Chaplain and Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) said this variance in doctrine between the two sects is why Jesus in Matthew 5:20 says our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees rather than that of the Sadducees. In this verse, "Christ does not name the Sadducees, but the Scribes and the Pharisees." Jeremy traces this back to the shallow doctrine of the Pharisees, for they (not the Sadducees) would "<em><strong>add words of their own</strong></em>" to the Law, but the Sadducees "would <strong><em>admit of no suppletory traditions</em></strong>." (Jeremy Taylor, "Sermon 1: Righteousness Evangelical," <em>Discourses on Various Subjects</em> (Boston: 1816) at III:10.)</span></p>
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This is why Jesus exhorted us to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees: it was shallow. The Sadducees alone were on the right track in terms of the Law. Hence, E.P. Sanders was wrong to rely upon Paul's views of the Pharisees to reject as inauthentic Matthew 23:23. Rather, Paul turns out to have described to a crowd / Gentiles incorrectly what it meant to be a Pharisee. I don't suppose Paul was lying, but instead, he suffered from a belief that the self-righteousness of Pharisees as Jesus depicted them was indeed appropriate righteousness when the 'Law' was in effect.</span></p>
<h2><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">"Least in the Kingdom" Reference to John the Baptist</span></strong></h2>
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Some argue that it is not so bad to be called "least in the kingdom of heaven" as Jesus calls the law-loosener in Matt 5:17-19. This is because in Matt 11:11 Jesus supposedly makes the same reference to John the Baptist.</span></p>
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Jesus does not do so. It is an English mistranslation. And the expression is not "least in the kingdom" in Matt 5:17-19, but rather are "called least by those in the kindgom of heaven," implying the exclusion of the "least" man in Matt 5:17-19. However, in Matthew 11:11, it is clear that the one involved is actually IN the Kingdom of Heaven.</span></p>
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So let's read <a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/11-11.htm">Matt 11:11</a> in the NIV form:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">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.</span></p>
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The word rendered "least" in 11:11 does not mean that at all. It is a comparison term -- <em>mikroteros</em>, and means <em>less</em>. The word rendered "least" in Matt 5:19 is the superlative form, and is <em>elaxistos. </em>There is thus a world of difference between <em>less</em> and <em>least</em>, but in English the same word was used in both cases where only in Matt 5:19 is it appropriate. (See this<a href="http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/Matthew%205.17-20.pdf"> link</a> at 11.) So Matt 11:11 should be rendered:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is<strong><em> less</em></strong> in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.</span></p>
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, there is no parallelism in the original Greek. It is solely born of English mistranstranslation, whether unintentional or not does not matter.</span></p>
<h1><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">PowerPoint Short-Presentation Available Online</span></strong></h1>
<p class="Quote"><span data-mce-mark="1">**** </span><strong><span data-mce-mark="1">NEW</span> </strong><span data-mce-mark="1">- This is presented in a 7 1/2 minute </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpPJ5y3MZTA&amp;feature=youtube_gdata">You Tube Video</a><span data-mce-mark="1"> narrated Power Point presentation.****</span></p>
<h1><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Email Reactions to This Article</span></strong></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I am particularly amazed by the second video on Paul's name meaning 'Least." I did not notice this question of the word least and the name Paul. (Ruy,author of&nbsp;<em style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">Faithful to Jesus Christianity and The Truth About the Apostle Paul</em><span style="color: #494a44; line-height: 20px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(2012) -- available through his website at this&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.faithfultojesus.com/index.html" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">link.</a>(July 31, 2011)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Excellent article--very convincing.&nbsp; Thank you Doug! (Mike B, Esq., Jan. 19, 2011)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yes, I had known for a long time that Paul's name meant the least, but never made the connection to Matthew 5:19. &nbsp;Thanks for this insight! &nbsp;Keep 'em coming! Shalom Ed. (Jan. 15, 2011.)</span></p>
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<div><strong>J. Jan. 10, 2011's Lengthy Letter</strong>:</div>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Wow, this is impressive! &nbsp;I knew that “Paul” meant “small” but somehow the connection between “small” and “least” just never registered until I saw the word jump out at me in your message below. &nbsp;Its like its one of those things that is hidden in plain view. &nbsp;Amazing.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When I consider 1 Cor. 15:9 after reading your comments, it really shows just how extremely clever and crafty he was (trying to diffuse the meaning of his name ahead of time). &nbsp;I also found your comments on the word itself (“least”) very interesting, because while I have considered that those who do not keep Torah are lost, the “least” statement puzzled me as to why it seemed to soften the blow. &nbsp;It makes perfect sense that it would be those IN the Kingdom who would be calling those lawbreakers “least.” &nbsp;This is another one of those things hidden in plain sight. &nbsp;Wow. &nbsp;You really nailed it.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You also answered my question about his name in your final paragraph (thank you!) as to whether or not the name “Paul” was really eligible to be considered as descriptive of him since we also know his name was Shaul. &nbsp;I did not know that Paul was anything more than just a nickname. &nbsp;That is pretty much the last nail in the coffin on this topic for me.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Good job, and thank you SO much for keeping me on your mailing list. I can almost see your excitement in sending this out after burning midnight oil!&nbsp;Shalom.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is a Brilliant article that the Holy Spirit has revealed to you in these last days...Thanks for keeping an open ear and heart to the Holy Spirit for Him to speak these truths to you and then share them with the world. I pray that you will continue to receive more revelation as you Meditate on God's Word.Your work is so Good and has greatly Blessed my life...Thank you for taking the time to continue this Great work of freeing the Church from all the Lies and deceptions she has believed all these years. I am sharing everything I learn from you with others...(Gary Jan. 10, 2011.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Pleasure to hear from you.&nbsp;This is stunning news. What have I been telling you? It's VERY serious.&nbsp; He's the Spouter of Lying!... You know his antinomianism.&nbsp;Jesus has at least FIVE references to him in the negative: "ravening wolf", "least in the kingdom", "some there [including false apostle to Ephesus] who hold the teaching of Balaam" (Rev. 2:2 and 14), etc. (Robert W. Jan. 10, 2011).&nbsp;</span></p>
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<div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=MpPJ5y3MZTA">Comment at YouTube January 2012</a></div>
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<p class="metadata" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 11px; color: #999999; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="author " style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 9px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 13px; background-color: transparent; line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/sheepfollowingyashua" class="yt-uix-sessionlink yt-user-name " data-sessionlink="ei=zR5hUf_KF8TkyAHjsoDgCg" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; color: #438bc5;">sheepfollowingyashua</a>&nbsp;</span><span class="time" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-color: transparent;" data-mce-mark="1"><a dir="ltr" href="http://www.youtube.com/comment?lc=8Po3LTQFEN04Pj2dt-cnBdInwjQQDl17_-FEkZBQOx0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; color: #438bc5;">4 months ago</a></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-color: transparent; overflow: hidden;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Wow!!! Thank you for the WEALTH of excellent articles on your website. You have put in so much time and effort to make these available for everyone to read. There's SO much clarification in them and it's very helpful as I'm trying to clear my thinking of all the Pauline cobwebs. And many there are.. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! May God richly bless you for sharing all that you have learned. I too desire to be a faithful servant.</span></p>
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<div><hr /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As always, I find Doug's research and artilce thought provoking. &nbsp;I would like to point out too that even the name /character "Saul" is associated with "least." &nbsp;Check out 1 Samuel 9:21 and 1 Samuel 15:17. And interestingly enough King Saul losses his "Kingdom" because he didn't follow God's word. &nbsp;Perhaps another parallel? &nbsp;On a final note however, I can't say that I am convinced that all Paul believing/following Christians are lost. &nbsp;But thanks for the work Doug!!! (George Jan. 16, 2011)</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>My Reply</strong>. I do not believe "all Paul believing / following Christians are lost." I went back and revised the article to make that clear. I only believe what Jesus says. That those following the Pharisees loosened-law principles will not enter the kingdom if they do not do better than those law-looseners. (Matt. 5:20.) It is very much up to whether they "do the will of God" or not. That goes for all of us, as much as them. But because of Paul as their teacher, they have little chance to do so until they overcome the obstacle Paul represents to hearing and obeying the Law. Remember as to Gentiles, the scope of the Law is limited to commands that sojourners/foreigners followed, principally the Ten Commandments and most of Leviticus 17-22. Only Israelites had to be circumcised under the Law; Gentiles were exempt unless they wish to celebrate passover or enter the Temple at Jerusalem. See my discussion at this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/98-law-applicable-today.html">link</a>. (Jan. 17, 2011.)<hr /></span></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<h2><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Study Aids</span></strong></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="http://www.preceptaustin.org/matthew_519-20.htm">Precept Austin</a> - details all commentary links to 5:19-20</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Weiss mentions regarding Matthew 5:17-19: "the remark about him being least in the kingdom of God is explained as being<em><strong> a Jewish-Christian polemic</strong></em> against the Apostle Paul." (Bernhard Weiss, <em>The Life of Christ</em> (Edinburgh, 1888) Vol. II at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=pfpJAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=weiss%20paul%20least%20in%20kingdom&amp;pg=PA147#v=onepage&amp;q=least&amp;f=false"> 147</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">****&nbsp;<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">NEW</span> </strong>- This is now presented in a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpPJ5y3MZTA&amp;feature=youtube_gdata">You Tube Video</a> narrated Power Point presentation.****</span></p>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Millgram on Paul and Sabbath</span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here is an excerpt from an out-of-print book by Abraham Millgram entitled<em> Sabbath: The Day of Delight</em> (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society: 1965 orig. 1947). In it, Millgram has a chapter that discusses how the Sabbath was moved by Christians to Sunday. This discussion has some very perceptive analysis on Paul. He attributes this change in Christianity to the loss of power of the early Jewish Christian founders to the divergent movement which Paul started.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[Page&nbsp;<strong>363</strong>]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CHAPTER XX</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">THE JEWISH SABBATH AND THE&nbsp;CHRISTIAN SUNDAY</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"There is not one city, Greek or barbarian,&nbsp;nor a single nation, to which our&nbsp;custom of abstaining from work on the&nbsp;seventh day has not spread" (Flavius&nbsp;Josephus, <em>Contra Apionem</em>, 2.40).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">AS LONG as the Jew remained segregated in the Ghetto or the Pale, he was not concerned with the fact that&nbsp;his Christian neighbor observed the first day of the week&nbsp;as his official day of rest and worship. But as soon as the&nbsp;Jew was emancipated and was permitted to become part of&nbsp;the political and economic life of his country, he discovered&nbsp;that the Jewish week was out of step with the economic&nbsp;and social order which were patterned after the Christian&nbsp;tradition. Sabbath observance became a serious obstacle&nbsp;in the way of earning a livelihood. Many a Jew tried to&nbsp;observe the Sabbath, despite the enormous disadvantage&nbsp;such observance imposed upon him, only to succumb to the&nbsp;inexorable economic forces. The few who succeeded are&nbsp;the proverbial exceptions that prove the rule.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The problem of the Christian Sunday has therefore become&nbsp;a matter of vital concern to every Jew who is troubled&nbsp;by the general decline of Sabbath observance. One frequently&nbsp;hears the question: Why did the Christians abandon the&nbsp;Sabbath? <em><strong>How could the Christians accept the authority&nbsp;of the Bible, and more particularly the Ten Commandments,&nbsp;and at the same time reject the one commandment which</strong></em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[Page&nbsp;<strong>364</strong>]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><strong>is introduced by the admonition, "Remember the sabbath&nbsp;day to keep it holy"?</strong></em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To answer these questions the Jew must search not so&nbsp;much in theology as in history, for the change from the&nbsp;Sabbath to Sunday was the result of a long historical process which is tied up&nbsp;with the formative years of Christianity.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This process coincided with the drift of early Christianity&nbsp;from a messianic movement among the Jews to a religion of&nbsp;the Gentiles. <strong><em>When Christianity was predominantly Jewish,&nbsp;the Sabbath was the official Christian day of rest and worship</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><strong>When Christianity finally became predominantly&nbsp;Gentile the Sabbath was abandoned and Sunday became the&nbsp;official day of rest and worship</strong></em>. This change wasn't sudden. It was a slow process of more than three centuries duration.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An examination of the gradual transition from the sabbath&nbsp;to Sunday must begin with the realization. that the</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"<em><strong>disciples of Jesus the Nazarene</strong></em> were a conventicle within the synagogue, rather than a sect .... They were <strong><em>pious and&nbsp;observant Jews</em></strong>, who <strong><em>worshipped in the temple and in the synagogue like others . . . and in their observance of the Law conformed to tradition as expounded by the Scribes and Pharisees</em></strong>." (George Foot Moore, <em>Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era</em> (Cambridge, 1927) Vol. 1 at 90.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">They kept the Sabbath, deviating only in a few unimportant details, and these slight deviations were&nbsp;not so much distinctive of the early Christians as they were&nbsp;of the Galilean Jews who were somewhat lax in the observance&nbsp;of some rituals. This observance is reflected in the&nbsp;admonition ascribed to Jesus,</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"<em><strong>Whosoever shall break one&nbsp;of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he&nbsp;shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven</strong></em>." (Matt. 5:19.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even&nbsp;the oft-quoted statement ascribed to Jesus that the sabbath&nbsp;was made for man, and not man for the sabbath [Mark<a href="http://bible.cc/mark/2-27.htm"> 2:27</a>] can&nbsp;be matched by the rabbinic teaching that "the Sabbath is committed to you, not you to the Sabbath."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The early Christians, however, differed from the Jews</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[Page&nbsp;<strong>365</strong>]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">in that they used to assemble for prayer separately, both&nbsp;every day and more particularly on Sunday mornings. The&nbsp;first day of the week was especially singled out for these prayer meetings because of the Christian belief that Jesus&nbsp;rose from the grave on a Sunday. Furthermore, they needed&nbsp;something distinctively their own, for in addition to being&nbsp;Jews they also believed in Jesus. These weekly prayer&nbsp;meetings effectively served this need. They also began to&nbsp;call the first day of the week the Lord's Day,<em> i.e.</em>, the day&nbsp;when their Lord, Jesus, rose from the grave. This arrangement of<strong><em> strictly observing the Sabbath as a day of rest and&nbsp;worship as prescribed by the Bible and by Jewish tradition&nbsp;and then also gathering for prayer on the first day of the&nbsp;week continued as long as Jewish influence remained supreme</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The predominance of Jewish influence, however, was&nbsp;successfully challenged by one of the new converts to Christianity.&nbsp;Paul, at first a persecutor of the Christians, became&nbsp;the most zealous missionary, carrying the new gospel primarily&nbsp;to the Gentiles. Since the Sabbath with its many restrictions&nbsp;was a burden to those who were not trained in Jewish&nbsp;life, and since it was objectionable to many Gentiles who&nbsp;considered it, along with circumcision, as a national characteristic&nbsp;of the Jews, <strong><em>Paul abolished the Sabbath</em></strong> and thus&nbsp;opened the road of conversion to the multitude of Gentiles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This radical step was in line with his<strong><em> avowed policy of&nbsp;expediency</em></strong>, as he himself admits, "I am made all things to&nbsp;all men, that I might by all means save some." &nbsp;He rationalized&nbsp;his daring action on theological grounds - namely,&nbsp;that the<strong><em> law was abolished by the death and resurrection of&nbsp;Jesus</em></strong>. [See Romans 7:1-7.] Since Paul found the Sabbath objectionable, he did&nbsp;not institute a Christian Sabbath. <em><strong>He merely destroyed&nbsp;the Hebrew Sabbath</strong></em> and thus paved the way for the pagan&nbsp;influence which later turned Sunday into a Christian sacred</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[Page&nbsp;<strong>366</strong>]&nbsp;day. Its immediate effect was to make the Lord's Day&nbsp;stand out as the significant, Christian day of the week.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This radical break with Judaism did not go unchallenged.<strong><em> The Jewish Christians, known as the Ebionites, rejected the&nbsp;Epistles of Paul and even called him an apostate</em></strong>. They&nbsp;continued the original practice of observing the, Sabbath&nbsp;and of assembling for prayer on the Lord's Day. (Origen, <em>Contra Celsum</em> 2.1; Irenaeus, <em>Adversus Haereses. </em>1.262.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The&nbsp;opposition of the<strong><em> Ebionites, however, was ineffective because&nbsp;Jewish predominance in Christianity was gone</em></strong>. Not&nbsp;only were the Jewish Christians by now a small minority,&nbsp;but their prestige was further diminished by the crushing&nbsp;defeat which the Jews suffered at the hands of the Romans.&nbsp;The destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E. spelled&nbsp;the end of decisive Jewish influence on Christianity and the&nbsp;corresponding rise of Gentile influence.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Just as the Jews brought their traditions, including the&nbsp;Sabbath, into early Christianity, so did the Gentiles now&nbsp;bring into Christianity their own traditions, among them&nbsp;, the, sacredness of the 'Day of the Sun. The pagans were accustomed to regard Sunday as a sacred day because sunworship&nbsp;was the central feature of many cults of that period.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This was especially true of Mithraism, which was sufficiently&nbsp;widespread to become an official religion of the&nbsp;Roman Empire. The Gentiles who were converted to Christianity&nbsp;therefore infused into the Lord's Day the characteristics&nbsp;of the pagan Sunday. The Lord's Day ceased to&nbsp;be a mere day of prayer. It became a sacred day, thus&nbsp;assuming some of the characteristics of the Sabbath.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The process of completely eliminating the Sabbath and&nbsp;of replacing it with a sacred Sunday was furthered by the&nbsp;second Jewish revolt against Rome in the second century.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Hadrianic persecutions which followed the crushing&nbsp;defeat of the Jews proscribed Judaism on pain of death.&nbsp;It therefore became expedient for the Christians not to</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[Page&nbsp;<strong>367</strong>]&nbsp;be suspected of Judaism. Since the Sabbath was one of&nbsp;the outstanding characterristics of Jewish life, its observance&nbsp;exposed one to grave dangers. It was then that the Sabbath&nbsp;began to disappear completely from among the Christians.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We begin to hear Christians denouncing Sabbath observance&nbsp;as Judaizing and begin to refer to the Lord's Day by the&nbsp;pagan name of Sunday.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The final steps that led to the transformation of the&nbsp;simple Christian prayer meeting on the first day of the&nbsp;week to be legalized "Sunday Sabbath" were not taken&nbsp;until the fourth century. In the year 321 C.E., the Emperor Constantine issued the following decree:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Let all the judges&nbsp;and town-people; and the occupations of all trades, rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are&nbsp;situated in the country freely and at full liberty attend to&nbsp;the business of agriculture, because it often happens that&nbsp;no other da is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines,&nbsp;lest the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the&nbsp;commodities granted by the providence of Heaven."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Although this decree affected only the markets and the courts, it nevertheless <strong><em>consummated the process that had begun&nbsp;during the days of Paul</em></strong>. With the decree of Constantine&nbsp;Sunday was officially legalized as the Christian sacred day of rest. Later decrees, especially that of the Council of&nbsp;Laodicea, further defined the nature of the Christian' Sun- 'day: but added little of consequence. Neither did the curious&nbsp;notion that Jesus transferred the Sabbath to the Lord's&nbsp;Day in any way affect the situation. Early Christianity&nbsp;had run its course of development. Changes, if any, could&nbsp;now be made only through the medium of the Church&nbsp;and the Church was slow to change. &nbsp;With the coming of the Reformation the Bible again&nbsp;became an open book, at least to many of the Protestants.&nbsp;Upon readIng the Bible some people discovered discrepancies</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[Page&nbsp;<strong>368</strong>] &nbsp;between the Sabbath of the Bible and the Sunday of&nbsp;the Christians. This discovery led to the Sabbatarian&nbsp;movements which resulted in the Puritan Sunday and the&nbsp;American blue laws. The Sabbatarians officially made&nbsp;Sunday into a Sabbath, and insisted that it should be observed&nbsp;as prescribed in the Bible. Since the Bible prohibits "all manner of work," the Puritan Sunday exceeded the&nbsp;Hebrew Sabbath in its restrictions. An example of the&nbsp;rigors imposed by the Puritan Sunday is the list of some&nbsp;of the laws contained in the oft-quoted code of Connecticut:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">No one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his&nbsp;garden, or elsewhere, except reverently to and from&nbsp;meeting.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep&nbsp;house, cut hair or shave, on the Sabbath day.&nbsp;No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or fasting&nbsp;day.&nbsp;The Sabbath shall begin at sunset Saturday.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If any man shall kiss his wife, or wife her husband on&nbsp;the Lord's day the party in fault shall be punished at&nbsp;the discretion of the court of magistrates. (William Logan Fisher, <em>History of the Institution of the Sabbath Day</em> (Philadelphia, 1846) at 37-38.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Sabbatarians not only prescribed the exact manner&nbsp;of observing the "Sunday Sabbath" for themselves, but&nbsp;they insisted that it was the duty of the government to&nbsp;protect their sacred day from desecration. Blue laws were&nbsp;therefore written into the statutes of most of the states,&nbsp;forcing everybody to abstain from work on Sunday irrespective&nbsp;of religious conviction.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another by-product of the Reformation was the appearance&nbsp;of a different type of Sabbatarian who not only wanted&nbsp;to observe the Sabbath laws, but insisted that they be observed&nbsp;on the seventh day, as prescribed in the Bible and&nbsp;as practiced by Jesus and his disciples. Some of these&nbsp;seventh-day observers, known as the Seventh-day Baptists,</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[Page&nbsp;<strong>369</strong>]&nbsp;were found among the followers of Oliver Cromwell. They&nbsp;held to the doctrines of the Calvinistic Baptists, but observed&nbsp;the seventh day as the Sabbath. Some of these&nbsp;Seventh-day Baptists migrated to America and in 1761&nbsp;they established in Rhode Island their first American&nbsp;church.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">More important and more vigorous is the younger sect,&nbsp;known as the Seventh-day Adventists. They came into&nbsp;existence about one hundred years ago when many Christians,&nbsp;on the basis of esoteric calculations, expected the&nbsp;return of Jesus in 1844. When that year passed without the&nbsp;advent of Jesus, one group, later known as the Seventh-day&nbsp;Adventists, established itself as a distinct Christian&nbsp;fundamentalist sect. They adhere to the belief that the&nbsp;coming of Jesus is imminent and that everyone should&nbsp;prepare himself for his advent. One of the methods of this&nbsp;preparation is the acceptance of the true Sabbath as the&nbsp;day of rest and worship. The adherents of this doctrine&nbsp;have been very zealous for their cause. They claim that&nbsp;they contribute to their church per capita "ten times as&nbsp;much as the Protestant average in America." Their zeal&nbsp;is matched by their uncompromising stand on Sabbath&nbsp;observance. An official statement recently issued by the&nbsp;Autumn Council of the General Assembly contains, among&nbsp;many items, the following principles regarding Sabbath&nbsp;observance:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We counsel the ministry to even greater carefulness&nbsp;in admitting to membership in the church of God such&nbsp;as hold positions where it seems to them necessary to work&nbsp;on the Sabbath day, even though such work be minimized&nbsp;and made as light as possible. While it is not possible&nbsp;to lay down rules that will cover every case and all conditions,&nbsp;we warn against the tendency to let down the&nbsp;bars and admit and retain as members any who are unwilling&nbsp;to take a decided stand for the Sabbath of the</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[Page&nbsp;<strong>370</strong>]&nbsp;Lord. Our members should not enter into entangling&nbsp;business alliances or perform on the Sabbath government&nbsp;or community service which compromises sacred&nbsp;principles. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. &nbsp;In it we are not to do that which is forbidden by the law&nbsp;of God.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How can anyone think that he is observing the Sabbath&nbsp;as God would have it observed when he is working&nbsp;on that day? How can a Seventh-day Adventist attend&nbsp;school on that day, or prepare lessons, or write examinations,&nbsp;or attend public exhibitions or games? How can&nbsp;he listen to secular radio programs or dramas, or go to&nbsp;social gatherings or picnics, or habitually neglect divine&nbsp;service? How can he engage in or plan business ventures,&nbsp;read secular literature, do odd jobs around the&nbsp;house, go shopping, spend an undue amount of time in&nbsp;physical rest, go pleasure riding for selfish purposes, or&nbsp;do any of the many things forbidden both by God and&nbsp;by the enlightened conscience of the Christian? The&nbsp;answer, of course, must be that true Christians can do&nbsp;none of these things.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Despite the steady increase in the ranks of the Seventh-day&nbsp;Adventists, Christianity is permanently committed to&nbsp;Sunday as the Christian day of worship and rest. The&nbsp;Sabbath remains, as it has always been, distinctive of&nbsp;Judaism, "an everlasting covenant," "a sign between Me&nbsp;and the children of Israel for ever."</span></p> </td>
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<h1><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Was Paul Deceived by Impostor as Christ Warned In Matthew 24?</span></strong></h1>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Question Presented</span> &nbsp;[<a href="/images/stories/AudioJWO/who_identified_himself_as_Jesus_to_Paul_on_road_to_damascus.mp3"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">MP3 Version</span></a>] &nbsp;-<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/306-que-se-identifico-como-jesus-a-pablo.html"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Spanish</span></a> &nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/542-2013-09-22-04-02-38.html"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> Italian</span></a> [in process]</strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></h1>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Was Paul deceived by someone in the wilderness saying "I am Jesus" -- coming in "Christ's name" -- implying He was the Messiah-Jesus? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Does Paul's experience fit Jesus' warning that we should not believe those coming in the wilderness or privately "in my name" saying "I am the Christ" after He ascended? Jesus explained that when He returns and appears next from heaven on earth He will be visible from every point "east and west," so don't be fooled by an impostor Jesus who only appears on earth in a private way or in a wilderness. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:4-6,%2026-27&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 24 vv. 4-6, vv. 26-27</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul's experience with several companions on the wilderness road to Damascus was such that Paul says Jesus "<strong>appeared</strong>" to Paul just as Jesus "<strong>appeared</strong>" to the twelve (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+9%3A1%3B+15%3A4-11&amp;version=NKJV">1 Cor. 9:1; 1 Cor. 15:4-11</a>&nbsp;NKJV ("seen"); <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+9%3A1%3B+15%3A4-11&amp;version=NIV">NIV</a> ("appeared").) The companions' perception was, however, limited --- they "<strong>heard the voice</strong> but saw no one" (<a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/9-7.htm">Acts 9:7</a>, heard from akouo).&nbsp;However,&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">in another account in Paul&rsquo;s court testimony, they&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong style="font-style: italic;">saw the </strong><strong>ligh</strong></span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong>t</strong> but did&nbsp;</span><em style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong>not hear the voice which some translate as &ldquo;did not understand the voice</strong></em><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.&ldquo; (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/22-9.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Acts 22:9</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;ekousin, hear, from akouo.) So others with Paul shared the experience in both their hearing and sight, although apparently not seeing a person and not understanding the voice. Paul&rsquo;s experience was thus not solely a mental one, but an appearance of Jesus in Paul&rsquo;s physical presence.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Isn't this physical appearance to Paul after Christ's Ascension of one saying he was Jesus fit the warning of an impostor in a private place or wilderness that every eye on earth does not see after Jesus already ascended to heaven? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now Paul says he saw Jesus' physically in a bright light, which staring into the light is apparently why Paul ended up blinded but this did not happen to the companions. Yet, the companions saw the light and heard the voice -- so it was <strong>a physical event, and not a vision.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Isn't this quite plain that anyone can see the problem? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Of course.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then how come Paul did not see the problem when he learned of Matthew 24?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Because immediately after this Damascus-road encounter, Paul raced to Jerusalem to tell the twelve of the event, but&nbsp;<strong>Paul's Jesus</strong> from the wilderness returned to Paul to&nbsp;<strong>intervene just before that happened</strong>. After a two week journey from Syria to Jerusalem, Paul's Jesus appears this time in a vision and tells Paul while he was praying at the Temple -- within feet of the apostles' daily worship: "<strong>Get quickly out of Jerusalem for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me</strong>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+22%3A14-21&amp;version=KJV">Acts 22:18 KJV</a>.) See our article on this <a href="/recommendedreading/499-odd-message-from-jesus-to-paul-about-apostles.html">Odd action of Paul's "Jesus."</a>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why couldn't Paul's Jesus just appear to the 12 and calm all doubts which Paul's Jesus said the 12 would have about whether Paul met the true Jesus Christ outside Damascus? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Moreover, what harm would the true Jesus be unable to cope with had Paul spoken to the twelve? How could the true Jesus <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>fear Paul checking in with the apostles</strong></span> about the validity of this appearance to Paul? <strong>The true Jesus could have no risk</strong>. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, an impostor Jesus would be exposed because the true Jesus said in Matthew 24 that He would not appear physically on earth after the Ascension until an event that "every eye" on earth could see. <strong>ONLY A FALSE JESUS HAD A RISK.</strong> For the apostles could have warned Paul that this was an imposter Jesus had this event ever been described to them. Incidentally, Luke never records in Acts that Paul recounted this Damascus Road event to the apostles. He recounted it only twice in Roman courts.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then notice the result for Paul was he ADMITS that he deliberately <strong>persisted for decades in such darkness from Jesus' words</strong> held by the apostles. Paul boasted in <a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/2-6.htm">Galatians 2:6</a> that the 12 "<strong>taught him nothing</strong>" over the last 17 years since the Damascus Road experience. Paul boasted in that period he had very little interchange with the Apostles - mentioning there was only one brief visit with Peter and James in a two week period three years after the event outside Damascus. See <a href="/topicindex/436-paul-knew-the-12-taught-another-jesus.html">Paul Acknowledges the 12 Taught A Different Gospel</a>. Paul said this to elevate his "revelation" from Jesus as<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> untainted by the 12 apostles</span></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How problematical! Doesn't this explain why Paul did not do the self-examination against what Jesus taught the 12 in Matthew 24? Otherwise, Paul would have known enough to doubt whom was giving him these revelations.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We will do here the exam that Paul, an honest dupe apparently, did not do.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul Defender Unwittingly Indicts Paul's Experience Outside Damascus</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Ironically, a defender of Paul correctly construes this passage in Matthew, but does not realize that it indicts Paul's encounter in the wildnerness outside Damascus. In an article at Bible.info.com entitled <a href="http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/how-can-one-recognize-false-christ">How Can One Recognize a False Christ</a>, we read:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.242em 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.8400001525879px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">He warned, &ldquo;Then if anyone says to you, &lsquo;Look, here is the Christ!&rsquo; or, &lsquo;There!&rsquo; do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, &lsquo;Look, He <strong>is in the desert!</strong>&rsquo; do not go out; or &lsquo;Look, He is in the <strong>inner rooms</strong>!&rsquo; <strong>do not believe it</strong>&rsquo; &rdquo; (Matthew 24:23-26, NKJV).</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.242em 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.8400001525879px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus emphasized that these false christs will perform great signs and miracles and deceive many. <strong>Many Christians think that as long as they believe in Jesus, they will be shielded from the deceptions of the last days</strong>. However, these will <strong>not be crude deceptions</strong> that will be <strong>easy to identify</strong>. Jesus says that the deceptions of these false christs are <strong>so carefully planned and so skillfully carried ou</strong><strong>t</strong>, that even God&rsquo;s chosen ones would be deceived&mdash;if that were possible. And the only reason it is not possible <strong>is if we keep our focus on the real Jesus through study of His Word </strong>and through prayer.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.242em 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.8400001525879px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Unfortunately, many will be deceived into following <strong>the wrong Jesus</strong>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How tragic is the result? The same article puts it well:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tragically, those who are deceived ... by these false christs will sincerely regard themselves to be <strong>genuine believers, actively doing the work of Christ</strong>. They will even prophesy in the name of Jesus, cast out demons in the name of Jesus, and work miracles in His name. But they are serving a false Christ&mdash;<strong>not the real Jesus</strong>. &ldquo;Many will say to me on that day, &lsquo;Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?&rsquo; Then I will tell them plainly, &lsquo;I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers&rsquo; &rdquo; (Matthew 7:22, 23, NIV). The followers of the <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>false Christ disregard the commandments of Jesus</strong></span>. In contrast, Jesus declares, &ldquo;Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him&rdquo; (John 14:21, NIV).</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Do these criteria so unwittingly well-explained at Bible.info.com disqualify Paul as an apostle of the same Jesus whom you and I love? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Remember, Paul's epistles have not a single unique quote from Jesus except one highly problematical refusal of the "Lord" to release Paul from an "<strong>angel of Satan.</strong>" See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/666-how-many-times-do-episltes-of-paul-uniquely-quote-jesus.html">link</a>. So if we disqualify Paul, we lose nothing from the words of Jesus. At least nothing anyone would want to remember as truly from Jesus. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As to the single unique quote of Jesus in Paul's epistles by revelation in a vision, Christian commentators agree it is impossible to believe that the true Jesus would not release Paul from a demonic influence in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+corinthians+12%3A7-9&amp;version=DLNT">2 Cor. 12:7-9</a>. Paul defenders contend that Paul's depiction of the "Lord's" refusal to give such a release to Paul came out totally in an unintended manner. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, bear it in mind again, this one quote of the Damascus Road Jesus in all of Paul&rsquo;s epistles actually proves again we are on the right track that Paul met an imposter Jesus. Our thesis is up front confirmed by 2 Cor. 12:7-9 because Paul's Jesus refuses to release Paul from a torment in the flesh by an "Angel of Satan." We all know the true Jesus would cast out the demon afflicting Paul. So who was Paul's Jesus? It does not take much to deduce who it was, but let's be Bereans and carefully examine all the facts.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is high time that Christians consider whether an impostor Jesus Christ guided Paul. Is it a coincidence that nowadays, most mainstream pastors teach us to follow Paul's Gospel, and disregard as part of a prior dispensation <strong><em>all the commandments from Jesus?</em></strong>&nbsp;This is called the doctrine of Dispensationalism - a heresy brought forth by Clarence Larkin in 1918.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Dominant dispensationalists do not hide they are abandoning Jesus' lessons in the flesh. They in fact prove dispensationalism is necessary because they admit the numerous contradictions of Jesus by Paul such as Paul saying the Law is abolished but Jesus says it would never be so until heaven and earth pass. (See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/175-pauls-contradictions-of-jesus.html">Contradictions by Paul of Jesus</a>). Based upon such contradictions, they teach us that we need no longer follow the Jesus who walked the earth, but only the Jesus who revealed himself to Paul. See the article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/200-paulinism-examples.html">Examples of Paulinism.</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, most mainstream pastors teach this contradiction and insist that Paul is the only apostle to follow in the New Testament. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Dispensationalism teaches that Jesus' doctrine was meant solely for a prior dispensation. This dispensational teaching solidified in this century, beginning with Bultmann as his response to the many contradictions he could not refute between Jesus and Paul. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/176-bultmann-on-paul.html">Bultmann on Dispensationalism</a>. Bultmann chose Paul over Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But what did the Bible.info page -- pro-Paul no less -- unwittingly say is the hint someone who claims to have heard from Jesus in a private vision or wilderness place did not actually meet the true Jesus?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The followers of the false Christ disregard the commandments of Christ....</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What would Bible.info think if they realized there is an entire dominant</span> <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">view in Evangelical Christianity that began around 1918 that says we can disregard all the commands of Jesus before the Ascension in favor of a Jesus who appeared solely to Paul whose doctrine contradicted the Jesus the twelve knew? That this view also holds we must assume Paul is transmitting the words of an Ascended Jesus even though Paul in his epistles only quotes uniquely once Paul's Damascus-Road Jesus saying that he refuses to release Paul from an "Angel of Satan"? </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(We also contend elsewhere that we faultily assume Paul is inspired without Paul attributing anything revealed by Jesus or Yahweh to himself. See the article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/721-paul-never-served-the-role-of-a-messenger-of-jesus.html">Paul Never Quotes Jesus in A Revelation to Support New Doctrines</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Wouldn't Bible.info be willing to reconsider the validity of Paul? The price of not doing so has turned out to be that most mainstream pastors believe Paul's words alone should dominate in any Sunday sermon.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Question</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So are we judging correctly the weight to give Paul's words? Remember Jesus taught us that "appearances" can be deceiving: "</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Stop judging by mere appearance</strong>, but instead judge correctly." (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/7-24.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">John 7:24</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.) As </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+14%3A12&amp;version=NIV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Proverbs 14:2</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;similarly teaches: "There is a way that appears</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;to be right, but in the end it leads to death."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, are we on the path to life or death by trying to follow Paul's words besides those of Jesus delivered pre-Ascension?</span>&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> &nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An Obvious Question That Is Routinely Overlooked</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is an obvious question about Paul's encounter, given the clear import of the words of Jesus. Even commentators summarize the clear meaning of Jesus in a way that one must wonder how commentators' minds never questioned whether Jesus' warning might apply to Paul. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Henry Alford &nbsp;(1810-1871), D.D., Dean of Canterbury (see bio at this&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/A/ALF/henry-alford.html" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">link</a></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">)</span>, in his <strong>The New Testament for English Readers</strong></span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; color: #494a44; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(Rivingtons 1868) at&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&amp;pg=PA162#v=onepage&amp;q=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; line-height: 1.3em;">page 162</a>&nbsp;</em>commented on Matthew 24 verses 4-5:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[vv. 4-5] 'For many' ...This was the first danger awaiting them: not of being drawn away from Christ, but of&nbsp;<strong>imagining that these persons were Himself</strong>." [Emphasis in original.]&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&amp;pg=PA162&amp;ci=552%2C653%2C403%2C79&amp;source=bookclip" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&amp;pg=PA162&amp;img=1&amp;zoom=3&amp;hl=en&amp;sig=ACfU3U2QvUuE478O6Dsabmnr7xoYDWNCfw&amp;ci=552,653,403,79&amp;edge=0" alt="" width="232" height="46" style="float: right;" /></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford then explains the reference to "in my Name" means the false Jesuses say they are Jesus as "the <strong>ground for their pretences</strong>."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford did not address the clear import of what he was saying as applying to Paul's encounter. It involved Paul claiming an appearance of the risen Christ to himself, making himself a <strong>witness</strong> to the Resurrection along with the men with Paul who hear the voice saying "I am Jesus" &nbsp;(<a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/9-7.htm">Acts 9:7</a>). </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul in fact later testifies in court that Ananias, a devout man and well-regarded person (not a prophet) told him at Damascus a short while after Paul's experience outside Damascus that the "Holy One has chosen thee ... for thou shalt be his <strong>witness</strong> to all men of what you have <strong>seen and heard</strong>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+22%3A12-15&amp;version=KJV">Acts 22:15</a>.) (Please note Ananias did not quote God's words telling him this; Ananias just affirmed it.)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is clear Paul claims, and Ananias understood the same, that Paul saw and heard the Lord Jesus outside of Damascus. And so too his companions had a shared sensory experience of this "Jesus."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But what Alford never applied to Paul's experience, we will do so here.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford's Further Proper Summary of Matthew 24</span></span></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford then discusses the warning in Matthew 24: 24-27 as about someone coming in the wilderness saying he is Jesus.&nbsp;</span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&amp;pg=PA166&amp;ci=530%2C1250%2C378%2C93&amp;source=bookclip" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&amp;pg=PA166&amp;img=1&amp;zoom=3&amp;hl=en&amp;sig=ACfU3U1c9a_eNacbWoYuK6zQlYo3SWlFWQ&amp;ci=530,1250,378,93&amp;edge=0" alt="" width="218" height="53" style="border-style: none; float: right;" /></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford explains that Jesus said this to "guard them against the<strong> impostors</strong> who led people out into <strong>the wilderness</strong> (see <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2021:38&amp;version=KJV">Acts 21:38</a>) or invited them to consult privately...."&nbsp;</span><em style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Id.</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">, at&nbsp;</span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&amp;pg=PA166#v=onepage&amp;q=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">168</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. More precisely, Jesus said the appearance to be warned about was in the wilderness. Thus, even though Alford did not address whether this "impostor" scenario out in the wilderness applies to Paul's encounter in the same book of Acts where Alford saw at least one parallel in history &nbsp;(<em>i.e.</em>, an Egyptian who led people into the wilderness), we will examine the Paul-parallel here.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Finally, Alford says the fact Jesus' next appearance on earth after ascending to heaven would instead be seen like "lightning"&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&amp;pg=PA167&amp;ci=60%2C498%2C401%2C266&amp;source=bookclip"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&amp;pg=PA167&amp;img=1&amp;zoom=3&amp;hl=en&amp;sig=ACfU3U3-76j3rQ9tNJvqa_D1lGrvrSaZ1Q&amp;ci=60%2C498%2C401%2C266&amp;edge=0" alt="" style="float: right;" /></a> from east to west, and not privately or in the wilderness, meant it "shall be a plain <strong>unmistakeable fact</strong>, understood of all, ...sudden and all pervading." Furthermore, because the lightning is from "<strong>both ends of heaven at once</strong>," Alford says this is like Rev. 1:7 which says at Christ's return "every eye will see him."&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em>Id.</em>, at page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&amp;pg=PA167#v=onepage&amp;q=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&amp;f=false">168</a>. The stress is on the "universality" of this event as the <strong>discriminating factor</strong> between an impostor Jesus and the true Jesus.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So, again, likewise, we will apply this final criteria to the experience of Paul where he sees a light and hears a voice saying "I am Jesus" but this event is neither unmistakeable nor universal, but instead is in the wilderness and private. We will ask the question that no reputable commentator has asked even though it appears painfully obvious.</span></span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Nature of Christ's Return Expected Prior To Paul's Experience</strong></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #008080;"><strong style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%201:9-11&amp;version=KJV">Acts 1: 9-11</a>, the resurrected Jesus was "taken up into the sky while" the apostles were watching. An angel clearly explained to the twelve "just as you saw him go, he will return." Jesus had a physical departure. So the angel promised a physical return. Jesus spoke of this return: "they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:30-35&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">Matt. 24: 30</a>. John refers to the same event as "every eye will see him." John wrote of a vision of the return of Christ from heaven:&nbsp;"Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him." <a href="http://biblehub.com/revelation/1-7.htm">Rev. 1: 7</a> (NIV.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>Jesus' Prophetic Warning</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus was asked about His Second Coming by his apostles. In reply, He warned them that prior to His return an impostor or impostors will come in His name saying "I am Jesus." Then Jesus said if anyone comes claiming to be Himself in the "wilderness" or a "private place," you know that this is not the true Jesus because this is not universally seen:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:5-6&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 24: 5</a>)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">23&nbsp;</sup>Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">24&nbsp;</sup>For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">25&nbsp;</sup>Behold, I have told you beforehand.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">26&nbsp;</sup>If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the <em><strong>wilderness;</strong></em> go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe it not.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">27&nbsp;</sup>For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:23-27&amp;version=ASV">Matt. 24 : 23-27 ASV.</a>)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus is telling us that when He returns to earth from heaven it will be clear and unmistakable to everyone. We are thus not to believe any other accounts of people who claim to have seen the Christ-Jesus on earth prior to such a universally-visible event. Even if the event is accompanied by signs and wonders. Thus, any private appearances we know must represent an impostor Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus elsewhere calls this impostor a "thief." This impostor will try to steal the hearts of true Christians. As Jesus said elsewhere, "the thief comes only to <strong>steal</strong>, and kill and destroy." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010:10&amp;version=ESV">John 10:10</a> ESV.) What better way to steal Christians than by deceiving those who are attracted already by the figure of Jesus by giving them a counterfeit version?&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Jesus' warning in Matthew chapter 24 is the most important defense to prevent us from becoming dupes of the message from any impostor Jesus.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul's Encounter Outside Damascus</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Several years after Jesus ascended, Saul of Tarsus -- also known as Paul -- was walking with two companions on a road outside Damascus. Just previously, Paul was involved in the murder of Stephen, and was uttering "murderous threats" upon Christians. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:1&amp;version=NIV">Acts 9: 1</a>.) Paul confessed at that time he was a "blasphemer and violent man." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20timothy%201:13&amp;version=NIV">1 Tim. 1:13</a>.) Paul was thus a lawless man as he walked to Damascus -- a man whom God says He will not listen to his prayers absent repentance: "<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an&nbsp;</span><em style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify; background-color: #fdfeff;">&nbsp;</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">abomination." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/28-9.htm">Prov. 28:9, KJV</a>.)</span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In this spiritual state, Paul then saw a great light and heard a voice which said to him: "I am Jesus," "why are you persecuting me?" Acts </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:3-7&amp;version=NIV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">9:3-7</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. However, those with Paul "saw no one"&nbsp;</span><em></em></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span>although they "heard the voice."&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9%3A7&amp;version=NASB" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">Acts 9:7</a><span>. In another version, his companions "saw the light" but did not "hear" or &nbsp;"understand" the voice. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+22%3A9&amp;version=KJV">Acts 22:9</a>. This certainly is an extra-mental experience of Paul, and not a mere vision, as it was shared with 2 or more others, both in sight and hearing to some extent. In fact, the presence of at least the 2 other persons suggests Paul intended to convey to us that a physical experience on earth was being verified by at least 2 witnesses.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, Paul elsewhere describes this as a<strong> physical appearance</strong> of Jesus to himself in the same sense Jesus appeared to the twelve apostles first: "He <strong>appeared</strong> to Cephas [<em>i.e.</em>, Peter], then the twelve...and he also<strong> appeared</strong> to me." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A5-8&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 15:5 &amp; 8</a>. See also <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+9%3A1%3B+15%3A4-11&amp;version=KJV">1 Cor. 9:1</a> ("seen" Lord.) Philip Schaff, the famous evangelical scholar and historian, agrees. He says Paul "put" his experience outside Damascus "on a level with the former <strong>appearances</strong> to the older apostles (1 Cor. 15:8)." (Philip Schaff, <strong>History of the Christian Church</strong> (C.Scribner, 1888) Vol. 1 at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lrhJAQAAMAAJ&amp;lpg=PA163&amp;dq=the%20same%20day%20Jesus%20saw%20a%20man%20working%20at%20his%20craft%20on%20the%20Sabbath-day%2C%20and%20He%20said%20unto%20him%2C%20'O%20man%2C%20if%20thou%20knowest%20what%20thou%20doest%2C%20then%20art%20thou%20blessed%3B%20but%20if%20thou%20knowest%20not%2C%20then%20art%20thou%20accursed%2C%20and%20art%20a%20transgressor%20of%20the%20Law.'&amp;pg=PA180#v=onepage&amp;q">180</a>.) </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">On this score, Charles Quarles, trying to prove Paul's authenticity as one of the "most important witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus"&nbsp;<strong>unwittingly</strong> unravels Paul's validity in his article <a href="https://hbu.edu/news-and-events/2016/07/01/paul-witness-r-esurrection-jesus/"><strong>Paul as</strong> <strong>A Witness to the Resurrection</strong></a> (July 2016). </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Quarles is Professor of New Testament Studies and Biblical Theology and Director of Ph.D. Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the author of several books on Paul and Jesus and the New Testament. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Quarles proves Paul claimed to be a witness to a physical appearance of the resurrected Jesus in a manner no different than any other apostle:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Even if the use of <strong>en</strong>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">to mark an internal and <strong>subjective</strong> experience were a legitimate syntactical option [i.e., the Gal. 1:16, God revealed his Son "in me"], clear statements elsewhere in Pauline literature would <strong>preclude</strong> such&nbsp; a view. &nbsp;For example, &nbsp;Paul argued that he was as surely &nbsp;an apostle as were the Twelve and the Lord&rsquo;s &nbsp;brothers : &ldquo;Am I not an apostle ? &nbsp;Have <strong>I not seen Jesus &nbsp;our Lord</strong> ?&rdquo; (1 Cor 9:1). The Greek grammar of both questions implies a positive response. The logic of Paul&rsquo;s argument is that Paul&rsquo;s status is equivalent to that of the Twelve and the Lord&rsquo;s brothers <strong>because the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to Paul was equivalent to that which the other apostles witnessed.</strong> This is also implied by Paul <strong>placing &nbsp;himself</strong> along with Cephas, the Twelve, the five hundred, James, and the rest of the apostles <strong>on the list of those to whom the resurrected &nbsp;Jesus appeared</strong>. Paul&rsquo;s statement that &ldquo;He also appeared to me&rdquo; (1 Cor 15:8) offers a more robust description of the nature of the Damascus Road experience than the casual reader may realize. &ldquo;<strong>Appeared</strong>&rdquo; is the same verb used in <strong>15:5,6, and 7</strong> to describe those who discovered &nbsp;<strong>the empty tomb</strong>, saw the resurrected Jesus <strong>&nbsp;in the upper room</strong>, and <strong>ate with him</strong> on the shores of the sea of Galilee. The adjunctive &nbsp;&ldquo;also&rdquo; closely links Paul&rsquo;s experience with the previously listed experiences &nbsp;and further suggests &nbsp;that &nbsp;Paul&rsquo;s &nbsp;experience &nbsp;was very &nbsp;similar to theirs. &nbsp;It &nbsp;is important to note that &nbsp;both of these statements are contained in one of the letters of Paul that is most widely regarded as authentic even by skeptical critical scholars and is quite early (probably mid-50s).</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul was thus <strong>not claiming he saw Jesus merely in a dream or vision</strong>. Others <strong>shared physical sight and sounds of this Jesus</strong> on the same road at the same time. This is why Paul could say Jesus was <strong>as physically present on the Road outside Damascus as Jesus was present in the resurrection encounters</strong> with the twelve where Jesus told Thomas to feel the nail holes.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, what's the key difference between the appearance to the 12 versus Paul's experience? The true apostles' experience was <strong>before the Ascension</strong>. Paul's experience was <strong>after the Ascension</strong> and thus falls under the warning of Jesus in Matthew 24 about impostors saying "I am He (Jesus)" coming after the Ascension.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, most certainly Paul claimed a true experience that could be shared with others where Jesus post-Ascension returned physically to earth to speak and appear to Paul. In fact, Paul describes it as a presence of Jesus in that wilderness in a resurrected state which made Paul a witness to a post-Ascension return that showed Jesus in a true "resurrected" state. This is how Paul counted himself among those who could be a witness to the physical resurrection of Jesus rather than claiming he had a vision of a deceased in heaven.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><img src="http://rodiagnusdei.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/bible_places_rivers_of_damascus.jpg?w=535" alt="" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">[Damascus at the time of Paul with surrounding wilderness. Philip Schaff &amp; Miss E. Rodgers, <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Damascus</span>.]</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Paulinists Concede Paul's Encounter Was In The Wilderness</span></span></strong></span></h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Acts 9: 3, Luke relates that Paul was outside Damascus when this event happened. The KJV says Paul "came near Damascus" (KJV). The pertinent Greek word is <em>engizein</em>, meaning "draw near." Thus, Paul was unquestionably&nbsp;<strong><em>outside</em></strong> Damascus when he had his encounter with the light and voice wh</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">ich said "I am Jesus." See</span><a href="http://bible.cc/acts/9-3.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;"> Biblios versions for Acts 9: 3</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. Yet, to repeat, the two companions "hearing the voice, <em><strong>saw no one</strong></em>." <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:7&amp;version=KJV">Acts 9:7</a>.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As a result of this event having taken place outside Damascus, this area is thereby within a&nbsp;<strong>wilderness </strong>as that term is used in the Bible. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why is this important? Because Jesus specifically commanded that we, his followers, were not to listen to anyone who appeared in the wilderness who claimed to be Jesus. Our Lord explained He will not appear on earth again<em><strong>&nbsp;until an event when every eye sees Him</strong></em>&nbsp;from eastern to western sky. These criteria are how we know today that the person who met Paul was not the true Jesus. This was the litmus test Jesus gave his disciples: 'if someone appears in the wilderness claiming to be me, you can be sure it is not me,' in effect. See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024&amp;version=NIV">Matt. 24: 5 &amp; 6; &amp; 27-29</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While I do not doubt Paul believed he met the true Jesus, it does not matter at this point. Rather, the facts described in Acts clearly exclude the possibility that Paul had an encounter with the true Jesus found in the gospels, as we will now further elaborate upon.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Biblical Meaning of "Wilderness</span></strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"</span></strong></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Satan was known to occupy wilderness areas. This is why Jesus Himself went to the wilderness -- so he could be tested by Satan. "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit<em><strong> into the wilderness</strong></em> to be tested&nbsp;by the devil." (Matt.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4%3A1-11&amp;version=NIV">4:1</a>.) Jesus identifies in verse 10 that His encounter was with "Satan" himself.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The word "wilderness" as used in the Bible means any area outside a city. Gill in his <em><a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/11-26.htm">Exposition of the Bible</a></em> explains the term "wilderness" as Paul used it in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%2011:26&amp;version=KJV">2 Cor.11: 26</a>. The term "may be understood not strictly of desert places, but of the <strong><em>country </em></strong>in distinction from the city."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Christian scholars <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Hengel">Hengel</a> &amp; Schwemer refer to Paul's experience as taking place in the "<em><strong>semi-wilderness</strong></em>&nbsp;of the great city territory immediately bordering on the city of <em>Damascus</em>." (Martin Hengel, Anna Maria Schwemer,<em> Paul Between Damascus and Antioch: The Unknown Years </em>(1997) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=PRIKVslqctkC&amp;lpg=PA109&amp;ots=GFlmkIGYWM&amp;dq=paul%20wilderness%20damascus&amp;pg=PA109#v=onepage&amp;q=paul%20wilderness%20damascus&amp;f=false">109</a>.)</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Next, besides "outside Damascus" as being equivalent to a wilderness, there is one time in the Bible this very same area is described as a "wilderness" -- in 1 Kings 19:15, as discussed next.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Elijah Told To Take Wildnerness Road to Damascus</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20kings%2019:15&amp;version=KJV">1 Kings 19:15</a>, God speaks to Elijah while Elijah is at "Horeb, the mountain of God." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2019:7&amp;version=NIV">1 Kings 19:7</a>.) God tells Elijah to take the road to Damascus. God specifically calls this the "wilderness."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This passage reads:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">15&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then Yahweh said to him, &ldquo;Go, return on <em><strong>your way to the wilderness of Damascus</strong></em>. Go and anoint Hazael as king over Aram; (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2019:15&amp;version=LEB">1 Kings 19:15 Lexham</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Some scholars suggest Paul thought this was significant. Paul may have equated the call Paul received on that Wilderness Road to Damascus to the call Elijah received at Horeb to take that same Road to Damascus. See&nbsp;N.T. Wright, "PAUL, ARABIA, AND ELIJAH&nbsp;(GALATIANS 1:17)," in <strong>Journal of Biblical Literature</strong>&nbsp;</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;"></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;vol. 115, 683&ndash;692 (available at this&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Paul_Arabia_Elijah.pdf" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">online link</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Elijah received his call at Horeb at the Mountain of God while Paul's encounter was itself on that wilderness Road to Damascus. That is a difference that in God's planning can be very significant.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now the contention of Wright is important in a way he did not intend. What he admitted proves that <strong>God placed in the Bible a clear reference that Paul's encounter was in a location which</strong>&nbsp;the Bible called<em><strong>&nbsp;</strong></em>the "<strong>wilderness of Damascus.</strong>" This way, there would be no doubt in anyone's mind once we recognized the issue from Matthew chapter 24 that the same is true for Paul. Hence, this road to Damascus where Paul heard "I am Jesus" from the voice and light was indeed in the wilderness. God personally said so!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;"><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Paul Was Certainly Lost At the Moment of This Appearance of "Jesus."</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul could be duped at the point of the appearance of "Jesus" outside Damascus because Paul was certainly a lost soul at that point. Jesus warned us that the signs and wonders of an imposter Christ would be so "great" that it could dupe even a believer if that were possible. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/24-24.htm">Matt 24:24</a>.) How much more so would a lost soul be helpless against the great signs and wonders of an imposter Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Was Paul a lost soul when he walked that road to Damascus and met someone saying "I am Jesus?"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luke tells us that just prior to this event Paul was involved in the murder of Stephen, and was breathing "murderous threats." (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/9-1.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Acts 9:1</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.) Apostle John tells us no murderer has eternal life. (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_john/3-15.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">1 John 3:15</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Finally, on that wilderness road, Paul was still in the midst of a mission of persecution. Paul later explained what his persecution efforts often entailed.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;Paul in</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-11.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Acts 26:11</span></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;testifies in Court about his life as a persecutor as follows:</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and<strong>&nbsp;compelled them</strong><strong>&nbsp;to blaspheme</strong>; and being <strong>exceedingly<em> </em>mad</strong> against them, I persecuted&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">them</span>&nbsp;even unto strange cities. KJV.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul obviously made Christians say Jesus did his miracles by the power of Bezelbub, a demon. Jesus said such a statement insults / blasphemes the Holy Spirit, and is thus blasphemy of Yahweh....an unpardonable sin. See Matt 12:38. The Pharisees made this claim about Jesus' miracles, and evidently Paul followed the party-line, forcing Christians "to blaspheme," as Paul put it.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul acknowledged the obvious implication of such coercions on Christians: the one forcing another to blaspheme as a means of persecution must admit as Paul did in </span><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_timothy/1-13.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; line-height: 21px; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">1 Timothy 1:13</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;that he too was "once a blasphemer."</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An admission of blasphemy should signify that one has violated the Third Commandment (Exodus 20:7) - the prohibition on blasphemy of God's name. One could never obtain justification under the Law given Moses for this sin. It was known among Jews and by Jesus as the unpardonable sin. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For while Exodus 20:6 says God's "mercy" extends to all "who love him and obey my commandments," then God in Exodus 20:7 says there is an exception -- a sin God "will not hold guiltless" anyone from -- the sin of blasphemy of God's name. A sin for which there is no "mercy" -- the unpardonable sin -- under the Law.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Dennis Praeger, a&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">scholar of Judaism, in his new book, <strong>The Ten Commandments: Still The Best Moral Code</strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;(Regnery: 2015) explains blasphemy against God is unforgiveable, according to God.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So then what is the worst sin? The worst sin is [violating]...&nbsp;the Third Commandment of the Ten Commandments. This is the only one of the Ten Commandments that states that&nbsp;<strong>God will not forgive who violates the commandment</strong>. What does this commandment say?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is most commonly translated as, 'Do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold guiltless' --<strong>&nbsp;meaning 'will not forgive</strong>,' -- whoever takes his name in vain. (Prager,&nbsp;<em>The Ten Commandments</em>&nbsp;(2015) at pages 20-21.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus says likewise when Jesus restates the Third Commandment in <a href="http://biblehub.com/mark/3-29.htm">Mark 3:29</a>: "but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> never has forgiveness</span></strong>, but is subject to <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">eternal condemnation.</span></strong>" </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(The term "Holy Spirit" is a common replacement for Yahweh when verses like Exodus 20:7 are being quoted in the NT and use Yahweh's name. Jesus often is depicted using similar replacements, e.g. "Spirit of the Lord" for "Spirit of Yahweh" in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%204:17-21">Luke 4:17:21</a>; "Mighty One" in <a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/26-64.htm">Matt 26:64</a>; etc.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, please note that Paul contradicts Jesus and claims in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2013:39">Acts 13:39</a> that "<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">everyone who believes is justified from all&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">things from which you <strong>could not be justified by the law of Moses</strong>."&nbsp;</span><em style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"><strong>&nbsp;</strong></em></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What sin(s)<strong> could one not be justified by the Law?&nbsp;</strong>The only sin under the Law for which one could never receive justification was blasphemy in Exodus 20:7. Likewise, Jesus says it is unpardonable, and there is "never...forgiveness." But Paul says contrarily that faith can even give you justification for a sin which one could "not receive justification by the Law" (Acts 13:19). In fact, Paul claimed in <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_timothy/1-13.htm">1 Tim. 1:13</a>&nbsp;he already has been justified of blasphemy:&nbsp;"Even though I was <strong>once a blasphemer,</strong> and a persecutor and a violent man I was shown <strong>mercy</strong>....." Yet, both Jesus in Mark 3:29 and God-Yahweh in Exodus 20:7 says that is not possible.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, at the very moment that counts, Paul must have been a lost man, easily capable of being duped by a false Christ claiming to be "Jesus." Paul was not among the believers at that time. Jesus told us Paul's chances to avoid being duped were slim to none. Jesus said the effort of an imposter Jesus to dupe someone would be virtually impossible for anyone but a believer not to be fooled:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect</strong></span>. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/24-24.htm">Matt 24:24 Bible Hub - NIV</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Satan Can Even Dupe Prophets of God!</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even if Paul prior to encountering this "light" and "voice" had the Holy Spirit already (which Luke does not imply and is unlikely for reasons just stated), Paul would not be immune from the wiles of Satan.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">David, who had such Holy Spirit, was not above Satan planting ideas in his head:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now&nbsp;<strong>Satan</strong>, designing evil against Israel,&nbsp;<strong>put into David's mind<em>&nbsp;</em></strong>the impulse to take the number of Israel. (1 Chron.&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/1_chronicles/21-1.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">21:1</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Furthermore, in 1 Kings 1:13-32, God tells us that <strong>a true prophet duped </strong>another <strong>true but young prophet by lying to him</strong> about a prophecy supposedly being from God. The true prophet lied that God had said that the young prophet could go home by another route. (See&nbsp;<a href="/JWO/false-prophecy-deceived-young-prophet.html" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">our article</a>.) Thus, if even a true immature prophet can be duped, so much more can a lost man as was Paul.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Paul, whether you think he did or did not have the Holy Spirit at his encounter, could be fooled.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus's Prophecies About An impostor-Jesus</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Of course,&nbsp;Jesus warned repeatedly about false prophets to come<strong><em> in His name</em></strong> who would "<strong>have signs and wonders</strong>" so that they could deceive even the elect.&nbsp;Matthew 7:15-23; 24:11,24; Mark 13:22-23. See Study Notes below.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Jesus did more than that. In Matthew 24:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt.%2024:4-5&amp;version=ASV">4-5</a>, Jesus gives a series of warnings of events that must precede the end. The very first one in church history--and chronologically far earlier than events that would take a long time, such as wars, etc, Jesus says this will happen:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>5</sup> For many shall come <strong><em>in my name</em></strong>, saying, <em><strong>I am the Christ</strong></em>; and shall lead many astray. (NIV)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Luke, Jesus warns this one coming in "<strong><em>my name</em></strong>" says "<strong><em>I am He</em></strong>...." (<a href="http://bible.cc/luke/21-8.htm">Luke 21:8</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Matthew </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:24-27&amp;version=ASV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">24:24-27</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">, Jesus warns about just such an earthly encounter one may have with one coming in His Name (Jesus) claiming to be He (Jesus) but you know it is not Him because when Jesus returns, every eye will see Him. Jesus said:</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>24</sup> For there shall arise <em>false Christs</em>, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>25</sup> Behold, I have told you beforehand.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>26</sup> If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold,<em><strong> he is in the wilderness; go not forth</strong></em>: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe it not.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>27</sup> For<strong><em> as the lightning [Greek, astraphe] cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming [parousia = presence] of the Son of man.</em></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus is recorded similarly in<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+17%3A24&amp;version=ESV"> Luke 17:24</a> (ESV): "For <strong><em>as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other</em></strong>, so will the Son of Man be in his day."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Apostle John in Revelation foresees this same event, and similarly speaks of it: "Look, he is coming with the <strong><em>clouds</em></strong>, and <strong><em>every eye will see him</em></strong>...." (<a href="http://bible.cc/revelation/1-7.htm">Rev. 1:7</a>.) Jesus identifies what the true coming (parousia) event looks like in the immediately following verses 28-30, especially v. 30 in Matthew 24. It is<em><strong> identical</strong></em> to Revelation 1:7:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> &ldquo;Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-23988c" title="See footnote c">c</a>]</sup> will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the <strong><em>clouds</em></strong> of heaven, with power and great glory.<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-23988d" title="See footnote d">d</a>]</sup></span></span> (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&amp;version=NIV">Matt 24:30</a> NIV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Jesus says in the context of Matthew 24's prophecy against wilderness encounters that you know it is not Jesus because His coming on the "clouds" of glory will be "from eastern to western sky." Apostle John in Rev. 1:7 says of this same "coming with the clouds" that it is an event which "every eye will see him." (Modern television coverage makes such an event possible even without God using the miraculous to do so.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Clearly, the discerning quality of whether an encounter like Paul's was valid is whether every one on earth simultaneously saw Jesus on the clouds of glory before He arrived on earth. That did not happen in Paul's earthly encounter. Paul's two companions in Acts 9 hear the voice but see no one.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Also further confirming the universality of seeing Jesus as necessary, be aware "east" and "west" in Matthew 24:27 is plural in the Greek, implying a world-wide event. That is, the lightning must flash from every point east or west on the earth so that every eye on earth will see it. Origen in the 200s noted these plurals of <em>east</em> and <em>west</em> signified a world-wide event. Scholars concur that this language "from east to west" bespeaks the "universaility" of the event. &nbsp;(Allan J. McNicol, <strong>Jesus' Directions for the Future</strong> (Mercer Press, 1996) at page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=YHr5iaT4AYMC&amp;lpg=PA87&amp;dq=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&amp;pg=PA87#v=onepage&amp;q=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&amp;f=false">87</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus the Matthean passage clearly implies to beware someone in a wilderness or private room who will claim not only to be Messiah /&nbsp;Christ, &nbsp;but also to be Jesus. For Jesus says you know it is not Himself by the very obscurity of the location it takes place. "Every eye" will see Jesus on clouds of brilliant glory-light which will extend from one end of heaven to the other over the entire earth when He returns to communicate directly with men on earth. This appearance by one claiming to be Jesus and &nbsp;Messiah whom Paul met in a wilderness and private encounter is false if only one or at most three men see Him, our Lord implicitly says.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 24pt;">&nbsp;<strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Why Paul Did Not Realize His Error</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul never realized that he met the wrong Jesus. Why? Because the impostor Jesus told him that when the true Jesus returns, <strong><em>not every eye will actually see Jesus. </em></strong>&nbsp;Paul tells us -- in obvious reliance upon the impostor -- that instead only the spiritually discerning will realize Christ returned and 'see' Christ in a spiritual sense. These verses from Paul that negate the visual-universality of Jesus's appearance on the clouds of glory are credulously explained by Herbert Lockyer in<strong> All the Parables of the Bible Explained </strong>(Zondervan: 1988) at page&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4ncUVL4h2LsC&amp;lpg=PA236&amp;dq=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&amp;pg=PA236#v=onepage&amp;q=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&amp;f=false">255</a>:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"'Every eye shall see Him.' His return for His church, however, as indicated by Paul will likewise be sudden <strong>but not universally discerned</strong>. He will<strong> appear for those who look for Him</strong>, and who love such an appearing." &nbsp;[Alluding to 2 Tim. 4: 8, love appearing; 1 Thess. 4:17, 5:23, rapture into the clouds; 1 Thess. 2:9 even says we are <strong>with Jesus</strong> at His parousia, thus preceding the universal event, precluding us from <strong>first seeing</strong> Jesus' presence on earth. See also 1 Thess. 3:13. Cf. <a href="/component/content/article/9-bible/272-authorship-of-hebrews.html">Barnabas' </a>Epistle to the <a href="https://biblehub.com/hebrews/9-28.htm">Hebrews 9:28</a> those who eagerly await Jesus will see him. Barnabas was companion of Paul in Acts.]</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">At the same time, Paul said he declined to listen to the twelve apostles, preferring instead his direct revelations from the Lord Jesus whom he met during that first experience. In <a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/1-12.htm">Galatians 1:12</a>, Paul explained: "I did<span style="color: #000000;"> </span><strong><span style="color: #000000;">not receive it from any man</span></strong><em><strong><span style="color: #000000;">,</span></strong></em> nor was I taught it; rather, I received it <strong>by revelation from Jesus Chris</strong><em><strong>t</strong></em>." In Galatians 2:6, talking expressly of the <strong>twelve apostle</strong><em><strong>s</strong></em>, Paul says:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But from <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">those who were reputed to be somewhat</span></strong> (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth not man's person)-- they, I say, who were of repute <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">imparted nothing to me</span></strong>: (<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/2-6.htm">Galatians 2:6</a> ASV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul thus was helpless against the Jesus of his revelation. Paul did not have the criteria of the true Jesus' words on how to test the encounter which Paul had with the "Jesus" of the wilderness. Paul refused to hear them, or ask their spiritual input on whether his experience matched the Jesus' they all knew.</span></p>
<p><span id="en-KJV-23432" class="text Matt-10-14" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul thereby mistakenly accepted an impostor Jesus whom the true Jesus intended Paul to reject. Sadly, it is Paul's own fault for he boasted that those in repute -- the true twelve -- "imparted nothing to me." Paul preferred the "revelation from Jesus Christ" -- the Jesus of that very first encounter -- the clear impostor. Paul will have to bear the consequences of that flagrant rejection of any words from Jesus that the 12 could have shared with Paul. For Jesus told the 12 (including Matthias who was present and later replaced Judas, according to Acts ch. 1) what are the consequences to Paul for Paul's admission he refused to learn anything from the 12 about the true Jesus: &nbsp;<br /></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span id="en-KJV-23432" class="text Matt-10-14" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">14 And whosoever shall not receive you, <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>nor hear your words</strong></span>, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span id="en-KJV-23433" class="text Matt-10-15" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span id="en-KJV-23433" class="text Matt-10-15" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">15&nbsp;</span>Verily I say unto you, It shall be<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><span id="en-KJV-23433" class="text Matt-10-15" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city</span></strong></span>. &nbsp;(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010&amp;version=KJV">Matt 10:14-15 KJV</a>)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Matt-10-15" style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">John's Experience in Heaven Differs From Paul's Encounter Outside Damascus</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus's warning does not extend to the experience John described in Revelation. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, John in Revelation 1 and 22 identifies that an "angel"is whom He meets initially, and through whom all the visions of Jesus and communications with Jesus take place. See "<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/694-then-angel-of-the-book-of-revelation.html">Angel of Revelation.</a>"</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, when John says he actually sees Jesus it is after Apostle&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">John says that he was taken up into heaven where he saw Christ seated at the right hand of the Father. &nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%204:1&amp;version=NIV">Rev. 4:1</a>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2021:10-27&amp;version=NIV">Rev. 21:1-27</a>; cf. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%201:10-18&amp;version=NIV">1:10-18</a>.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This can be compared with Elijah who was caught up into heaven, taken up in a whirlwind; and who never tasted death, per <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+2%3A1-12&amp;version=NIV">2 Kings 2:1-12</a>. Prior to John's rapture into heaven, the angel revealed a fantastical Jesus with a sword in His mouth -- a fantastic vision which is not intended to be received as a true appearance of Jesus physically manifested on earth.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, because John's vision of Jesus in Revelation 1 prior to that time was relayed through an angel (Rev. 1:1), and was not intended to convey Jesus physically present on earth visible in any way other than by means of this angel solely to John, it has no parallel to Paul's Damascus experience. In chapter one, Jesus was seen in a fantastic vision with a sword in His mouth. Thus, the first time John sees Jesus physically is only after John is taken into heaven in chapter 4 of Revelation, and then sees Jesus as He actually is - seated at the right hand of the Father.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus' Warning Was Aimed To Prevent An Impostor-Jesus</span></span></span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Christian commentators -- unaware how this operates to invalidate Paul -- admit that Jesus in Matthew chapter 24 intended to protect us from a counterfeit Jesus:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The reason He constantly talks about returning in the clouds is&nbsp;because He wants us to look up into Heaven in anticipation of His&nbsp;return, so keep your eyes on Him. <strong>He told us to be ready, to watch for&nbsp;His return! </strong>This also <strong>prevents us from believing in those who claim to&nbsp;be Jesus Christ</strong>, since we are told that He will come in the clouds and&nbsp;every eye will see Him when He comes back. &nbsp;(Frank Gonzalez,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.revelationofthechrist.com/JESUS%20TELLS%20JOHN%20TO%20WRITE%20PG-11.pdf"> Jesus Tells John to Write (2009)(PDF) at 11</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Gonzalez concedes Jesus admonished us in chapter 24 not to accept anyone who says he is Jesus Christ in an encounter on earth after the Ascension unless every eye sees the same event. Otherwise, it is not the true Jesus. It is an impostor.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.3em;">Review of the Proofs: This Was A Prophecy About Paul</strong></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then, let's ask: does the foregoing prove Jesus was warning us away from whatever person spoke to Paul saying "I am Jesus, the one you persecute"?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The proof above shows indeed Jesus did so warn us. There are several important reasons.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, what Paul experienced fits someone coming<strong> in the name</strong> of Jesus. Paul records the voice said: "I am Jesus." Jesus said many false Christs would come "in my name." (Matt 24:5-7.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, we should remember that Jesus was a common name at this time. -- in fact, the third most popular name used among males. The 'voice' distinguished itself from any other Jesus, and claimed to be Jesus the Messiah / Christ with the words that he was "the one you persecute." This fit Jesus' warning that those coming "in my name" (Jesus) would also claim to be the Christ. Also, Paul repeatedly claims the Jesus he follows is "Jesus Christ." Gal. 1:12.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Third, Jesus says in Matthew 24:24-27 that some will try to deceive us while confirming that "Jesus is the Christ" in scenarios such as in the wilderness and private rooms. As already stated, it is in the wilderness that Paul had his experience. Jesus obviously used such a term of "wilderness" as a means to more readily help the true flock identify the falsity of the Jesus whom Paul met.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Fourth, the false Jesus would be accompanied by "signs and wonders" (Matt 24:24), but do not let our judgment be clouded by such experience. It is a false Jesus. Paul obviously understood his blindness as a sign that this was the true Jesus, even though God never imposes blindness on someone who supposedly has been converted already.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Paul's experience precisely fits Matthew 24:5-7, 24-27's warning not to believe someone coming in His name claiming to be Christ in such a setting when the only validation comes from signs and wonders.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Didn't Paul Cast Out Demons in Jesus' Name?</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Some have written me saying it is impossible that Paul did not know the true Christ because Paul cast out demons in Jesus' name.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is true Paul did so. In Acts 16:18, we read:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit,&nbsp;I command thee in the&nbsp;<strong>name of Jesus Christ</strong>&nbsp;to come out of her.&nbsp;And he came out the same hour."</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Matthew 7:21-23 informs us this does not prove Paul knew the true Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There Jesus teaches us about those who "prophesy <strong>by the name</strong> [of Jesus]," and who can "cast out demons <strong>by the name</strong> [of Jesus]," but whom Jesus will say "I<strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> never knew</span></strong> you." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why? Because they are workers of ANOMIA. This word ANOMIA is a Greek word that can mean either "lawlessness" or "<a href="http://greekconcordance.blogspot.com/2008/02/iniquity.html">negation of the Mosaic Law</a>." (Torah is NOMOS in Greek; the prefix "A" means <strong>negation</strong>, like 'anti' in English.) Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>21</sup> Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>22</sup> Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">thy name cast out demons</span></strong>, and by thy name do many mighty works?</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>23</sup> And then will I profess unto them, <em><strong>I never knew you</strong></em>: depart from me, ye that work <strong>ANOMIA</strong> -- either "iniquity" or "negation of the Law of Moses."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Can Paul be said to "do iniquity"? Or did Paul "negate the Mosaic law"? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">On multiple scores, both meanings of ANOMIA are satisfied. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, Paul repeatedly contradicts the Law in letter and spirit. For example, Paul goes so far as to claim that meat sacrificed to idols is ok to eat. But Jesus reasserts the Law's prohibition three times on such meat in the Book of Revelation. Another example is that Paul teaches us to not be charitable to all widows as a class, and instead Paul arbitrarily prohibited charity to widows under sixty. This contradicts God's Law to aid widows without any age-restriction. (See our article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/318-pauls-command-not-to-help-young-widows.html">Paul's Command Not To Help Widows</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, Paul also teaches that the Law given Moses has been done away with when Jesus said that it would not end until the "heaven and earth pass away." (See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/106-chapter-five-jwo.html">Chapter Five of JWO</a>.) It is hard to imagine any greater working of iniquity than for someone to declare God's Law is terminated before its appointed time when the "heaven and earth pass away."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alternatively, Paul's ANOMIA exists also in his behavior. For example, Paul numerous times utters blasphemies. Blasphemy is a sin even if one lacked the intention to insult God. The Pharisees did not mean to insult God when Jesus told them that their ascribing His miracles to Satan was an insult upon God - an unpardonable one at that. (Matt 12: 31-32.) Thus, an unwitting insult still has eternal consequences. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These insults on God by Paul include Paul's claims: 1. that only through God's Law did Paul learn to sin -- its prohibitions arousing in him the desire to sin which otherwise did not exist (<a href="http://bible.cc/romans/7-7.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">Romans 7:7</a>-13); 2. that&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God will send a "delusion" on all people to believe a lie so they are damned&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+2%3A10-13&amp;version=KJ21" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal;">2 Thess. 2:10-13</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">); 3. that&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus's brightness at His coming will be "according to the working of Satan," with "all power, signs and delusions"&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Thessalonians+2&amp;version=KJ21" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal;">2 Thess 2:8-9</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">) --&nbsp;to accomplish the delusions God will bring which are spoken about in the next verses 10-13 identified in #2 above; 4. that&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God does not live in temples made of human hands, implying inadvertently that the God in the Temple at Jerusalem which still stood at that time was as invalid a god as a pagan god&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017:24&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">Acts 17:24</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">); and on and on it goes. See our article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/188-blasphemy-a-paul.html">Paul &amp; Blasphemy</a>&nbsp;for a long list.<br /></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, when people cite that Paul cast out demons in Jesus' name, &nbsp;Jesus already told us in Matthew 7:21-23 that this is not sufficient proof Paul ever met Jesus.&nbsp;</span><em></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;Instead, Jesus said to test them -- do they work ANOMIA? Do they work the negation of the Law given Moses? Do they teach contrary to the Law, leading others into law-breaking? Or are they workers / laborers looking regularly to sin in violation of the Law? If so, then they "never knew" the true Jesus.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul qualifies on either score to be said by Jesus that "I never knew you." To those who respond in wonderment how then did Paul cast out demons in Jesus' name, Jesus said it can happen. (Matt 7:21-23.) Jesus' name is powerful. Jesus can even answer the prayer of a man who does not know Him. A lost soul can effectively call upon Jesus' powerful name. For Jesus elsewhere explains Satan cannot cast out Satan, for that would represent a house divided. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/12-26.htm">Matt .12:26</a>.) Thus, only Jesus is casting out a demon at the request of someone to whom Jesus says "I do not know you." Who says so? Jesus!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul Contradicts Jesus On This Very Issue On How To Test The Encounter</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul speaks differently. But then contradicting the teachings of Jesus -- the one whom Paul claims to follow and speak for -- further explains why Paul did not properly test the encounter's characteristics.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul contradicts Matthew 7:21-23 by Paul's claims in 2 Cor. 12:12 and Romans 15:19 &nbsp;that his doing signs and wonders in Jesus' name <strong>proves Paul did meet Jesus</strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">, and was commissioned as an apostle. But <strong>Jesus emphatically says NO! </strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">in Matthew 7:21-23 as well as in Matthew 24:24-27, as we just proved above.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here are Paul's two contradictions of Jesus where Paul says such signs are proof Paul not only knew Jesus but also was commissioned as an apostle:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, Paul expressly said his validity turned on "signs and wonders." (2 Cor. 12:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor.%2012:12&amp;version=ASV">12.</a>) &nbsp;He said:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"The things that mark an apostle&mdash;<strong><em>signs, wonders</em></strong> and miracles&mdash;were done among you with great perseverance."&nbsp;<em>Id.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Lastly, Paul in Romans&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2015:19&amp;version=ASV">15:19</a> likewise said:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Through mighty&nbsp;<strong><em>signs and wonders</em></strong>, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Greek roots for 'signs and wonders' in Paul's two statements were "<strong>semeion</strong>" and "<strong>teraton</strong>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In a similar passage to Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus told us to be on guard about those who could lead us astray. Jesus said they would use '<strong>semeion</strong>' and '<strong>teraton</strong>' -- signs and wonders --- the very same roots of the<em><strong>&nbsp;</strong></em><strong>Greek words as Paul used</strong>&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2024:24&amp;version=KJV">Matthew 24:24</a>)&nbsp;-- to seduce us to follow them. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These passages of Matthew 7:21-23 and 24:24 prove clearly that signs and wonders are<strong> no proof that one coming in His name was from God</strong>.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Paul Closed His Mind About Who Was This Blinding Light</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In the three versions of the appearance account recorded in Acts, the blinding light goes from a "light" (Acts 9:1-9), to a "great light" (Acts 22:3-11) to a "light brighter than the Sun." (Acts&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2026:9-20&amp;version=KJV">26:9-20</a>.) This light blinded Paul. The question arises: what could be the source of this light? After all, the Bible says Lucifer is an&nbsp;<strong>angel of light</strong>. (See this&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/223-who-is-the-blinding-angel-of-light.html">link</a> for more discussion.) Could it be Lucifer then?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Based upon Paul's writings, we find that this obvious association did not ever cross Paul's mind. Paul asks the voice who it is. The voice said in version 1 in Acts 9 and in version 3 in Acts 26: "I am Jesus whom you persecute." Beyond that, Luke gives us no other reason to prove this is Jesus. Should Paul be taking a&nbsp;<strong>blinding light's</strong> word for anything? Some commentators suggest not:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Apparently all it took to convince Paul that he was hearing the voice of Jesus was for the voice to say so."&nbsp;&nbsp;(Delos B. McKown,<em> </em><strong>Behold the Antichrist: Bentham on Religion</strong> (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2004) at page 122.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">McKown comments that "taken at face value, this&nbsp;<strong>reveals credulity (or gullibility) of a high order</strong>."&nbsp;<em>Id. </em>at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?ei=TOTOTIyKD8SCngfG9vjeCQ&amp;ct=result&amp;id=qh3XAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=(Delos+B.+McKown+Behold+the+Antichrist:+Bentham+on+Religion&amp;q=gullibility#search_anchor">122</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul is aware that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. See&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor.%2011:14&amp;version=NIV">2 Cor. 11:14</a>. Yet Paul did not choose to apply this knowledge of this fact to his experience. Luke gives us no sign of any effort by Paul to verify the light and voice was truly from Jesus.</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Conclusion: Analogy To The Mormon "Jesus" As An Impostor</span></span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We have long been trying to take the speck out of Mormons' eyes without looking at the beam in our own eye. (Matt 7:3.) For remarkably, the same fault we can find in Mormonism for teaching a Jesus Christ who appeared in a wilderness that not everyone had seen is the same fault afflicting Pauline Christianity.&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Like Pauline Christians, Mormons claim to follow a Jesus Christ who their hero (<em>i.e</em>., Joseph Smith) first learned about through "a pillar of light" that came down from heaven.&nbsp;(See our page on&nbsp;<a href="/recommendedreading/523-joseph-smiths-first-vision-account.html" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Joseph Smith's First Vision</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Like Pauline Christians, Mormons follow a Jesus who their hero (<em>i.e</em>., Smith) saw in his very first appearance in the "woods" and "wilderness." Those are Joseph Smith's terms.&nbsp;(See our page on&nbsp;<a href="/recommendedreading/523-joseph-smiths-first-vision-account.html" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Joseph Smith's First Vision</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Like Pauline Christians, Mormons follow a Jesus who identifies himself with the Jesus of Galilee. "Jesus" from the pillar of light tells Smith in the wilderness that he was the "crucified one."&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(See our page on&nbsp;</span><a href="/recommendedreading/523-joseph-smiths-first-vision-account.html" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Joseph Smith's First Vision</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.) (Mormonism has no crucifixion happening to their "Jesus" in America so Smith's Jesus claims to be the Galilean Jesus.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Like Pauline Christians, Mormons follow a hero (<em>i.e.</em>,&nbsp;Joseph Smith) whose followers insisted that he used Christ's name to cast out demons. (<a href="http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/DWillers.html">Diedrich Willers Letter (1830) at 1</a>.)&nbsp;<br /><a href="/images/stories/Lessons/bom.jpg"><br /></a></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, Willers, a good Christian who knew scripture, said that Smith's ability to cast out demons did not prove Smith knew Christ, citing Matthew 7:21-23, just as we do above about Paul.&nbsp;<em>Id.</em></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Further, like Pauline Christians, Mormons do away with the Gospel-Jesus. They are like Pauline Christians who teach that Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16 tells us to no longer follow the gospel message of Jesus given in the flesh in Israel. Paul supposedly tells us that message is a superceded message. Now we must allegedly follow only the Jesus whom Paul experienced. (See<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/176-bultmann-on-paul.html"> Bultmann on Paul</a>). Like Pauline Christians, Mormons claim in their pre-Christ history, the Law given was now replaced by grace, and was now to be abandoned. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/798-mormonism-has-uncanny-pauline-view-of-law.html">Mormons Have Uncannily Similar Doctrines to Paul about the Law</a>.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Mormons similarly believe </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">God told Smith we must listen to only the Jesus of Smith's vision. The "God" of this vision tells Smith that all Christian sects are wrong, implying our gospels accounts of Jesus are all wrong. The plates delivered later by the Angel Moroni which Smith translated into the Book of Mormon clearly imply our gospels are all altered and entirely untrustworthy, including all the words of Jesus. See 1 Nephi 13:26. (See our page on </span><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/523-joseph-smiths-first-vision-account.html" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">Joseph Smith's First Vision</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">.)&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Did you know that? Did you know there is <strong>virtually no distinction between what Paul experienced and what Smith experienced</strong>? With the same consequence? <strong>Both times, the intention is we abandon the Jesus of the Gospels! And we abandon all God's law beforehand!!!</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why did the vision of Smith's experience get recorded in such a way that any Christian familiar with Matthew 24:4-5 and 26-27 could not get duped? That passage so obviously applies to Joseph Smith -- just as it obviously applies to Paul!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The reason? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Just as God restricted what Satan could do with Job (<a href="http://biblehub.com/job/1-12.htm">Job 1:12</a>), God obviously restricted the false "Jesus." This counterfeit could appear only in a wilderness. The false Jesus had to say "I am Jesus" or an equivalent. By these restrictions, all accounts of the false Jesus-es (whether Mormon or Pauline) reveal details by which we can know to apply Matthew 24:4-5, 26-27. The accounts are not permitted to omit details that they saw Jesus in the wilderness -- and that Jesus was not seen universally. This way God can put us to the test: <strong>will we be duped or not?</strong> Are we listening intently to Jesus or not?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, making such a test about who spoke to Smith in the wilderness is not unkind. <strong>It is Biblical to make such a test</strong>.&nbsp;</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;"><strong>&nbsp;</strong></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is obedient to Christ! It is thus likewise equally obedient to Christ to test Paul by the same criteria.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But to this, a foul is called. W</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">asn't Paul miraculously converted? Luke does not say that. That is an assumption we Christians erroneously have long made.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Instead, Luke tells us just before the vision that Paul was a notorious unrepentant sinner. A murderer. And Paul admits he was a blasphemer. Surely, such a person would be unable to discern the spiritual invalidity of this exciting experience. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Just prior to the encounter, Paul confesses he was "blasphemer and violent man." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20tim.%201:13&amp;version=KJV">1 Tim. 1:13</a>). Luke depicts Paul in the prior verse to the encounter as uttering "<strong>murderous threats</strong>." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:1&amp;version=KJV">Acts 9:1</a>.) In this horrific spiritual state, Paul easily became a dupe of the impostor voice-and-light Jesus who revealed himself on the Road to Damascus. All those who follow a Pauline Jesus are equally sincere and zealous, as was Paul, but all are dupes of <strong>a cunning fraud perpetrated upon Paul</strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For Jesus specifically prophesied that persons will come in His name -- the name of Jesus -- and claim to be Jesus the Messiah. These false Jesus-es will lead many astray. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 24:4-5</a>.) These figures will use "signs and wonders" to lead astray even the elect, if that were possible. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&amp;version=KJV">Matt. 24:24</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How great is our Lord to leave us prophecies for those who have 'ears to hear' which would protect His flock who closely listen to Him, our sole Teacher. And this proves the truth of the following statement:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Whatever the devil cannot be or do as it relates to God in Jesus Christ, he will either <strong>counterfeit</strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;or wipe out." Gary Flannigan, <strong>111: The Media War</strong></span><em style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(2008) at 131.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, with the same vigor that we as Christians reject Mormonism, we must come to reject Pauline Christianity. They both equally reflect impostor versions of Jesus. We need to restore Christianity to its founder: the true Jesus. We need to return to the Jesus we read about in the four gospels, in particular the gospels of Matthew, Luke and John.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Once we repent of Paulinism, then (but only then) can we credibly find fault with Mormonism's claim. We can prove that Joseph Smith's appointment of 12 more apostles is invalid under Acts 1:21-22. The apostles ruled that Judas' replacement had to be one from the beginning of Jesus' Galilean ministry. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Until we abandon Paul, we are hamstrung by our allegiance to Paul to criticize Mormonism for the same blatant flaw from which Mormonism suffers. For Mormons mock Christians who try to invalidate the 12 new Mormon "Apostles of Jesus Christ" by this Acts 1:21-22 test. They argue if applied, <strong>it would &nbsp;equally apply to Paul</strong>, and evangelicals will retract the argument when they realize the consequence means they have to give up on Paul as an apostle. Mormon apologists note in <a href="http://www.fairlds.org/authors/misc/ask-the-apologist-must-all-apostles-literally-see-christ">Must All Apostles Literally See Christ</a>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Many of our Christian brothers and sisters use this supposed requirement to eliminate the LDS apostles as real apostles, and they attempt to use the Bible as the basis for their rejection. How do we respond? Let us take a look at what the Bible says regarding the matter. Most of the critics will use Acts 1:21-26 [i.e., replacement of Judas had to be disciple from beginning of Galilean ministry until Ascension.]</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The problem here is Acts 1 does not lay down this criterion for all future apostles. <em><strong>Paul, of course, would not meet this requirement, yet I&rsquo;ve never met a Christian that didn&rsquo;t view Paul as an apostle</strong></em>. ****</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Most LDS critics will admit that Paul was an exception. And while doing so, declare <em><strong>the requirements stated in Acts 1 null and void for future apostles</strong></em>. Paul did not accompany the original apostles from the baptism by John to the day He ascended into heaven....<em><strong>For some reason</strong></em>, however, the critics claim that this is<strong><em> the lone exception</em></strong> and thus, the Lord would not allow any others. Certainly, one is free to make such a claim, but the Bible contains<strong><em> no foundation for it</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Because we make an unfounded exception for Paul, Mormons persist in teaching their Jesus can add a whole set of numerous more apostles.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, with Paul esconced in our camp, we become the blind trying to lead the blind. We are crippled in any effort to correct Mormons. <strong>They point out that we will not apply the same test to Paul because it would disqualify him</strong>. Hence, they don't have to listen to our critique of what are the qualifications of a true apostle in Acts 1, <em>i.e.</em>, one who was&nbsp;with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry until the Ascension. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In this way, we lose the decisive points that&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">would end the claims of Mormonism. Our failure is due to our affection and adherence to Paul. <strong>Because we will not relent, another heresy worse than the first (Paulinism) now afflicts the name of Jesus</strong><em><strong>.</strong></em> We do nothing to defend Jesus on the strongest grounds because to do so will damage Paul. &nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What is at stake for our beligerant defiance of Jesus' words? <strong>The loss of Jesus' gospel by a completely different gospe</strong>l -- <strong>Paulinism, Mormonism</strong>, and whatever ism that will claim a non-gospel Jesus is its inspiration.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What do you think Jesus thinks about all this? That we let the Mormon deception run rampant for to properly expose it will also expose Paul as equally unable to pass the very tests which destroy Mormonism? &nbsp;Our silence was deliberate: we let Mormonism continue for otherwise we will expose Paul as invalid. Our silence is deafening and damning at the same time. It proves we are protecting Paul even when it means <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>we as a Christian community are letting the true Jesus be thrown under the bus</strong></span>. Our Lord's final judgment for this behavior is obvious.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I will let Anthony Buzzard, a reputable pastor, have the last word. In his article "<a href="http://focusonthekingdom.org/articles/luther.htm">The Amazing Shift Away from Jesus in the Popular Gospel</a>," he analyzes the Paulinism of Luther who taught it proper to ignore the Jesus of Matthew, Mark and Luke to find the Gospel of Jesus primarily in Paul's writings. The consequence of focusing on Paul's teachings to define the gospel, Buzzard says, has had the&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em>effect</em> of giving us a <strong>counterfeit Christ</strong> -- which is what <strong>I say is actually what happened</strong> on the road to Damascus. It was Satan indeed who provided a counterfeit on the Road to Damascus. Thus, Pastor Buzzard <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">unwittingly</span></strong> proves our point when he writes:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">It seems to me clear that Satan could well play on the weakness of the religious spirit of man by <strong>presenting a Jesus who is only vaguely and superficially the Jesus of the Bible</strong>. The <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">counterfeit</span> </strong>could, however, be most subtle. <strong>Satanic strategy would work hard to separate Jesus from His own teachings</strong> (laid out in their clearest form in Matthew, Mark and Luke). &ldquo;Jesus&rdquo; might then be only a religious symbol offered as a spiritual panacea for the world&rsquo;s and individuals&rsquo; ills.<strong> The Jewish, apocalyptic Jesus</strong>, preacher of a coming just society on earth &mdash; the Kingdom of God &mdash; might then <strong>fall into disrepute and obscurity</strong>. His reappearance in preaching would probably appear strange and unwanted even to churchgoers who have been fed a diet missing the New Testament Hebrew ingredients.</span></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">The End.</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">YouTube version of this article -- see this </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YjnMdjLde0&amp;feature=related" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">link</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/508-study-notes-to-article-on-damascus-account.html"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Study Notes &amp; Email</span></a></span></strong></span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Correct English on 'Impostor.'</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, 'impostor' is considered the more correct English word derived from borrowing from the French word 'imposteur,' just as we change 'docteur' in French to 'doctor.' See <a href="http://grammarist.com/spelling/imposter-impostor/">Grammarist</a>. However, the word "imposter" is actually used more often in English than "impostor." So "impostor" is the preferred word by linquists, although in normal usage 'imposter' is preferred. I chose to change this article to 'impostor' from 'imposter' but either is correct.</span></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></strong></span></h2>
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<h1>Collection of Paul Criticisms at St. Lawrence University Blog</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=145112012214260&amp;set=p.145112012214260" class="hyperlink" rel="nofollow">Did you ever ask the question...</a> <a href="http://www.areapal.com/social/how/St.%20Lawrence%20University">St. Lawrence University Blog</a></span><br /><span class="caption" style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">--------------------------It is not a new/modern concept to question Paul.------------------------ **********From Tertullian to President Jefferson********** This is a chronological collection of quotes and examination of Paul throughout history:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The entire Book of <strong>James </strong>is a rebuttal to Paul &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"<strong>Justin</strong> [103-65 A.D.] took no notice of Paul...." (Encyclopedia Biblica.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Papias</strong> (a disciple of Apostle John) from 130 A.D. too never once quotes Paul.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Tertullian</strong>, 207 A.D. - A Highly Critical Analysis In fact, Tertullian in Adversus Marcion at <a href="http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/1003/1001/0160-0220,_Tertullianus,_Adversus_Marcionem,_MLT.html#[0327A]">3:5</a> (Caput V) (others erroneously cite 3:6:4) said Paul is the "apostle of the heretics." In Latin, he called Paul "haereticorum apostolus." One commentator says this meant "the writings of Paul --- the haereticorum apostolos of Tertullian --- were regarded suspiciously at Rome." (Hans Lietzmann, The Lord's Supper (Brill: 1979)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In 207 A.D., <strong>Tertullian</strong> in <em>Against Marcion</em>…made the following sobering points about Paul: • Jesus never made Paul an apostle from the records that we can read. • Paul's claim to apostleship solely relies upon Paul's veracity. • If Paul were a true apostle, he is still an inferior apostle because Paul in Acts 15 submitted his doctrine to the twelve. • If Paul later varied from the twelve, we must regard the twelve as more authoritative than Paul because Paul came later. • Paul's claim of being selected as an apostle later by Jesus seems implausible. That story asks us to believe Jesus had not planned things adequately with the twelve.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">• Lastly, <strong>Tertullian</strong> said Jesus warned us of false prophets who would come doing miracles in His name and signs and wonders, and Paul perfectly matches that prophesied type of prophet.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The key quote with most of these points is the following passage from <strong>Tertullian</strong> -- written in 207 A.D. in <em>Against Marcion</em>:&nbsp;</span>
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<li>I desire to hear from Marcion the origin of Paul the apostle. I am a sort of new disciple, having had instruction from no other teacher. For the moment my only belief is that nothing ought to be believed without good reason, and that is believed without good reason which is believed without knowledge of its origin: and I must with the best of reasons approach this inquiry with uneasiness when I find one affirmed to be an apostle, of whom in the list of the apostles in the gospel I find no trace. So when I am told that he [i.e., Paul] was subsequently promoted by our Lord, by now at rest in heaven, I find some lack of foresight in the fact that Christ did not know beforehand that he would have need of him, but after setting in order the office of apostleship and sending them out upon their duties, considered it necessary, on an impulse and not by deliberation, to add another, by compulsion so to speak and not by design [i.e., on the Road to Damascus]. So then, shipmaster out of Pontus [i.e., Marcion], supposing you have never accepted into your craft any smuggled or illicit merchandise, have never appropriated or adulterated any cargo, and in the things of God are even more careful and trustworthy, will you please tell us under what bill of lading you accepted Paul as apostle, who had stamped him with that mark of distinction, who commended him to you, and who put him in your charge? Only so may you with confidence disembark him [i.e., Paul]: only so can he avoid being proved to belong to him who has put in evidence all the documents that attest his apostleship. He [i.e., Paul] himself, says Marcion, claims to be an apostle, and that not from men nor through any man, but through Jesus Christ. Clearly any man can make claims for himself: but his claim is confirmed by another persons attestation. One person writes the document, another signs it, a third attests the signature, and a fourth enters it in the records. No man is for himself both claimant and witness. Besides this, you have found it written that many will come and say, I am Christ. If there is one that makes a false claim to be Christ, much more can there be one who professes that he is an apostle of Christ.... [L]et the apostle, belong to your other god:.... (Tertullian, Against Marcion (Oxford University Press, 1972) at 509, 511, reprinted online athttp://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/ evans_marc_12book5_eng.htm.) &gt;</li>
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<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Macarius Magnes</strong> ca. 300 Macarius Magnes, Apocriticus, III.30-36 (ca. 300) writes derisively of Paul's inconsistencies when talking of the Law: [Paul] says, As many as are under the Law are under a curse (Gal 3:10). The man who writes to the Romans, The Law is spiritual (7:14), and again, The Law is holy and the commandment holy and just (7:12), places under a curse those who obey that which is holy!... In his Epistles … he praises virginity (I-Tim 4:1, I-Cor 7:25), and then turns round and writes, In the latter times some shall depart from the faith,... forbidding to marry (I-Tim 4:1-3).... And in the Epistle to the Corinthians he says, But concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord (I-Cor 7:25). &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Methodius</strong> Circa 311 A.D. Methodius, bishop of a see somewhere in Lycia, perhaps at Olympus wrote of Paul: You should not be upset by the sudden shifts in Pauls arguments, which give the impression that he is confusing the issue or dragging in irrelevant material or merely wool-gathering.... In all his transitions he never introduces anything that would be irrelevant to his teaching; but gathering up all his ideas into a wonderfully harmonious pattern, he makes all bear on the single point which he has in view. (Symposium III, 3.) (Quoted in Henry Chadwick, The Enigma of St. Paul. The Ethel M. Wood Lecture delivered before the University of London on 27 February 1968 (London: The Athlone press, 1969)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Jerome</strong> Believed Paul Lied About Peter (Reflected in <em>Augustine</em>'s 394 &amp; 397 A.D. Letters) Augustine of Hippo, Letter 28, to Jerome (394):&nbsp;<strong>Abelard</strong>, 1142 AD, Say Paul At Odds With What Christ Approved Peter Abelard, Letters of Direction (before 1142): We know of course that when writing to the Thessalonians the Apostle [Paul] sharply rebuked certain idle busybodies by saying that A man who will not work shall not eat.... But was not Mary sitting idle in order to listen to the words of Christ, while Martha was ... grumbling rather enviously about her sister's repose?</span>
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<li>I have been reading also some writings ascribed to you, on the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. In reading your exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians,... most disastrous consequences must follow upon our believing that anything false is found in the sacred books: that is to say, that the men by whom the Scripture has been given to us and committed to writing, did put down in these books anything false.... For if you once admit into such a high sanctuary of authority one false statement as made in the way of duty, there will not be left a single sentence of those books which, if appearing to any one difficult in practice or hard to believe, may not by the same fatal rule be explained away, as a statement in which intentionally and under a sense of duty, the author declared what was not true.... If indeed Peter seemed to (Paul) to be doing what was right, and if notwithstanding, he, in order to soothe troublesome opponents, both said and wrote that Peter did what was wrong— if we say thus,... nowhere in the sacred books shall the authority of pure truth stand sure. ||</li>
<li>Letter 40 (397 AD): If it be possible for men to say and believe that, after introducing his narrative with these words, The things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not, the apostle (Paul) lied when he said of Peter and Barnabas, I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel,... [then] if they did walk uprightly, Paul wrote what was false; and if he wrote what was false here, when did he say what was true? &gt;Jerome's Low View of Paul in 411 A.D. Jerome severely criticizes Paul for lack of clarity, and giving feints difficult to understand.</li>
<li>Jerome translated the Greek NT in 411 A.D. into the Latin Vulgate. Jerome in his <em>Commentary</em> on Galatians and Ephesians wrote: "Paul does not know how to develop a hyperbaton [i.e., a change of normal word order for emphasis], nor to conclude a sentence; and having to do with rude people, he has employed the conceptions, which, if, at the outset, he had not taken care to announce as spoken after the manner of men, would have shocked men of good sense." (Gaussen, Theopneusty (1844): 119 quoting Comm. Galatians Bk 11, titl. Bk 1, i.1; and Comm. Ephesians Bk. 11: 3.1; also quoted in Methodist Review at 602.) In other words, Paul is difficult to understand, as Second Peter says. Paul's writing and grammar is atrocious to decipher. And his arguments use terrible and shocking analysis that requires one to pick apart what he says to prevent him from meaning the opposite of what he is saying. Thus, one may be able to untangle Paul's word meanings, Jerome seems to imply, but it is very rough going. Obviously, basing doctrine on Paul was regarded as precarious in the early church.</li>
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<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&gt;<strong>CARLSTADT</strong>, co-founder in 1517 of Reformation with Luther (who later pushed him out) "It is necessary in fact to preserve compliance to the Lord, and as the Spirit of the Apostles is not a guide equal or greater than the Lord, thus also the heart of Paul within his letters does not have as much authority as has Christ." (Carlstadt, <em>Canonicis Scripturis </em>(1520), quoted in Charles Beard's Martin <em>Luther and the Reformation in Germany</em> (1899) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>JOHN LOCKE</strong>, 1696, physician, wrote close commentaries on Scripture, evangelist in Reasonableness of Christianity and famous political theorist who influenced US Constitution "It is not in the epistles we are to learn what are the fundamental articles of faith, where they are promiscuously and without distinction mixed with other truths.... We shall find and discern those great and necessary points best in the preaching of our Savior and the apostles ... out of the history of the evangelists [i.e., the four gospels].... If all, or most of the truths declared in the epistles, were to be received and believed as fundamental articles, what then became of those Christians who were fallen asleep (as St. Paul witnesses in his first to the Corinthians, many were) before these things in the epistles were revealed to them? Most of the epistles not being written till above twenty years after our Saviours ascension, and some after thirty.... Nobody can add to these fundamental articles of faith." (John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity (1696) (emphasizing Jesus in the Gospels, and not the epistles of Paul, etc.) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>MATTHEW HENRY</strong>, 1721 "Paul took [Timothy] and circumcised him, or ordered it to be done (Acts 16:1-3). This was strange. Had not Paul opposed those with all his might that were for imposing circumcision upon the Gentile converts? Had he not at this time the decrees of the council at Jerusalem with him, which witnessed against it? He had, and yet circumcised Timothy." (Matthew Henry, Exposition of the New Testament (1721) Vol. 3 at 833 - Ch. 16 #6.) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>THOMAS MORGAN</strong>, 1740, used Paul to destroy both Original and New Testament "I have proved that if the Apostles made any such claim [to infallibility], their differences and divisions among themselves, both in doctrine and practice, must have confuted and convicted them. Peter and Paul with respect to Jews and Gentiles preached two different Gospels...." (Thomas Morgan, Moral Philosopher (1740) [Morgan used Paul's self-serving claim to being an apostle to undermine all of the OT and NT as fallible because Paul denigrated the Law and conflicted with Peter….] &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>BOULANGER</strong>, 1746 "We should never finish, were we to relate all the contradictions which are to be found in the writings attributed to St. Paul.... Generally speaking it is St. Paul ... that ought to be regarded as the true founder of Christian theology,... which from its foundation has been incessantly agitated by quarrels [and] divisions." (Boulanger and Peter Annet,<em> Critical Examination of the Life of St. Paul</em> (letter to Gilbert West, 1746).) "The Encratites and the Sevenians adopted neither the Acts nor the Epistles of Paul." (Boulanger and Peter Annet, <em>Critical Examination of the Life of St. Paul</em> (reprint 1823) quoted in Paine, Age of Reason (1794) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>THOMAS PAINE</strong>, 1794 "That manufacturer of quibbles, St. Paul,... [wrote] a collection of letters under the name of epistles.... Out of the matters contained in those books,... the church has set up a system of religion very contradictory to the character of the person whose name it bears. It has set up a religion of pomp and of revenue, in pretended imitation of a person whose life was humility and poverty." (Thomas Paine, <em>The Age of Reason</em> (1794) &gt;Johann Gottlieb Fichte, <em>Characteristics of the Present Age</em> (1806): [The] Christian System ... [is] a degenerate form of Christianity, and the authorship of which ... [must be] ascribed to the Apostle Paul. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>WILLIAM PALEY</strong>, d. 1805, famous Christian preacher "He, the Apostle, could not mean to say this [i.e., salvation is by faith alone]; because if he did, he would say what is expressly and positively contradicted by other texts of at least equal authority with his own; he would say what is contradicted by the very drift and design of the Christian constitution; and would say, lastly, what is expressly denied and contradicted by himself. ...[He also] would say what is contradicted by the very highest authority...Our Savior's own [words]." (William Paley, Sermon 209, The Works of William Paley (1825) Vol. 6 at 214 or Sermons (1830) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>THOMAS JEFFERSON</strong>, 1820 "Of this band of dupes and imposters, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and the first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus." (Thomas Jefferson Letter of April 13, 1820 in Writings of Thomas Jefferson Vol. XV (1904) at 245) 'Letter to William Short' (1820): Paul was the ... first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus. &gt;Jeremy Bentham, Not Paul But Jesus (1823) It rests with every professor of the religion of Jesus to settle with himself, to which of the two religions, that of Jesus or that of Paul, he will adhere. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>JEREMY BENTHAM</strong>, 1826, philosopher and attorney "One thorn still remain[s] to be plucked out of the side of this so much injured religion,—and that [is], the addition made to it by Saul of Tarsus: by that Saul, who, under the name of Paul, has—(as will be seen) without warrant from, and even in the teeth of, the history of Jesus, as delivered by his companions and biographers the four evangelists,—been dignified with the title of his apostle...." (Jeremy Bentham, Not Paul But Jesus (1826) "If, by the removal of an incongruous appendage [i.e., Paul], acceptance should be obtained for what is good in the religion commonly ascribed to Jesus;— obtained at the hands of any man, much more of many, to whom at present it is an object of aversion;—if, in any one of these several ways, much more if in all of them, the labours of the author should be crowned with success,—good service will, so far, and on all hands, be allowed to have been rendered to mankind." (Jeremy Bentham, <em>Not Paul But Jesus</em> (1826) "Whosoever, putting aside all prepossessions, feels strong enough in mind, to look steadily at the originals, and from them to take his conceptions of the matter, not from the discourses of others,—whosoever has this command over himself, will recognise, if the author does not much deceive himself, that by the two persons in question, as represented in the two sources of information—the Gospels and Pauls Epistles,— two quite different, if not opposite, religions are inculcated: and that, in the religion of Jesus may be found all the good that has ever been the result of the compound so incongruously and unhappily made,—in the religion of Paul, all the mischief, which, in such disastrous abundance, has so indisputably flowed from it." (Jeremy Bentham, <em>Not Paul But Jesus</em> (1826) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>RALPH WALDO EMERSON</strong>, 1832, last sermon as pastor at Second Church "It does not appear that the opinion of St. Paul, all things considered, ought to alter our opinion derived from the evangelists." (Emerson, "Last Supper," Works of Emerson Vol. 11) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>DR. FERDINAND BAUR</strong>, 1853, theologian "The only question comes to be how the Apostle Paul appears in his Epistles to be so indifferent to the historical facts of the life of Jesus.... He bears himself but little like a disciple who has received the doctrines and the principles which he preaches from the Master whose name he bears." (Baur, <em>The Church History of the First Three Centuries</em> (1853, reprint 1878) "What kind of authority can there be for an 'Apostle' who, unlike the other Apostles, had never been prepared for the Apostolic office in Jesus' own school but had only later dared to claim the Apostolic office on the basis of his own authority?" (Baur, <em>The Church History of the First Three Centuries</em> (1853) &gt;Ferdinand Christian Baur, 'The Christ Party in the Corinthian Church, the Opposition between Petrine and Pauline Christianity in the Ancient Church, and the Apostle Peter in Rome' (1831);<em> The Church History of the First Three Centuries</em> (1853): What kind of authority can there be for an 'Apostle' who, unlike the other Apostles, had never been prepared for the Apostolic office in Jesus' own school but had only later dared to claim the Apostolic office on the basis of his own authority? The only question comes to be how the Apostle Paul appears in his Epistles to be so indifferent to the historical facts of the life of Jesus.... He bears himself but little like a disciple who has received the doctrines and the principles which he preaches from the Master whose name he bears. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>KIERKEGAARD</strong>, 1855, independent theologian and philosopher "Protestantism is altogether untenable. It is a revolution brought on by proclaiming 'the Apostle Paul' at the expense of the Master (Christ). If there is to be any question of retaining Protestantism...we confess that this teaching is a mitigation of Christianity which we humans have allowed ourselves, appealing to God to put up with it. And instead Protestantism is blazoned forth as an advance in Christianity! No, it is perhaps the most profound concession to the numerical...this numerality that wants to be Christian but wants rid of ideality or to have it downgraded, and insists upon being such and such a number." (Kierkegaard, <em>Papers and Journals</em> (1996)[orig. ca. 1855] "[I]t is of great importance, especially in Protestantism, to correct the enormous confusion Luther caused by inverting the relation and actually criticizing Christ by means of Paul, the Master by means of a follower." (Kierkegaard, "My Task" (1855)," in<em>The Essential Kierkegaard</em> (ed. Edward H. &amp; Edna Hong)(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000) "As early as the Apostle [Paul], the scaling down process begins, and it seems as if the natural man gets off a little easier in becoming a Christian....[N]owadays whole countries and kingdoms are called Christian, and millions of natural men are disguised as Christians." (Kierkegaard, <em>Journals</em> [ca. 1855] 3:2921 quoted in David McCracken, The scandal of the Gospels: Jesus, story, and offense (1994) "Only the God-man [i.e., Jesus] would be able to endure...the propogation of the doctrine by proclaimnig it, even if he did not gain one single follower. The apostle still has some selfish urge for the alleviation, aquiring adherents, become many, something the God-man does not have [to do]. He does not selfishly crave adherents and therefore has only the market price of eternity, not the market price [of the world which is cheap]." (Kierkegaard, "What Do I Want?" (1855)," in<em>The Essential Kierkegaard </em>(ed. Edward H. &amp; Edna Hong)(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000) "Paul made Christianity the religion of Paul, not of Christ. Paul threw the Christianity of Christ away, completely turning it upside down, making it just the opposite of the original proclamation of Christ." (Kierkegaard, <em>The Journals</em> ca. 1855) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>JOHN STUART MILL</strong>, 1859, philosopher "The Gospel always refers to a pre-existing morality,... the Old Testament.... St. Paul, a declared enemy to this Judaical mode of interpreting the doctrine ... of his Master, equally assumes a pre-existing morality, namely that of the Greeks and Romans; and his advice to Christians is in a great measure a system of accomodation of that, even to the extent of giving an apparent sanction to slavery." (Mill, <strong>On Liberty</strong> (1859) at 88.) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>PAUL RENAN</strong>, 1869, independent theologian, "It is vain for Paul to talk ; He is inferior to the other apostles. He has not seen Jesus ; He has not heard his word. The divine logia and the parables are scarcely known to him. The Christ who gives him personal revelations, is his own phantom, — it is himself he hears,while thinking he hears Jesus." (Paul Renan, <em>Saint Paul</em> (G.W. Carleton, 1869) or (1875) "True Christianity, which will last forever, comes from the gospels, — not from the epistles of Paul. The writings of Paul have been a danger and a hidden rock, — the causes of the principal defects of Christian theology. Paul is the father of the subtle Augustine, of the unfruitful Thomas Aquinas, of the gloomy Calvinist, of the peevish Jansenist, of the fierce theology which damns and predestinates to damnation. Jesus is the father of all those who seek repose for their souls in dreams of the ideal. What makes Christianity live, is the little that we know of the word and person of Jesus. The ideal man, the divine poet, the great artist, alone defy time and revolutions. They alone are seated at the right hand of God the Father for ever more." (Paul Renan, <em>Saint Paul</em> (G.W. Carleton, 1869) or (1875) &gt;Ernest Renan, Saint Paul (1869): True Christianity, which will last forever, comes from the Gospels, not from the epistles of Paul. The writings of Paul have been a danger and a hidden rock, the causes of the principal defects of Christian theology. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Friedrich Nietzsche</strong>, <em>The Dawn</em> (1881): The story of one of the most ambitious and obtrusive of souls, of a head as superstitious as it was crafty, the story of the Apostle Paul--who knows this, except a few scholars? Without this strange story, however, without the confusions and storms of such a head, such a soul, there would be no Christianity. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>LEO TOLSTOY</strong>, 1884, famous writer, Christian "The separation between the doctrine of life and the explanation of life began with the preaching of Paul who knew not the ethical teachings set forth in the Gospel of Matthew, and who preached a metaphisico-cabalistic theory entirely foreign to Christ; and this separation was perfected in the time of Constantine, when it was found possible to clothe the whole pagan organization of life in a Christian dress, and without changing it to call it Christianity." (Leo Tolstoy, <em>My Religion</em> (1884) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>HANS WENDT</strong>, 1894 scholar "We know it to be certain that the teachings of Jesus, if it is only grasped and preached in its original strength, can and will exert in a yet higher measure vital and ennobling influences upon the further development of Christendom than have proceeded so far from the teaching of Paul." (Hans Hinrich Wendt of Jena 1894 "Die Lehre des Paulus verglichen mit der Lehre Jesu," ZTK 4 1-78, at 78, quoted in Wedderburn: 20.) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Frederick Engels</strong>, 'On the History of Early Christianity' (1894): "Attempts have been made to conceive ... all the messages [of John's Revelation/Apocalypse] as directed against Paul, the false Apostle.... The so-called Epistles of Paul ... are not only extremely doubtful but also totally contradictory. "</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>WILLIAM WREDE</strong>, 1904, Christian scholar "The obvious contradictions in the three accounts [of Paul's conversion in Act 9 &amp; 22 &amp; 26] are enough to arouse distrust of all that goes beyond this kernel.... The moral majesty of Jesus, his purity and piety, his ministry among his people, his manner as a prophet, the whole concrete ethical-religious content of his earthly life, signifies for Paul's Christology--nothing whatever.... If we do not wish to deprive both figures of all historical distinctness, the name 'disciple of Jesus' has little applicability to Paul.... Jesus or Paul: this alternative characterizes, at least in part, the religious and theological warfare of the present day." (Wrede, Paul (1904).) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>FREDERICK WATSON</strong>, 1906, Christian scholar "In particular, in the case of St. Paul's Epistles, we can also see that they all arose out of historical events which can never occur again. We observe in them not only his circumstances and the circumstances of the Church to which He was writing, but also himself— his personal feelings, human passions, zeal, indignation, love, sorrow, and the like. These are not always of the highest morality." (Watson, Inspiration (London: 1906) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>ALBERT SCHWEITZER</strong>, 1906-1931 writings, believed Paul's dispensation replaced that of Jesus "<strong><em>Paul ... did not desire to know Christ after the flesh</em></strong>.... Those who want to find a way from the preaching of Jesus to early Christianity are conscious of the peculiar difficulties raised.... Paul shows us with what complete indifference the earthly life of Jesus was regarded by primary Christianity." (Albert Schweitzer, The Quest for the Historical Jesus (1906) "The system of the Apostle of the Gentiles stands <em><strong>over against the teaching of Jesus as something of an entirely different character, and does not create the impression of having arisen out of it</strong></em>.... It is impossible for a Hellenized Paulinism to subsist alongside of a primitive Christianity which shared the Jewish eschatological expectations.... To the problem of Paulinism belong ... questions which have not yet found a solution:... the relation of the Apostle to the historical Jesus ... and towards the [Mosaic] Law.... <strong><em>He does not appeal to the Master even where it might seem inevitable to do so</em></strong>.... It is as though he held that between the present world-period and that in which Jesus lived and taught there exists no link of connection.... What Jesus thought about the matter is ... indifferent to him.... Critics [have] demanded of theology proof that the canonical Paul and his Epistles belonged to early Christianity; and the demand was justified." (Albert Schweitzer Paul and His Interpreters (1912) "The differences and oppositions...reveal themselves between the teaching of Jesus and that of Paul...." (Albert Schweitzer Paul and His Interpreters (1912) "[T]he rapid diffusion of Paul's ideas can be attributed to his belief that the death of Christ signified the end of the [Mosaic] Law.<strong><em> In the course of one or two generations this concept became the common property of the Christian faith, although it stood in contradiction to the tradition teaching represented by the Apostles at Jerusalem</em></strong>." (Albert Schweitzer, Out of My Life and Thought (1931) "What is the significance for our faith and for our religious life, of the fact that the Gospel of Paul is different from the Gospel of Jesus?... The attitude which Paul himself takes up towards the Gospel of Jesus is that he does not repeat it in the words of Jesus, and does not appeal to its authority.... The fateful thing is that the Greek, the Catholic and the Protestant theologies all contain the Gospel of Paul in a form which does not continue the Gospel of Jesus, but displaces it." (Albert Schweitzer The Mysticism of St. Paul (1931) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>GERALD FRIEDLANDER</strong>, 1911, Jewish "Minister of the West London Synagogue" "Paul has surely nothing to do with the Sermon on the Mount.... The Sermon says: 'Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves' (Matt.vii.15). This is generally understood as a warning against untrustworthy leaders in religion.... Does the verse express the experience of the primitive Church? <strong><em>Might it not be a warning against Paul and his followers?</em></strong>" (Gerald Friedlander, The Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount (1911) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>JAMES ORR</strong>, 1915, Christian scholar "It is the same fallacy which underlies the contrast frequently sought to be drawn between the religious standpoints of Christ and Paul. Paul never for an instant dreamt of putting himself on the same plane with Christ. Paul was sinner; Christ was Saviour. Paul was disciple; Christ was Lord. Paul was weak, struggling man; Christ was Son of God. Jesus achieved redemption; Paul appropriated it. These things involved the widest contrasts in attitude and speech." (James Orr, "Christianity, ISBE Vol. I (1915) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em>George Bernard Shaw</em>,<em> Androcles and the Lion</em>, Introduction (1915): "There is not one word of Pauline Christianity in the characteristic utterances of Jesus.... There has really never been a more monstrous imposition perpetrated than the imposition of Paul's soul upon the Soul of Jesus.... It is now easy to understand why the Christianity of Jesus failed completely to establish itself politically and socially, and was easily suppressed by the police and the Church, whilst Paulinism overran the whole western civilized world, which was at that time the Roman Empire, and was adopted by it as its official faith. "</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Martin Buber</strong>, 'The Holy Way' (1918); Two Types of Faith (1948): "The man who, in transmitting Judaism to the peoples, brought about its breakup,... this violator of the spirit,... [was] Saul, the man from Tarsus.... He transmitted Jesus' teaching ... to the nations, handing them the sweet poison of faith, <strong><em>a faith that was to disdain works, exempt the faithful from realization, and establish dualism in the [Christian] world</em></strong>. It is the Pauline era whose death agonies we today [in World War I] are watching with transfixed eyes. Not merely the Old Testament belief and the living faith of post-Biblical Judaism are opposed to Paul, but also the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount.... One must see Jesus apart from his historical connection with Christianity.... <strong><em>It is Peter [rather than Paul] who represents the unforgettable recollection of the conversations of Jesus with the Disciples in Galilee</em></strong>. "</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Carl Gustav Jung</strong>, 'The Psychological Foundations of Belief in Spirits' (1919); 'A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity' (1940): "Saul's ... fanatical resistance to Christianity,... as we know from the Epistles, was never entirely overcome. It is frankly disappointing to see ho<strong><em>w Paul hardly ever allows the real Jesus of Nazareth to get a word in</em></strong>."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Herbert George Wells</strong>, <em>The Outline of History</em> (1920): St. Paul and his successors added to or completed or imposed upon or substituted another doctrine for--as you may prefer to think--the plain and profoundly revolutionary teachings of Jesus, by expounding ... a salvation which could be obtained very largely by belief and formalities, without any serious disturbance of the believer's ordinary habits and occupations. &gt;Again, H.G. WELLS, 1921 "But it is equally a fact in history that St. Paul and his successors added to or completed or imposed upon or substituted another doctrine for—as you may prefer to think— the plain and profoundly revolutionary teachings of Jesus by expounding a subtle and complex theory of salvation, a salvation which could be attained very largely by belief and formalities, without any serious disturbance of the believer's ordinary habits and occupations, and that this Pauline teaching did involve very definite beliefs about the history of the world and man. It is not the business of the historian to controvert or explain these matters; the question of their ultimate significance depends upon the theologian; the historian's concern is merely with the fact that <strong><em>official Christianity throughout the world adopted St. Paul's view so plainly expressed in his epistiles </em></strong>[953] and so untraceable in the gospels, that the meaning of religion lay not in the future, but in the past, and that Jesus was not so much a teacher of wonderful new things, as a predestinate divine blood sacrifice of deep mystery and sacredness made in atonement of a particular historical act of disobedience to the Creator committed by our first parents, Adam and Eve, in response to the temptation of a serpent in the Garden of Eden. (H.G. Wells, The Outline of History (1921) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>James Joyce</strong>, <em>Ulysses</em> (1922): Robbing Peter to pay Paul.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Mahatma Gandhi</strong>, 'Discussion on Fellowship', Young India (1928): I draw a great distinction between the Sermon on the Mount and the Letters of Paul. They are a graft on Christ's teaching, his own gloss apart from Christ's own experience. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Kahil Gibran</strong>, <em>Jesus the Son of Man</em> (1928): This Paul is indeed a strange man. His soul is not the soul of a free man. He speaks not of Jesus nor does he repeat His Words. He would strike with his own hammer upon the anvil in the Name of One whom he does not know. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>OSWALD SPENGLER</strong>, 1928, social historian "Paul had for the Jesus-communities of Jerusalem a scarcely veiled contempt.... 'Jesus is the Redeemer and Paul is his Prophet'--this is the whole content of his message. The Decline of the West (1928) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Ernest Hemingway</strong>, A Farewell to Arms (1929): "That Saint Paul.... He's the one who makes all the trouble."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Rudolf Bultmann</strong>, 'The Significance of the Historical Jesus for the Theology of Paul' (1929): "It is most obvious that [Paul] does not appeal to the words of the Lord in support of his strictly theological, anthropological and soteriological views.... When the essentially Pauline conceptions are considered, it is clear that there Paul is not dependent on Jesus. Jesus' teaching is--to all intents and purposes--irrelevant for Paul."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Walter Bauer</strong>, <em>Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity</em> (1934): "As far as Paul is concerned, in the Apocalypse [Rev/Ap 21:14] only the names of the twelve apostles are found on the foundations of the New Jerusalem<strong><em>--there is no room for Paul</em></strong>.... For Justin [Martyr in the mid-second century], everything is based on the gospel tradition.... The name of Paul is nowhere mentioned by Justin;...not only is his name lacking, but also any congruence with his epistles.... If one may be allowed to speak rather pointedly, the<strong><em> apostle Paul was the only arch-heretic known to the apostolic age</em></strong>.... We must look to the<strong><em> circle of the twelve apostles to find the guardians of the most primitive information about the life and preaching of the Lord</em></strong>.... This treasure lies hidden in the synoptic gospels."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Herbert A.L. Fisher</strong>,<em> A History of Europe</em> (1935): "Paul of Tarsus ... drew a clear line of division between [the] two sects.... Christian and Jew sprang apart."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>LUDWIG WITTENSTEIN</strong>, 1937, distinguished philosopher "The spring which flows gently and limpidly in the Gospels seems to have froth on it in Paul's Epistles.... To me it's as though <strong><em>I saw human passion here [i.e., in Paul], something like pride or anger, which is not in tune with the humility of the Gospels.</em></strong> It's as though he is insisting <strong><em>here on his own person, and doing so moreover as a religious gesture, which is foreign to the Gospel</em></strong>. I want to ask--and may this be no blasphemy--'What might Christ have said to Paul?'... <strong><em>In the Gospels--as it seems to me--everything is less pretentious, humbler, simpler</em></strong>. There you find huts; in Paul a church. <strong><em>There all men are equal </em></strong>and God himself is a man; in <strong><em>Paul there is already something like a hierarchy, honours and official positions</em></strong>." (Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value (1980, notes from 1937) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>WIL DURANT</strong>, 1944, historian "Paul created a theology of which none but the vaguest warrants can be found in the words of Christ.... Through these interpretations <strong><em>Paul could neglect the actual life and sayings of Jesus, which he had not directly known</em></strong>.... He had replaced conduct with creed as the test of virtue. It was a tragic change." (W. Durant, Caesar and Christ (1944) at 588 (vaguest warrant); 589 (neglect); 592 (tragic change) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Paul Schubert</strong>, 'Urgent Tasks for New Testament Research', in H.R. Willoughby (ed.), The Study of the Bible Today and Tomorrow (1947): "As regards Paul and his letters there is no notable agreement [among modern theologians] on any major issue."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>ROBERT FROST</strong>, 1947, poet "Paul: hes in the Bible too. He is the<strong><em> fellow who theologized Christ almost out of Christianity. Look out for him</em></strong>." (Robert Frost, A Masque of Mercy, 1947) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>HERBERT J. MULLER</strong>, 1952 "Saul of Tarsus, who became St. Paul,... knew Jesus only by hearsay, and rarely referred to his human life....<strong><em> Paul preached a gospel about Jesus that was not taught by the Jesus of the synoptic Gospels.</em></strong>... Setting himself against [the] other disciples,... he was largely responsible for the violent break with Judaism.... He contributed a <strong><em>radical dualism of flesh and spirit unwarranted by the teachings of Jesus</em></strong>." (Muller, Uses of the Past (Oxford University, 1952) at 157 (hearsay, not taught by Jesus); 160 (unwarranted).)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Nikos Kazantzakis</strong>, The Last Temptation of Christ (1955): "The door opened. A squat, fat hunchback, still young, but bald, stood on the threshold. His eyes were spitting fire.... 'Are you Saul?' Jesus asked, horrified.... 'I am Paul. I was saved--glory be to God!--and now I've set out to save the world....' 'My fine lad,' Jesus replied, 'I've already come back from where you're headed...<strong><em>. Did you see this resurrected Jesus of Nazareth?' Jesus bellowed. 'Did you see him with your own eyes? What was he like?' 'A flash of lightning--a flash of lightning which spoke.' 'Liar!</em></strong>... What blasphemies you utter! What effronteries! What lies! Is it with such lies, swindler, that you dare to save the world?' Now it was Paul's turn to explode. 'Shut your shameless mouth!' he shouted.... 'I don't give a hoot about what's true and what's false, or whether I saw him or didn't see him.'"</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>W.D. DAVIES</strong>, 1958 "Jewish-Christians [opposing Paul] ... must have been a very strong, widespread element in the earliest days of the Church.... They took for granted that the gospel was continuous with Judaism.... According to some scholars, they must have been so strong<strong><em> that right up to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 they were the dominant element in the Christian movement.</em></strong>" W.D. Davies, 'Paul and Jewish Christianity', in J. Daniélou (ed.), Théologie du Judéo-Chriantianisme (Paris: 1958) &gt;Lawrence Durrell, Clea (1960): For a brief moment [freedom] looked possible, but St. Paul restored ... the iron handcuffs. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>HANS JOACHIM SCHOEPS</strong>, 1961 "[Drawing a] stark contrast between the religion of the law and the religion of grace,... <strong><em>Paul had lost all understanding of the character of the Hebraic berith [covenant] as a partnership involving mutual obligations</em></strong>, [and thus] he failed to grasp the inner meaning of the Mosaic law." (Hans Joachim Schoeps, Paul: The Theology of the Apostle in the Light of Jewish Religious History (English translation 1961).) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Erich Fromm</strong>, <em>The Dogma of Chris</em>t (1963): "Paul appealed ... to some of the wealthy and educated class, especially merchants, who by means of their adventures and travels had a decided importance for the diffusion of Christianity.... [This] <strong><em>had been the religion of a community of equal brothers, without hierarchy or bureaucracy</em></strong>, [but] was converted into 'the Church', the <strong><em>reflected image of the absolute monarchy of the Roman Empire."</em></strong></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Gilles Quispel</strong>, 'Gnosticism and the New Testament', in J. Philip Hyatt (ed.), The Bible in Modern Scholarship (papers read at the 100th meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, 1964): "The Christian community of Jerusalem ... did not accept [Paul's] views on the [Mosaic] Law."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Emil G. Kraeling</strong>, <em>The Disciples</em> (1966): "The peculiar, unharmonized relationship between Paul and the Twelve that existed from the beginning was never fully adjusted.... Modern Biblical research in particular has <strong><em>made it difficult to put the religion of the New Testament (to say nothing of the Bible as a whole) into the straightjacket of Paulinism</em></strong>."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Paul Tillich</strong>, <em>A History of Christian Thought</em> (1968): "The [Mosaic] law was not evaluated in the negative way in which we usually do it; for the Jews it was a gift and a joy.... The way of despair ... was the way of people like Paul, Augustine, and Luther.... Paul's conflict with the Jewish Christians did not have to be continued. Instead of that, the positive elements in the faith, which could provide an understandable content for the pagans, had to be brought out. "</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Joseph Campbell</strong>, <em>The Masks of God: Creative Mythology</em> (1968): The reign in Europe of that order of unreason, unreasoning submission to the dicta of authority:... Saint Paul himself had opened the door to such impudent idiocies. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Günther Bornkamm</strong>, <em>Paul </em>(1969): Above all there results the chasm which separates Jesus from Paul and the conclusion that more than the historical Jesus ... it is Paul who really founded Christianity.... Already during his lifetime Paul was considered an illegitimate Apostle and a falsifier of the Christian message.... For a long time, Judeo-Christianity rejected him completely, as a rival to Peter and James, the brother of the Lord.... Paul does not connect immediately with ... [the] words ... of the earthly Jesus. Everything seems to indicate that he didn't even know them. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>William Steuart McBirnie</strong>, <em>The Search for the Twelve Apostles</em> (1973): Why did Jesus choose only twelve chief Apostles? Obviously, to correspond to the twelve tribes of Israel.... Paul stoutly maintained that he also was an Apostle.... Yet there is no evidence that he was ever admitted to that inner circle of the original Twelve.... Those who expect the Acts to be the complete early history of Christianity are doomed to disappointment.... The Bible student is soon, and perhaps unconsciously, caught up in the personal ministry of Paul. Peter, though prominent at first, is later ignored, as the Acts unfolds for the reader the story of Paul and his friends.... There is absolutely no evidence that Paul ever recognized the 'primacy' of Peter. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Ronald Brownrigg</strong>, <em>The Twelve Apostles</em> (1974): The letters of Paul present a marked contrast to Luke's writings [in his Gospel and the Acts]. Whereas Luke suggests that the Apostles were a closed corporation of twelve governing the whole Church, Paul disagrees, claiming his own Apostleship to be as valid as any of the twelve.... Certainly Paul knew no authority of the twelve.... The qualification for Apostleship, at the election of Matthias [Ac 1:15-26], had been a divinely guided selection and a constant companionship with Jesus throughout his [active] lifetime. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Elaine H. Pagels</strong>, <em>The Gnostic Paul</em> (1975): Two antithetical traditions of Pauline exegesis have emerged from the late first century through the second. Each claims to be authentic, Christian, and Pauline: but one reads Paul anti-gnostically, the other gnostically.... Whoever takes account of the total evidence may learn from the debate to approach Pauline exegesis with renewed openness to the text. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><em>Irving Howe</em></strong>, <em>World of our Fathers</em> (1976): The view that sexual activity is impure or at least suspect, so often an accompaniment of Christianity, was seldom entertained in the [east-European Jewish] shtetl. Paul's remark that it is better to marry than to burn would have seemed strange, if not downright impious, to the Jews. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Patrick Henry</strong>, <em>New Directions in New Testament Study</em> (1979): There remains in the popular mind a strong suspicion ... that Paul corrupted Christianity (or even founded a different religion).... Jesus [was] a teacher in the mainstream of Jewish prophetic piety,... while Paul ... takes the irrevocable step away from Judaism of rejecting the [Mosaic] law.... Paul imported into the Christian community a form of religion characteristic of the 'mysteries',... religious movements of initiation into secret rites and esoteric knowledge. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Juan Luis Segundo</strong>, <em>The Person of Today confronting Jesus of Nazareth</em> (1982): "Within less than thirty years of the events narrated by the synoptics concerning the life and proclamation, death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul permits himself to compose a long and complex exposition of what this means, retaining, apparently, only the two final specific events, the death and the resurrection. Jesus' words are not cited (with the exception of those pronounced over the bread and wine at the Last Supper), his teachings are not remembered. The key terms have disappeared which he employed to designate himself, his mission and his immediate audience: the Son of Man, the Kingdom of God, the poor."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Yigael Yadin</strong>, 'The Temple Scroll--the Longest Dead Sea Scroll',<em> Biblical Archaeology Review</em> (Sept/Oct 1984): We must distinguish between the various layers, or strata, to use an archaeological term, of early Christianity. The theology, the doctrines and the practices of Jesus, John the Baptist and Paul ... are not the same. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>James Michener</strong>, <em>Legacy</em> (1987): Women ... will no longer kowtow to the fulminations of St. Paul. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Paula Fredriksen</strong>, <em>From Jesus to Christ</em> (1988): Scholars, their confusion facilitated by Paul's own apparent inconsistency,... do not agree even on what Paul said, much less why he said it. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>HELMUT KOESTER</strong>, 1990, scholar on Paul "Paul stands in the twilight zone of heresy...." (Helmut Koester, "The Theological Aspects of Primitive Christian Heresy," in James Robinson (ed.), <em>The Future of our Religious Past</em> (N.Y.: Harper &amp; Row, 1971). "One immediately encounters a major difficulty. Whatever Jesus had preached did not become the content of the missionary proclamation of Paul, nor of the churches from which his proclamation took its origin...." (Helmut Koester, Ancient Christian Gospels (1990) at 51.) "Sayings of Jesus do not play a role in Paul's understanding of the event of salvation.... The Epistle of James also shares with the Sermon on the Mount the rejection of the Pauline thesis that Christ is the end of the [Mosaic] law. || Paul did not care at all what Jesus had said.... Had Paul been completely successful, very little of the sayings of Jesus would have survived." (Helmut Koester with Stephen Patterson, "The Gospel of Thomas: Does It Contain Authentic Sayings of Jesus?," Bible Review (April 1990) Vol. 6 No. 2 at 28-39 &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Stephen Mitchell</strong>, <em>The Gospel according to Jesus</em> (1991): Paul of Tarsus ... [was] the most misleading of the earliest Christian writers,... [and] a particularly difficult character: arrogant, self-righteous, filled with murderous hatred of his opponents, terrified of God, oppressed by what he felt as the burden of the [Mosaic] Law, overwhelmed by his sense of sin.... He didn't understand Jesus at all. He wasn't even interested in Jesus; just in his own idea of the Christ. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Shlomo Riskin</strong>, <em>The Jerusalem Post International Edition</em> (March 28, 1992): Saul of Tarsus ... broke from Jewish Law, and the religion thereby created was soon encrusted with pagan elements. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Dennis J. Trisker &amp; Vera V. Martínez T</strong>., <em>They Also Believe</em> (1992): While many persons believe that Christianity was founded by Jesus Christ,... it is due to Paul that there exists the organization called Christian.... In the New Testament, we can see how Paul ... was in disagreement with the church in Jerusalem and even held in suspicion by them.... He did not emphasize the Jewish aspect of the teaching, and this brought about the first separation within the church. Across the years this separation widened, making the church more pagan and less Jewish.... Paul was no Apostle. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Xavier Zubiri</strong>, <em>The Philosophical Problem of the History of Religions</em> (1993): There is absolutely no doubt that much of St. Paul's terminology derives from the Mystery Religions. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>BART EHRMAN</strong>, 1993, scholar "What did the historical Jesus teach in comparison with what the historical Paul taught?… Jesus taught that to escape judgment a person must keep the central teachings of the Jewish Law as he, Jesus himself, interpreted them. Paul, interestingly enough, never mentions Jesus interpretation of the [Mosaic] Law, and Paul was quite insistent that keeping the Law would never bring Salvation. The only way to be saved, for Paul, was to trust Jesus death and resurrection… Paul transformed the religion of Jesus into a religion about Jesus." (Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, 1993) &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Alan F. Segal </strong>(for Eugene Schwartz), 'Electronic Echoes: Using Computer Concordances for Bible Study',<em> Biblical Archaeology Review</em> (Nov/Dec 1997): We can easily quantify allusions by measuring whether a passage in one Biblical work merely repeats a few words of another or whether it directly quotes several words running.... The results of our research seemed to confirm ... very few clear parallels between Paul and the Gospels.... [They] almost always express [even] the same ideas in completely different words.... I am unconvinced by the myriad rather weak parallels between the Gospels and Paul. Rather,... the [computer] word study seems to show that the two are definitely unrelated. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Georg Baboukis</strong>, On the Way to One God (1999): Paul ... is the real founder of Christianity as we live it today, which is completely different from the Christianity of Jesus. &gt;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>THOMAS COSETTE</strong>, 2007, independent Christian "This man Paul hijacked what is called the church....But he can only keep those who do not love the truth. Those who still have conscience and will compare his teaching and his testimony to Y'shva's and the prophets without granting Paul's testimony [is] the Word of God but [is] just another man's testimony in light of Jesus' teachings. Then they will discover that Paul usurps the truth...." (Thomas Cosette, <em>Hebrew Prophecies of the Coming of Paul</em> (2007)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>EDGAR JONES</strong>, Baptist,<em> Paul The Stranger</em> (Abilene, 2003) at <a href="/Paul heavily influenced the resulting church due to the preservation of his writings, especially after the church canonized his epistles. Christianity became a Gentile religion that, following Paul, blended elements of paganism, Judaism, and Jesus. This constituted a vast deception in that the church came to see Jesus as Paul saw him, and it is Pauls Jesus that has come down to us through the church. The reformers reformed Paulinism, not the faith of Jesus.">vii</a>:&nbsp;<span class="nw"> "Paul heavily influenced the resulting church due to the preservation of his writings, </span><span class="nw">especially after the church canonized his epistles. Christianity became a Gentile religion </span><span class="nw">that, following Paul, blended elements of paganism, Judaism, and Jesus. This constituted </span><span class="nw">a vast deception in that the church came to see Jesus as Paul saw him, and it is Pauls </span><span class="nw">Jesus that has come down to us through the church. The reformers reformed Paulinism, </span><span class="nw">not the faith of Jesus."</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are more, I did not list them all: http://www.paulv.net/theology/UC/Paul%20Paradox.htm http://www.jesuswordsonly.com/Recommended-Reading/early-church-views.html http://www.jesuswordsonly.com/Recommended-Reading/famous-quotes-on-paul.html</span></li>
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<td valign="top" >"In Acts...Paul is <em><strong>denied the title of Apostle</strong></em>." (Hengel &amp; Schwemer, <em>Paul between Damascus and Antioch</em> (John Knox Press, 1997) at 321.)</td>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Recognitions of Clement</span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Defends Peter From Eating Issue As Relating to Meat Sacrified to Idols</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Clement, bishop of Rome, after the first day's debate by Peter with Simon Magus, is told by Peter why he will not eat with the people who were his supporters waiting after the debate to see him. Interestingly, it had to do with the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Peter, most benignantly regarding me, lest haply that separation might cause me sorrow, says to me:&nbsp; &ldquo;It is not from pride, O Clement, that I do not eat with those who have not yet been purified; but I fear lest perhaps I should injure myself, and do no good to them.<sup><a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vi.iii.iv.lxxi.html#fnf_vi.iii.iv.lxxi-p2.1" class="Note">671</a></sup><sup><a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vi.iii.iv.lxxi.html#fna_vi.iii.iv.lxxi-p2.1" class="Note NoteRef">671</a></sup> [Comp. book i. 19, vii. 29; Homilies I. 22, XIII. 4.&mdash;R.] For this I would have you know for certain, that every one who has at any time worshipped idols, and has adored those whom the pagans call gods, or <strong>has eaten of the things sacrificed to them, is not without an unclean spiri</strong>t; for he has become <strong>a guest of demons</strong>, and has been partaker with that demon of which he has formed the image in his mind, either through fear or love.<sup><a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vi.iii.iv.lxxi.html#fnf_vi.iii.iv.lxxi-p3.1" class="Note">672</a></sup><sup><a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vi.iii.iv.lxxi.html#fna_vi.iii.iv.lxxi-p3.1" class="Note NoteRef">672</a></sup> . And by these means he is not free from an unclean spirit, and therefore needs the purification of baptism, that the unclean spirit may go out of him, which has made its abode in the inmost affections of his soul, and what is worse, gives no indication that it lurks within, for fear it should be exposed and expelled.&rdquo; (<em>Recognitions<a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vi.iii.iv.lxxi.html"> </a></em><a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vi.iii.iv.lxxi.html">LXXII.</a>) &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Vain Boastings Impair Seeing Founder Aright</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Clementine Recognititions at 1:15 have this interesting quote of Apostle Peter making another allusion to Paul in a letter to Clement: </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bad instruction...<strong>vain boasting</strong>, and other such evils have filled the whole house of this world, like some enormous smoke...<strong>preventing those who dwell in it from seeing its Founder aright.</strong>...What is fitting for those who are within, excepting with a cry brought forth from their inmost hearts to invoke His aid, who alone is not shut up in the smoke filled house, that He would ... open the door...so that the smoke may be dissipated...and the light of the sun...may be admitted. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This says we are living in a Bubble of Smoke. We need the light to penetrate to see outside the bubble. So true! What follows this quote is Peter saying that Paul was the source of these errors, and Paul's visions deluded him. (This is discussed in Lawrence Goudge, <strong>How The Church Silenced Jesus's True Heirs</strong> (2012), Kindle, loc. 1%.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<hr />
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Paul's Disruption of James' Preaching</span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The <strong>Recognititions</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Clement </strong>are recognized by scholars as written by the early Ebionites. The passage below tells of Paul interrupting a speech where James is persuading leaders among the Jews to accept Jesus. James is addressing them from the Temple portico. Paul interrupts and throws James down, injuring him but not killing James. Now this passage went through the hands of later editors (Rufinus who boasts altering translations to add doctrines only affirmed later - see <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/832-rufinus-corrected-works-he-deemed-heretical.html">link</a>) who added Trinity messages (<em>e.g.</em>, there is a reference to a baptism in the "three-fold blessedness," etc.) --- doctrines that arose in the 300s, but it is a likely source of historical information of the pre-Damascus Paul. We read in&nbsp;<strong>Recognitions<em>:</em></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"... the high priest of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem had often sent priests to ask us that we might discourse with one another concerning Jesus: when it seemed a fit opportunity, and it pleased all of our church, we accepted the invitation and went up to the temple. It was crowded with people who had come to listen, many Jews and many of our own brethren. First the high priest told people that they should listen patiently and quietly.... Then, he began exalting with many praises the rite of animal sacrifice for the remission of sins and found fault with the baptism given by our Jesus to replace animal sacrifice....</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"To him <strong>our James began to show, by abundant proof that Jesus is the Chr</strong><strong>ist</strong>, and that in Him are fulfilled all the prophecies which related to His humble advent. For, James showed that two advents of Him are foretold: one in humiliation, which He has now accomplished; the other in glory, which is yet to be accomplished....</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"And when James had plainly taught the people concerning these things, he added this also, that <strong>unless a man be baptized in water, in the name of the threefold blessedness, as the True Prophet taught, he can neither receive remission of sins nor enter the kingdom of heaven</strong>: and he declared that this is the prescription of the unbegotten God.... And when James had spoken some more things about baptism, through seven successive days <strong>he persuaded all the people and even the high priest that they should hasten straightaway to receive baptism</strong>....</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"And when matters were at that point that they would all come and be baptized, [Paul] [changed by historical revision to "some one of our enemies"] and his men entered the temple: and [Paul] cried out: 'Oh men of Israel, why are you so easily influenced by these miserable men?' He began to excite the people and raise a tumult... and drive all into confusion with shouting, and to undo what had been done by James.<em><strong>&nbsp;</strong></em><strong>[Paul] rebuked the priests for having listened to James, and, like a madman, began to excite the priests and people to murder James and the brethren, saying 'Do not hesitate; grab them and pull them to pieces.' [Paul] then, seizing a strong brand from the altar, set the example of smiting. Then others also, seeing him, joined in the beating</strong>. Much blood was shed. Although James and the brethren were more numerous and more powerful they rather suffered themselves to be killed by an inferior force, than to kill others. [Paul] [changed into "that enemy"] attacked James and threw him headlong from the top of the steps; and<strong> supposing him to be dead left him</strong>." </span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See "Recognitions of Clement," Book 1, Chapters LXIX and LXX, in Alexander Roberts et al. <em>Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to AD 325</em> (1886) Vol. 8 at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=LPdMAQAAMAAJ&amp;dq=our%20James%20began%20to%20show%2C%20by%20abundant%20proof%20that%20Jesus%20is%20the%20Christ%2C&amp;pg=PA95#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">95</a>-96. (Catholic editing is obvious, and even Roberts alludes to these softened references as forgeries, and titles the heading as Tumult Raised by <strong>Saul</strong> even though Saul-Paul is never mentioned by name.] </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It should be noted that in this account of Paul -- although his name was hidden by Rufinus' edits in translation from the 300s -- that James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, does not die. He is severly injured. This is a pre-Damascus Road Paul. </span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Later, a terrible historian named Dorotheus conflated / confused this James with the James killed in Acts 12. However, the James in this Clementine account is Bishop James (brother of Jesus) who is very much still alive in Acts 15 and Acts 21. Yet, Dorotheus claimed Paul murdered James, son of Alpheus (killed in Acts 12) whom he claims was also the brother of Jesus (a different James who is very much alive in Acts 15 &amp; 21). Talk about a bad historian. This is discussed in detail in&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/724-did-paul-murder-james-the-brother-of-jesus.html">Did Paul Murder James, the Brother of Jesus?</a></span></p>
<hr />
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><em><br /></em>Peter's Declaration in Clementine Homolies At Odds With Paul's Views on Idol Meat</span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The <strong>Clementine</strong> <strong>Homolies&nbsp;</strong>from the 200 AD edition (translated into Latin manuscripts in the 300s by Rufinus) are also regarded by scholars as the preserved views of the early Ebionites -- which means "The Poor" in Hebrew. (Ebion = Poor in Hebrew.) I explain in Jesus Words Only they actually were the early church under James and the 12 Apostles depicted in Acts 15 and 21. Paul collected money for the POOR at Jerusalem, meaning the church which called itself the Poor. Jerome concurs that is the party to whom Paul was referring to as the Poor. See Jerome quote.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here is an excerpt pertaining to whether eating idol meat is ok, which indepently we know Paul's epistles we are told three times it is permissible to eat the same:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"But you are <strong>still ignorant of this law</strong>, that everyone who worships demons or their idols, or sacrifices to them, or <strong>partakes with them of their table</strong>, shall become subject to them and receive all punishment from them, as being under wicked lords. And you who, on account of ignorance of this law, have been corrupted beside their altars, and <strong>have been satiated with food offered to them, have come under their power</strong>, and do not know you have been in every way injured in respect of your bodies. But you ought to know that the demons have no power over any one, <strong>unless first he be their table-companion</strong>; since not even their chief can do anything contrary to the law imposed upon them by God wherein the demons have no power over any one <strong>who does not worship them by being their table-companions in the eating of flesh</strong>.... But you, <strong>being ignorant of the foreordained law, are under the power of the chief of demons through evil deeds, wherefore you are polluted in body and soul, and in the present life you are tyrannized over by sufferings and demons</strong>.... If therefore, ye wish to be the vesture of the Divine Spirit,.... neither believe in idols, <em><strong>n</strong></em><strong>or partake with them of the impure table</strong>...." &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">See "Clementine Homolies," Homily VIII, Chapter XX, in Alexander Roberts et al. <em>Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to AD 325</em> (1886) Vol. 8 at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=LPdMAQAAMAAJ&amp;dq=our%20James%20began%20to%20show%2C%20by%20abundant%20proof%20that%20Jesus%20is%20the%20Christ%2C&amp;pg=PA274#v=onepage&amp;q=table&amp;f=false">274</a>.&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Paul's Angel of Satan Remark Explained in Clementines</strong> </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul in 2 Cor. 12:7 says the "Lord" refused his prayer three times to be released from torment by an "Angel of Satan." The Clementines obviously connect that affliction of Paul aka Simon Magus to Paul elsewhere defending Christians can eat meat sacrificed to idols. Peter addresses him:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"But you are&nbsp;<strong>still ignorant of this law</strong>, that everyone who worships demons or their idols, or sacrifices to them, or&nbsp;<strong>partakes with them of their table</strong>, shall become subject to them and receive all punishment from them, as being under wicked lords. And you who, on account of ignorance of this law, have been corrupted beside their altars, and&nbsp;<strong>have been satiated with food offered to them, have come under their power</strong>, and do not know you have been in every way injured in respect of your bodies. But you ought to know that the demons have no power over any one,&nbsp;<strong>unless first he be their table-companion</strong>; since not even their chief can do anything contrary to the law imposed upon them by God wherein the demons have no power over any one&nbsp;<strong>who does not worship them by being their table-companions in the eating of flesh</strong>.... But you,&nbsp;<strong>being ignorant of the foreordained law, are under the power of the chief of demons through evil deeds, wherefore you are polluted in body and soul, and in the present life you are tyrannized over by sufferings and demons</strong>.... If therefore, ye wish to be the vesture of the Divine Spirit,.... neither believe in idols,&nbsp;<em></em><strong>nor partake with them of the impure table</strong>...."&nbsp; (Recognitions of Clement, chapter XXIII at this <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Sacred_Writings_of_Pseudo_Clementine/lhiQtsqPf8MC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=%22nor%20partake%20with%20them%20of%20the%20impure%20table%22%20clement&amp;pg=PT462&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;bsq=%22nor%20partake%20with%20them%20of%20the%20impure%20table%22%20clement">link</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;"><strong>Peter Addresses Paul's "Imparted" Nothing Remark.</strong> </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">The Clementines have Peter address two passages in Paul's epistles by indirect means. First, in the quote that follows Peter is alluding to Paul's remark that the apostles - in particular the "so-called pillars" -- Peter, John and James -- "imparted nothing to me." This is in contrast to Paul's boasts of his revelations in visions from Jesus. Second, in the quote that follows, Peter alludes to Paul saying that Peter erred by withdrawing eating with Gentiles. While Paul in his epistle did not give Peter's ground was because to dine with them would result in eating meat sacrificed to idols, now here &nbsp;Peter speaks to Paul aka Simon Magus about the audacity to correct himself for obeying Christ whom unquestionably was Peter's true teacher. Here is the quote covering both points:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But if you say that I am condemned, you bring an accusation against God, who revealed the Christ to me, and you inveigh against Him who pronounced me blessed on account of the revelation. But if, indeed, you really wish to work in the cause of truth,&nbsp;<strong>learn first of all from us what we have learned from Him</strong>, and, becoming a disciple of the truth, become a fellow-worker with us. (Clementine Homilies 17,19.)<a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2012html.html#pgfId=464399" style="color: #517291;">&nbsp;22</a>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;"><strong>Peter Addresses Quality of Paul's Revelations When He Clearly Contradicts Jesus&nbsp;</strong> </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">The Clementines also include a clear reference to the obvious fact Paul contradicts Jesus in Matthew 5:17-19 and Matthew 19 on the importance of the Law, and its role in Salvation. Peter in this next quote from the Clementines says in Homoly 17:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1;">"If then, our Jesus appeared to you in a vision, made Himself known to you, made himself known to you, and spoke to you, it was as one <strong>enraged</strong> with an <strong>adversary</strong> .... And how did he [Messiah] appear to you when you entertain opinions<strong> contrary to his teachings</strong>? ... And <strong>how</strong> are we to <strong>believe</strong> <strong>your</strong> <strong>word </strong> when you tell us He appeared to you? But if you were seen and taught by him, and became his apostle for a single hour, <strong>proclaim his utterances, interpret his sayings</strong>, and love his apostles." ("Clementine Homolies," <strong>Ante</strong>-<strong>Nicene</strong> <strong>Fathers</strong> (ed. Rev. Alexander Roberts) Ch. XIX at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=9MsUG7o1wuwC&amp;ppis=_e&amp;lpg=PA324&amp;ots=P-HhI3FaQ4&amp;dq=proclaims%20his%20utterances%20proclaim%20his%20sayings&amp;pg=PA323#v=onepage&amp;q=proclaims%20his%20utterances%20proclaim%20his%20sayings&amp;f=false">323 </a>/ <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=9MsUG7o1wuwC&amp;ppis=_e&amp;lpg=PA324&amp;ots=P-HhI3FaQ4&amp;dq=proclaims%20his%20utterances%20proclaim%20his%20sayings&amp;pg=PA324#v=onepage&amp;q=proclaims%20his%20utterances%20proclaim%20his%20sayings&amp;f=false">324</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1;"></span></span>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Created May 29, 2011</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Study Notes </span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp; &nbsp; Series by David Notsari</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKtiwenlcG4&amp;feature=youtu.be">Peter's Letter to James (in Recognitions)</a>-You Tube</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2cgTw9xY9Y">Peter's Letter to James - Part 1 (in Recognitions)</a>-YT</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOMqtNwZkjA">Peter's Letter to James - Part 2 (in Recognitions)</a> - YT </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-q7CTwYyGY&amp;feature=youtu.be">Doctrines of the Nazarenes Hidden by Church</a> -YT </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTy-ZGQFlvc">Who Were the Original Followers of Yeshua</a> - YT&nbsp; </span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">49 YTs Readings of Clementines -&nbsp;</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">starting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkDELAgt3jo&amp;list=PLBTNZLsFI1MELvV-RfNRSS6M3SFO42X3R&amp;index=2&amp;t=0s">link</a>&nbsp; </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Clementine</strong> <strong>Recognitions</strong> - Part <a href="https://youtu.be/mOV_5CsPJbg">10 </a>- 33:35 - </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">-- Being seduced into error by Satan contradicting God is no excuse, for Eve suffered punishment for being deceived in that manner. Likewise, Deut 13:1-5 - Peter contends --&nbsp; proves being deceived by signs and wonders is no excuse on judgment day from straying from God's Law. </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Mr. Notsari has a webpage on Hebrew Christianity resources, such as free download copies of Clementine literature. You can find such downloads at this&nbsp;<a href="http://lothealing.com/early-hebrew-christian-resources-list/?fbclid=IwAR3i8xU3K-myFX1G4Fs3znAEvm_VcxwSI9FtopsiMt7TK9o2PzYeJb8S9FQ">Link</a>. I don't necessarily endorse Mr. Notsari's site itself. I have not had time to review it. But he provides links to books in print which are clearly a valuable service.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Series by Hosha</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hosha -<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M76EAnAjaBU&amp;feature=youtu.be">How Early Christians left Roots</a> -YT (often not aware of important facts)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> Detering&rsquo;s Explanation</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> Detering says Clementines were altered to change Paul&rsquo;s name by Catholic authorities to Simon Magus to protect Paul. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/172-paul-a-biography.html">Biography of Paul.</a></span></p>
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<h3><span style="color: #000080; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>A Condemned Command of Paul At Odds With the Law &nbsp;-- No Help for Widows under 60!</strong></span></h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+5%3A9-12&amp;version=KJV">1 Timothy 5:9-12 (KJV) </a>we read:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><sup>9 </sup><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number</span>,&nbsp;<em>and not unless</em> she has been the wife of one man,&nbsp;<sup>10 </sup>well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints&rsquo; feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>11 </sup><span style="color: #ff0000;">But refuse&nbsp;<em>the</em> younger widows;</span> for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry,&nbsp;<sup>12 </sup>having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul thus said that&nbsp;<strong>a widow under sixty should not receive charity.</strong> (1 Tim. 5:9, 11-13.) No command in the Torah spoke like this. The "poor tithe" of Israel (every 3d year) simply went to widows and orphans. (Some portion was also given strangers and Levites.) To repeat, Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 5:19-20</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><em>No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is OVER SIXTY.</em></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">Paul's Rationale to Deny Charity to Widows under 60</span></span></strong></span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">Before we ask whether Paul's command is Biblical, let's ask whether Paul's rationale is at all sensible. Why does Paul say we must "refuse" the "younger" widows (<em>i.e.</em>, those under 60)? Because somehow charity will cause them to become "wanton against Christ," and then they will "desire to marry." Is that desire to marry truly a sin -- reflecting a wantonness against Christ? </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">And how bad is this sin? Paul says she brings "condemnation" on herself, for this "desire to marry" arising from "wantonness againt Christ," Paul equates with "cast[ing] off their first faith." Really? A poor young widow who has lost her husband and wants a new one is wanton thereby against Christ, and has thrown off her first faith toward Christ? My goodness!</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">Putting aside the outrageousness of Paul's rationale, let's solely focus upon Paul's command to not support by charity a widow under 60. Let's do a Bearean test whether Paul's command is Biblical. We will ignore the outrageous rationale Paul offered. However, it is wise to keep in mind that rationale to explain why Paul's views are so unbiblical. (For more verses in Paul that depricate marriage as a sin against Christ by single men or women, see our article, <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/99-paul-women-and-sex.html">Paul, Women &amp; Sex</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">Paul's Command To Deny Charity to Widows Under 60 Is Unbiblical</span></span></strong></span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">In an article entitled "<a href="http://christianpersonal.com/knowledgebase/view/1769/Is_it_OK_for_the_Christians_to_deny_charity_to_widows_under_60_years_of_age.html">Is it OK for Christians to deny Charity for Widows under 60?</a>" the answer is brutal on what the author identifies as Paul's insensitive generalization on this class of women. He regards it as an immoral command from Paul. The author states the irony that Paul elsewhere took the blame for having killed many of their husbands:</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Denying charity to young widows under 60, including those widows that he must have left behind BECAUSE Christian widows get promiscuous and want to get marry again, they also get idle, busybodies and gossips...Please check the full context in your Bibles!</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Please read the Bible. &nbsp;Paul states that<strong><em> </em>young widows ARE, again ARE promiscuous, busybodies, gossips, idles and so on</strong> (all of them?) .... There is no consideration for widows that a former persecuter to death of the followers of Jesus left behind! No mention of the orphans, either.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Does Paul by any stretch of the imagination sound like he speaks for Yahweh? Paul's principles are indeed immoral. How could these words be from Yahweh?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God gives us the answer.&nbsp;The Torah <strong>curses</strong> anyone who holds back what is owed to widows (for example,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2027:19;&amp;version=31;">Deuteronomy 27:19</a>; see also&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2022:22-24;&amp;version=31;">Exodus 22:22-24</a>). </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&ldquo;'<span class="boldu">Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and <strong>widow</strong>.</span>' "And all the people shall say, 'Amen!'&rdquo; (Deut. 27:19.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Every third year the <a href="/component/content/article/18-the-law-given-moses/419-true-law-of-tithing.html">tithe</a> - 10% on agriculural produce and the tenth animal born in a year -- went to feed/support the widows, orphans, sojourners (poor Gentiles), and Levites (proportionately, it is always assumed). This is spoken about in Deut. 26: 12-13:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&ldquo;When you have finished laying aside all the<strong> tithe of your increase in the third year</strong>&mdash;the year of tithing&mdash;and have given it to<em> </em>the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and <strong>the widow</strong>, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God: '<span class="boldu">I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and<strong> the widow</strong>, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me;</span> I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As James says,</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&ldquo;Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, &lsquo;Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,&rsquo; but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?&rdquo; (James 2:15-16).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Giving a widow nothing because she is under 60 is to hold back what is owed. God tells us what this means for Paul's fate.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What is heartbreaking is to see Paulinists delude themselves that Paul cannot mean what he clearly says. They reason that Paul would have to know his words violate God's Law and thus Paul must have meant something else other than what he says. Frank Bellizzi writes in "<a href="http://frankbellizzi.blogspot.com/2006/11/did-paul-say-dont-help-widows-under-60.html">Did Paul Say Don't Help Widows under 60?</a>":</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>It&rsquo;s inconceivable that Paul, a Christian rabbi, could have issued instructions to the contrary [of God's Law]</strong>. A self-described &ldquo;Hebrew of Hebrews,&rdquo; Paul knew that the Jewish Scriptures spoke up for &ldquo;the orphan, the widow, and the stranger in your midst&rdquo; more than 50 times; and he likely knew a tradition that says the more often a teaching is repeated, the more important it is. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>No right-thinking person believes that a young, godly, but destitute widow suddenly becomes worthy of the church&rsquo;s support upon turning sixty years old</strong></span>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But even though Bellizzi says he cannot bring himself to believe Paul said this at odds with God's Law, and proposes all kinds of exceptions or permutations of what Paul could have meant instead, Bellizzi is simply ignoring the truth. Paul clearly said not to help a widow under 60, <strong>regardless of circumstances</strong>. And the fact this violates God's Law is no deterrent from reading Paul to urge a violation of God's Law. &nbsp;For Paul repeatedly said God's Law given Moses (whose Paul's words violate) was a shadow and has faded away. So Bellizzi's rationale for seeking other means of escape from the literal reading disappears once we face the truth that Paul had no concern about teaching contrary to God's Law. Paul said repeatedly it was defunct and done away with.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Other Paulinists are rather blunt and have no trouble reading Paul by his clear words. In "<a href="http://www.jba.gr/tithing/supporting-widows.htm">New Testament Giving -- Widow Support</a>," they read what Paul says plainly and without any equivocation. In fact, they teach<strong> we must deny widows under 60 any help</strong> -- ignoring the Torah / Law speaks at odds with Paul. This article says based on 1 Tim 5:9-16 as follows:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> Not all widows were to be in this number [for receipt of assistance] but<strong> only the old ones, 60 years old and above</strong>, and under certain additional conditions. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another commentary -- by Pastor Steve Cole of the Flagstaff Christian Fellowship -- agrees, reading Paul plainly and without faulting him for violating Torah in this teaching:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A 'widow indeed' is a godly woman over 60...<strong>Younger widows should not be supported</strong>.... (Cole, <strong>Caring for Widows</strong> (1994)&nbsp;at 2, 5.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Some Pastors admit their charitable ministries today violate Paul's age restrictions, not taking Paul very seriously:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Nowadays, we do not maintain this sort of list, and we do not put age restrictions on which widows we will help. Our social and economic circumstances are quite different, and almost all church leaders and biblical scholars recognize this. Nevertheless, <strong>Paul gives several commands in this passage that we ignore</strong>&mdash;even&nbsp;<strong>commands</strong> can be limited to the culture they were given in.&nbsp;("<a href="http://www.gci.org/church/ministry/3questions">Paul's Policy on Women</a>," Grace Communion International.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So when Paul utters immoral commands at odds with Torah, Paulinists often solve the problem by simply acknowledging they don't follow Paul on that point. So doesn't that pique their conscience that Paul is not inspired? And that an undue weight is given Paul's doctrines at odd with those of the Master appointed by Yahweh to serve as our King? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And what about Paul having a ridiculous rationale to not support younger widows because by means of charity they will become <strong>wanton</strong> against Christ, evidenced by wanting to remarry? Wouldn't that desire have been a good thing for a Christian woman, so they would not need charity any more from the church, but could count on a husband to help support her especially if she were raising children as a younger widow might?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span data-mce-mark="1">God's Condemnation of Paul's Anti-Charity Rule </span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">God tells us what He thinks of Paul's self-proclaimed decree&nbsp; against any charity to widows under 60 - found nowhere in the Law itself. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+10%3A1-2&amp;version=NKJV">Isaiah 10:1-2 KJV</a>, we read:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">Woe to those who&nbsp;decree unrighteous decrees,</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">Who write misfortune,</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">Which</span><span style="background: white;">&nbsp;they have prescribed</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">2&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">To <strong>rob the needy</strong> of justice,</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">And to take what is right from the poor of My people,</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">That <strong>widows may be their prey</strong>,</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">And&nbsp;</span><span style="font-style: italic; background: white;">that</span><span style="background: white;">&nbsp;they may <strong>rob the fatherless</strong>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The last line reminds us that when you neglect to help a widow, you also rob her fatherless children.&nbsp; <br /><br />Furthermore, the Law provides the following in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+22%3A22-24&amp;version=NKJV">Exodus 22: 22-24 KJV</a>:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">22 &ldquo;You shall not <strong>afflict any widow or fatherless </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>child</strong>. 23 If you afflict them <strong>in any way</strong>, and they </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">cry <strong>at all</strong> to Me, I will surely hear their cry; 24 and </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>My wrath will become hot,</strong> and <strong>I will kill you </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>with the sword</strong>; your wives shall be widows, and </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">your children fatherless.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">Please note this says if you afflict any widow or her </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">fatherless children <strong>in&nbsp;</strong></span><span style="background: white;"><strong>any way</strong>, God's wrath will seek </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">you out and kill you by the sword.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">Was Paul killed by a sword?&nbsp; The Christianity.com </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">article "Apostolic beheading; the death of Paul" says </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>The People's Chronology</strong> reports "Paul was <strong>beheaded </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>by a sword</strong> near Rome." (See <a href="https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1-300/apostolic-beheading-the-death-of-paul-11629583.html">Link</a>.) </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">If this is true, wouldn't the penalty fit the crime? </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">Is there any doubt it would be God's promised result for </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">Paul due to Paul's unequivocal decree? </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">&nbsp;God declares if widows "cry <strong>at all,</strong>" that He hears, and </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">His wrath "will become <strong>hot</strong>"and "I <strong>will kill</strong> you with the </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">sword." That is a promise from the Creator of the </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">Universe. The cries of every Christian widow under 60, </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">and their fatherless children's pleas, </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">over Paul's life-time and </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">for many centuries later, were requited therefore by that </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">single execution by the sword. This is true no matter </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">what the purpose of the one wielding the sword </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">represented in the actor's mind. For God's will be done </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">on earth as it is heaven.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;"></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Doug</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
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<td valign="top" ><p style="text-align: right;">"It is of great importance to straighten out this inverting of the relationship, criticizing Christ by Paul, the Master by the disciple." <em>Kierkegaard,</em><em> My Task (1855)<br /></em></p></td>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Eisenman on Paul in the New Testament Code</span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is a review of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Eisenman">Robert Eisenman'</a>s treatment of Paul in his work <em>The New Testament Code</em> (London: Watkins Publishing, 2006) -- a voluminous work exceeding 1000 pages. It has numerous references to Paul. We shall review the major references.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Page 569</strong></span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Apostolic Credentials, Boasting and 'the Apostles of Surpassing Degree' in Paul</span></h3>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">....The notices we have just encountered above, about persons dogging Paul's footsteps with a contrary doctrine, are rife throughout Paul's letters and he repeatedly and often bitterly complains, as we have seen, about just that sort of thing. FN 44. Yet specialists are either still unwilling or unable to determine who these ubiquitous 'some' or 'certain ones', he is constantly complaining about, are. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 9:1-2 he asserts:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? Even if I were not an Apostle to others, I should still be an Apostle to you, who are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my answer to those who would examine me. [Eisenman's translation.]</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[Compare: Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not you my work in the Lord?&nbsp;If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of my apostleship are you in the Lord. [KJV 2000]</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul's wounded pride here is self-evident. So is his feeling of inferiority to those above him whom he refers to in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, as already underscored as well, by phrases such as 'Super Apostles,' 'Hebrews,' and finally, as we have several times had occasion to remark, even 'pseudo Apostles, dishonest workment transforming themselves into...Servants of Righteousness, whose End shall be according to their works' (once again, in this last, note the purposeful play on 'Jamesian' doctrine). Not only is the terminology like 'Servants of Righteousness' clearly reflected in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but the whole phraseology plays off of the unmistakeablly 'Jamesian' approach to 'works Righteousness.' FN 44.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">**** [<strong>Page 570</strong>]</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Continuing on the subject of Apostolic Credentials in 2 Corinthians 3:1, Paul asks rhetorically, his wounded pride and feelings of inferiority again painfully evident, 'Do we begin again to commend ourselves to you?' Then, alluding to the ever-recurring issue of not having official 'written letters of Apostolic appointment from James (much like a rabbi or some churchmen have today), a theme which actually permeates the run-up in 2 Corinthians 10:9-18 to his evocation in 11:13 above of the 'dishonest workmen transforming themselves into Apostles of Christ' jib:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Unlike some (clearly implying the Hebrew 'Super Apostles'), we need no letters of recommendation either to you or from you.'</span></p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">My Analysis</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Eisenman has a very incisive approach to various statements by Paul, highlighting that a theme runs through Paul that Paul knows he lacks apostolic credentials blessed by the church of Jerusalem led by the 12 apostles. As proof, Eisenman cites 2 Cor. 10:19-18 that Paul is glad the Corinthians accept him without any letters of recommendation. Second, 1 Cor. 9:1-2 where Paul said his credentials were those who accepted him became, by their very existence, a "seal" or proof of his apostleship. Eisenman ties these very cogently together to prove Paul's self-awarness that he lacked apostolic credentials.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Progress.</span></p> </td>
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<td valign="top" ><p style="text-align: right;">If Paul teaches faith alone, he "is inconsistent with authority greater than his own [<em>i.e.</em>, Jesus]...."<em>William Paley (1825) <br /></em></p></td>
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<h1>"Questioning Paul" - A Website Review</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Today, I stumbled across an article <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Questioning Paul.</span> I read thoroughly chapters 1-5, and parts of 12, and believe it is worth serious consideration. I did this review March 2012. The current version - March 2013 - of this article is at <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-00-Letter_to_the_Reader.Paul">Questioning Paul</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The author comes from a traditional Protestant background like myself, and many of those who read my pages here. This author's awakening from a Pauline-based Christian faith may help others. Mr. CW is the author.&nbsp;He has turned his life over to Yahweh and Yahshua as authority. He endorses Yahshua thoroughly, but he criticizes so-called "Christianity" created by Paul. I would adjust his words to identify "Pauline Christianity" as the problem, and not use the label "Christianity," which I believe is a purely accurate label meaning "Messiah-followers." (CW claims the proper name is followers of Chrestus not Christus. I think that point is moot. As used today, Christianity means "Messiah-followers" and nothing of ancient meanings suggest we should dispense with this name.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Regardless, that is a slight point of correction. Here is thus a review of the website article <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Questioning Paul</span> which I recommend for consideration. I do not know if everything is correct, because it depends upon the research work of the author, yet his points on Paul appear well documented and offer a good start to do one's own research. I do think it is inappropriate that the author criticizes any other religions or faiths while discussing Paul. I do not endorse any of those criticisms by suggesting anyone read this online book.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A small biography finally appears in chapter two which is helpful.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As an entrepreneur, with the help of others, I built three businesses from business plans into companies with annual sales exceeding one hundred million dollars. I had the privilege of taking two of those companies public. And as a result, at least for a brief moment, I became a billionaire. But a year after having left the management of my last enterprise, I found myself on the cover of an international publication, being publicly humiliated for things I had not done. It was my moment on the road to Damascus (albeit, there were no flashing lights).</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But fortunately for me, as I wished it had been for Paul, all of my prior experiences, the successes and failures, were refined during this crucible of life. It was then that my dear friend taught me to write, and together we wove a word picture of what had actually happened at Value America. That story became&nbsp;<em>In the Company of Good and Evil</em>. (<a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-02-Euangelion-Healing_and_Beneficial_Message.Paul">Chapter Two</a>.)</span></p>
<h2><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: medium;">Author's Letter to Reader</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The webpage topics begins with a very forthright letter to the reader, which I find a great witness of the Holy Spirit working to liberate us when we least suspect it. We begin as defenders of Paul, only to realize it cannot be done. And then we are freed to obey and follow Yahweh and Yahshua.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here is a favorite quote from his page "<a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-00-Letter_to_the_Reader.Paul">Open Letter to the Reader</a>":</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">By way of background, <em>Questioning Paul</em> was composed after I had compiled the first 2,000 pages of a collection entitled <em>Yada Yahweh A Conversation with God</em>. In this seven-volume study, I provide an amplified translation of the oldest Scriptural manuscripts and then share insights into what Yahweh revealed based upon the words He chose to use. As a result, I have come to understand Gods nature, purpose, and plan far better than most scholars and theologians. And that perspective is pertinent because Paul purports to speak on behalf of this God. If Shauwl contradicts or misquotes Yahwehs Word I am in a position to hold him accountable.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You should know that I have rewritten this book three times, because the evidence I discovered did not conform to my expectations. I began this project defending Paul, and therefore I positioned his every word as favorably as the manuscripts and lexicons would allow. I then emphasized the positive aspects of what he had said, and all too often glossed over those things which were of concern, remaining silent when I should have spoken. <strong><em>Frankly, it wasnt until the end of the fourth chapter of Galatians that I realized that I had been fooled.</em></strong> But even then, I was blind to the ploy Shauwl was using to manipulate his audience. It wasnt until I had lived with this material for many months, twelve hours a day, six days a week, that finally I came to understand the authors strategy. And even then, my eyes were opened as a result of a daily barrage of hints from people all around the world, most of whom Ive never met. So when I warn you that this will be hard to accept, I speak from experience.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">****</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">when I reached the preamble to the crescendo of Pauls manifesto at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth chapters of Galatians during my second pass through this material, the charade was finally over. My eyes were opened and I came to understand the edifice he was establishing. And it was then that I discovered four very specific prophecies whereby Yahweh and Yahshua admonished us to be skeptical of Shauwl. After that, I found Pauls ultimate confessions lurking in verses I had read many times before. Then everything fit. There were no longer any loose ends, any mysteries, or questions.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The evidence you are about to consider, however, will be shocking. It leads to a place<strong><em> I could not have imagined before I embarked upon this voyage</em></strong>. And that is why I had to completely rewrite<em>Questioning Paul</em> three times based upon what I learned along the way. Words are insufficient to express<strong><em> how divergent my preconceived notions were from what I discovered</em></strong>. I would have been much happier if I could have resolved the differences. But since I cannot, while ninety percent of what I had written in <em>Yada Yahweh</em> had nothing to do with Shauwl, based upon what I have learned, it will now take me a year to cleanse those seven volumes of Pauls epistles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I also love his analysis of the dilemma most people who love Christ are in when confronted with this issue. When they hear questions about Paul, they defend they are Christians, but often start justifying doctrine at odds with Christ unwittingly. They think they are identical. CW says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">while Christians will say that their faith is predicated upon "Jesus Christ," when asked to explain it, they will <strong><em>almost always cite Pauline Doctrine rather than the words of the Messiyah Yahshua</em></strong>. But the notion that Pauls teachings differ substantially from "Christs" is lost on these Christians.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I also love his requirement that a true seeker must not quote Paul to disprove something else he said, because it only exposes Paul's self-contradictoriness:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But if you find fault with my translations of the oldest extant manuscripts, or with my reasoning, feel free to express your concerns and Ill address them. But please, dont quote a conflicting passage from one of Pauls epistles to negate something he said elsewhere, as this would only prove that he contradicted himself. Yahwehs Word (the Torah, Prophets, and Psalms) and Yahshuas testimony (as recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Revelation) comprise the lone reservoir of reliable evidence worthy of our consideration relative to evaluating Pauls veracity.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I also like his translation of Psalm 19:7 to not be about the "simple" but about the "open minded." Here is what he renders it as saying:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong> Yahuwehs testimony is trustworthy and reliable</strong> (<em>aman</em> verifiable, confirming, supportive, and establishing)<strong>, making understanding and obtaining wisdom</strong> (<em>hakam</em> educating and enlightening oneself to the point of comprehension) <strong>simple for the open-minded."</strong> (Psalm 19:7)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Compare the odd rendering of the God's Word Translation:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The teachings of the LORD are perfect. They renew the soul. The testimony of the LORD is dependable. It makes<strong> gullible</strong> people wise. (<a href="http://bible.cc/psalms/19-7.htm">Psalm 19:7</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Bible does not applaud gullibility. It does however make sense that God's true word will be understandable to those who are open minded -- a much better translation.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I also like this statement in chapter two:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> I was utterly fooled by this man. And yet the truth was blatantly obvious, even ubiquitous, but blind as a bat, I missed it. (<a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-02-Euangelion-Healing_and_Beneficial_Message.Paul">Chapter Two</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-03-Yaruwshalaym-Source_of_Salvation.Paul">Chapter Three</a>, CW finally explains the crisis point came when he was writing his exposition on Galatians chapter four:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As I have previously stated, my initial goal in writing this review of Galatians was to resolve the apparent discrepancies between Yahwehs Word and Pauline Doctrine. But once I reached the fourth chapter of this epistle, that goal was no longer possible, because the differences became irreconcilable. </span></p>
<h2><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Chapter One</span></strong></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Turning to his analysis of Paul in his chapter one, I like this quote:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> For Christians, solely as a result of Pauls epistles, hell awaits everyone who observes the Torah, while heaven embraces all those who place their faith in Pauls Gospel of Grace. (<a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-01-Chrestus-Useful_Implement.Paul">Chapter One</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For CW the key epistle is Galatians:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Without Galatians, Yahwehs Torah remains the means to liberate humankind from religious and political oppression. But with Galatians, the Torah is mankinds foe, the path to enslavement and condemnation. <em>Id.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Mr. CW cogently sets up the dilemma between God's Word that says the Torah is a blessing to those obey it and a curse to those who disobey:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Reason dictates that if the following KJV and NLT translations are accurate, then the "Law," better known as the "Torah," is Gods way of cursing humankind—not saving us. And if this is true, Yahweh and Yahshua are liars. The King James reads:&nbsp;<span class="bibleKJV">"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."</span> (3:10)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">More clearly presented, albeit, less aligned with the Greek text, the New Living Translation published:&nbsp;<span class="bibleNLT">"But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in Gods Book of the Law.</span> (3:10) If they are correct, Gods Word is Gods curse.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW shows Galatians in an amplified translation he provides is a quote of the Torah, but as he proceeds, he will show it is a misquote. First, here is the amplified version of Galatians 3:10</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Based upon the words Shauwl selected, this is what he actually said: <strong>"For as long as they exist by means of doing the assigned tasks and activities of the Torah, they are under a curse, because it is written that</strong>: <strong>All are accursed who do not remain alive in and who do not persevere with all that is written in the scroll of the Torah, doing it."</strong> (Galatians 3:10) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW relies upon the oldest manuscript evidence for Galatians, and says the KJV and NLT significantly vary from it: "Recognizing that the preceding translation is a literal rendering of Papyrus 46, the oldest extant manuscript of Shauwls letter (dated to the late first or early second century), its hard to explain the KJVs and NLTs considerable variation from it."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is important. CW explains:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Rather than saying that "those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse," Shauwl cited a Torah passage which says the opposite: <strong>"All are accursed who dont remain alive in all that is written in the scroll of the Torah, doing it."</strong> According to the Scripture passage Shauwl quoted, without the Torah, there is no life.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Shauwl misquoted Deuteronomy 27:26, which reads: <strong>"Cursed</strong> (invoking harm upon oneself) <strong>is whoever is not established</strong> (restored and supported) <strong>by the words of this Torah</strong> (<em>towrah</em> law, prescriptions for living, directions, teachings, and instructions)<strong>, observing and accomplishing them. And the entire family said, This is true, acceptable, and reliable."</strong> (Deuteronomy 27:26)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I found another witty and analytical comment by CW that shows Paul, if true, destroys the entire root of Christian faith which must be Torah:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Can Pauls thesis, his faith, his religion, be "very different from the way" delineated by God in the Torah and still reconcile fallen man into a relationship with that same God? <em><strong>Has God endorsed a revised plan which is counter to the one He originally authored? And yet if He did such a thing, wouldnt it make Him untrustworthy and unreliable</strong></em>?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">After meticulously exposing 4 misquotes by Paul in Galatians chapter 3 of the Torah, CW deftly concludes:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We have also learned that Paul has misapplied and misquoted Scripture, which is troubling. All four citations were <strong><em>abridged, taken out of context, and altered</em></strong> to make it appear as if Pauls message and Gods were in sync. This will become a bad habit, one which many Christians have come to emulate to justify their religious views. And it is also curious that each of the four Scriptural passages Shauwl cited actually affirmed the value and enduring nature of the Torah, and thus undermined the [Pauline]-Christian religion. And that suggests <strong><em>Paul had very little respect for the intelligence of his audience</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then compares Jesus' words onTorah / the Law in Matt 5:17-19, and the 'least' is someone who annuls it, and then asks:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But it raises a question: since this is Yahshuas assessment of those who dismiss the Torah, how would you evaluate Shauwls standing with Yahweh if he convinced the world that he had done this very thing—and all with Gods blessing? Said another way,<strong><em> is there even one chance in a billion that God inspired, even condoned and endorsed, the writings of a man who invalidated the Torah in light of this statement by Yahshua?</em></strong> Do Christians honestly believe that Paul can contradict God and still be trusted?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I love what he then says a bit further on:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But why is it that not one Christian theologian has the character, courage, and intellectual integrity to say that Pauls position, if Christians have interpreted it correctly,<strong><em> is diametrically opposed to Yahshuas teaching on the subject of salvation, and his statements are in direct conflict with Scripture</em></strong>?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The author of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Questioning Paul</span> then addresses the typical Pauline response is to assume there is some defect in translation. To this he responds:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">lets pause a moment and consider the options at your disposal regarding Pauls Scriptural misquotes. You can ignore them based upon the notion that you believe that I have misrepresented Pauls or Yahwehs statements. But this approach is easily resolved....just compare standard English translations of the Scripture passage and Shauwls quotation and note the differences.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">...you can accept the fact that the citations are different, but attribute their divergence to an inadvertent mistake on Pauls part. But if you do, you must also abandon the notion that Pauls letters are Scripture—the inerrant Word of God. And with that realization, the foundation of [Pauline] Christianity crumbles.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You can admit that there is a pattern of malfeasance with regard to all of Pauls Scriptural citations, and recognize that they are<strong><em> misquoted and then twisted to support Pauline Doctrine</em></strong>, which means that he intended to misrepresent them. But<strong><em> if you take this path, you will be compelled to label Paul a false witness</em></strong>. And at that point, [Pauline] Christianity becomes a false religion.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW brings us into the end having to make a harsh decision:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">...the Messiyah Yahshuas testimony is in complete harmony with Yahweh and it is in total conflict with Shauwls epistles. Simply stated, the [Pauline] Christian position is unsupportable; it is ignorant and irrational. So the question remains: are you?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As we proceed, CW acknowledges that God was in Jesus, but he cautions us not to make Jesus' contain the entirety of God.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While Yahshua came from Yahweh, they are not equivalent. Yahshua cannot equal Yahweh because Yahshua, by His own admission, and by necessity, is the diminished manifestation of Yahweh. All of God cannot fit into a human form, and the undiminished presence of God would incinerate our planet.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If the human manifestation of God was equal to God, whats known as the "Lords" prayer would have Yahshua saying: "<em>Pray to Me who is in heaven, set-apart is My name, My kingdom come, My will be done</em>..." So, now with the Son having returned to the Father, its curious that Paul saw himself representing the representative.</span></p>
<h3>Prophetic Credentials in Ch. 1</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW follows my similar approach which is to apply Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18 to Paul. He is a bit more exhaustive, so let's hear how he does so:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And since Paul claimed to speak in the name of the Messiyah Yahshua, we are compelled to consider his statements in light of the Deuteronomy 18 test established by God to evaluate the authenticity of such assertions. There, Yahweh delineated the six signs of a false prophet: they speak in His name, they are<strong><em> arrogant, overstepping their bounds, their words are inconsistent with the Torahs instructions</em></strong>, they recite the names of foreign gods, and<strong><em> their historical presentations are inaccurate</em></strong>, and their prophetic promises fail to materialize.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-03-Yaruwshalaym-Source_of_Salvation.Paul">Chapter 3</a>, CW revisits this issue, and explains one sign of a false prophet is one who speaks arrogantly and presumptuously which explains why their prophecies do not come true:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>If that statement</strong> (<em>dabar</em>) <strong>which</strong> (<em>asher</em>) <strong>is spoken</strong>(<em>dabar</em>) <strong>by the one who proclaims the message</strong> (<em>naby</em> prophet) <strong>in Yahuwehs</strong> (<em>YaHuWeH</em>s)<strong>name</strong> (<em>shem</em> reputation and renown) <strong>does not</strong> (<em>lo</em>) <strong>exist</strong> (<em>hayah </em> did not happen), <strong>and does not</strong>(<em>lo</em>) <strong>come to be</strong> (<em>bow</em> arrive upon the scene)<strong>, the message</strong> (<em>dabar</em>) <strong>which</strong> (<em>asher</em>) <strong>he</strong> (<em>huw</em>) <strong>has spoken</strong> (<em>dabar</em>) <strong>is not</strong> (<em>lo</em>) <strong>Yahuwehs</strong> (<em>YaHuWeH</em>s)<strong>. He</strong> (<em>huw</em>) <strong>has spoken</strong> (<em>dabar</em>) <strong>in</strong> (<em>ba</em>)<strong>arrogance and presumptuousness</strong> (<em>zadown</em> imprudently insulting contemptuous and shameless speech, taking great liberty while overstepping all due bounds, in disobedience to the law and judge)<strong>. His</strong> (<em>huw</em>) <strong>message</strong> (<em>dabar</em>) <strong>is not</strong> (<em>lo</em>) <strong>prophetic</strong> (<em>naby</em> is not a message from God)<strong>. Stir up trouble for and quarrel with</strong> (<em>guwr min</em>) <strong>him</strong> (<em>huw</em>)<strong>."</strong> (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, the fact one speaks confidently of the future bespeaks a strong possibility of arrogance and presumption rather than spiritual communication with God is the source.</span></p>
<h3>Placeholders for Yahweh Erased in Translation</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I find it very important that CW, who examined the earliest manuscripts, noted OY was a shorthand reference in Paul's epistles for YAHWEH, yet this is not rendered at all in any translation:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Often overlooked, four of the most common Divine Placeholders for Gods names and titles were used in this passage. The ???, ???, <strong>??,</strong> and&nbsp;<span lang="EL">?</span>?? represent: "Messiyah, the Implement of Yah," "Yahushua," meaning "Yah Saves," <strong>"Yahweh,</strong>" or "<em>Elohym</em>-God," and His favorite title "<em>Ab</em>-Father," based upon the first word in the Hebrew lexicon.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Examples of placeholders not used in this particular verse, but ubiquitous throughout the rest of the Renewed Covenant, and universally found in every first-, second-, third-, and early fourth-century Greek manuscript, describe the "<em>Ruwach-</em>Spirit," the "<em>Edon-</em>Upright One," and the "Upright Pillar." And Placeholders for "Mother" and "Son," like "Father" are also common, but not universal.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While codices dating to the first three centuries differ somewhat among themselves, and <strong><em>differ significantly from those composed after the influence of General Constantine</em></strong>, the use of Divine Placeholders is the lone exception to scribal variation among the early manuscripts. <strong><em>These symbols for Gods name and titles are universally found on every page of every extant codex written within 300 years of Yahshuas day</em></strong>, without exception. But, nonetheless, they are <strong><em>universally ignored by Christian translators, writers, and preachers</em></strong>. By including them here in the text, as all of the Renewed Covenant authors themselves did, it is incumbent upon us to correct <strong><em>1,700 years of religious tampering and corruption</em></strong>. (<a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-01-Chrestus-Useful_Implement.Paul">Ch. One.</a>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How did CW deduce the placeholder for Yahweh in Paul's and other NT writings?</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Kappa Sigma and Kappa Upsilon</strong>, in capital letters with a line over them, were used to convey Yahwehs name and Yahshuas "Upright One" title, even though every English bible replaces these symbols with "Lord." The fact Kappa Sigma conveys "Yahweh," the preponderance of the time it is used, is something<strong><em> I discovered when translating Greek quotations of Hebrew passages cited by Yahshua and His apostles in the Renewed Covenant</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The Sigma Upsilon in capital form is [see his website for image].</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And as I mention about the Septuagint discoveries -- that the earliest mss had YHWH, Winn says that this evolved in the 3d century CE to the&nbsp;??:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This obvious conclusion has been reaffirmed recently by the publication of early Septuagint manuscripts. In them we find a transition from writing Yahwehs name in paleo-Hebrew in the midst of the Greek text throughout the first and second centuries, to using <strong><em>the symbolism of Kappa Sigma to represent Yahwehs name beginning in the third-century</em></strong>. So, we now know for certain, what seemed perfectly obvious: the Divine Placeholders[image]&nbsp;and [image] were used to designate Yahuwehs name in a language whose alphabet could not replicate its sounds.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">CW digresses even further into name usage, which we look forward to studying. We added quotes from CW to our study of the names of <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/134-yahweh.html">Yahweh</a><a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/353-yashua-and-the-name-of-jesus.html"> </a>and <a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/353-yashua-and-the-name-of-jesus.html">Yashua</a>.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: medium;">Chapter Two</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The author continues in<a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-02-Euangelion-Healing_and_Beneficial_Message.Paul"> chapter two</a>, and says that Paul could not gain traction in the early church because enough Jews were present to see the disconnect:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The other reason that Paul had so much trouble with his first three assemblies, the Galatians, Thessalonians, and Corinthians, is that his message was so radically different than Yahwehs, Yahshuas, and the Disciples. And since the overwhelming preponderance of the first followers of "The Way" were Yahuwdym (better known as Jews), they not only knew the Torah, they had come to recognize Yahshua through the Torah. And they realized that Shauwl lacked the authorization to annul any part of it. So it became a credibility issue. T<strong><em>hey could trust Yahweh or believe Paul. And initially, based upon the evidence contained in the epistles to the Galatians, Thessalonians, and Corinthians, the people chose God over Paul</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In chapter two, I believe the author digressed too deeply into the word "evangelion," and to seemingly too insignificant a point. Regardless, the author is extremely thorough. This is more a commmentary then on every word in Galatians than simply questioning Paul in any methodical fashion. Yet, I understand that if we are to start anywhere, it has to be a 100% accurate view of Paul's words. So if you can read in this detail, you will have a 100% grasp on the issues.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The author gets back on track soon enough, and he shows Paul is attacking and undermining everything to do with Jesus' true message and the 12 apostles;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Offensively, Paul would soon undermine, belittle, and besmirch the Torah, separating Yahshua from it so as to nullify His sacrifice. And before long, we will witness him undermining, belittling, and besmirching Yahshuas Disciples, effectively nullifying the Messiyahs message. These things done, he substituted his own doctrine in Gods name.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then deals with Galatians 1:8 where Paul calls down a curse on even angels from heaven if they preached a different gospel from Paul. To which Paul brings home the tragic implication:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The one thing all of the translations have in common affirms that<strong><em> Paul wanted his rivals cursed</em></strong>. And by his definition, his opponents were those whose message was contrary to his own. And as we will discover as we make our way through this letter, <em><strong>Shauwls rivals will come to include: Yahweh, His prophets, Yahshua, and His Disciples</strong></em>. They all <strong><em>preached a message which was contrary to Shauwls.</em></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then comments that Paul was not simply attacking God's foes, but was attacking his own enemies which Christ taught us to Love. Power very astutely comments:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> But whats happening here is that Paul is lashing out at everyone, while i<strong><em>ndividually attacking those he perceives are his enemies</em></strong>. In this regard, his tone will become<strong><em> vicious—stunningly uncivilized</em></strong>. Moreover, as the evidence will demonstrate, Shauwls adversaries were leading the Galatians to Yahweh while Shauwl was taking them for a ride in the opposite direction.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Winn points out that Paul found his message from sources outside the Torah, Prophets and Yahshua, then cogently brings home what this means:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Beyond the fact that I now understand that the underlying purpose of Galatians was to separate Yahshua from the Torah, and thereby negate His sacrifice while nullifying the means to our salvation, to say that he "was not taught" his message, is to say that<strong><em> he did not learn the truth the same place Yahshua directed all of us to go for understanding: the Torah, Prophets and Psalms.</em></strong> Neither Shauwl, you, nor I need private instruction considering the nature of Gods public disclosure. (And to the Christians out there who may say that this isnt necessarily true because Yahshua was the Word made flesh, and thus He revealed the truth to Shauwl, the basis of your argument is invalidated by the fact that<strong><em> Galatians was written in opposition to the Torah.</em></strong>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Commenting on Galatians 1:13 with&nbsp;its derogation of the "Jews' religion" and&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 which says Jews oppose all "human beings," Winn aptly explains:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While I have attempted to hold Paul himself accountable for the severe character flaws required to perpetrate savagery on innocent kin, he must also bear the burden of his legacy. His positioning of<strong><em> Judaism as a ruthless enemy of "Gods church" has fanned the flames of anti-Semitism and caused horrible and needless suffering</em></strong>. Translations exacerbated the problem to be sure, but it was <em><strong>Paul who presented Judaism as the enemy of his faith: Christianity.</strong></em> The foreseeable and inevitable consequence was to rally Christians to persecute Jews out of a misguided sense of divine retribution....[Paul's] repositioning of Yahwehs Chosen People as being permanently disinherited, and as being the enemy of all humankind, as being completely evil, has the Adversarys fingerprints all over it. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then discusses the likelihood that Paul would see disciples of Yashua right after his Damascus experience but then when he arrives at Jerusalem, they are afraid of him:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Further, the notion that Yahshuas Disciples met with him in Damascus in Acts 9:19, but were then afraid of him in Jerusalem in Acts 9:26, isnt realistic. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I would conclude it is most likely Paul did not meet any disciples, and when he arrived 3 years later, this explains why there was fear of him upon meeting him.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then CW questions the message of the "Jesus' Paul met:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And if we are to believe Shauwls testimony here, the three years Yahshua spent with His Disciples <strong><em>was a colossal waste of time</em></strong>. All of the prophecies and instructions the Messiyah spoke to Shimown were false. Further, this statement contradicts Shauwls testimony throughout Galatians, where he divides the world, giving Shimown, Yaaqob, and Yahuchanan responsibility for the children of Yisrael, while <em><strong>he assumed authority over the nations and races</strong></em>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Rarely is it openly discussed why Jacob, clearly transliterated into Greek, is always rendered as James. It was done to please King James, for it appears nowhere earlier as "James." CW makes a blunt critique:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> <strong>Yaaqob</strong> (<em>Iakobos</em> a transliteration of the Hebrew Yaaqob who became Yisrael)<strong>, the</strong> (<em>tov</em>) <strong>brother</strong> (<em>adelphos</em> male sibling) <strong>of the Upright One</strong> (??)<strong>."</strong> (Galatians 1:19)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">***</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The reason this verse should be troubling to Protestants, is that it undermines the credibility of the King James Bible, and indeed the credibility of every English translation since that time. While Shauwl correctly transliterated the name of Yahshuas brother, Yaaqob,<em><strong> [King James' translators] changed his name to match that of his kings</strong></em>. The King James Version therefore reads:&nbsp;<span class="bibleKJV">"But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lords brother."</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The<strong><em> mindset required to justify altering the name of Yahshuas brother</em></strong>, Yaaqob, so that he became known by the<em><strong> name of the reigning English monarch</strong></em>, is the same mindset needed to copyedit God and His messengers whenever it suits a political purpose. Such men cannot be trusted—nor can their translations.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But what does this say about the mindset of those who know that this was done, and yet have done nothing to correct the record? Even to this day, King James name sits atop the letter written by Yaaqob.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This<strong><em> literary fraud, and its perpetuation, exposes the lack of moral character manifest by Christian leaders who continue to accept the wholesale infusion of Babylonian religious rites and symbols into Christendom</em></strong>. While its just a name, its indicative of...how Passover, Unleavened Bread, and FirstFruits became "Easter," how the Sabbath became "Sunday," how Yahweh became "the Lord," and how the Messiyah Yahshua became "Jesus Christ."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then CW exposes the misprepresentation of Mary as perpetual virgin led to obviously disingenuous commentary added to Scripture of the Vulgate by Jerome:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But this verse <strong><em>clearly states that Yaaqob was Yahshuas brother</em></strong>, as do many other passages. So Jerome was in a pickle. Therefore, after writing: <span class="bibleLV">"But I saw none of the other&nbsp;<em>apostolorum</em>, except Iacobum, the brother of the Domini,"</span> Jerome was forced to add the following to the Latin Vulgate: <span class="bibleLV">"This Iacobum is Iacobum the Less, who stayed in Ierosolymam, while the other&nbsp;<em>apostolorum</em> went out to preach the&nbsp;<em>evangelium</em> to the world. He functioned as the spiritual leader of the city where Christi preached and died; he was the Bishop of Ierosolymam. He was<em><strong> called the brother of the Domini because he was a cousin of Iesu</strong></em>, and also because he was similar in appearances to Iesu."</span> It was all untrue, every word of it, and Jerome knew it. But religious leaders will say and do anything to perpetuate their power.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: medium;">Chapter Three</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW is adamant that any male who wishes to see heaven must be circumcised. He does not cite any Bible verses. But I would point out that in Leviticus 12:1-3 where the circumcision command exists, it is only upon the sons of Israel, and not Gentiles. Regardless, here is what CW says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If you want to be included in the Covenant, if you want to be adopted into Yahwehs family, and if you want to enter heaven, if you are not currently circumcised, get circumcised. As we shall see, with Yahweh, male circumcision is a life and death issue, one in which He is unwilling to compromise. So, my point is simply that we should seek to understand all of Yahwehs signs in the light of His plan of salvation. (<a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-03-Yaruwshalaym-Source_of_Salvation.Paul">Chapter Three</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW discusses the validity of Paul's mention that the 12 apostles agreed to give Paul the exclusive domain of evangelizing gentiles, and they alone to Jews. CW's words are stirring and make us wonder about Paul's claim:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Galatians 2:7 is ... about divvying up the world, with Paul taking a 99.99% share for himself....So he was telling Yahshuas Disciples to capitulate—to see things his way, to accept their fate and his, and to live with it.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">From henceforth, Shauwl would be the Torahs principle antagonist, and in pursuit of his new faith,<strong><em> he would do everything in his power to keep those who disagreed with him away from his target audience</em></strong>—the world apart from Jews. And in so doing, from Shauwls perspective, Jews became <em><strong>competitors and opponents—his rivals and thus enemies</strong></em>. So while Yahwehs Chosen People had faced the wrath of the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Hittites, the Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans,<em><strong> Paul would be their most formidable foe</strong></em>. The religion he conceived with this statement and with this letter would be a two-thousand-year curse and lead directly to the death of more Jews than any villain in their history.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">With similar sharp wit, CW adds later:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But as a result of Shauwls mindset and this meeting, his new faith would reflect his views, and drive a wedge between Jews and Gentiles. Pauls "church" would henceforth view<em><strong> Yahwehs Chosen People as a conniving and ruthless enemy</strong></em>, and they would come to discount their God, His Land, and Word.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW also has a very correct assessment of the Epistle to the Galatians:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Therefore, I am convinced that Pauls letters are from Paul, not God. And Paul, like all of us, experienced good days and bad ones. Galatians reflects one of the darkest episodes in this controversial mans life—and thus <strong><em>this epistle remains his most haunting legacy</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And I love CW's conclusion:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[W]hile Pauls letters are worthy of consideration, <strong><em>I dont need his epistles to be Scripture to know what Yahweh revealed and promised, or what Yahshua said and did</em></strong>. My salvation is not predicated upon Paul, his credibility, his letters, or his mission, but instead upon Yahweh, His credibility, His Word, and His mission.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW continues by assessing what he believes is God's response to Pauline Christianity:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Pauline Doctrine, by severing the connection between the Messiyah and the Torah, rendered Yahshuas sacrifice irrelevant and of no effect for billons of Gentile Christians. While Shauwl has invited people of every race and place into Gods family and home, <strong><em>Yahweh has put us on notice that Pauls invitation was a fraud, and that the self-acclaimed Apostle was the greatest abomination in human history</em></strong>.</span></p>
<h2><strong><span style="font-size: medium; color: #0000ff;">Chapter Four</span></strong></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW in <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-04-Anomos-Lawless.Paul">chapter four</a> says that Peter in Acts 15 says that the apostles learned "not to make a distinction between" Gentiles and Jews to extent of the message that cleanses the hearts. Acts 15:8-9. This is at odds with the veracity of Paul's claim in Galatians 2 that the 12 apostles gave Paul the exclusive ministry to the Gentiles:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Also in <em>direct contrast to Shauwl,</em> the Rock said that "no one should make a distinction between us and them," which was to say that the world should not be divided between Yahuwdym and Gowym. All of Yahwehs Spirit-filled troubadours are called to share Gods healing and beneficial message with everyone—regardless of race or place.</span></p>
<h3>Signs And Wonders: The Nail in the Coffin for Paul</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I greatly love CW's perception that the fact Paul had signs and wonders is a negative, not a positive.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But we must be careful with regard to Pauls claim to have produced "signs and wonders." Rather than serve as proof of his ministry,<strong> it may actually be another nail in his coffin</strong>.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Matthew 24:4, seventeen years in advance of the day they would benefit from this advice, Yahshua warned His Disciples to be especially wary of the likes of Paul. His Olivet Discourse begins with:&nbsp;<strong>"And Yahushua</strong> (??)&nbsp;<strong>responded judgmentally</strong> (<em>apokrinomai</em> used discernment to separate fact from fiction; a compound of&nbsp;<em>apo</em>, separate, and&nbsp;<em>krino</em>, to separate, choosing right from wrong)<strong>, telling</strong> (<em>eupen</em>)&nbsp;<strong>them</strong> (<em>autos</em>)<strong>, Pay attention and be perceptive</strong> (<em>blepete</em> look closely and watch out, be careful and discerning, think and understand)<strong>, lest</strong> (<em>ue</em>)&nbsp;<strong>someone</strong> (<em>tis</em>)&nbsp;<strong>will cause you to wander away from the truth</strong> (<em>planaomai umas</em> deceive and delude you, leading you astray)<strong>."</strong> (Matthew 24:4)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In a private meeting in which only His Disciples were present, Yahshua "told&nbsp;<em>them</em> to pay attention and to be careful, lest&nbsp;<em>someone</em> will cause&nbsp;<em>you</em> to wander away from the truth, deceiving and deluding&nbsp;<em>you</em>." Since this warning was stated specifically to and for the Disciples, might this someone be Paul, and the occasion be the Yaruwshalaym Summit? And if not him, who? If not then, when?</span></p>
<h3>Coming In My Name Saying 'I am the Messiah.'</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Next CW comes across Matt 24:5 which he expands to explain it possibly means someone coming "in My Name" saying "I exist as Messiah." I quote from his <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-04-Anomos-Lawless.Paul">chapter four</a>:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Moving on to the next element in this imminent prophetic warning:&nbsp;<strong>"For</strong> (<em>gar</em>)&nbsp;<strong>many</strong> (<em>polys</em>)&nbsp;<strong>will come</strong> (<em>erchomai</em>)&nbsp;<strong>in</strong> (<em>en</em> [from Papyrus 70; whereas the more recent NA<sup>27</sup> reads "by means of (<em>epi</em>)"])&nbsp;<strong>My</strong> (<em>ego</em>)&nbsp;<strong>name</strong> (<em>onoma</em> reputation)<strong>, saying</strong> (<em>lego</em> claiming)<strong>, I</strong> (<em>ego</em>)&nbsp;<strong>exist as, belong to, or represent</strong> (<em>eimi</em> I am and I stand for)&nbsp;<strong>the</strong> (<em>o</em>)&nbsp;<strong>Messiyah</strong> (?? the Implement of Yah)<strong>. And</strong> (<em>kai</em>)&nbsp;<strong>many</strong> (<em>polys</em>)&nbsp;<strong>will wander away from the truth</strong> (<em>planaomai</em> will be deceived and deluded)<strong>."</strong>(Matthew 24:5)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Since it is easy to blend Yahshuas thoughts together, lets consider them one at a time. Initially He said: "many will come in My name," and indeed, many have, but not all of those who have claimed to represent God have been deceitful.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW clarifies: "The most literal rendering of <em>eimi</em> in the middle clause of this next verse, would suggest that Yahshua predicted that many people would say 'I am the Messiah.'"</span></p>
<h3>Coming in a Wilderness Place: The Sandal Fits</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW continues in this great exposition from Matthew 24.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Continuing with the Olivet Discourse, Yahshuas warning to His Disciples was advanced twenty verses later with: <strong>"Then</strong> (<em>tote</em>) <strong>if</strong> (<em>ean</em>) <strong>someone</strong> (<em>tis</em>) <strong>says to</strong> (<em>eipon</em>) <strong>you</strong> (<em>umeis</em>)<strong>, Behold</strong>(<em>idou</em> indeed, suddenly now, look) <strong>here in this place</strong> (<em>hode</em> in this case positioned near the speaker) <strong>the Messiyah</strong> ([Hebrew font])<strong>, or, in this case here</strong> (<em>hode</em>)<strong>, do not</strong> (<em>me</em>) <strong>think that they are trustworthy or reliable</strong> (<em>pisteuo</em>)<strong>."</strong> (Matthew 24:23) Paul claimed to have seen the Messiyah on the road to Damascus, and then again in Arabia. <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>The sandal still fits</strong></span>. And<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong> it fits Shauwl alone,</strong></span> as no one else made such claims during the lifetimes of Yahshuas Disciples.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">****</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But, Yahshua would be even more specific regarding Paul, tailoring the prophetic prediction to reflect the wannabe Apostles boast that he met with Yahshua in Arabia, the ultimate Scriptural "wilderness." Listen to God:&nbsp;<strong>"Look</strong> (<em>idou</em> indeed, telling the listener to pay attention to this subject)<strong>, Ive told you this beforehand, forewarning you</strong> (<em>proeipon umin</em> I have spoken to you about this previously, predicting in advance that it will occur in your future)<strong>. If and when</strong> (<em>ean</em>)&nbsp;<strong>therefore</strong> (<em>oun</em>)<strong>, someone says</strong> (<em>eiposin</em>)&nbsp;<strong>to you, Look, indeed</strong> (<em>idou</em>)<strong>, He exists</strong> (<em>estin</em> He is (third person, singular and thus "He exists," and not "I exist")&nbsp;<strong>in</strong> (<em>en</em>)&nbsp;<strong>the</strong> (<em>te</em>)&nbsp;<strong>wilderness</strong> (<em>eremos</em> uninhabited desert)<strong>, behold, do not</strong> (<em>me</em>)&nbsp;<strong>leave</strong> (<em>exerchomai</em> go away from)&nbsp;<strong>your place in</strong> (<em>en</em>)&nbsp;<strong>the treasured inner room of the home</strong> (<em>tameion</em> the reserved and secure chamber of a household and storehouse where [the Spirit] will be distributed)<strong>. You should not</strong> (<em>me</em>)&nbsp;<strong>trust him </strong>(<em>pisteuo</em> think that what he has said is true)<strong>."</strong> (Matthew 24:25-26)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Juxtapose this with Pauls claim to have encountered the Messiah on the road to Damascus, and then to meeting with Him in Arabia. Once again,<strong><em><span style="color: #ff0000;"> Paul is not only a perfect fit for this warning, he is the only candidate who made these claims within the lifetimes of Yahshuas audience</span></em></strong>. Yahshua specifically warned His Disciples about Shauwls deceptive message—and us through them. Are you listening?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And CW continues, mentioning Jesus adds every eye will see Him if he truly is visible on earth again.To this CW dissolves any honest Paulinist's trust in Paul's Jesus being the true Jesus. CW concludes:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While its a big picture item, it is also worth noting that in the Olivet Discourse, in the context of warning His Disciples..., Yahshua said that when He returns, He will be seen by everyone from the horizon in the west to the east, and <em><strong>not just by a one fellow in the company of a handful of others.</strong></em> If Yahshua was telling the truth, Paul was lying [SIC: deceived, I contend].</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Elsewhere, in <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-12-Metanoeo-Change_Your_Perspective.Paul">chapter twelve</a>, CW revisits the point, and puts it well:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><em>Juxtapose this with Pauls claim to have encountered the Messiah on the road to Damascus</em></strong>, and then to meeting with Him in Arabia, and we discover that once again, Paul is not only a perfect fit for this warning, he is the only candidate who made these claims within the lifetimes of Yahshuas audience. So either <em><strong>Yahshua</strong></em> erred in this prophecy, or He was<strong><em> warning, telling us not to trust Shauwls claims</em></strong>. And let us not forget, Yahshua told His Disciples that when He returned, <em><strong>everyone on earth would see Him, not just one man</strong></em>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW believes that these clear prophecies from Christ explain clearly why the Ebionites concluded what they did:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, since we are considering the <strong><em>possibility that Paul was a perfect fit for Yahshuas warning</em></strong>, it is instructive to know that the Ebionites, who were first-century followers of The Way, <strong><em>specifically excluded Pauls letters from their canon, as they considered him to be a false prophet</em></strong>. It wasnt until Marcion in the early second century that Paul was canonized, even promoted as "the only true Apostle," bequeathed with the foreboding distinction of being "Gods chosen Messenger."</span></p>
<h3>False Christs &amp; Prophets With Signs and Wonders</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then CW turns to Matthew 24:24, and again sees a fit with Paul:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Translated from a mix of Hebrew and Aramaic into Greek, and then Greek to English, this is what the only Messenger who was God, said:&nbsp;<strong>"Because</strong> (<em>gar</em>)&nbsp;<strong>pseudo-christs</strong> (<em>pseudochristoi</em> false-messiahs)&nbsp;<strong>and</strong> (<em>kai</em>)&nbsp;<strong>pseudo-prophets</strong> (<em>pseudoprophetai</em>)&nbsp;<strong>will stand up and arouse</strong>(<em>egeiromai</em> will rise up, awaken, and stir the comatose)<strong>, doing</strong> (<em>didomi</em>)&nbsp;<strong>great</strong> (<em>megas</em>)&nbsp;<strong>signs</strong>(<em>semeion</em>)&nbsp;<strong>and</strong> (<em>kai</em>)&nbsp;<strong>wonders</strong> (<em>teras</em> portentous events)&nbsp;<strong>in order to</strong> (<em>hoste</em>)&nbsp;<strong>delude and deceive </strong>(<em>planao</em> causing people to stray from the path)<strong>, even</strong> (<em>kai</em>)&nbsp;<strong>if it were possible</strong> (<em>ei dynatos</em> if they were able)<strong>, those who were chosen</strong> (<em>eklektos</em> those who select and are selected, from&nbsp;<em>ek</em>, out of, and&nbsp;<em>legos</em>, the Word)<strong>."</strong> (Matthew 24:24)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When Paul got up before the Yaruwshalaym Ekklesia and tried to impress them by bragging about the "signs and wonders" he had performed, using the exact same phrasing Yahshua had warned about, the Disciples should have remembered this conversation regarding someone who would "<em>planao</em> lead them astray, deceiving and deluding them," and responded appropriately. Paul has now failed three tests: Yahshuas and Yahwehs. (CW, <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-04-Anomos-Lawless.Paul">Questioning Paul ch. 4</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Later CW in chapter twelve revisits this point, and aptly puts his analysis this way:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When Paul got up before the Yaruwshalaym Ekklesia and tried to impress the Disciples by bragging about the "signs and wonders" he had performed, <em><strong>using the exact same phrasing Yahshua had warned about, they should have remembered this conversation and responded appropriately</strong></em>. Paul has now failed two tests: Yahshuas and Yahwehs. (CW Questioning Paul, <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-12-Metanoeo-Change_Your_Perspective.Paul">Ch. 12</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW puts in context "even if possible, those who were chosen" as a clear reference to the apostles. They were not to think it was impossible that they too were capable of being deceived. CW comments:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I have always seen the humor in Yahshuas style. Here, rather than just saying that a person would rise up and arouse people, claiming to speak for Him while doing signs and wonders, in order to deceive, He said that "if it were possible," he would delude "even those who were chosen." While all of us are given the opportunity to choose God, there were twelve individuals who were chosen by God. So by augmenting his false-prophet warning with this particular hypothetical in front of this unique audience, the <em><strong>Word was elbowing the Apostles in the ribs—"Hint, hint, Im talking to </strong></em><em><strong>you."</strong></em></span></p>
<h3>Lightning &amp; Scorpion's Prods: Chilling in the Extreme</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW says the English translation of Paul's remark in 2 Cor. 12:6-7 conceals rather than reveals a link to Jesus' comments in Luke 10:18-19. When you see the link, as CW attempts to expose, CW says it is "chilling in the extreme."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, CW starts with the amplified translation of the passage Luke 10:18-19 which turns out to be somewhat off kilter. Later CW will take the reference to "lightning" and "scorpions" and make a major point:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While we are on the topic of Paul hanging himself with his own words, Id like you to consider his "conversion experience" alongside Yahshuas statement regarding Satan. In Luke 10:18, we read: <strong>"Then He</strong> [Yahushua] <strong>said</strong> (<em>eipon</em>) <strong>to them</strong> [the seventy witnesses He had sent out]<strong>, I saw</strong>(<em>theoreo</em> closely examined) <strong>the Adversary, Satan</strong> (<em>Satanas</em> the one who opposes) <strong>falling</strong>(<em>pipto</em> descending and prostrating himself) <strong>as</strong> (<em>hos</em> similar to) <strong>lightning</strong> (<em>astraphe</em> as a bright beam or ray of light) <strong>from</strong> (<em>ek</em>) <strong>heaven</strong> (<em>ouranos</em> the sky)<strong>. Behold, I give you the authority to trample upon</strong> (<em>pateo epano</em> tread upon, crush and devastate) <strong>serpents</strong> (<em>ophis</em> snakes which serve as a metaphor for demons) <strong>and scorpions</strong> (<em>skorpios</em> poisonous animal, from <em>skopos</em>, skeptics who conceal) <strong>and upon the whole of</strong> (<em>pas</em>) <strong>the hostile enemys</strong> (<em>echthros</em> the hated and odious ones opposing) <strong>power</strong> (<em>dynamis</em>)<strong>. And absolutely nothing will harm you</strong> (<em>adikeo</em> nor will you be doing anything wrong or unjust)<strong>."</strong> (Luke 10:18-19)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">With that base set forth, then CW connects Paul's Road to Damascus experience of lightning to what Jesus says in Luke 10:18-19:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now for Pauls depiction of what he experienced: <strong>"It happened. I was traveling and approaching Damascus, around noon, then suddenly and unexpectedly</strong> (<em>exaiphnes</em>) <strong>nearby a burst of lightning</strong> (<em>periastraphai</em> a flashing light, from <em>peri</em>, about, near, concerning, and on account of, and <em>astrape,</em> lightning, a beam or ray of bright light) <strong>from</strong> (<em>ek</em>) <strong>heaven</strong> (<em>ouranos</em> the sky)<strong>, an intense</strong> (<em>hikanos</em> sufficient and adequate) <strong>light</strong> (<em>phos</em>) <strong>about</strong> (<em>peri</em> near, around, and concerning) <strong>me</strong> (<em>eme</em>)<strong>."</strong> (Acts 22:6)<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong> Pauls depiction is exactly as Yahshua had described the fall of Satan. Shauwl even used the same words</strong></span>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW rhetorically asks: "Was his bout with the lightning bolt actually an encounter with <em><strong>Satan disguised as Yahshua</strong></em>?" As Paul himself knew or should have known, CW translates 2 Cor 11:14:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>"And</strong>(<em>kai</em>) [<em>do</em>] <strong>not</strong> (<em>ou</em>) <strong>wonder</strong> (<em>thauma</em> marvel at this miraculous vision, nor be amazed in admiration) [<em>at this</em>]<strong>, for indeed</strong> (<em>gar</em>)<strong>, he</strong> (<em>autos</em>)<strong>, the Adversary Satan</strong> (<em>Satanas</em>) <strong>changes his appearance</strong> (<em>metaschematizo</em> masquerades, disguising himself, transforming his image) <strong>into</strong>(<em>eis</em>) <strong>a spiritual, heavenly messenger</strong> (<em>angelos</em> divine representative) [<em>of</em>] <strong>light</strong> (<em>photos</em>)<strong>."</strong> (2 Corinthians 11:14)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then CW elucidates why he left in the portion of Luke 10 that discusses scorpions:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Additionally, you may have noticed that Yahshua gave His witnesses the express "authority to trample upon serpents and<strong><em> scorpions</em></strong>" in the context of confronting Satans power. We know that the Scriptural metaphor for Satan was established as a "serpent" in the Genesis presentation of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. This symbolism was then reinforced four thousand years later by Yahshua when he said that religious clerics were the children of poisonous snakes in Matthew 23.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And while that explains the association between Satan and "serpents," why did Yahshua add "<strong>scorpions</strong>" in the context of His prophetic portrayal of Shauwls spiritual encounter? Those who were paying close attention know the answer. You may recall that Shauwl claimed that his enormous ego was held in check because: "<strong>I was given a sharp pointed prod</strong> (<em>skolops</em> scorpions stinger)&nbsp;<strong><em>in</em> the flesh of my physical body and human nature, Satans spiritual/demonic representative, in order that he would strike and torment me in order that I not become overly conceited."</strong> (2 Corinthians 12:6-7) In addition to being a "sharp pointed prod,"<em>skolops</em> means "scorpion." In a criminal trial, as in this evaluation, <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>the details tell the tale.</strong></span> And rest assured, there is yet another convicting detail hidden within this confession.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I would just point out that I could not prove <em>skolops</em> only means a scorpion's stinger, as this appeared to suggest. It means "any pointed" object, and would likely be the way to describe a scorpion's stinger. Yet, it could depict other sharp objects as well. But <em>Questioning Paul</em> makes the point far stronger, as if it only could mean a <em>scorpion's stinger.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then CW says Paul "said that the spirit of Lawlessness was functioning at this present time—something he knew personally, because he <strong><em>admitted to being restrained by it</em></strong> in 2 Corinthians 12."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then explains in <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-05-Kataginosko-Convicted_and_Condemned.Paul">chapter five</a> with more detail on a possible connection between the "kick against the pricks" remark and the "skolops" that kept Paul under restraint later. I think Paul may not have seen the connection, and not realized his "Jesus" meant the "skolops" that Paul later admitted Satan used to afflict him:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"<em>Skolops</em> a sharp pointed stick used as a prod, a stinger, and a scorpion" is clearly associated with Pauls use of "<em>kentron</em> a sharp pointed stick used to prod animals and control them, the poisonous stinger of a scorpion" in Acts 26:14, where Paul says that he was told by [Satan], in the guise of "Jesus," that it would be hard to rebel against him. And that means that Acts 26:14, which describes Pauls meeting with the flashing light on the road to Damascus where<em><strong> he was told that he could not repel, and Second Corinthians 12:7, which describes the way Satan possessed and controlled Paul, are related</strong></em>. The common denominator is a false god and a wannabe god—Satan.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Since this passage is so incredibly incriminating, you might be interested to know that Greek words which are related to "<strong><em>skolops</em></strong> a sharp pointed prod," include&nbsp;<em>skopeo</em>: "something dangerous to be on the lookout out for, to notice by being carefully observant, and to be very concerned about."&nbsp;<em>Skopos</em>: "a goal toward which someone is being directed, striving for a specific purpose."&nbsp;<em>Skorpizo</em>: "to scatter, disperse, and separate."&nbsp;<em>Skorpois</em>: "a supernatural demonic power and stinging scorpion."&nbsp;<em>Skotia</em>: "a dark and evil realm."&nbsp;<em>Skotos</em>: "the abode of evil and demonic spirits." And&nbsp;<em>skolios</em>: "to be unscrupulous and morally corrupt, to be perverse and deceitful, and to warp a path making what was once straight crooked."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In chapter four, CW continues. He says Paul himself recognizes that it is possible that false prophets would claim to be Jesus' apostles, and since Jesus said by the same measure you measure, it will be measured back to you, then we must take Paul's words as a possible self-indictment. Paul wrote:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul alone seemed to know [the possibility that the Christ he met was Satan]: <strong>"For such are false prophets, treacherous and deceitful</strong> (<em>dolios</em> tricky and clever) <strong>workmen</strong> (<em>ergates</em> perpetrators) <strong>masquerading as</strong> (<em>metaschematizo</em> converted and transformed so as to appear, disguised and pretending to be) [<em>the</em><strong>] Messiyahs</strong> (?P?) <strong>Apostles</strong> (<em>apostolos</em> prepared messenger who is sent out)<strong>."</strong> (2 Corinthians 11:13)</span></p>
<h3>Why Would Satan Want Paul To Disparage Satan?</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One of the most astute observation by CW is he answers why does Paul receive messages from his "Jesus" to disparage Satan. CW explains why:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So you may be wondering why Satan would be this overt regarding his relationship with Paul, and why he would encourage Paul to disparage the "Adversary" in the same text. But the answer is obvious. <strong><em>By disparaging the Adversary, Satan makes it appear as if he isnt the Adversary</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Likewise, this is why Paul is inspired by his Jesus to describe Satan as capable of counterfeit signs and wonders so that those who have true signs and wonders are mistaken for Satan's workers while Satan's workers are misunderstood as God's workers. In this way, you would not suspect Paul was being precisely the one whose signs and wonders are from Satan:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Lets listen to the man he inspired:<strong>"Which</strong> (<em>ou</em>)&nbsp;<strong>exists as</strong> (<em>estin</em>)&nbsp;<strong>the presence</strong> (<em>parousia</em> the personal arrival)&nbsp;<strong>according to</strong> (<em>kata</em> the name of the opposite of, that which is against and beneath)&nbsp;<strong>the functioning</strong> (<em>energeia</em> the efficacy and power, the influence and operation)&nbsp;<strong>of the Adversary Satan</strong> (<em>Satana</em> the one who opposes)&nbsp;<strong>in</strong> (<em>en</em>)&nbsp;<strong>all</strong> (<em>pas</em> every)&nbsp;<strong>ability and power</strong> (<em>dynamis</em> miracles and supernatural deeds, resources and capability)&nbsp;<strong>and also</strong> (<em>kai</em>)&nbsp;<strong>signs</strong> (<em>semeion</em>)&nbsp;<strong>and intentionally counterfeit</strong> (<em>pseudo</em> conspicuously false and misleading imitations in the form of)&nbsp;<strong>wonders</strong> (<em>teras</em> foreshadowing significant omens)<strong>."</strong> (2 Thessalonians 2:9)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So besides associating "signs and wonders" with Satan, what else is Shauwl inferring here? Why is he praising Lucifer, the "glorious and radiant divine manifestation of power and light," while at the same time, predicting the demise of the "Adversary Satan?" The answer is clear, at least once you come to understand the Deceivers strategy and motivation.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Satan doesnt want to be known as "the Adversary;" he wants humankind to confuse his "gloriously brilliant appearance" with God. His goal is to have his "intentionally counterfeit foreshadowing wonders" be considered religious truth. Lucifer (from Latin meaning Light Bearer) or Halal ben Shachar (from Hebrew meaning Arrogant and Brilliant Son of the Rising Sun) inspires his messengers to promote him as God, making his adversarial title the enemy. By condemning Satan, Lucifer is delivered from this Adversary epithet.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A similar misdirection appears in this passage from Paul in 2 Thessalonians:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>"In</strong> (<em>en</em>) <strong>every</strong> (<em>pas</em>) <strong>deception</strong> (<em>apate</em>) [<em>and</em>] <strong>unjust deed</strong> (<em>adikia</em>) <strong>they disappear and are destroyed</strong> (<em>apollymai</em> they are unaware and thus lost) <strong>instead of</strong> (<em>anti </em> against which) <strong>not</strong> (<em>ouk</em>)<strong>accepting and believing</strong> (<em>dechomai</em>) <strong>the love</strong> (<em>agapen</em>) [<em>of the</em>] <strong>truth</strong> (<em>aletheia</em>) <strong>to</strong> (<em>eis</em>) <strong>save</strong> (<em>sozo</em>)<strong>themselves</strong> (<em>autous</em>)<strong>. And</strong> (<em>kai</em>) <strong>through</strong> (<em>dia</em>) <strong>this</strong> (<em>touto</em>)<strong>, he sends to</strong> (<em>pempo</em>) <strong>them</strong> (<em>autois</em>) <strong>the</strong>(<em>o</em>) <strong>God</strong> (<em>theos</em>) <strong>facilitating</strong> (<em>energeia</em> empowering and effecting) <strong>deception and delusion</strong> (<em>plane</em> perversion and moral corruption, leading people away from the path into error) <strong>in</strong> (<em>eis</em>) <strong>their</strong>(<em>autous</em>) <strong>belief</strong> (<em>pisteuo</em> meaning thinking regarding that which is trustworthy and true, but redefined by Paul to mean faith) [<em>in</em>] <strong>the lie</strong> (<em>pseudo</em> counterfeit and intentional imitation)<strong>."</strong> (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW comments on this: "Im not sure what this means, but its not good."</span></p>
<h3>Paul's Chilling Admission of Being Anomos</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then refers to another passage where Paul refers to what is translated as the "man of Anomos" in 2 Thessalonians which many interpret as Anti-Christ. This is key for Paul himself admits elsewhere he is Anomos. Here is how CW makes this interesting observation even while disputing the accuracy of the translation of Thessalonians:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Christian eschatologists are wont to make <em>anomos</em> "the man of Lawlessness," or "the Lawless one," and thus serve as the name or title of the Antichrist, but there is no reference to "man" or "one" in the text, and <em>anomos</em> is an adjective, not a noun. But thats hardly the end of the bad news for [Pauline] Christians. In Corinthians 9:21, Paul will brag: <strong>"To the lawless</strong> (<em>anomos</em>)<strong>, I was like the lawless</strong> (<em>anomos</em>)<strong>."</strong> It is yet another chilling confession.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then provides his corrected translation of 2 Thessalonians which brings home the connection nevertheless:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>"And then</strong> (<em>tote</em>) <strong>Lawlessness/Torah-lessness</strong> (<em>anomos</em> the negation of the Torah) <strong>will be revealed and disclosed</strong> (<em>apokalypto</em> uncovered and unveiled) <strong>whom</strong> (<em>on</em>) <strong>the Lord</strong> (<em>kurios</em>)<strong>Iesous</strong> (<em>Iesous</em> ) <strong>will do away with or accept</strong> (<em>anaireo</em> remove the validation or adopt, abolish or lift up, kill or take for himself) <strong>the</strong> (<em>to</em>) <strong>spirit</strong> (<em>pneumati</em>) <strong>of</strong> (<em>tou</em>) <strong>his</strong> (<em>autou </em> [could be referencing Iesous or the spirit of Torah-lessness]) <strong>mouth</strong> (<em>stomatos</em> speech) <strong>and</strong> (<em>kai</em>) <strong>put an end to</strong> (<em>katargeomai</em> invalidate or release from prior obligations, abolish or free) <strong>the glorious appearance</strong> (<em>epiphaneia</em> the divine manifestation of his power and light; from <em>epiphanies</em>, to be conspicuous and illustrious) <strong>of his</strong> (<em>autou</em>) <strong>presence</strong> (<em>parousia</em> coming arrival in person)<strong>."</strong> (2 Thessalonians 2:8)</span></p>
<h3>Paul's Chameleon Tactics</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then quotes a passage from Paul that justifies hypocrisy which CW then draws in sharp contrast to our Lord's words:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">He was a chameleon, changing his colors to take advantage of his audience. He even admitted to this very thing (in his own pathetic style):&nbsp;<strong>"To the Jewish, I came to exist like</strong> (<em>os</em>)&nbsp;<strong>a Jew, in order to</strong> (<em>hina</em>)&nbsp;<strong>take advantage of and profit from</strong>(<em>kerdaino </em> procure an advantage over)&nbsp;<strong>Jews. To&nbsp;<em>those</em> under the Torah</strong> (<em>nomos</em>)<strong>,&nbsp;<em>I acted</em> as if</strong>(<em>os</em>)&nbsp;<strong><em>I was</em> under the Torah—not that I, myself,&nbsp;<em>actually</em> existed under the Torah—in order to</strong>(<em>hina</em>)&nbsp;<strong>take advantage of and make a profit from&nbsp;<em>those</em> under the Torah. To the lawless</strong> (<em>anomos </em> the Torah-less)<strong>,&nbsp;<em>I was</em> like&nbsp;<em>the</em> lawless</strong> (<em>anomos </em> the Torah-less)<strong>, not being Gods (</strong>??<strong>) lawless, but to the contrary, subject to the law</strong> (<em>ennomos</em> bound to the law)&nbsp;<strong><em>of the</em> Messiyah (</strong>??<strong>), in order to</strong> (<em>hina</em>)&nbsp;<strong>take advantage of and profit from</strong> (<em>kerdaino </em> procure an advantage over)<strong><em>the</em> lawless. I became weak and sick</strong> (<em>asthenes</em> incapable, infirmed, feeble, hopeless, helpless, and morally inadequate)&nbsp;<strong>to the weak in order to</strong> (<em>hina</em>)&nbsp;<strong>take advantage of and profit from</strong> (<em>kerdaino </em> procure an advantage over)&nbsp;<strong><em>the</em> weak. I became</strong> (<em>ginomai</em>)&nbsp;<strong>to every kind of</strong> (<em>pas</em>)<strong><em>person</em>, every kind of</strong> (<em>pas</em>)&nbsp;<strong><em>person</em>, in order to</strong> (<em>hina</em>)&nbsp;<strong>save</strong> (<em>sozo</em>)&nbsp;<strong>everyone</strong> (<em>pantos tinas</em>)<strong>."</strong> (1 Corinthians 9:20-22) <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>Even Machiavelli wasnt this bold.</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As if he were speaking directly to Paul, Yahshua used&nbsp;<em>kerdaino</em> to say,&nbsp;<strong>"What do you benefit if you gain</strong> (<em>kerdaino</em> take advantage of and profit from)&nbsp;<strong>the whole world, but lose your own soul?"</strong> (Matthew 16:26) <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">It is stunningly appropriate</span></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW cogently remarks that this passage in 1 Corinthians justifies trusting nothing Paul says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This tactic is what we might expect for an unscrupulous politician or businessman, who will say and do anything, no matter how deceptive or fraudulent, to garner an unfair advantage, but not from someone claiming to speak openly and honestly on behalf of God. Yahshua, never once pretended to be other than He was and is. But by admitting this,<strong><em> Paul has just told everyone that his words, his behavior, and claims (such as representing the Messiyah), cannot be trusted.</em></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then draws a comparison between Paul's remark about what is interpreted as anti-Christ by some and Paul's own behavior:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And if that were not enough, Paul specifically states that he "was like the <em>anomos </em> lawless," a condition he explicitly associated with Satan in his previous 2 Thessalonians 2:7-9 statement and letter. That was akin to proclaiming: "I Paul, am just like the Antichrist."</span></p>
<h3>James Quotes Amos 9:11 at the Acts 15 Summit</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW mentions that James in Acts 15:15-16 quotes Amos:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These then are the words which Yaaqob quoted at the Yaruwshalaym Summit:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>"In</strong> (<em>ba</em>)&nbsp;<strong>that</strong> (<em>huw</em>)&nbsp;<strong>day</strong> (<em>yowm</em>)&nbsp;<strong>I will stand, rise up, and establish</strong> (<em>quwm </em> will stand upright, enabling)&nbsp;<strong>the Sukah</strong> (<em>sukah</em> seventh&nbsp;<em>Miqra</em>, meaning sheltered dwelling place and protective covering, tent and tabernacle)&nbsp;<strong>of Love/Dauwid</strong> (<em>dauwid</em> the beloved)<strong>, which has fallen</strong> (<em>napal</em> been neglected)<strong>. I will repair and restore</strong> (<em>gadar</em> rebuild)&nbsp;<strong>their</strong> (<em>henah</em>)&nbsp;<strong>cracks and breeches</strong>(<em>peres</em> that which is exposed, broken, or torn, that which is foolhardy and dissipates)<strong>, and that which is in a state of disrepair</strong> (<em>harycah</em> is lying in ruins)<strong>. I will raise Him up</strong> (<em>quwm huw</em> cause him to stand)&nbsp;<strong>and</strong> (<em>wa</em>)&nbsp;<strong>rebuild and restore</strong> (<em>banah</em> renew and reestablish)&nbsp;<strong>Her</strong> (<em>hy</em>)&nbsp;<strong>like</strong>(<em>ka</em>)&nbsp;<strong>days</strong> (<em>yowm</em>)&nbsp;<strong>everlasting</strong> (<em>olam</em> of antiquity and forever into the future)<strong>."</strong> (Amos 9:11)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW comments: "This is Yahwehs promise to restore Yisrael and to establish the Millennial Sabbath in harmony with the prophetic symbolism of the <em>Miqra</em> of <em>Sukah</em>. The timing of this anticipated reconciliation coincides with His return on <em>Yowm Kippurym</em>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then he quotes the next line which James aka Jacob quoted:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Lukes transcription of Yaaqobs citation of the next verse in Amos reads: <strong>"So that</strong> (<em>hopos</em>) <strong>it is possible</strong> (<em>an</em>) <strong>the remnant</strong> (<em>kataloipos </em> those who remain) <strong>of mankind</strong> (<em>anthropos</em>) <strong>will diligently seek</strong> (<em>ekzeteo</em> search out, investigate, scrutinize, and desire) <strong>the</strong> (<em>ton</em>) <strong>Supreme Master</strong> (KN placeholder for <em>edon</em>, the Foundation and Upright Pillar of the Tabernacle using the Greek <em>kurion</em>)<strong>, and</strong> (<em>kai</em>) <strong>all</strong> (<em>pas</em>) <strong>the races and nations</strong> (<em>ethnos</em>) <strong>upon</strong> (<em>epi</em>) <strong>whom</strong> (<em>ous</em>) <strong>My</strong> (<em>mou</em>)<strong>name</strong> (<em>onoma</em>) <strong>is called</strong> (<em>epikaleomai</em> summoned) <strong>upon</strong> (<em>epi</em>) <strong>them</strong> (<em>autous</em>)<strong>, says</strong> (<em>lego</em>) <strong>Yahuweh</strong> (<span lang="EL">??</span><em> </em>­ placeholder for Yahuwehs name using the Greek <em>kurios</em>) <strong>doing</strong> (<em>poieomai</em> performing) <strong>this</strong> (<em>tauta</em>) <strong>which was known</strong> (<em>gnostos</em> is that which could be known) <strong>from</strong> (<em>apo</em>) <strong>world and universal history</strong> (<em>aionos</em> from long ago and at all times since)<strong>."</strong> (Acts 15:17-18)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To this CW comments:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Hebrew, Amos 9:12 reads:&nbsp;<strong>"So that</strong> (<em>maan</em> for the purpose and intent that)&nbsp;<strong>those who</strong>(<em>asher</em>)&nbsp;<strong>have summoned</strong> (<em>qara</em> called and invited)&nbsp;<strong>My</strong> (<em>any</em>)&nbsp;<strong>name</strong> (<em>shem</em> personal and proper name)&nbsp;<strong>upon</strong> (<em>al</em>)&nbsp;<strong>them may inherit</strong> (<em>yarash</em> receive as an heir and possess)&nbsp;<strong>the remainder of</strong>(<em>shaeryth</em> remnant and rest of)&nbsp;<strong>Edowm</strong> (<em>edowm</em>)&nbsp;<strong>and all</strong> (<em>kol</em>)&nbsp;<strong>the Gentile nations</strong> (<em>Gowym</em>)<strong>, prophetically declares</strong> (<em>naum</em> announces ahead of time)&nbsp;<strong>Yahuweh who will perform</strong> (<em>asah</em> do)&nbsp;<strong>this</strong> (<em>zot</em>)<strong>."</strong> (Amos 9:12)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Beyond the unwarranted omission of Edom, and the additions of "mankind" and "Supreme Master/Lord," in the Greek translation of Yaaqobs Aramaic quotation of the Hebrew passage, the Acts transcription replaced "inherit" with "seek," and turned another affirmation of the importance of Yahwehs name into a muddled mess.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Later CW brings out the next few verses of Amos tell a complete story about God's plan for Israel:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While Yaaqob didnt cite the final three verses of Amoss prophecy, there is no reason we shouldnt consider them. They read: <strong>"Look now and see</strong> (<em>hineh</em>)<strong>, the day</strong> (<em>yowm</em>) <strong>is coming</strong>(<em>bow</em>)<strong>, prophetically declares</strong> (<em>naum</em>) <strong>Yahuweh...when I will return and restore</strong> (<em>suwb</em> come back and reestablish) <strong>the property and that which makes life easier and more secure for</strong>(<em>sabuwt</em> the fortunes, restoring that which is good and establishing more favorable circumstances for) <strong>My</strong> (<em>any</em>) <strong>family</strong> (<em>am</em> people and nation)<strong>, Yisrael</strong> (<em>Yisrael</em> individuals who live with God)<strong>."</strong> (Amos 9:13-14)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then does a critical analysis of every part of Jame's letter. <em>Id. </em><em>CW believes the letter from James recorded by Luke left out mention of Torah to the Gentiles, and this is what created Pauline Christianity. </em><em>CW however believes this was tactical: "</em>The Disciples therefore told the truth, but not the whole truth, to accommodate Paul without disassociating themselves from Yahweh." CW then faults James for only putting the 'necessary' burdens on Gentiles, leaving off commands in Torah. CW assumes the circumcision command applies to Gentiles, but truly Leviticus 12:1-3 does not have that. Only if a Gentile wishes to participate in Passover does he have to be circumcised.</span></p>
<h2><strong><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: medium;">Chapter Five</span></strong></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW in <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-05-Kataginosko-Convicted_and_Condemned.Paul">chapter five</a> addresses the Benjamite Wolf prophecy in Genesis 49:27.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Should you wonder why I referred to Paul as "a wolf in sheeps clothing," lets turn our attention to Genesis 49:27, where Yahweh spoke about Shauwl, the man who has become the most infamous member of Benjamins tribe.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But first, lets affirm that Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin. The wolf in sheeps clothing wrote:&nbsp;<strong>"I say therefore, that God</strong> (??)&nbsp;<strong>has not</strong> (<em>ue</em>)&nbsp;<strong>pushed away, rejected, or repudiated</strong>(<em>apotheomai</em>)&nbsp;<strong>His people</strong> (<em>laos</em> nation or common individuals)<strong>. May it never be</strong> (<em>ue genoito</em>)<strong>. For indeed</strong> (<em>gar</em>)<strong>, I am an Israelite</strong> (<em>Israelites</em> transliteration of Hebrew&nbsp;<em>Yisrael</em>)<strong>, from</strong> (<em>ek</em> out of)&nbsp;<strong>the seed</strong> (<em>sperma</em> semen singular)&nbsp;<strong>of Abraham</strong> (<em>Abraam</em> a transliteration of the Hebrew<em>Abraham</em>)<strong>,&nbsp;<em>from</em> the tribe</strong> (<em>phyle</em>)&nbsp;<strong>of Benjamin</strong> (<em>Beniamin</em> a transliteration of the Hebrew<em>Benyamyn</em>)<strong>."</strong> (Romans 11:1)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then translates in amplified form Genesis 49:27:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now for Yahwehs prediction: <strong>"Benjamin</strong> (<em>benyamyn</em>) <strong>viciously tears apart, mangles, kills, and devours</strong> (<em>tarap</em> creates his food by tearing and plucking the life out of his victim) <strong>like a wolf</strong>(<em>zaeb</em> a yellow predatory animal)<strong>, in</strong> (<em>ba</em>) <strong>the morning</strong> (<em>boqer</em> early part of the day) <strong>devouring</strong>(<em>akal</em> feeding upon) <strong>his prey</strong> (<em>ad</em>)<strong>, and in the evening</strong> (<em>ereb</em> during the dark of night and end of the day) <strong>he divides and destroys</strong> (<em>halaq</em> apportions, assigns, distributes that which they have harmed and ruined) <strong>that which has been spoiled</strong> (<em>salal</em> possessions of value, plunder, and prey)<strong>."</strong> (Genesis 49:27)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW provides important insight on the "divide the spoils" in the evening because the Septuagint used watered down words. CW comments:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em>Halaq</em> doesnt just mean "divides and destroys." It also speaks of someone who is a "<strong>smooth talker</strong>," and a "<strong>slick operato</strong>r," as well as of the "slippery slope" they lead their victims down to their "ruin."&nbsp;<em>Halaq</em> is "<strong>flattery, words that reflect illegitimate prais</strong>e." And it describes the "use of seductive words which are deployed to persuade people in a suggestive manner." Paul was the poster child for&nbsp;<em>halaq</em>.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Additionally,&nbsp;<em>halaq</em> is a "smooth stone used as an impromptu religious altar, and as a stand-in for an imaginary god." Grace, Gratia, and Charis fit this bogus bill.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And that leaves us with "<em>salal</em> the<strong><em> spoils,</em></strong>" the <em><strong>victims and their possessions</strong></em>. At the end of the day, under the cover of darkness, Pauls legacy, the Christian Church, divvies up what they have been able to confiscate from the lives of those they have destroyed.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then comments on the self-evident application of this prophecy to Paul, and how it lines up with Jesus' warnings:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So it is hard to miss the<strong><em> connections between Paul and Benjamin, and between Paul and the destructive wolf</em></strong>, as well as between Yahwehs predictive description and Yahshuas prophetic warning. Benjamin was not only the last name on Yahwehs list, and the last prophecy in Genesis, the reference to Shauwl was the last prediction Yahshua would make before He returned to heaven.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">At first it is not obvious why CW says Jesus' last prophecy was about Paul, but CW explains:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The reason I said that Yahshuas prophetic warning was the last He would make before returning home, is that from heaven, Yahshua warned Yahuchanan about the wannabe Apostle. Writing to the Called-Out Assembly in Ephesus, the place where Yahuchanans and Shauwls footsteps and writings crossed paths, the risen Messiyah said [what we read in Rev 2:2].</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For more on the Benjamite Wolf prophecy in CW's work, see our synopsis of chapter 12 below.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW then quotes Rev 2:2 and applies it to Paul:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>"I know that you cannot possibly accept, tolerate, or endure</strong> (<em>ou dynamai bastazo</em> havent the will, ability, or state of mind to take up with, walk along side of, lift up or carry forward (i.e., advance or promote))&nbsp;<strong>those who think errantly, those who are wrong, injurious, pernicious, destructive, or baneful</strong> (<em>kakos</em> are incorrect, wicked, evil, harmful, noisome, morally corrupt, diseased, culpable, mischievous, demonic, or hurtful)<strong>. And you have observed and objectively tested</strong> (<em>peirazo</em> scrutinized, examined through enquiry)&nbsp;<strong>those who claim and maintain</strong> (<em>phasko</em> say, affirm, profess, declare, promise, or preach)&nbsp;<strong>of themselves</strong> (<em>eautous</em>)&nbsp;<strong>that they are</strong> (<em>eimi</em>)<strong>Apostles</strong> (<em>apostolos</em> someone who is prepared and sent forth)&nbsp;<strong>but are not. And you have found them</strong> (<em>heurisko</em> examined, scrutinized, come to understand them, and discovered through closely observing them that they are)&nbsp;<strong>false, deceitful liars</strong> (<em>pseudes</em> are pretending to be something they are not, they are erroneous deceivers)<strong>."</strong> (Revelation 2:2)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While Revelation is a prophetic book, Yahshuas commendation was written in the present and past tense. And that is significant because Yahuchanan scribed Revelation in 69CE, seven years after Shauwl wrote his letter to the Ephesians, and two years after the wannabe Apostles death. And considering the fact that Paul and his traveling companions were the only men who claimed to be Apostles in Ephesus during this short span of time, Yahshua was calling Shauwl an "errant, demonic, deceitful, charlatan."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW provides an interesting quote of Jesus mentioning a spiritual mother in Mark. I wish to include this for future study because in the Ebionite Matthew it was quoted three times (2x Origen, 1x Jerome) saying Jesus spoke about his "spiritual mother" having taken him to Mount Tabor to test him. Here is this passage which will require more research. CW says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In this regard, Yahshua, not Shauwl, provided a compelling example of how the Pharisees, the ultra-religious Jews who were devoted to their traditions and Oral Law, imposed their ill-conceived rules on Yahwehs children. <span class="quote"><strong>"He said to them, You have a finely-crafted way</strong> (<em>kalos</em>)&nbsp;<strong>to reject and invalidate</strong> (<em>atheteo</em> to nullify and dispute the validity of)&nbsp;<strong>the commandment</strong> (<em>entole</em> and precept)&nbsp;<strong>of Yahuweh</strong> (</span>??)<span class="quote"> <strong>in order to</strong> (<em>hina</em>)&nbsp;<strong>establish</strong> (<em>histamai</em> maintain and uphold)&nbsp;<strong>your</strong>(<em>sy</em>)&nbsp;<strong>tradition</strong> (<em>paradosis</em> handed down teachings, or oral law)<strong>. For Moseh</strong> (<em>Mouses</em>)&nbsp;<strong>said, "Recognize and respect</strong> (<em>timao</em> highly value, honor, and revere)&nbsp;<strong>your Father</strong> (</span><span lang="EL">?</span>??<span class="quote">)&nbsp;<strong>and your Mother</strong> (MTA)<strong>," and, "He will be separated and die</strong> (<em>thanatos</em> experience the separation of the mortal soul from the body)<strong>, ceasing to exist</strong> (<em>teleutao</em> being finished)<strong>, who reviles and denounces</strong> (<em>kakologeo</em> who insults, abuses, demeans, slanders, and speaks evil of)&nbsp;<strong>our Heavenly Father</strong> (</span><span lang="EL">?</span>??<span class="quote">)&nbsp;<strong>or Spiritual Mother</strong> (MTA)<strong>.""</strong></span> (Mark 7:9-10)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The last line is the one at issue.</span></p>
<h2>Chapter Six To Eleven</h2>
<p>To be revisited later and summarized.</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Chapter Twelve</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In <a href="http://questioningpaul.com/Questioning_Paul-Galatians-12-Metanoeo-Change_Your_Perspective.Paul">chapter twelve</a>, CW then discusses Revelation chapter 2 on those who say they are not apostles at Ephesus but are not.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You dont need me to tell you that Paul and his traveling companions were the only men who claimed to be Apostles in Ephesus during the short time span covered in the Revelation 2 prophecy...&nbsp;<strong>"I know that you cannot possibly accept, tolerate, or endure</strong> (<em>ou dynamai bastazo</em> havent the will, ability, or state of mind to take up with, walk along side of, lift up or carry forward (i.e., advance or promote))&nbsp;<strong>those who think errantly, those who are wrong, injurious, pernicious, destructive, or baneful</strong> (<em>kakos</em> are incorrect, wicked, evil, harmful, noisome, morally corrupt, diseased, culpable, mischievous, demonic, or hurtful)<strong>. And you have observed and objectively tested</strong> (<em>peirazo</em> scrutinized, examined through enquiry)&nbsp;<strong>those who claim and maintain</strong> (<em>phasko</em> say, affirm, profess, declare, promise, or preach)&nbsp;<strong>of themselves that they are Apostles</strong>(<em>apostolos</em> someone who is prepared and sent forth)&nbsp;<strong>but are not. And you have found them</strong>(<em>heurisko</em> examined, scrutinized, come to understand them, and discovered through closely observing them that they are)&nbsp;<strong>false, deceitful liars</strong> (<em>pseudes</em> are pretending to be something they are not, they are erroneous deceivers)<strong>."</strong> (Revelation 2:2) Frankly, this prediction is so specific, its a wonder Pauls reputation survived it.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While Revelation is a prophetic book, Yahshuas commendation was written in the present and past tense. And that is significant because Yahuchanan scribed Revelation in 69CE, less than seven years after Shauwl wrote his letter to the Ephesians, and within close proximity of the wannabe Apostles death. Since Paul and his companions <strong><em>are the only candidates who meet the explicit criterion associated with Yahshuas bold statement</em></strong>, it is evident that God was calling Shauwl an "errant, demonic, and deceitful charlatan."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">CW also notes the Benjamite Wolf prophecy in Genesis 49:27 which we identified as applying to Paul, which overlapped Jesus' remarks about the ravening wolf in sheep's clothing:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You dont need me to tell you that Paul alone fulfills Yahwehs and Yahshuas admonition regarding the wolf in sheeps clothing from the tribe of Benjamin... <strong>"Benjamin viciously tears apart, mangles, kills, and devours</strong> (<em>tarap</em> creates his food by tearing and plucking the life out of his victim) <strong>like a wolf, in the morning, at the beginning part of the day, devouring his prey, and in the evening when it is dark he divides and destroys that which has been spoiled."</strong> (Genesis 49:27) Shauwl bragged that he was from the tribe of Benjamin when the wolf in sheeps clothing wrote: <strong>"For indeed, I am an Israelite, from the seed of Abraham,&nbsp;<em>from</em> the tribe of Benjamin."</strong>(Romans 11:1) Please keep in mind that based upon the destruction of the genealogical records in the Temple in 70CE, Pauls generation was the last which could make this claim.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A bit earlier CW spoke likewise: </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">By examining Yahwehs test, we know for certain that Paul was a "false prophet." As a Jew, he "came to" this audience "from within." We know that Paul was effective, that he was believable, because he presented himself as the ultimate "insider." And yet while he claimed to speak for the Messiyah, he never quoted Him. As such, he <strong><em>"dressed himself up as" one of Yahshuas "sheep" when he appointed himself the Messiyahs Apostle</em></strong>. And as we know, Paul, more than anyone who has ever <strong><em>claimed allegiance with the tribe of Benjamin (something which can no longer be done in that all genealogical records were destroyed in 70CE)</em></strong>, was the "wolf" Yahweh and Yahshua predicted would savage their flock. And then when we recognize that this warning came in the midst of a discussion regarding the eternal role the Torah plays in our salvation, the very thing Paul sought to undermine, we are left with a singular conclusion: Paul of Tarsus was the false prophet, <strong><em>the wolf in sheeps clothing</em></strong>, the insider, who led many to their death and destruction by way of his popular path.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></h2>
<p>3/17/2012 W .. &nbsp;I .. &nbsp;N ... &nbsp;N</p> </td>
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<h1>A Skolops Sent By An Angel of Satan To Torment Paul</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus mentions sometimes ailments are that "Satan has bound" someone for years. Luke 13:16. Jesus gladly freed people from Satan's torments when requested.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Did Satan afflict Paul physically for years? And why and for what purpose did Satan do this? And is there anything about that purpose that is incongruous, betraying that Paul never met the true Jesus?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For in 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul says he is afflicted by a "thorn" (a <em>skolops</em>)&nbsp;in his flesh from an Angel / messenger of Satan so Satan would keep him humble. Why would Satan want -- I emphasize WANT -- to keep Paul from sin?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paulinists know the problem. This verse can be read so "his apostolic mission [is cast] under suspicion." (C. Fred Dickason,&nbsp;<span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Demon Possession and the Christian</span> (<span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Crossway</span>, <span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1989)</span> at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Yx4NsiVtnL8C&amp;lpg=PA119&amp;dq=thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20demonic%20possession&amp;pg=PA120#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">120</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Other Pauline scholars lament without explaining themselves that "12:7 is <em><strong>notoriously difficult</strong></em>, prompting Barrett to write '<strong><em>it can <strong>hardly be in the form Paul intended it</strong></em></strong>...." (David L. Barr, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Reality of the Apocalypse</span> (<span dir="ltr">Society of Biblical Lit</span>, <span dir="ltr">2006</span>) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=zHLZob88C44C&amp;lpg=PA105&amp;ots=efGjb2nOv4&amp;dq=hyperairomai&amp;pg=PA105#v=onepage&amp;q=hyperairomai&amp;f=false">105</a>.) Thus, Pauline scholars often&nbsp;try to suggest Paul dictated this, and it got garbled somehow in the writing. So you will see that the Paulinists' favorite apostle is always ignored when his words prove embarrassing, such as in this case.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For reasons explained below, 2 Cor. 12:7 corroborates our view that Jesus was prophesying about Paul in Matthew 24:24-27. Jesus<strong><em> intended to identify Paul's encounte</em></strong><strong><em>r</em></strong> with a bright-light saying "I am Jesus" as something we are not to believe involved the true Jesus. When someone says 'I am Jesus' on a wilderness road (such as near Damascus), <em><strong>it is not Jesus by definition</strong></em> because not every eye on earth saw that Jesus figure. Jesus thus intends us to know such a person revealed to Paul is an <strong><em>imposter</em></strong>. (See our <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">webpage</a>.) What Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:7 corroborates our view of Matt 24:24-27.</span></p>
<h2>Second Corinthians 12:7 Examined Carefully</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So let's translate 2 Corinthians with reference to the Greek words to get the fullest meaning. In this passage, Paul claimed that his pride was held in check by Satan. Paul says: "Because of the surpassing revelations so that I would not thereby become exalted (<strong>hyper-aromai</strong>), <strong>I was given a sharp pointed prod</strong> (<em>skolops</em> such as a scorpions stinger)&nbsp;<strong><em>in</em> the flesh by an angel (<a href="http://biblos.com/2_corinthians/12-7.htm">angelos</a> / Biblos.com , noun masculine) of Satan in order that he would torment me (kolofizh - "torment" / buffet) in order that I not become overly conceited / exalted (hyper-aromai).</strong><strong>"</strong> (2 Corinthians&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-6.htm">12:6</a>-7) Cf. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%2012:6-7&amp;version=LUTH1545">Luther Bible</a> 'Angel of Satan' / Satan Engel; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%2012:6-7&amp;version=WYC">Wycliff</a> "Angel of Satan."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Young's Literal translation is similar:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">and that by the exceeding greatness of the revelations I might not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, <em><strong>a messenger of the Adversary</strong></em>, that<strong><em> he might buffet me,</em></strong> that I might not be <em><strong>exalted overmuch</strong></em>. (see <a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-7.htm">link</a>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In context, Paul led into this by saying he has 'reason to boast.'</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Even<em><strong> if I should choose to boast</strong></em> (<a title="kauch?sasthai: to boast -- Occurrence 2 of 2." href="http://concordances.org/greek/kauche_sasthai_2744.htm">kauch?sasthai</a> = boast)&nbsp;I would not be a fool, because <strong><em>I would be speaking the truth</em></strong>. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say." <a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-6.htm">(NIV 12:6</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, we know the correct translation of <em><strong>hyper-aromai</strong></em> in 12:7 is "overly conceited." As Strong's says, it literally means "to raise oneself over" but it figuratively means "to become <strong><em>haughty</em></strong>." (Strong's G5229 in Strong's at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Ts1NgCRJY8cC&amp;lpg=PA1679&amp;ots=cwqYWB_XdV&amp;dq=hyperairomai&amp;pg=PA1679#v=onepage&amp;q=hyperairomai&amp;f=false">1679</a>.) A more modern term is "conceited."</span></p>
<h2>NIV Obfuscation</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why are you not familiar with the way this truly reads? Well, while the NIV does get right that the SKOLOPS is to keep Paul from excessive conceit, it cuts out that "he" (Satan) intends Paul to not be overly conceited. This is clearer when we see the original Greek says this a second time at the end of the sentence. After "Angelos of Satan" is referenced, Paul uses a verb to identify Satan as the "he" who intends the result of keeping Paul humble. Others note this glaring difference in the NIV:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Note the NIV does not have the third clause which repeats the sense of the first. "<strong>In order that I not be conceited</strong>, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of satan, <strong>in order that he might beat me</strong>, <strong>in order that I should not be conceited.</strong>" (<a href="http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyn/sunday14ben.html">Lectionary Studies</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We will explain below the erroneous reason the NIV drops out the third clause.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So rather than my translation or that of the Young's Literal, you get this much truncated and different verse in the NIV:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a <strong>messenger </strong>of Satan, to torment me. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+12%3A7-10&amp;version=NIV">2 Cor. 12:7</a> NIV.)</span></p>
<h2>Modifications Necessary to NIV Translation</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But first we must see that the NIV does not fully translate the passage, and deletes original words to deflect that Satan's intention is to constrain Paul, and why.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, the verb for "torment" means "<strong>he</strong> would torment me," <em>i.e.</em>, Satan who sent the Angelos would torment Paul. The NIV obscures the subject of the verb is <strong>he</strong><strong>, Satan. </strong>For the meaning of each Greek term in this verse exactly how it is used, go to the Greek tab at&nbsp;<a href="http://biblos.com/2_corinthians/12-7.htm">http://biblos.com/2_corinthians/12-7.htm</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is important because after it says "he torments me" it then continues and says "hina" -- that / for the purpose "I might not be conceited." Again, please verify this at the Greek tab at&nbsp;<a href="http://biblos.com/2_corinthians/12-7.htm">http://biblos.com/2_corinthians/12-7.htm</a> This means the sentence begins explaining the purpose is to prevent conceit, and ends a second time saying the intention of Satan in using the stinger is to prevent excessive conceit in Paul.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, some Greek manuscripts omit the second statement of "that I might not be conceited," and the NIV reflects that manuscript strain. However, the "hina" (meaning "that," or "so") makes it clear Paul intended its use at the end of the sentence to emphasize the intention of Satan behind the stinging prod in his flesh. All scholars I found reject the NIV approach, agreeing instead "that I might not be conceited" appears at the end based upon the earliest manuscripts and even earlier chuch leaders' quotes. Cooke says some later copyists were "not appreciating the repetition" was intended for emphasis, and thus wrongly deleted the second "that I might not be conceited." (Cooke, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Holy Bible</span> (1881) Vol. 9 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=tOk8AAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20incongruous&amp;pg=PA469#v=onepage&amp;q=thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20incongruous&amp;f=false">469</a>.) Bloomfield explains in more depth. He says the omitted phrase "rightly belongs" for two reasons: (1) because it "represents no tautology but conveys an emphasis;"&nbsp;and (2) it&nbsp;appears in the earliest commentators, including Origen ca. 230 AD, Cyprian ca 258 AD, Chrysostum, Macar, and "I find them in all the Lamb. and Mus. copies." (S.T. Bloomfield,&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Greek New Testament for Theological Students and Ministers</span> (1855) at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=rlEHAAAAQAAJ&amp;dq=Paul%20thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20incongruous&amp;pg=PA325#v=onepage&amp;q=Paul%20thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20incongruous&amp;f=false"> 325</a>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example, Cyprian who died in 258 AD in&nbsp;<em>On the Mortality</em> <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf05.iv.v.vii.html">VII. 13</a> wrote Paul was "given a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me that I should not be lifted up." Similarly, Tertullian in 205 AD, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">On Modesty </span><a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.iii.viii.xiii.html">XIII</a> paraphrases a bit but still you can see the second part was originally present. He says of Paul:&nbsp;“But withal himself says that a stake was given him, an angel of Satan, by which he was to be buffeted, lest he should exalt himself.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, the NIV is in error deleting "that I might not be conceited" in the second part of the sentence of 2 Cor. 12:7.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So when you string the words correctly in the right word order Paul says a "<strong><em><strong>skolops (sharp prod / stinger) was given to me, an Angel / messenger of Satan, so he</strong> [</em><em>i..e., Satan] </em><em>would torment me that I might not be conceited</em></strong>." The NIV deleted the repetition which has the effect of making it less apparent what was Satan's intention behind this messenger / Angel of torment -- the skolops / stinger / prod. It was to keep Paul humble, which even in the NIV still appears stated in the first part of the sentence. The second usage "so I would not be overly conceited" should remain, allowing Paul to emphasize his understanding of the purpose of Satan behind the messenger stinger.<a href="http://biblos.com/2_corinthians/12-7.htm"></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As we shall see, these subtle differences in the NIV serve an obvious design to lead you away from recognizing a problem which this passage exposes about Paul. Now that you can read the verse correctly, what does it signify?</span></p>
<h2>The Problem for Paulinists</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The problem is obvious. Paul teaches here that Satan chastises a "believer" with the aim of stopping them from sinning.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is not a misconstruction of Paul. It is not only Paul's true grammatical meaning here, but also Paul twice teaches elsewhere that he hands over others / church members to Satan's dominion so Satan will chastise them to stop them from "blaspheming" and "incest."&nbsp; <a href="http://bible.cc/1_timothy/1-20.htm">1 Tim 1:20</a> and&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/5-5.htm">1 Cor. 5:5</a>. (See further discussion under "Study Notes" below.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em>So why would Satan want to keep Paul (or anyone) from sin / excessive conceit</em></strong>? If this stinger-chastisement were an affliction from Satan, Satan would <strong><em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">want Paul to sin</span></em></strong> -- to behave with pride and conceit. By contrast,&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Satan always wants the opposite of what God wants.</strong></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong></strong></span>Thus, <strong><em>if Paul served <span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">the true Lord Jesus</span>, wouldn't Satan<span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"> instead want conceit to manifest itself</span> to destroy Paul's credibility to non-believers as well as ruin Paul spiritually</em></strong>? Only if Paul was <strong><em><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">unwittingly serving a false</span></em></strong> <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus</span> </strong>since Paul's wilderness experience outside Damascus would Satan have a self-interest to keep Paul humble. Satan's efforts would be rewarded because then Paul's now humble message would be tolerable to people seeking a wholesome message.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To deflect this, Paul-protecting scholars have tried throwing out at us all kinds of interpretations other than the correct one. As Barnes,<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Notes on the Bible</span>, unwittingly says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Every one who has become familiar with commentaries knows that almost every expositor has had his own opinion about this, and also that<strong><em> no one has been able to give any good reason for his own</em></strong>. Most of them have been<em><strong> fanciful; and many of them eminently ridiculous</strong></em>.&nbsp;("Parallel Commentaries," <a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-7.htm">http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-7.htm</a>.)</span></p>
<h2>Why Would God Not Release Paul From Subjugation To Satan?</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are even more textual problems from the next two verses which highlight the problem in 12:7.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul next explains that he asked the person He assumed was the Lord to take the SKOLOPS away. But this Lord refused. "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.&nbsp;But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor.&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-8.htm">12:8-9</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How does this further undermine Paul?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, let's start with the skolops from which Paul asked relief.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Skolops </strong>means "anything pointed." (Umberto Quattrocchi,&nbsp;<a title="CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms. Synonyms, and Etymology" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=zIOvJSJs-IkC&amp;pg=PA2436&amp;dq=skolops+anything+pointed&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=E-JmT679EJDYiQKX74GiDw&amp;ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA">CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names</a> (<span dir="ltr">Taylor &amp; Francis</span><span dir="ltr">, 1999) </span>at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=zIOvJSJs-IkC&amp;lpg=PA2436&amp;dq=skolops%20anything%20pointed&amp;pg=PA2436#v=onepage&amp;q=skolops%20anything%20pointed&amp;f=false">2436</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is how one would identify a scorpion's stinger. The word for <em>thorn</em> was different, <em>e.g.</em>, <em>skolos</em> and <em>akantha</em>. (See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/371-lightning-scorpions-and-paul.html">our webpage</a>.) It represents "some injurious foreign body." (Arndt &amp; Gingrich, at 763.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God could send the stinger of scorpions as chastisement to keep one from sinning.&nbsp;In&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=9GRYAAAAMAAJ&amp;lpg=PA380&amp;ots=tELzY-5x3X&amp;dq=septuagint%20scorpion&amp;pg=PA380#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">III Kings 3:11</a> (Septuagint chaptering), the advice given by young men to Solomon on how to deal with backsliders was to tell them "I will&nbsp;<em><strong>chastise you with scorpions</strong></em>" -- in Greek,&nbsp;<strong><em>skorpios</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, here rather than this SKOLOPS being a chastisement <strong>by God</strong> for sin to keep Paul humble, it was a chastisement sent by <strong>SATAN</strong> (<em><strong>angelos satanas</strong></em>) --- his messenger -- to keep Paul humble.</span></p>
<h2>Explaining This Passage Away</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Commentators have exhausted their ingenuity with explanations of this passage. And they handle the fact their arguments are untenable by claiming their interpretations are beyond doubt. For example, some suggest that Paul was beset by a competing <em><strong>messenger</strong></em> of another gospel, and this was the SKOLOPS. Clarke in his commentary directly affirms this as fact, and says it "admits" of no other explanation:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is almost impossible to mistake the apostle's meaning and reference. Jesus Christ sent Paul to proclaim his truth, and found a Church at Corinth.<strong><em> Satan, the adversary of God's truth, sent a man to preach lies at the same place</em></strong>, and turn the Church of God into his own synagogue; and by his teaching lies and calumnies the apostle was severely buffeted. We need seek no other sense for these expressions. (See <a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-7.htm">http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-7.htm</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, the literal words of Paul betray all these explanations. Paul clearly intends us to understand an Angel of Satan used a "skolops" in the "sarki" = <strong><em>flesh</em></strong>. It was something <em><strong>physical that was employed by an Angel of Satan upon Paul</strong></em>. It was not some competing message / gospel. Otherwise, why did Paul say it was a <strong><em>stinger in his flesh</em></strong>? Clarke's notion of a competing messenger with a competing gospel is thus an untenable gloss to avoid this problem. There is nothing about this thorn that it was merely in his mind or conscience. As "I am astonished how many pious and judicious commentators should think this thorn in the flesh was a thorn in the conscience." (<em>Illustrations of the Holy Scriptures</em> (1839) at <a href="/The Religious Tract Society., 1891">631</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Others suggest God "was not able to remove the thorn in the flesh...." (Frederick Brotherton Meyer, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>Saved and Kept: Counsels to Young Believers</em></span> (<span dir="ltr">Fleming H. Revell</span>, <span dir="ltr">1897) </span>at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=pFJIAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20incongruous&amp;pg=PA124#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">124</a>.) Really?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Others ignore the problem about Satan's intention, and affirm simply "Paul's thorn in the flesh was a means <strong>adopted by God to keep the mind humble</strong>." (<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>The Sunday At Home</em></span> (<span dir="ltr">The Religious Tract Society</span>, <span dir="ltr">1891) </span>Vol. 38 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=HJFMAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=Paul%20thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20incongruous&amp;pg=PA211#v=onepage&amp;q=Paul%20thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20incongruous&amp;f=false">211</a>.) But Paul did not say that. He said that was Satan's intention. The "Lord" (whom Paul assumed was Jesus) merely said when Paul asked for relief that the Lord's "grace" was sufficient for Paul, whatever that was supposed to mean.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Others deftly skirt the issue: "Paul knew it was allowed by God, even though instigated by Satan." (C. Fred Dickason, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Demon Possession and the Christian</span> (1989) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Yx4NsiVtnL8C&amp;lpg=PA119&amp;dq=thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20demonic%20possession&amp;pg=PA120#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">120</a>.) But this ignores what Paul said was Satan's intention.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If Paulinists cannot find an escape, they distract the reader's attention by debating red herring issues, such as whether Paul had in mind an eye infirmity. This indeed is suggested by Galatians 4:15. But it is a convenient digression away from addressing the real problem in this passage. For an example of almost endless pages of exposition on just that question regarding 2 Cor. 12:7, see George Bush, ed., <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Illustrations of the Holy Scriptures</span> (<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Brattleboro Typographic Company</span>, <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1839) </span>at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=F8EVAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20incongruous&amp;pg=PA631#v=onepage&amp;q=thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20incongruous&amp;f=false">631</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The problem Clarke, Bush and all Paulinists are struggling against is self-evident.</span></p>
<h2>The Problem That Cannot Be Explained Away</h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If Paul knew the true Jesus, <em><strong>why didn't that Jesus liberate Paul from Satan's dominion over Paul</strong></em>? Of course, if it is a false Jesus whom Paul met in the wilderness of Damascus (remember Matt 24:24-27 warned us), we can see why Satan would keep Paul humble. A Paul with excessive pride would be a true turn-off to any audience, let alone a spiritually attentive audience as Paul frequently visited in synagogues. In court, a witness must not come off cocky or otherwise no one will believe them. Hence, if Paul met a false Christ coming in Jesus name near Damascus, Satan would have a self-interested motive that Paul remain humble so the message funnelled unwittingly by Paul from Satan would be more acceptable.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another way to examine this is to flip the issue over: why did Satan want to help Paul become a more humble and believable witness for the true Christ? He would not. Yet, Paul clearly said this was Satan's purpose in giving Paul this chastisement in the flesh. Hence, Paul did not think it through enough (but we can): if what Paul is saying is true about Satan's purpose, then Paul could not conceivably be serving the true Jesus. Paul had to be serving a false Jesus. However, he obviously did so unknowingly.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These points prove that Paul did not actually know the true Christ. He unwittingly was serving someone saying "I am Jesus" to Paul who was not the true Jesus. This corroborates that we applied Matthew 24:24-27 properly to Paul. Jesus warned us that someone saying "I am Jesus" in the wilderness that not every eye would see, once Jesus ascended, could not be the true Jesus. For more on that discussion, see this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">link</a>.</span></p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: x-large;">Study Questions / Notes</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Is It Truly Advantageous To God To Turn People Over to Satan?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another problem in Paul's experience with the SKOLOPS is, as a result, Paul thought it good to "deliver over" people to Satan, not to God, for their chastisement. "For the apostle likewise delivered Phygellus and Hermogenes <strong><em>over to Satan that by chastening they might be taught not to blaspheme</em></strong>." (Tertullian 205 AD, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">De Fuga in Persecutione</span> at <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf05.iv.v.vii.html">2</a>.) See 2 Tim. 1:15 and 1 Tim. 1:20. In <a href="http://bible.cc/1_timothy/1-20.htm">1 Tim 1:20</a>, Paul states:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom<strong> I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme</strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Please remember God did not authorize Satan to test Job as chastisement to cure sinful tendencies. Rather, God did so <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>to prove to Satan that Job would not sin</strong></span>. But look how incongruous Paul's approach is: can someone turned over / abandoned to Satan truly learn not to blaspheme? Really? Wouldn't that instead reinforce that sinful tendency because under Satan's dominion, Satan would keep the sinner sinning?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Also, Paul turned another "over to Satan" when a churchgoer was still in an incestuous relationship with his mother-in-law. In <a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/5-5.htm">1 Cor. 5:5</a>, we read:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><em>hand this man over to Satan</em></strong>, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. (NIV)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But the cure for blasphemy and incest cannot be truly to turn people over to Satan for chastisement. Why would Satan chastise evil behavior?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But obviously Paul "learned" (so he thought) differently from his own experience with the thorn / skolops / stinger. Paul's "Lord" --- the one Paul thought was the Lord Jesus -- enlightened Paul that Satan's intentions include chastising us from committing sin. Thus Paul <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>bizarrly thought he likewise could give people over to Satan for Satan to reign in sin</strong></span>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Who <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">but Satan himself </span></strong>could be planting these backwards / reverse-from-truth ideas in Paul's head?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And now we know how Satan planted these wrong-headed beliefs in Paul's head. Satan pretended to be the Lord Jesus answering Paul's plea for liberation. It was that "Lord" who must have told Paul Satan's intentions were to keep Paul humble. Thus Paul must endure the SKOLOPS / stinger. This "Lord's" message is what led Paul to do the worst thing possible - hand over other people to Satan whom Paul thought were sinners / in error. Thus, we can conclude Paul justified turning people over to Satan in 1 Tim. 1:20 and 1 Cor. 5:5 because Paul was misled by the imposter "Lord" per 2 Cor. 12 that "Paul was delivered over to Satan, given a messenger of Satan a thorn in the flesh" to keep him humble. (See a pro-Paul article entitled "<a href="http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/54-10">Delivered to Satan, Part 2</a>," 1985.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Church Turned Supposed Blasphemers Over To Satan As Burned Them To Death</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Based upon Paul's words, when John Hus in 1415 and Servetus in 1553 AD were burned at the stake by Catholic and Protestant authorities, the parting words to each was that the church was "turning you over to Satan." See our article "<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/374-turning-over-believers-to-satan.html">Turning over Believers to Satan</a>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Benjamite Saul Comparison</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Some draw parallels between the Benjamite Paul and the Benjamite King Saul. The king was afflicted by an evil spirit often, e.g., 1 Sam. 10:20-23; 1 Saml. 16:14; and 1 Sam. 19:9. See "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZgjYvrTAVA">The Angel of Satan in Paul</a>," 2012 at 4:16. This may deserve further investigation.</span></p>
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<h1>The Spirit of Python Promoted Paul in Acts 16:16</h1>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">In Acts, Paul encounters a demon possessed woman known as Python. She was popular at Philippi as a soothsayer whom people paid for prophecies. Those aspiring to be kings and rulers would vie for her endorsement to gain acceptance from among the people. Large parts of Greece fell to Philip of Macedon because Philip bribed the Python priestess to prophesy he would conquer. (See <em>infra</em>.) The Pythoness thus was a 'rock-star' -- to use a modern equivalent.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When Paul is at Philippi, this Python female-soothsayer followed him around for many days in the city. Everywhere Paul went she proclaimed him a man of God who declared "to us a way of salvation." Her intent was obvious: this demon-possessed woman hoped many would recognize and accept Paul as God's prophet, and accept his plan of salvation. (She said nothing about the true Jesus.) Paul did nothing to stop her for many days. Luke records:</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><sup>16</sup>And it came to pass in our going on to prayer, a certain maid, having&nbsp;<strong><em>a spirit of Python</em></strong>, did meet us, who brought much employment to her masters by soothsaying [<strong>manteuomai</strong>, "practice divination as in a 'false divination or<strong><em> false prophet</em></strong>'" &nbsp;-&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=8I9FIrpqv0YC&amp;lpg=PA189&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA190#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">Strongs G3132</a>. Cf. mantis = seer]</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><sup>17</sup>she having followed Paul and us, was crying, saying, `<em><strong>These men are servants of the Most High God, who <span style="color: #ff0000;">declare to us a way of salvation</span>;'</strong></em></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><sup>18</sup>and this she was doing for many days, but Paul having been grieved, and having turned, said to the spirit, `I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ,<strong><em> to come forth from her</em></strong>;' and it came forth the same hour.&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2016:16-18&amp;version=YLT">Acts 16:16-19&nbsp;YLT</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Paul's casting out in the name of Jesus the Spirit of Python from the young girl after "many days" of delay doing so does not prove Paul knew the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">true</span> Jesus. For our Lord specifically said that many who call on His name and use His name to cast out demons will be told by Jesus that "<strong><em>I never knew you</em></strong>." We must keep this passage in mind as we study whether the Spirit of Python's behavior proves Paul's salvation doctrines -- faith-alone / no works necessary / anti-law aka anomianism -- did not come from the true Christ:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><span class="text Matt-7-21"><span class="woj"><sup>21 </sup> <sup></sup>“Not everyone who&nbsp;<sup></sup>says to me, Lord, Lord, will&nbsp;<sup></sup>enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who&nbsp;<sup></sup>does the will of my Father who is in heaven.</span></span> <span id="en-ESV-23339" class="text Matt-7-22"><span class="woj"><sup>22 </sup> <sup></sup>On that day&nbsp;<sup></sup>many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not&nbsp;<sup></sup>prophesy in your name, and <strong><em>cast out demons&nbsp;<sup></sup>in your name</em></strong>, and do many mighty works in your name?</span></span> <span id="en-ESV-23340" class="text Matt-7-23"><span class="woj"><sup>23 </sup> <sup></sup>And then will I declare to them, <strong><em>I&nbsp;<sup></sup>never knew you;</em></strong> <sup></sup>depart from me,&nbsp;<sup></sup>you workers of [ANOMIA (Greek for "lawlessness" or "negation of the Law."] ( (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%207&amp;version=ESV">Matt 7:21-23 ESV</a>.)</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">An anomian message of salvation means one predicated upon the negation of the Law which God gave Moses. For discussion of "Anomia" in Matthew 7:21, see <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/106-chapter-five-jwo.html">ch. 5 of Jesus Words Only</a>.</span></p>
<h2>What Is The Spirit of Python?</h2>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">A "spirit of Python" meant a specific type of demonic spirit. The NLT of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2016:16-19&amp;version=NLT">Acts 16:16</a> translates it simply as she is a "<strong>demon</strong>-possessed girl." In 1 Sam. 28:7, when it is translated "Lo, a woman possessing a familiar spirit in En-dor," it is rendered as a "spirit of Python (OBH in Heb.) of Endor." (Jacques de Daillon (comte du Lude),&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Daimonologia: or, A treatise of spirits: Wherein several places of scripture expounded</span> (<span dir="ltr">Printed for the author</span>,&nbsp;<span dir="ltr">1723)</span> at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=yc8cAQAAMAAJ&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA114#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">114</a>-115.) The Hebrew word "OBH" is oftened rendered as&nbsp;<strong><em>sorcerer</em></strong>" or "necromancer" and was "often translated Python in the Vulgate [Bible]." (M. Oldfield Howey,&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Encircled Serpent a Study of Serpent Symbolism in All Countries And Ages</span> (1900) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=SY6DUnOOZSAC&amp;lpg=PA142&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA142#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">142</a>.) However, OBH was short for the Hebrew word ABADDON which John in Revelation 9:11 revealingly tells us is APOLLYON in Greek. Scholars concur APOLLYON means APOLLOS, the Sun-god (son of Zeus, the head god) whose temple was at Delphi where the Python statue with multiple heads of serpents spoke through the priestess. See our article "<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/379-apollyon-bible-study.html">Apollyon</a>." So who is the Python in relation to APOLLOS?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><img src="http://bks8.books.google.com/books?id=yc8cAQAAMAAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;img=1&amp;zoom=1&amp;edge=curl" style="float: right;" /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> "Python in Greek mythology was<strong><em> the serpent who guarded the Delphic</em></strong><strong><em> oracle</em></strong>....Apollo's prophetic seer was called Pythia." (Rick Strelan,&nbsp;<em>Strange Acts; Studies in the Cultural World of the Acts of the Apostles </em>(<span dir="ltr">Walter de Gruyter</span>,&nbsp;<span dir="ltr">2004)</span> at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=tHS6RK68rsMC&amp;lpg=PA113&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA113#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">113</a>.) Apollo was known as "Apollo Pythius because his symbol was the<em><strong> Python</strong></em>." (Dr Elsie Clark,&nbsp;<em>Spiritual Warfare</em>: Vol. 2&nbsp;<em>Battling Against Carnality</em> (2010) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=8I9FIrpqv0YC&amp;lpg=PA189&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA189#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">189</a>.) Apollo was the Sun-god among the Greeks. At the core of Apollo's temple was a pyramid known as the "tripod" to symbolize the Sun's rays. (Technically, the god Phobus was the god of light, and he morphed into "Apollo Pythia." See <a href="http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html">link</a>.) On this tripod sat a coiled serpent statue with three heads known as the Python. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">(Technically, Apollo previously slayed the prophesying Python, but now through his female Pythia priestess at Delphi, also known as Python, the Python spirit spoke. See Leadbetter, "<a href="http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html">Apollo</a>," Pantheon.org.) Thus, we find the Python was identified now as Apollo Pythius at Delphi:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">"As the cone or pyramid was a symbol of the sun's rays, this typified the worship of Apollo,&nbsp;<strong><em>the Sun-god with that of the Serpent, the python</em></strong>, the earth deity." (M. Oldfield Howey,&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Encircled Serpent a Study of Serpent Symbolism in All Countries And Ages</span> (1900) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=SY6DUnOOZSAC&amp;lpg=PA142&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA143#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">143</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Clearly, the spirit of Python is the<em><strong> spirit of Satan</strong></em> / Apollos / Lucifer -- the "blinding light" (see "<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/223-who-is-the-blinding-angel-of-light.html">Who Is Blinding Angel of Light</a>")&nbsp;-- even worshipped as a large three-headed Serpent. The "pythoness" -- the young virgin who would speak the Serpent's prophecies -- had to sit on the tripod at the Temple of Python / Apollo at Delphos / Delphi. Eventually there were always three young virgins who would alternate at the task. (Howey,&nbsp;<em>Id., </em>at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=SY6DUnOOZSAC&amp;lpg=PA142&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA144#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">144</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Delphos of Greece and its oracle became linked to Philippi in Macedon because in the<img style="float: right;" alt="apolloslayspython" height="298" width="198" src="/images/stories/JWOBook/apolloslayspython.jpg" /> 300s&nbsp;BC Macedon under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Macedon">Philip II </a>seized parts of Greece by bribing the Python oracle to give prophecies of his success. It was said by Demosthenes that the oracle had become "<em><strong>Philipized</strong></em>." <em>Id., </em>at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=SY6DUnOOZSAC&amp;lpg=PA142&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA146#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">146</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800080; font-size: large;">[Painting to right is 'Apollo slaying the Python' by Eugene Delacroix - died 1863]</span></p>
<h2>How Is This Verse Typically Mistranslated?</h2>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Obviously aware of the problem we are about to expose, most translations other than Young's Literal&nbsp;<strong><em>never properly translate</em></strong> this as "spirit of Python." So the King James simply has it the "spirit of divination." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2016:16-19&amp;version=KJV">Acts 16:16-19 KJV</a>.) The NIV is even wimpier, saying simply she had a "spirit." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2016:16-19&amp;version=NIV">Acts 16:16 NIV</a>.) Virtually all the rest are in line</span>.</span></p>
<h2>The Obvious Problem Being Avoided</h2>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Now if this woman is demon possessed and Paul were following the true Christ, then<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong> her declaration to others to listen to Paul for salvation represents a house divided against itself</strong></span>. It makes no sense.&nbsp;But if Paul were following unwittingly a false Christ, then this makes perfect sense.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Please distinguish this demon-possessed woman from the demons who recognized Jesus was Christ for the demons&nbsp;<strong><em>did nothing to consistently promote to others that Jesus was Messiah, Son of God, etc</em></strong>. Nor were the demons who recognized Jesus looked upon with high favor, and thus their recognition did nothing to help Jesus' ministry. See </span>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+3&amp;version=ESV">Mark 3:11-12</a>.&nbsp;But look at the very different evidence that 'the rock-star' demon Pythia (the priestess) promoted Paul for "many days" as having the true plan of salvation. In ancient Greece-Macedon, there was no more influential prophetess than the Python-priestess. She was routinely paid for her prophecies.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">But look how Paul for days took advantage of her endorsement while never questioning himself why would the prophetess-Pythia who was serving Satan be endorsing specifically Paul's plan of salvation. Paul never asked himself if it were possible he actually met an imposter Jesus on the road to Damascus. Thus, as Luke tells the story, Paul at Philippi did not think through this problem but was glad even demons endorsed his message: "It may be noted that the missionaries<strong><em> did not question the genuiness of her inspiration by the spirit of Python, and also that it spoke the truth</em></strong>...." (M. Oldfield Howey,&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Encircled Serpent a Study of Serpent Symbolism in All Countries And Ages</span> (1900) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=SY6DUnOOZSAC&amp;lpg=PA142&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA142#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">142</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">But they should have questioned it, as this demon-oracle in the service of Satan was well-regarded by the pagans of the area. Why would Satan through her&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>deliberately try to promote Paul's ministry?</strong></span> Luke's account does not give this a second-thought even though the account clearly requires the Berean in us to do so.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Thus, let's now look at the key aspect of this verse one more time:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">"A young girl...having a Spirit of [the demon] <strong>Python</strong>...having followed Paul and us, was crying [to the public many days], saying, '<strong><em>T</em></strong><em><strong>hese men</strong>...<strong>declare to us a way of salvation.'</strong></em>"<em> </em>Acts 16:16-17</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Hence, one can see that if Paul were serving the true Christ, demon spirits like Python who were popular and influential would not for "many days" go around following Paul telling people to accept Paul's "plan of salvation."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">And notice, the demon spirit of Python did not say to follow Christ, but specifically to follow Paul's plan of salvation. In Acts 16:17, the demon Python-spirit says: " `<strong>These men are servants of the Most High God, who declare to us a way of salvation;'" </strong> So the message of Christ on salvation was not being promoted, but instead the demon was<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> promoting Paul's very different plan of salvation.</span></strong> On the difference between these two gospels, see our page "<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/175-pauls-contradictions-of-jesus.html">Paul's Contradictions of Jesus</a>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><em><strong></strong></em>Hence, Acts 16:16-17 is further confirmation that Paul was unwittingly serving Satan. We already deduced this about Paul's vision of someone saying "I am Jesus" on a wilderness road when Jesus warned us not to trust when someone "comes in my name" in the wilderness (see Matt 24:5, 24-27) because the only way Jesus will be seen on earth after the Ascension was if every eye on earth sees Him. (See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">link</a>.) But that is not what happened on the road to Damascus, is it?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Then what about Paul casting out the demon in Jesus' name? Does this prove Paul knew the true Christ? Emphatically NO!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">In Matthew 7, Jesus said many who work "ANOMIA" (negation of the Law) will be able to say they did many miracles and cast out demons in His name, but Jesus will say He never knew "you" to them.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">It thus proves nothing. Jesus may indeed have cast the demon out as a mercy to this young girl. His name is powerful.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">What is important to take away from the passage is Paul, the avowed worker of appearing ANOMOS (see <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/106-chapter-five-jwo.html">link</a>), did not know the true Christ because if Paul did, then why would a popular and influential demon promote for many days Paul's plan of salvation? That would be a kingdom divided against itself, and Jesus said, in essence, that such things would not be true. Hence, it logically follows Paul did not "know" Christ, contrary to Paul's assumption of whom he met on the wilderness road outside Damascus.</span></p>
<hr />
<h1>Study Notes</h1>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Why did Paul get annoyed with the Spirit of Python promoting him after "many days" instead of initially? For why would a man of God want a demon promoting him? Scholars concede this while trying to flip it the other way: "it is something of a puzzle why he resented the girl's cries [of support]." (Henry Ansgar Kelly, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Satan: A Biography</span> (<span dir="ltr">Cambridge University Press:</span> <span dir="ltr">2006) </span>at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=gPIpQg0lRbMC&amp;lpg=PA55&amp;dq=spirit%20of%20python%20promoting%20paul&amp;pg=PA56#v=onepage&amp;q=spirit%20of%20python%20promoting%20paul&amp;f=false">56</a>.) The best explanation is Paul let this go on many days without rebuking the demon because it was helping until Paul realized that people would start wondering why demons were promoting Paul.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Contrast the situation with Jesus in Matthew. At every encounter with demon-possessed people, Jesus cast them out of the person. Jesus did not leave them in their state "many days" to serve any personal advantage if they would identify Him as Messiah.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">A unique situation is presented in Mark that did not appear in Matthew. This is the Gospel scholars have deduced was written by a Paulinist, eliminating all prophecies critical about Paul in Matthew. See "<a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/364-marcan-priority-claim-is-invalid.html">Marcan Priority Claim</a>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">While at first blush, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+3&amp;version=ESV">Mark 3:11-12</a> appears similar to what happened with Paul in Acts 16, on reflection it still markedly differs. Jesus in Mark's account apparently leaves the demons in place (unlike Matthew where Jesus always cast them out.) What happens is per Mark&nbsp;Jesus during a healing activity of many people tells "unclean spirits" who cried out "You are the son of God" not "to make him known."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Unlike Paul, Jesus in Mark 3 did not want anyone to perceive these "unclean spirits" as declaring His identity, apparently so this would not harm His ministry.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Why? These demons were not like the popular and well-regarded demon of Python. These demons had caused medical infliction among the crowd. They were perceived negatively by the community. So having them promote Jesus would have been immediately harmful to Jesus' ministry, and would be Satan's intent in Jesus' case had Jesus let them speak.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><strong>Python</strong>. The Roman historian Lucian records that "the dragon under the tripod spoke" at the Temple of Python. In the temple were kept a host of snakes. It is assumed "dragon" here meant one of the snakes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">What is curious is that Apollo was the Sun god and the symbol of his power was a three-headed snake. When one considers the Sun-god at Rome became known as Sol Invictus, it actually traces back to the popular Apollo-Python god of the Greeks. Here is what&nbsp;&nbsp;M. Oldfield Howey,&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Encircled Serpent a Study of Serpent Symbolism in All Countries And Ages</span> (1900) at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=SY6DUnOOZSAC&amp;lpg=PA142&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA143#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false"> 143</a> says:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">The tripod on which the pythoness sat was another relic of the religion which it had superseded, for it was formed of a serpent of bronze, coiled spirally upwards in the form of a cone, and terminated in three heads. As the cone or pyramid was a symbol of the sun's rays, this typified the worship of Apollo,&nbsp;<strong><em>the Sun-god with that of the Serpent, the python</em></strong>, the earth deity.</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">Glossalia / Excited Utterances / Prophetic Words of Knowledge</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">The method of words of prophecy by the Python have a chilling similarity to modern 'words of knowledge' and 'glossalia' that I have personally witnessed in certain churches. I can verify words of knowledge are often amazingly accurate depictions of people, with their past excellently described by pure strangers, mixed in with some future promises that often are safe bets.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Now remember, the gift of tongues of the 12 apostles was different: it was the ability to speak in their own tongue, and the listeners would hear it in their own language. See Acts 1.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">So here is what is so chilling to consider to explain how our modern behavior may have entered the church from copying practices of the Pythonesses of ancient Greece.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anacharsis">Anarcharsis</a> in a travel journal of the 6th Century before Christ identified that "toward the middle [of the temple] is an aperture from whence came the&nbsp;<strong>prophetic </strong>exalation." (Howey, <em>id.</em>.,&nbsp;at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=SY6DUnOOZSAC&amp;lpg=PA142&amp;dq=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;pg=PA144#v=onepage&amp;q=%22spirit%20of%20python&amp;f=false">144</a>.) The young virgin would drink some water which "it is said [has] the virtue of&nbsp;<strong>disclosing futurity</strong>."&nbsp;<em>Id. </em>Interestingly, the young prophetess would have her limbs suffer "involuntary motions," and she uttered "plaintiff cries and deep groans" (<em>id.</em>) She then uttered "dreadful howlings which were eagerly collected by the priests." Then the priests went to work. Anarcharsis continues: "They arranged them in proper order, and delivered them to us in writing."&nbsp;<em>Id. </em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><em>Leadbetter summarizes it even more pointedly, unaware how this might educate Christians to problems about Paul's glossalia instructions: "After she mumbled her answer, a male priest would translate it for the supplicant." (Ron Leadbetter,</em><em> "<a href="http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html">Apollo</a>," Pantheon.org (2012).)</em><em> </em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">What is interesting is how similar this is to Paul's version of the gift of tongues. The true apostolic gift of tongues was the ability of an apostle to speak and those of another language to hear their own language spoken. Luke notes this is its nature in Acts 1. However, Paul gives the same name to something totally different -- something identical to the ecstatic utterances of the "spirit of Python" where another would interpret and write it down. The words were not readily understandable as they were supposed to be had they been the true apostolic gift revealed in Acts 1. But Paul discloses his very different version from the original gift of tongues in the following quote, and please note how strikingly similar it is the "spirit of Python" and her interpreters:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">"If any man speak in<strong><em> an unknown tongue</em></strong>, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that in turn; and <em><strong>let one interpret.</strong></em>" (<a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/14-27.htm">1 Cor. 14:27 KJV</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">One must thus wonder if Paul's stinger in the flesh from Satan impaled him somehow with Satan's spirit of Python -- what Paul unwittingly reveals when he describes the glossalia-spirit, of which Paul says in very modest terms (I am being facetious):</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><sup>18</sup> I thank God that I speak in tongues<em><strong> more than all of you</strong></em>. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor.%2014:18&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 14:18 NIV</a>.)</span></p>
<h1>&nbsp;Python: As Ventriloquist</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Greek term "python" had a secondary meaning of divination and the "belly talking," as if a ventriloquist speaking in a strange voice. See Mark Nanos, at <a href="http://www.marknanos.com/Phil3Dogs-Reverse-6-27-07.pdf">24</a>.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Maps of Delphi &amp; Philippi</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Philippi is in Macedonia, while Delphi is in Greece 100 miles north of Athens.</span></p>
<p><img alt="File:Philippi location.jpg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Philippi_location.jpg/462px-Philippi_location.jpg" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img alt="File:Map greek sanctuaries-en.svg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Map_greek_sanctuaries-en.svg/751px-Map_greek_sanctuaries-en.svg.png" width="682" height="600" /></p>
<h1>Further Study Notes</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Stephen A writes:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The word translated as "vipers" in NT may mean python.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">EKHIDNA (or Echidna) was a monstrous she-dragon (drakaina) with the head and breast of a woman. She probably represented or presided over the corruptions of the earth : rot, slime, fetid waters, illness and disease.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">She was often equated with Python (the rotting one), a dragon born of the fetid slime left behind by the great Deluge. Others call her the Tartarean lamprey, and assigned her to the dark, swampy pit of Tartaros beneath the earth. Hesiod, makes her a daughter of monstrous sea-gods, and presumably associates her with rotting sea-scum and fetid salt-marshes. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">In all cases, she was described as the consort of Typhoeus, a monstrous storm-daemon who challenged Zeus in heaven. Together they spawned a host of terrible monsters to plague the earth.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Other closely related she-dragons included the Argive Ekhidna and Poine, the Tartarean Kampe, and the Phokian Sybaris.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">In the image (right), Ekhidna is equated with Python. Apollo seated on the omphalos stone slays her with his arrows : in the motif of healing god (Paian) destroying plague-bringing demon. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.theoi.com/Ther/DrakainaEkhidna1.html">http://www.theoi.com/Ther/<wbr />DrakainaEkhidna1.html</a></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This word EKHIDNA is used 4 times in the NT:</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">??????? (echidn?n) — 4 Occurrences</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Matthew 3:7 N-GFP</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">BIB: ?????? ????????? ??????? ??? ?????????</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">NAS: to them, You brood of vipers, who</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">KJV: O generation of vipers, who</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">INT: to them Brood of vipers who forewarned</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Matthew 12:34 N-GFP</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">BIB: ????????? ??????? ??? ???????</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">NAS: You brood of vipers, how can</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">KJV: O generation of vipers, how can ye,</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">INT: Offspring of vipers how are you able</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Matthew 23:33 N-GFP</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">BIB: ????? ????????? ??????? ??? ??????</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">NAS: you brood of vipers, how</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">KJV: [ye] generation of vipers, how</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">INT: [You] serpents offspring of vipers how shall you escape</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Luke 3:7 N-GFP</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">BIB: ????? ????????? ??????? ??? ?????????</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">NAS: by him, You brood of vipers, who</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">KJV: O generation of vipers, who</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">INT: him Offspring of vipers who forwarned</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></div>
</div>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">3/25/2012</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;</span></p> </td>
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<h1><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Were The Twelve The Others Who Paul Warned Preached "Another Jesus"?&nbsp; </span></strong></span></h1>
<h1><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">[<a href="https://youtu.be/sIECvuFh1aM">YouTub</a>e scrolling reading by volunteer, Daniel.]</span></strong></span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul was actually concerned that some were preaching about a different Jesus than the one Paul preached about:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">For if someone comes to you and <strong><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,</span></strong> or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough</span>&nbsp;(<a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/11-4.htm">2 Cor. 11:4</a>, NIV)</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says the Christians at Corinth were easily putting up with teachings about "another Jesus." Paul recognized that the believers were swayed to believe someone else had claimed to be teaching Jesus' teachings that were different and distinct from those taught by Paul.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Some understand in this passage that Paul was saying there was an imposter Jesus being taught by others. "2 Corinthians 11:3-4 exhorts us to beware of imposters named 'Jesus.'" (<a href="http://onewayjesus.weebly.com/the-theology-of-mormons-jehovahs-witnesses-and-masons.html">Onewayjesus.weebly.com</a>.)</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Could Paul have in mind the teachings about Jesus by the 12 apostles? Yes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">As explained below, in 1 Corinthians 9:5 and Galatians ch. 2, Paul speaks disparagingly about the 12 apostles, in particular about Peter. As J.K. Elliot explains in&nbsp;<em>Essays and Studies in New Testament Textual Criticism&nbsp;</em>(Bloomsbury Publishing 2015) at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MzHbBQAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA132&amp;lpg=PA132&amp;dq=apostle+paul+rivalry+corinth&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=4KuGl-SlAo&amp;sig=AzA3GX7UHYegXbKkgPJsgqy31jM&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=YJLzVLW0N4-yoQS_kYLgDQ&amp;ved=0CB0Q6AEwADgK#v=onepage&amp;q=apostle%20paul%20rivalry%20corinth&amp;f=false">132</a>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">[Paul speaks] of the pillars of the Jerusalem church [in Galatians ch. 2]. Paul is against them -- see especially <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal.+2%3A11&amp;version=KJV">Gal. 2:11</a>. Paul speaks against them with <strong><em>ill-concealed sarcasm</em></strong> in the repetitve words "<strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">reputed</span></strong> to be something," and "those of <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">repute</span></strong>" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal.+2%3A2%2C6%2C9&amp;version=KJV">Gal. 2:2,6,9</a>). Several commentators on I Corinthians argue that the Kephas [<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>i.e.</em>, Peter] party (1 Cor. 1:12 [Cephas]; 3:22) are the judaising party in Corinth -- Paul <em><strong>disapproves of this faction</strong></em>. Similarly at 1 Cor. 9:5, <strong><em>Paul speaks disparagingly of Kephas [</em></strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em>i.e., Peter] and the brothers of Jesus,&nbsp;</em></strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em>i.e., the Jerusalem pillars</em></strong>....The rivalry between Paul and Peter is most strongly apparent in these chapters of Galatians and 1 Corinthians...."</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Based upon Paul's put downs of the 12 apostles in Galatians 2, discussed in detail below with the young Luther's obvious concurrence, it is fair to infer that in 2 Corinthians 11:4 Paul is aware that the 12 preach another Jesus than Paul teaches. Rather than believe the Jesus Paul met was an imposter, <strong>Paul was implying the twelve were following an imposter</strong>. It is self-evident Paul assumed the 12 were following the wrong Jesus because Paul boasts that he did not desire to learn about anything which their Jesus taught them. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul speaks elsewhere of the "false apostles" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+11%3A12-13&amp;version=NIV">2 Cor. 11:12-13</a>) who preach more than faith-in-facts about Jesus saves. In Galatians, Paul then denigrates learning anything from the "apostles" at Jerusalem -- referencing Peter, James, John, etc., for the same reason. Paul in the same way as he criticized the&nbsp; "false apostles" in 2 Cor. 11 as preaching a conditional gospel, Paul was snidely putting down Peter, John and James as "reputed" pillars. (Gal. 2:2,6,9.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">The apostles' doctrine obviously required more than just faith alone. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Likewise, in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal.+3%3A1-9&amp;version=NIV">Galatians 3:1-9</a>, Paul was adamant that one who has faith errs if they also seek to obey "works of the law" as well. One supposedly falls from grace if one does not rely entirely on "faith" for salvation. Therefore, because Matthew's Gospel clearly matches that so-called 'false gospel' per Galatians, there is <strong>little doubt Paul thought the true 12 were the "false apostles,</strong>" and that they preached an "imposter" Jesus rather than Paul ever suspecting he, Paul, is the one who met the imposter Jesus on the Road to Damascus.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Luther's Apparent Recognition Paul Thought The 12 Were Following Wrong Path</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Here is Luther's description of these passages in Galatians. With no comment from me, you will see Luther says Paul thought the 12 taught another Jesus -- a different gospel than the one Paul received from the 'Jesus' Paul assumed was the true Jesus. So here is a pertinent portion of Luther's <a href="http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/gal/web/gal2-04.html">Commentary on Galatians</a> (1535) -- a sermon given in 1531 -- where he unwittingly or perhaps even deliberately believed Paul had a superior revelation to that of the 12:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<center><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Chapter 2, pp. 48-60&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Galatians 2:4-13&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">__________</span></center>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<blockquote style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">
<blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>VERSES 4,5.</strong>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.</em></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: verdana, geneva;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul here explains his motive for going up to Jerusalem. <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">H</span><span style="color: #ff0000;">e did not go to Jerusalem to be instructed or confirmed in his Gospel by the other apostles</span></strong>. He went to Jerusalem in order <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">to preserve the true Gospel</span> </strong>for the Galatian churches and for all the churches of the Gentiles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: verdana, geneva;" data-mce-mark="1">When Paul speaks of the truth of the Gospel he implies by contrast <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">a false gospel.</span> </strong>The <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">false apostles also had a gospel,</span></strong> but it was an untrue gospel. "In<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> holding out against them</span></strong>," says Paul, "I conserved the truth of the pure Gospel."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Now the true Gospel has it that we are justified by faith alone, without the deeds of the Law. </span><strong><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">The false gospel has it that we are justified by faith, but not without the deeds of the Law. The <span style="color: #ff0000;">false apostles preached a conditional gospel.</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">****</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: verdana, geneva;" data-mce-mark="1">Not satisfied with teaching an untrue gospel, the<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong> false apostles tried to entangle Paul</strong></span>. "They went about," says Paul, "to <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus</span></strong>, that they might bring us into bondage."</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: verdana, geneva;" data-mce-mark="1">When Paul saw through their scheme, he attacked the false apostles. He says, "We did not let go of the liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. We routed them by the judgment of the apostles, and we would not give in to them, no, not an inch."</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">****</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>VERSE 6.</strong>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>But of those who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me.</em></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">This is a good point in Paul's refutation.</span><span style="color: #ff0000;"> <strong><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul disparages the authority and dignity of the true apostles.</span></strong></span> <span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">He says of them, "Which seemed to be somewhat." The authority of the apostles was indeed great in all the churches. Paul did not want to detract from their authority,</span> <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">but he had to speak disparagingly of their authority in order to conserve the truth of the Gospel, and the liberty of conscience</span></strong>.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">The</span><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"> false apostles</span></strong> <span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">used this argument against Paul:</span> "<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">The apostles lived with Christ for three years.</span></strong> <span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">They heard His sermons. They witnessed His miracles. They themselves preached and performed miracles while Christ was on earth. Paul never saw Jesus in the flesh. Now, whom ought you to believe:</span> <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul, who stands alone, a mere disciple of the apostles, one of the last and least; or will you believe those grand apostles who were sent and confirmed by Christ Himself long before Paul?</span></strong>"</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">What could Paul say to that? He answered: "What they say has no bearing on the argument.</span><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"> If the apostles were angels from heaven, that would not impress me. We are not now discussing the excellency of the apostles.</span></strong> We are talking about the Word of God now, and the truth of the Gospel. <span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">That Gospel is more excellent than all apostles</span>.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>VERSE 6.</strong>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>God accepteth no man's person.</em></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Paul is quoting Moses: "Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty." (Lev. 19:15) This quotation from Moses ought to shut the mouths of the false apostles. "Don't you know that God is no respecter of persons?" cries Paul.</span> <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">The dignity or authority of men means nothing to God.</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;****</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">We have seen how Paul</span> <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">refutes the argument of the false apostles concerning the authority of the apostles</span></strong></span>.</span></strong> I<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">n order that the truth of the Gospel may continue; in order that the Word of God and the righteousness of faith may be kept pure and undefiled,</span> <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">let the apostles</span>,</strong></span> l<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">et an angel from heaven, let Peter, let Paul, let them</span> <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">all perish</span></strong>.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>VERSE 6.</strong>&nbsp;<em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">For they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me.</span></em></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">The Apostle repeats:</span> <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;"><span style="color: #ff0000;">"<strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;">I did not so confer with the apostles that they taught me anything. What could they possibly teach me since Christ by His revelation had taught me all things? It was but a conference, and no disputation. I learned nothing</span></strong></span>,</span> <span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">neither did I defend my cause. I only stated what I had done, that I had preached to the Gentiles faith in Christ, without the Law, and that in response to my preaching the Holy Ghost came down upon the Gentiles."****</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"></span></span></p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Clearly, Paul is describing the 12 apostles as those whom he would not listen to if they preached another Jesus -- another Gospel of Jesus. And Paul boasts he <strong>did not in fact learn anything from them</strong>. (Gal. 2:6.) Paul depended exclusively on the messages he learned from revelation, apparently from the "Jesus" Paul assumed was Jesus whom Paul met on the wilderness road outside Damascus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">And in context, Paul did have a different gospel and the quote in 2 Cor. 11:4 shows<strong> a conscious awareness of that fact</strong>. For Matthew's and Luke's Gospel do preach the works of the Law continue (Matt 5:17-19; Luke 16:16-17). Also, Matthew and Mark teach disobedience by a believer is still sin -- damning sin. For Matthew's and Mark's Gospels teach Jesus said that we "who believe in [Jesus]" can go to heaven "maimed" -- by cutting off body parts causing us to sin (FYI - cutting them off in our spirit), or hell whole,&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>i.e.</em>, not having done so. (Mark 9:42-47; Matt 18.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">This is why Paul also spoke jealously about "my gospel" three times rather than the gospel of "Jesus Christ." He knew others claimed to have a gospel of Jesus, but Paul was aware it was regarding a different "Jesus" than whom Paul was preaching. Listen to the tone of these three quotes:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;">God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ<span style="background-color: #ffff00;"></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;">according </span></strong></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;">to my gospel</span>.</strong></span><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;">" [Romans 2:16]</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;" data-mce-mark="1">"Now to him that is of power to stablish you&nbsp;</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">according to my gospel</span>,</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;and the </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;" data-mce-mark="1">preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;" data-mce-mark="1">of the mystery, which </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;" data-mce-mark="1">was kept secret since the world began," [Romans 16:25 ]</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><br style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;" /><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;">"Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;">was raised from the </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;">dead&nbsp;</span><strong style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;">according to my gospel</span></strong><span style="line-height: 12px; background-color: #3d85c6;"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;">"</span> [2 Timothy. 2:8]</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Likewise, Luther clearly saw that the doctrinal dispute Paul was fighting over was not just about circumcision, but also against the notion that obedience has anything to do with salvation, as he interpreted Paul. And Luther has no trouble in his commentary realizing that<strong> this is a doctrine of a different Jesus than Paul taught.</strong> </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, Luther by 1531 overlooked the true meaning of passages like Matthew 18 and Mark 9:42-27 -- the "heaven maimed or hell whole" principle, and the numerous other passages discussed in my work&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Jesus' Words on Salvation<em>.</em></span>&nbsp;And Luther clearly had no trouble to depict Paul fighting against the very doctrine that we can all see fills Jesus' words in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. (John's Gospel matches the Synoptic Gospels when&nbsp;<strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong></span><span style="color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>&nbsp;<em>eis </em></strong>in John 3:16 and elsewhere is more properly translated as&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>obey unto</em></span></strong><span style="color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">, and not as&nbsp;<em><strong>believe in</strong>,&nbsp;</em>as explained in JWOS ch. 26, available at this <a href="/books/jesuswordssalvation/20-freejwoschaptersonline.html"><span style="color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1">link</span></a>.)</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Conclusion</span></span></span></span></span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul's reference that the Corinthians easily put up with someone else teaching them about "another Jesus" appears to be another reference, similar to Galatians ch. 2, where Paul believes the true 12 apostles were teaching about "Jesus," but that Jesus was different and distinct from the one whom Paul was teaching about. Sadly, Paul never sought to make sure that Paul had known the teachings of the true Jesus. Rather, Paul in Galatians 2 is proud he learned "nothing" from the 12 about Jesus, and it shows in his epistles -- for Paul does not make any quotation of Jesus, or even a very close allusion to something Jesus said, except Paul quoted the liturgy contained in the last supper. And that perhaps is the only thing in common between the Jesus of Paul and the Jesus of the 12 -- and Paul recognized that in 2 Cor. 11:4.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">End</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Study Notes</span></span></span></span></span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">In <a href="http://www.sonofman.org/paul1.htm">Why Paul's and Jesus' Teachings Differ</a>, the author states:</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">This article shows that there is no evidence that the Christianity spread by Paul was the same Christianity of the disciples in Jerusalem or was the same Christianity<br />that lead to the production of the Gospels. Indeed, Paul had so little interest in what the disciples had to say about Jesus that he never mentions any person, who,<br />according to Paul, saw Jesus while he was alive.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Indeed, Paul had so little interest in what the disciples had to say about Jesus that he couldn't be bothered to talk to most of them, even when he had made a special<br />trip to Jerusalem.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul did not regard being a companion of Jesus as anything special. As far as he was concerned, the earthly life of Jesus had no interest and being a companion of<br />Jesus did not mark one out as an apostle. How could this be if Jesus did all the things attributed to him in the Gospels?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Where did Paul learn all of this? Paul claims revelation.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul Claimed He Learned A Mystery Never Before Known</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Could this be related to the 'other' Jesus whom Paul knew?</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 7.68pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; text-indent: -0.38in; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span style="line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-mark="1">Ephesians 3:9</span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #fafafa; color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 7.68pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; text-indent: -0.38in; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&ldquo;And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Messiah Yeshua&lsquo;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 7.68pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.38in; text-indent: -0.38in; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin-top: 7.68pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 60px; text-indent: -0.38in; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000;" data-mce-mark="1">&ldquo;But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 2 Cor .4:3.</span><br /></span></span></span></p>
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<td valign="top" >"Jesus said 'A disciple is not above his teacher.' (Matt. 10:24.) Yet<em><strong> we make Paul, the disciple, greater than the teacher</strong></em>." (Bercot, <em>Common Sense</em>, 1992)</td>
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<h1>Antithesis by Marcion</h1>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">This is an heretical work from 144 AD that now only has one posting on the Internet. Prior postings have disappeared. To insure its survival, I am reposting here to maintain its accessibility. The following is from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.marcionite-scripture.info/antithesis.html">http://www.marcionite-scripture.info/antithesis.html</a>. In the future, I hope to add a critical commentary on it.</span></p>
<h1 style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"><i>ANTITHESIS</i></h1>
<p><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;" /></p>
<h3 style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"><i>Contradictions Between the Old Testament Diety and the New Testament God.</i></h3>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><i>O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and&nbsp;<b>Contradictions</b>&nbsp;[antithesis] of gnosis falsley so called.</i></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">- from the pseudo-Pauline epistle of I Timothy 6:20 (circ.150 C.E.).</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><i>This page represents a short exercise on my part (rather loose and by no means comprehensive)- the purpose of which is to provide a brief glimpse into Marcion's lost work, "Antithesis", which can be best described as a Marcionite commentary on the New Testament, which set forth contrasts on passages( via narrative commentary, or by the presentation of OT and NT scriptures side-by-side) between the Hebrew diety and the Alien God. It is not certain how this work was actually arranged, whether a separate work apart from Marcion's canon, or a commentary incorporated into it. For the first part of this exercise, an attempt is made here to extract and construct from Tertullian's hostile witness (Adversus Marcionem) a Marcionite narrative, so as to allow the marcionite voice to express its views on the following three subjects:<br />I. The Creator God and the Supreme God,<br />II. The Inconsistancies of the Creator God, and<br />III. The Two Christs.<br /></i></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><i>For the second half of this exercise, a simple side-by-side presentation of OT and NT scriptures is given, which demonstrates the contradictions between the OT Creator God and the NT Supreme God. I must emphasize that this is a loose presentation, in that I have not confined myself to citing only passages which appeared in Marcion's canon, but have made free use of other canonical material as well. In any event, this will at least provide the reader a general idea of what Marcion's work "Antithesis" may have been like. For a further in-depth discussion on Marcion's "Antithesis", see Adolf Von Harnack's work, "Marcion: The Gospel of the Alien God" (pp.53-63; E.T. Labyrinth Press, 1990).</i></p>
<center style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>I. The Creator God and the Supreme God</b></center>
<p><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;" /></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><i>For an evil tree bringeth forth not good fruit; neither does a good tree bring forth evil fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit.</i>&nbsp;Luke 6:43,44a</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><i>I am the Lord, and there is none else; I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil...</i><br />Isaiah 45:6,7</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><i>I create evil</i>&nbsp;- This god is the author of evil - there must be another God, after the analogy of the good tree producing its good fruit. In Christ is found a different disposition, one of a simple and pure benevolence - which differs from the Creator.<br />In Christ a new God is revealed.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">The Creator God is judicial, harsh, and mighty in war.<br />The Supreme God is gentle and simply good and excellent.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">The title "God" is a vague one, and applied to other Beings as well; as it is written, " He standeth in the congregation of the mighty"; "He judgeth among the gods" (Psalm 82:1,6), "Ye are gods". Thus as the attribute of supremacy would be inappropriate to these, although they be called gods, so it is to the Creator.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Jesus Christ and none else revealed a new God, who, in the Old world and in the Old time and under the Old God was unknown and unheard of ; Whom is accounted by no one through long centuries back, and ancient in men's very ignorance of Him - even in ancient names He was unknown and concealed. He had remained unknown by any works from the beginning. Even the Creator was unaware of the Supreme God being above himself, Who, although He did not manifest Himself from the beginning and by means of the creation, has yet revealed Himself in Christ Jesus.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">To be sure, this world is a grand work, worthy of a god. Yet the Supreme God has a creation of His own, and His own world, and His own sky. One work is sufficient for our God: He has delivered man by His supreme and most excellent goodness, which is preferable to the creation of all the locusts. A primary and perfect goodness is shed voluntarily and freely upon strangers without any obligation of friendship, on the principle that we are bidden to love our enemies, who as such on that very account are strangers to us.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">The Supreme God is susceptible to no feeling of rivalry, or anger, or damage, or injury . He inflicts no punishment and takes no offence, and is not feared, as a good being ought not to be an object of fear, as a judicial being, in whom resides the grounds for fear - anger, severity, judgements, vengence, and condemnation.</p>
<center style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>II. The Inconsistencies of the Creator God</b></center>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">The Creator God is inconsistent, in respect of persons, sometimes disapproving where approbation is deserved; or else lacking in foresight, bestowing approbation on men who ought rather be reprobated, as if he either censured his own past judgements, or could not forecast his future ones.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">With fickleness and improvidence he repented, or on some recollection of some wrong-doing, because the Creator actually says "It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king" (1 Samual 15:11), his repentence in the sense of an acknowledgement of some evil work or error. This is also the case in the matter of the Ninevites, when the Book of Jonah (3:10) states,<br />"And God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them; and he did not."</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">The Creator called out to Adam, "Where art thou?" as if ignorant of where Adam was; and when Adam alleged that the shame of his nakedness was the reason for hiding himself, the Creator inquired whether he had eaten of the tree, as if he were in doubt (Genesis 3:9-11).</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">In the case of Sodom and Gomorrha, he says "I will go down now, to see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come to me; and if not, I will know"; another instance of his uncertainty in ignorance.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">The Creator God was even mean enough in his very fierceness, when, in his wrath against the people for their consecration of the golden calf, he makes this request to Moses: "Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make thee a great nation" (Exodus 32:10). Moses is better than his God, as the deprecatur and indeed, the averter of his anger, "For Thou shalt not do this; or else destroy me along with them" (Exodus 32:32).</p>
<center style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>III. The Two Christs</b></center>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">The Christ who in the days of Tiberius was, by a previously unknown God, revealed for the salvation of all nations, is a different being from him who was ordained by the Creator God for the restoration of the Jewish state, and who is yet to come.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">The Creator's Christ is to be a warrior, a bearer of arms, and mighty in war.<br />The Christ of the Good God, who has come, is a far different being from the Creator's Christ.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Isaiah's description of Christ in no point suits the Christ of the Good God. Isaiah's Christ is to be called Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14); then, he takes the riches of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria against the king of Assyria (Isaiah 8:4). But yet, He who is come was neither born under such a name, nor ever engaged in such a war-like enterprise.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">A Christ had come who had never been foreannounced, but the Christ predicted had not yet appeared. The Jews were themselves quite certain that it was some other who came; so they not only rejected Him as a stranger, but slew Him as an enemy, though they would have acknowledged Him, and with all religious devotion followed Him, if He had been one of them.</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">The difference between the two Christs, is that the Jewish Christ was ordained by the Creator for the restoration of the people alone from its dispersion,<br />while our Christ was appointed by the supremely Good God for the liberation of the whole human race.<br />Who among the nations can turn to the Creator, when those whom the prophets name are proselytes of individually different and private conditions?</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">It is the Christ of the Other, Supreme God Who was driven to the cross by the hostile powers and authorities of the Creator. The suffering of the cross was not predicted of the Creator's Christ; moreover, it should not be believed that the Creator would expose his son to that kind of death on which he himself had pronounced a curse. "Cursed" says he, "is everyone who hangeth on a tree" (Deuteronomy 21:3, Galatians 3:13).</p>
<center style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>ANTITHESIS</b></center>
<p><br style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;" /></p>
<pre style="line-height: normal;">The CREATOR GOD The GOOD GOD
of this World Revealed by Christ
And out of the ground the Lord "For a corrupt tree bringeth forth not
Yahweh made every tree to good fruit; neither does a good tree
grow...the tree of the knowledge bringeth forth corrupt fruit."
of good and evil . Luke 6:43
Gen.2:9; 3:1ff. ["Either make the tree good, and its
fruit good; or else make the tree
corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the
tree is known by its fruit." Mt.12:33]
And the Lord Yahweh called But when Jesus perceived their
unto Adam, and said unto him, thoughts, He answering said unto
"Where art thou?" them, "Why do you reason in your
Genesis 3:9 hearts?" Luke 5:22
Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, And unto him that smiteth thee on
hand for hand, foot for foot... the cheek offer also the other...
Exodus 21:24 Luke 6:29
And Elijah answered and said to [Jesus' disciples] :"Lord, wilt Thou
the captain of fifty, "If I be a man that we command fire to come
of God, then let fire come down down from heaven, and consume
from heaven, and consume thee them, even as Elijah did?" But He
and thy fifty". And there came turned and rebuked them, and said,
down fire from heaven, and con- "Ye know not what manner of spirit
sumed him and his fifty. ye are of ; for the Son of man
2 Kings 1:9, 10 is not come to destroy men's lives,
but to save them" Luke 9:54,55
...there came forth little children And they brought young children to
out of the city, and mocked him Him...and His disciples rebuked
[Elisha]...and [he] cursed them those that brought them. But Jesus
in the name of the Lord. And ...said unto them "Allow the little
there came forth two she-bears children to come to Me, and forbid
out of the wood, and tare forty them not, for of such is the kingdom
two children of them. of God."
2 Kings 2:23,24 Mark 10:13,14
And if a woman have issue, and if And a woman having an issue of
her issue in her flesh be blood, she blood twelve years, which had spent
shall be put apart seven days; all her living on physicians, neither
whosoever toucheth her shall be could be healed of any, came up
unclean until the even... and if a behind [Jesus], and touched the
woman have an issue of her blood border of His garment: and immed-
...beyond the time of her separation, iately her issue of blood ceased.
...she shall be unclean. Luke 8:43,44
Leviticus 15:19,25
When a man hath taken a wife, and Whosoever divorces his wife, and
married her, and it come to pass that marries another, commits adultery
she find no favour in his eyes, because against her (Mk 10:11).
he hath found some uncleanness in Moses, because of the hardness of
her: then let him write her a bill of your hearts, allowed you to put
divorcement, and give it in her hand, away your wives: but from the
and send her out of his house. beginning this was not so.
Deuteronomy 24:1 Matthew 19:8
Psalm 21:12 Therefore shalt thou make Wherefore take unto you the whole
them turn their back, when thou shalt make armour of God, that you may be able
ready thine arrows upon thy strings against to withstand the evil one...taking the
the face of them (Psalm 21:12).Yea, he sent shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be
out his arrows, and scattered them; and he able to quench all the fiery arrows of
shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. the wicked (Ephesians 6:16).
(Psalm 18:4) Clouds and darkness are For we wrestle not against flesh and
round about him... (97:2a) He sent darkness, blood, but against principalities,
and made it dark...(Psalm 105a).He cast against powers, against the rulers of
upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, the darkness of this Aeon, against
and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil spiritual wickedness in high places
angels among them (Psalm 78:49). Ephesians 6:12
I form light, and create darkness: I make God is light, and in Him is no dark-
peace, and create evil: I the Lord Yahweh ness at all (1 John 1:5b) God is love
do all these things ( Isaiah 45:7). Do they (1 John 4:16); [Love] thinketh no
not err that devise evil? (Proverbs 14:22a evil (1 Corinthians 13:5d).
I the Lord your God am a jealous Love knows no jealousy...
God (Exodus 20:5)....for the Lord, 1 Corinthians 13:4
Whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God (Exodus 34:14).
He is a Jealous God; He will not Love is never rude, never irritated,
forgive your transgressions nor never resentful (1 Corinthians 13:5)
your sins. If you forsake the Lord, Then came Peter to Him, and said,
then He will turn and do you hurt, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin
and consume you...(Joshua 24:13,14) against me, and I forgive him? Until
For I the Lord God am a jealous seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers say not to you, until seven times:
upon the third and fourth generation but , until seventy times seven."
of them that hate me (Exodus 20:5). Matthew 18:23-22
I am Yahweh, that is my name- And now, O Father, glorify Thou
And my glory to another will I Me with thine own self with the
not give... Isaiah 42:8 glory I had with Thee before the
world was. John 17:5
And the sun stood still, and the moon Be ye angry, yet not committing sin;
stayed, Until the people had avenged Let not the sun be going down
themselves upon their enemies...for upon your wrath.
the Lord fought for Israel. Ephesians 4:26
Joshua 10:12-14
Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast Wherefore He saith, "When He
led captivity captive: Thou hast received ascended on high, He led captivity
tribute from men. Psalm 68:18 captive, and gave gifts unto men."
Ephesians 4:8
</pre>
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<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Was Paul A True Apostle of Jesus Christ?</span></strong></span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[<a href="https://airtable.com/shry0e98M4lzqEoCX">Audio version</a>.] </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul in his epistles says he was appointed by Jesus as an apostle of His.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But in the 3 appearance accounts in Acts, the person Paul met saying "I am Jesus" outside Damascus says only that Paul will be a 'martus' -- a witness. See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26%3A16&amp;version=KJV">Acts 26:16</a> ("I have appeared to thee to make thee...a witness...") That person saying "I am Jesus" never appoints Paul as an Apostle. See Acts chs. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9%3A4-7&amp;version=KJV">9:4-7</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+22%3A6-9&amp;version=KJV">22:6-9</a>; and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26%3A13-18&amp;version=KJV">26:13-18</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For this reason, scholars concur that Luke has a different view than Paul does about whether Paul was an actual appointed apostle of Jesus - an Apostle with a capital "A." </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Wikipedia is a good introduction in the article "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_reliability_of_the_Acts_of_the_Apostles">Historical Reliability of Acts</a>," and notes the issue about a disparity between Luke's Acts and Paul's claims, including about his supposed apostleship:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">A key contested issue is the historicity of Luke's depiction of Paul. According to the majority viewpoint,<strong> Acts described Paul differently from how Paul describes himself</strong>, both factually and theologically.</span><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_reliability_of_the_Acts_of_the_Apostles#cite_note-4" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[4]</a></sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;Acts differed with Paul's letters on important issues, such as the Law&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_of_Tarsus_and_Judaism" class="mw-redirect" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Paul of Tarsus and Judaism">Law</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">, <span style="background-color: #ffffff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Paul's own apostleship,</strong></span></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>&nbsp;a</strong></span>nd his relation to the</span></span><span data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><span data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_centers_of_Christianity#Jerusalem" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Early centers of Christianity">JERUSALEM CHURCH</a></span><span data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_reliability_of_the_Acts_of_the_Apostles#cite_note-5" style="color: #0b0080; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[5]</a></sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><br /></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1">John&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"></span>Crossan and Jonathan Reed, in their latest work of 2004, explain the nature of this disparity, and notes Luke does not call Paul an Apostle with a capital A. This is explained in <span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">John Crossan &amp; Jonathan Reed's&nbsp;</span><em style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;</em><strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">In Search of Paul: How Jesus' Apostle Opposed Rome's Empire with God's Kingdom</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;(San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2004) at 29</span>:</span><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="Quote" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[I]n all his letters, Paul sees himself as an apostle sent from God through Christ.&nbsp;The very vocation for which Paul lives is denied him by Luke. He is, to be sure, an important missionary....But he is <strong>not an apostle equal to the Twelve</strong>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">That's the end of their quote.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Furthermore, Crossan &amp; Reed make the point that Luke's account in Acts 1 of how&nbsp;Matthias replaced Judas as the 12th apostle excludes the possibility of a&nbsp;thirteenth&nbsp;apostle such as Paul. They write:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="Quote" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luke insists in Acts 1 that, after Jesus' resurrection, there were still, always, and only `the twelve apostles.'...For Luke, Paul is simply not an apostle.<a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2010html.html#pgfId=464155" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">&nbsp;6</a>&nbsp;Without Matthias' explicit selection, one might have imagined that Luke's Paul was at least implicitly Judas' replacement as the twelfth apostle. With it,&nbsp;<strong>Luke implies that Paul was not an apostle and could never be one</strong>....[H]e could never be the one thing Paul always insisted that he was, namely, an apostle sent by God through a revelation of the risen Lord. (Crossan &amp; Reed at page 29.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Similarly, we read from conservative evangelical scholars Hengel &amp; Schwemer in their book&nbsp;<strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Paul between Damascus and Antioch</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;(John Knox Press, 1997)&nbsp; at&nbsp;</span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=PRIKVslqctkC&amp;lpg=PA321&amp;dq=haereticorum%20apostolus&amp;pg=PA321" style="color: #517291; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.6364px;">321</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;n. 3 t</span>hat, based upon the same reasons, the following is true:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"In Acts...Paul is&nbsp;<strong>denied the title of Apostle</strong>."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, the only person to say Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ in the entire New Testament is Paul himself.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Yet, we know that Jesus said if He alone bore witness to Himself, then His witness would be untrue. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+5%3A31&amp;version=KJV">John 5:31</a>, we read "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In Jesus' case, God spoke from heaven twice in front of multiple witnesses at Jesus' baptism and transfiguration that Jesus was God's Son. God from Heaven also said "listen to him." Paul must meet a similar confirmation that an important title was given of "Apostle" in front of two witnesses by Jesus. In the vision accounts, the "Jesus' whom Paul meets, which is recounted three times in Acts, never says Paul is an "Apostle" of Jesus.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Why must we follow Jesus' requirement of two witnesses for a significant appointment as "Apostle?" </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus was simply extending the Law's principle, so that two witnesses were necessary to establish not only a wrong, but also anything as important as God sending someone for a special role.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In fact, Jesus in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+2%3A2&amp;version=KJV">Revelation 2:2</a> clearly agrees a self-serving claim to be His apostle is insufficient. Jesus commended the Ephesians for finding those claiming to be apostles were not. Hence, in that case, there was only self-serving proof. Jesus commended the Ephesians for rejecting that as sufficient proof. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, Paul's claim to being an apostle suffers from being self-serving. By a Biblical standard from Jesus Himself, Paul's self-witness "is not true." </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We will discuss this principle from <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+2%3A2&amp;version=KJV">Revelation 2:2</a> below in more depth. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But first we will address that Paul even admits he is not one of the twelve apostles.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<h2 class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span data-mce-mark="1">Paul's Implicit Self-Awareness He Was Not One of the 12 Apostles</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul did not consider himself one of the 12 Apostles.&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In 1 Cor. 15:5, Paul says that after the "twelve" saw the resurrected Jesus pre-Ascension, Paul became one who out of time (post-Ascension) also saw Christ. Paul necessarily thus did <strong>not consider himself one of the 12</strong>. He implicitly recognized the validity of Matthias' election by lots&nbsp; to be the 12th, as the 11 true apostles asked Jesus in Heaven through the Holy Spirit to make the decision on the 12th. This is recorded in Acts chapter one.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, when Paul calls himself an apostle, what could he mean instead?</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The word apostle means "messenger." Paul could use the term apostle about himself in a loose sense of a messenger of Jesus's doctrines as taught by the 12. This means he had no independent authority distinct from the 12 apostles. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But some claim Paul thought he had an independent authority of the 12 or at least equal to any of them.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Did Paul ever act like he had such authority in the Book of Acts? No.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul did not act authoritatively in response when some came with a gospel at Antioch that Gentiles had to be circumcised. Paul claimed no vision or revelation to solve the dilemma.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> Nor did the Antioch church treat Paul as if he had any authority at all even though Paul likely disagreed with these teachers.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> Instead Paul was assigned by the Antioch church to go ask the apostles at Jerusalem to resolve the issue.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, Paul's actions were inconsistent with him having such an option of himself as an apostle equal to the twelve, or with any authority from Jesus himself to answer the question.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For had Paul thought he had such authority to give Jesus' answer based upon having heard from Jesus previously or by a new revelation, Paul should have been able to quell the issue easily. Paul could have said he had the authority of an Apostle of Jesus Christ. I mean APOSTLE capitalized.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Paul's actions were inconsistent with such belief about himself at the time of Acts 15.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> Moreover, the Antioch church's action was inconsistent with Paul being an authoritative Apostle in touch with Jesus. For&nbsp; the Antioch church sent Paul as its messenger to ask the 12 their view on the issue of circumcision. Paul and the Antioch Church obviously <strong>mutually understood</strong> that Paul was simply a messenger from Antioch to the Jerusalem church, acting on behalf of the Antioch church as its messenger, and not coming to Jerusalem to approve Paul's likely view had Paul been the one attempting to exercise authority (which he was not).</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, no one imagined, including Paul, that Paul alone had authority to rule on the issue, or recall Jesus' teachings or receive revelations from Jesus to answer the issue. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paulinists see the problem, and provide implausible explanations. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In a recent 2015 article by the Christian Courier called <a href="https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1385-some-character-traits-of-paul-the-apostle">Character Traits of Paul</a>, the argument is made that Paul did not assert he could answer the question as an apostle because he was humble. He supposedly declined out of humility, and not because Paul did not believe he was a true apostle of Jesus Christ.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Even saying that, the author knew that Paul clearly everywhere else exhibited a tendency of boasting. Hence, this argument is implausible.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Regardless, let's hear the argument, and then re-assess the truth after hearing this point. Wayne Jackson writes about the trait of <strong>Humbleness in Paul</strong> from the fact he did not assert an apostolic authority in Acts 15 which Paul supposedly knew 100% he had from Jesus:</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<h2 style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.1; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 30px; margin-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Humble</strong></span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 60px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 60px; font-size: 16.0020008087158px; line-height: 1.67em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While many character traits of Paul readily come to the student&rsquo;s mind, likely humility is<em><strong> not the first of these</strong></em>. But the humble Pauline disposition clearly is there for the perceptive reader.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 60px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 60px; font-size: 16.0020008087158px; line-height: 1.67em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">After Paul and Barnabas had completed their missionary campaign in Asia Minor, they settled for a while in Antioch of Syria. Presently, certain men from Judea arrived. Incredibly, they were teaching a &ldquo;Judaistic gospel,&rdquo; namely that unless one submits to the Hebrew rite of circumcision, in addition to the fundamentals of the gospel, he cannot be saved (Acts 15:1).</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 60px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 60px; font-size: 16.0020008087158px; line-height: 1.67em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This doctrine, so adverse to the message that Paul and Barnabas had proclaimed in their previous preaching, required a response. There was much &ldquo;dissension and questioning&rdquo; about this issue, and the peace of the church was in jeopardy. A suggestion thus was made that the two missionaries, in the company of several other brothers, should proceed to Jerusalem and <strong>inquire there of the &ldquo;apostles and elders&rdquo; about this matter</strong> (v. 2). Hence the investigative party was dispatched to the holy city.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 60px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 60px; font-size: 16.0020008087158px; line-height: 1.67em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now here is a question of interest. Why did not Paul interject himself into the initial discussion <strong>by demanding: &ldquo;Listen, there is no need for a deputized group to consult with Jerusalem. I myself am an apostle of Christ, and not a whit behind any of the others [cf. 2 Corinthians 11:5]. I am perfectly capable, therefore, of settling this issue on my own. Circumcision will not be required</strong>!&rdquo;</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 60px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 60px; font-size: 16.0020008087158px; line-height: 1.67em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But the sensitive apostle knew this was a volatile situation. If the Christians at Antioch felt the need of consulting the broader band of apostolic authority, Paul would not insist on thrusting himself to the forefront. The larger cause of Jesus was <strong>more important on this occasion than his own ego</strong>. He would humbly recede into the shadows for the moment, that the gospel might not be damaged. This was not the last time that this gracious servant of Christ would yield in a matter of expediency for the sake of his kinsmen in the Lord (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:12).</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This is a kind argument to rationalize Paul's behavior was motivated by humility. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, given Paul's clear habit of boasting in his letters (see our article Did Paul Have An Enormous Self-Image at this<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/391-did-paul-have-an-enormous-self-image.html"> link</a>), the more likely reason for Paul's behavior is he did not perceive himself at that point to be an "apostle of Jesus' Christ." Paul did not act or believe as if he had an authority equal to any of the 12.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The additional reason to think so is when Paul arrives and meets in Acts 15 with the 12, Paul accepts Peter saying in Acts 15:7 that the Holy Spirit "long ago" had called himself to be the apostle to the Gentiles. (How the Holy Spirit did so is recorded in Acts 10.) Peter in <a href="https://biblehub.com/acts/15-7.htm">Acts 15:7</a> in the NIV says:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">"Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul did not object. Paul did not say he had that appointment. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Paul later in his epistles would take that title for himself -- not a shining moment of humility. For example, in <a href="https://biblehub.com/romans/11-13.htm">Romans 11:13</a>, Paul says he is "the apostle to the Gentiles." Paul grabs away what Luke records the Holy Spirit revealing to Peter in Acts 10, and repeated by Peter in Acts 15:7.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Despite Peter's clarity, Paul is silent in Acts 15 at the Jerusalem Council. Peter clearly claims he, Peter, is the apostle to the Gentiles by the choice of the Holy Spirit "long ago." Paul does not jump up and say&nbsp; - "Foul" -- Jesus picked me.&nbsp; Paul is silent.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> Nor did Paul say at the Acts 15 Conference that Jesus spoke to him personally in a vision or by an appearance, and thus Jesus gave Paul authority to say circumcision was not a requirement to become a Christian. (Of course it was not a requirement, for in the Law only "sons of Israel" had to be circumcised - Lev. 12:1-3 unless a Gentile wished to enter the Temple or celebrate passover.) </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, in Acts 15, Paul was silent among all of the 12 about having any message or direction from Jesus to answer the question before all 12. Paul asserted no authority whatsoever at the meeting with the 12 recorded in Acts 15. This is a big problem for those who think Paul has constant authority and inspiration.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, Acts 15 is the dispositive proof that the reason Paul did not tell Christians at Antioch that he could give a binding decision is because Paul did not yet have that self-belief that he was an Apostle with a capital A.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<h2 class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span data-mce-mark="1">What About Acts 14:4, 14 -- Does Luke Call Paul An Apostle of Jesus Christ?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">While pro-Paul scholars may believe Paul's claim of apostleship in his letters is more valid than Luke's own account, we cannot side with Paul's letters out of conventional thinking. As believers, we must act instead like good Bereans. &nbsp;We consider what problem arises that Paul's claim of apostleship with a capital A is uncorroborated by Luke, and implicitly negated.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1">But some challenge whether Luke perhaps does call Paul an apostle in Acts 14:4. There Luke says Paul and Barnabas were sent from the church at Antioch as "apostles" to go to Jerusalem to meet the leaders of Christianity there to resolve the issue whether gentiles had to be circumcised.&nbsp;</span><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But the Antioch church sending these two as their messengers &mdash; carrying a letter with a legal question for the 12 at Jerusalem to decide &mdash; cannot be construed as recognizing Paul as any apostle of Jesus. It implies<strong> entirely the opposite</strong>. Their using Paul as their messenger to Jerusalem implies they did not accept or think Paul was an apostle of Jesus with an authority from Jesus to give them a message on the spot to resolve authoritatively their question. The Antioch church had to hear from the 12.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Let&rsquo;s draw out this problem that Pauline scholars can not overcome.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First, in reading Acts 14:4, one must first realize APOSTOLOS is an ordinary Greek word meaning 'messenger.' One has to see the context to decide whether Luke intended us to understand the title of "Apostle of Jesus Christ" or not.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The first hint that it is not used in the title sense is that had Acts 14:4 that meaning of&nbsp;<strong>Apostle of Jesus Christ</strong>, then Barnabas should also be regarded as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Not simply Paul. But the proof no one ever understood Acts 14:4 this way is that no one in the early church ever made the claim that Barnabas was an "Apostle of Jesus Christ." We never hear of "Apostle Barnabas." As Melissa Cutler, a fan of Paul and Marcion, even admits in her study entitled&nbsp;<a href="http://www.original-bible.com/Root-of-Corruption.html" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; color: #517291;">Marcionite Scripture</a>:</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"That verse (<em>Acts</em>&nbsp;14:14) mentions 'the apostles Barnabas and Paul,' since Barnabas is not an apostle in the more specific sense of the word, even here the author is not acknowledging Paul&rsquo;s status as an apostle."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The reason is clear because in context, Paul and Barnabas are simply described in Acts 14:4 as messengers of the Antioch church on the issue of circumcision just as Barnabas is described.... They are&nbsp;<strong>apostles</strong>&nbsp;with a small letter 'a'---not a capital "A."</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">As Christian evangelical historian Ben</span><span data-mce-mark="1"></span><span data-mce-mark="1">Witherington explains in <strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: #494a44;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/New_Testament_History.html?id=pf2iQgAACAAJ" style="color: #517291;">New Testament History</a>&nbsp;</span></strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;" data-mce-mark="1">(Baker Academic: 2001) at page 229</span>:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.6364px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">The use of the term apostoli in [Acts] 14:4 and 14 seems to indicate that Paul and Barnabas are being viewed as agents/apostles of the Antioch church (cf. 2 Cor. 8:23),&nbsp;<strong>not apostles with a capital A</strong>." </span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">End of quote.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">Next, if Luke intended Paul and Barnabas to be apostles of Jesus Christ with the same authority as the 12, then a second quandry arises.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">Paul in Galatians 1:19 said one of the "apostles" was James, "the brother of Jesus." This James chairs as bishop the conference of Jerusalem in Acts 15. There the 12 apostles plus Paul as a messenger from Antioch discuss legal duties of the Gentiles who become Christians. If we must conclude that this James - the author of the epistle of James - and Paul are equally apostles of Jesus Christ, then why do they contradict about grace alone without works? </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">Luther was right: put the dunce cap on me if you can reconcile the two passages. (For discussion of James 2:14-17, see this <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/718-parable-of-the-sheep-and-the-goats-from-jwos.html">link</a>.) The <strong>Encyclopedia Brittanica</strong> has this correct - Paul's reference to James as an apostle and Luke's reference to Barnabas as an "apostle" in Acts both are using a looser meaning of the word apostle than meaning an apostle of Jesus Christ. Rather, Luke has in mind the ordinary meaning of messenger. The <strong>Encyclopedia Brittanica</strong>&nbsp;in its article&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">"James," from</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;1896, Vol. 13 at page&nbsp;</span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=cOVTAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=so%20easily%20influenced%20paul%20threw%20james%20down%20from%20temple&amp;pg=PA553#v=onepage&amp;q=so%20easily%20influenced%20paul%20threw%20james%20down%20from%20temple&amp;f=false" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">553</a>:<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"></span><br /></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The two passages (1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19) from which it might be argued that James the brother of the Lord was an apostle cannot be relied on, for we find the same title given to Barnabas, and it is certain that the name 'apostle' began <strong>to be more widely applied</strong> after the ascension than it is in the Gospels.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent; color: #494a44;">&nbsp;Our next topic in this discussion is:&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 28.18181800842285px; font-weight: normal; font-size: 20px; color: #76756a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Revelation 2:2 Sets The Standard &amp; Arguably Was Used In Paul's Case</strong></span></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span><span data-mce-mark="1">It is hard to imagine that Paul's claim of apostleship never came to the attention of any of the twelve apostles. One would expect to find some testing by the apostles of Paul's claims to be an apostle.</span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus in&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"></span>Revelation chapter two, verse 2 mentions a trial at Ephesus of persons who told the Ephesians they were apostles. The verdict found those "saying they were apostles" were not true apostles, proving Jesus concurs that <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>a self-serving claim to apostleship does not suffic</strong></span><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">e to prove it is so</span></strong><em><strong>.</strong></em> Jesus told the Ephesians in Revelation chapter two verse two in the Young'sLiteral Translation:</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I have known thy works, and thy labour, and thy endurance, and that thou art not able to bear evil ones, and that thou hast tried those&nbsp;<strong>saying themselves to be apostles</strong>&nbsp;and are not, and hast found them liars.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In Revelation, Jesus did not say the same thing to any of the other six churches whom He addressed. Jesus made this remark to the only church among the seven whom we know Paul visited: the church at Ephesus. And among the seven churches, it was only the church at Ephesus whom we know Paul told that he was an apostle. To repeat what we quoted above, Paul wrote this church in Ephesians 1:1 in the ASV version:</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">From Paul, chosen by God to be an<strong><em>&nbsp;</em>apostle of Christ Jesus</strong>. To God's people who live in Ephesus and are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If Paul were the object of Jesus' remarks in Revelation chapter two, verse two, it then makes sense that only the church at Ephesus would be commended for trying someone who told the Ephesians that he was an apostle. To the Ephesians, and to them alone, Jesus commends them for testing the ones who "said" they were apostles and are not, but are "liars." Now it was to the Ephesians that we likewise know Paul `said he was an apostle....'</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Our next topic in this discussion is:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Was Paul not an apostle, thus bringing Revelation 2:2 directly to bear on Paul?</span></strong></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span>Indeed, as demonstrated above, there is no evidence for Paul being an apostle, except from Paul's own mouth. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As <span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 20px;">Alan F. Segal in his <strong>Paul the Convert&nbsp;</strong></span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 20px;">(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990) at page 189</span> mentions, in Acts </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Luke makes no reference [to the twelve accepting Paul's apostalate]."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Of course, the four gospel accounts have no mention of Paul, and thus offer no basis to confirm Paul as an apostle.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<h2 class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1">Could There Ever Be A 13th Apostle With A Capital A?</span></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">It is also clear from Acts that the Apostles themselves understood their number was set at twelve, but that this did not include Paul. Long before Revelation 2:2 was written, we know from Acts chapter one, verses 21-26, that the twelfth apostle--<a name="marker=464115"></a>Matthias--was chosen to replace&nbsp;<a name="marker=464116"></a>Judas. The apostles' criteria for the replacement in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1%3A21-22&amp;version=NIV">Acts chapter one, verses 21 to 22</a> was that it had to be someone who was with the others from the beginning of Jesus' ministry. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Luke reveals therefore that the eleven had a criteria that would likewise exclude adding Paul as an apostle.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Then Jesus in the Book of Revelation reveals<strong> twelve</strong> is the number of apostles for all time.&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"></span>The verse of Revelation chapter 21 verse 4 follows the mention of the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. Each gate has a name of the twelve tribes of Israel on it. Revelation 21:14 CEV then says:<span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The city was built on twelve foundation stones. On each of the stones was written the name of one of the Lamb's twelve apostles.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span>There is a clear correspondence of one apostle for each of the twelve tribes, gates, and foundation stones. The number each time is only twelve. It implies there are not supposed to be more than&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"></span>twelve apostles. You cannot have thirteen or fourteen apostles judging the twelve tribes. Jesus made this clear during His earthly ministry as well. Jesus in Matthew 19 verse 28 said the role of the twelve apostles was to "sit upon <strong>twelve</strong> thrones, judging the <strong>twelve</strong> tribes of Israel."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=464127"></a>The apostles understood it the same way. When Judas fell away and was lost, they added Matthias to bring their number back to twelve. (<a name="marker=464128"></a>Acts 1:21-26.) </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">When apostles were martyred later, such as Apostle James (the brother of John), mentioned in&nbsp;<a name="marker=464129"></a>Acts 12:2, the apostles did not replace him. Had they done so, this would bring their number to thirteen in the resurrection ruling over the New Jerusalem. The apostles must have seen the mis-match which a thirteenth apostle would represent in fulfilling their role as twelve judges over the twelve tribes into eternity.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Alan Johnson in the&nbsp;<strong>Calvinist Expositor's Bible Commentator</strong>&nbsp;agrees the early church treated the&nbsp;<a name="marker=464131"></a>offices of the twelve apostles as&nbsp;<a name="marker=464132"></a>dying with them. They were not to be replaced. Their number of twelve was unique. Thus, Alan Johnson writes in his article&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 20px;" data-mce-mark="1">"Revelation,"&nbsp;</span><strong>Hebrews-Revelation in The Expositor's Bible Commentary</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 20px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(Ed. F.E. Gaebelein)(Zondervan: 1981) in Vol. 12 at page 434 as follows:</span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As to whether the authoritative function of apostles continued after the first century, the apostolic fathers are instructive. In <strong>no case</strong> do the many references to apostles in the writings of Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas relate to any recognized apostles other than those associated with the NT. The Fathers apparently understood the special apostolic function [on earth] to have <strong>ceased with the end of the apostolic era</strong>.&nbsp;<a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2010html.html#pgfId=464136" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></a></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Luke in Acts made it evident there were only twelve apostles for all time, and this excluded Paul. Never does Paul claim in Acts to be an apostle of Jesus. Never do the apostles describe Paul as an apostle. This has been recognized by all Pauline scholars.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1">As a final word, this truth has been long recognized in the church. Tertullian explained in his famous work&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"><strong>Against Marcion</strong> (207 AD) -- an early orthodox apologetic -- that Paul was not on par with the 12, and was their inferior, proven by Paul's submission to them in Acts 15, which we explained why above.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1">In the same context, Tertullian wrote Jesus only appointed 12 apostles, and that was the fixed number for all time. This statement (quoted next) mathematically eliminates Paul as a 13th apostle. (Tertullian discreetly did not directly point out that implication.) So we read in&nbsp;</span></span><span data-mce-mark="1">Book 1, ch. 13,&nbsp; that Tertullian is emphatic there are only 12 apostles for all time. We read in&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">(</span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=oqh67TAWp-UC&amp;lpg=PT641&amp;ots=pmTMmf7jRd&amp;dq=I%20find%20figurative%20hints%20up%20and%20down%20the%20Creator's%20dispensation%20in%20the%20twelve%20springs%20of%20Elfin&amp;pg=PT641#v=onepage&amp;q=I%20find%20figurative%20hints%20up%20and%20down%20the%20Creator's%20dispensation%20in%20the%20twelve%20springs%20of%20Elfin&amp;f=false" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">The Sacred Writings of Tertullian (2012)</a>&nbsp;as follows:&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">"But why was it that he chose&nbsp;<strong>twelve apostles</strong>, and not some other numbers? ...For of this number, I find figurative hints up and down the Creator's dispensation in the twelve springs of Elfin; in the twelve gems of Aaron's priestly vestments; and in the twelve stones appointed by Joshua to be taken out of the Jordan, and set up the ark of the covenant. Now, the&nbsp;<strong>same number of apostles was thus portended.</strong>"&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<h3 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 28.18181800842285px; font-weight: normal; font-size: 20px; color: #76756a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="color: #3366ff;">Tertullian's Points About Paul</span></strong></span></h3>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1">In 207 AD, the early orthodox church was resisting a Paul-only movement known as Marcionism. (See </span><a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/56-marcionism.html" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;">our article</a>&nbsp;entitled Marcionism<span data-mce-mark="1">.) </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1">This movement held Paul is the only apostle for the current dispensation and all the Law given Moses was abrogated and belonged to a prior dispensation. Also, as Romans 7:1-7 plausibly can be read, Marcion claimed that the Husband-God who gave the Law was dead and gone, thereby ending the Law between Himself and His betrothed people, but now Jesus supposedly represents the Good God of the New Testament. Marcion said once Jesus resurrected, we now are permitted to marry as our new husband. The Marcionites apppear to be fairly reading Paul, as Paul expressly taught, the Law given Moses only was binding while the Father-husband still lived. </span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span data-mce-mark="1">For more on this, see our <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/167-romans-7-a-major-incongruity.html" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium;">article</a>&nbsp;on Romans 7:1-7. It demonstrates that the thesis of Marcion, with its horrible view that Yahweh is dead in Sheol forever, can indeed be found in this passage from Paul.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Continguing with Tertullian's rebuttal to Marcion, Tertullian did it in two ways. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First in <strong>Against Marcion</strong> written in 207, Tertullian proved the impossibility that there can ever be two gods -- there is always only exclusively one God.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Second, Tertullian challenged the validity of the authority which Marcion invested in Paul as an apostle and / or prophet, Tertullian relying heavily on Acts, especially chapter 15, to prove Paul was not an apostle.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">While beginning <strong>Against Marcion</strong> seemingly accepting of Paul,&nbsp;Tertullian finally gets to the "Elephant in the Room" -- Paul, and makes the following sobering points about Paul:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=464269"></a>Jesus never made Paul an apostle from the records that we can read.</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=464270"></a>Paul's claim to apostleship solely relies upon Paul's veracity.</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=464271"></a>If Paul were a true apostle, he is still an inferior apostle because Paul in Acts 15 submitted his doctrine to the twelve.</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=464272"></a>If Paul later varied from the twelve, we must regard the twelve as more authoritative than Paul because he came later.</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=464273"></a>Paul's claim of being selected as an apostle later by Jesus seems implausible. That story asks us to believe Jesus had not planned things adequately with the twelve.</span></li>
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=464274"></a>Lastly, Jesus warned us of false prophets who would come doing miracles in His name and signs and wonders, and Paul perfectly matches that prophesied type of prophet.<a name="pgfId=464276"></a><a name="marker=464275"></a></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The key quote with most of these points is the following passage from Tertullian -- written in 207 A.D. in&nbsp;<strong>Against Marcion.&nbsp; </strong>Tertullian says:<strong><br /></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">I desire to hear from Marcion the<em><strong>&nbsp;origin of Paul the apostle</strong></em>. I am a sort of new disciple, having had instruction from no other teacher. For the moment my only belief is that nothing ought to be believed without good reason, and that is believed without good reason which is believed without knowledge of its origin: and I must with the best of reasons<em><strong>&nbsp;approach this inquiry with uneasiness when I find one affirmed to be an apostle, of whom in the list of the apostles in the gospel I find no trace</strong></em>. So when I am told that he [i.e.<strong><em>, Paul] was subsequently promoted by our Lord</em></strong>, by now at rest in heaven, I find some lack of foresight in the fact that&nbsp;<em><strong>Christ did not know beforehand that he would have need of him</strong></em>, but after setting in order the office of apostleship and sending them out upon their duties, considered it necessary, on an impulse and not by deliberation, to add another, by compulsion so to speak and not by design [i.e., on the Road to Damascus]. So then, shipmaster out of Pontus [i.e., Marcion],&nbsp;<strong><em>supposing you have never accepted into your craft any smuggled or illicit merchandise</em></strong>, have never appropriated or adulterated any cargo, and in the things of God are even more careful and trustworthy, will you<strong><em>&nbsp;please tell us under what bill of lading you accepted Paul as apostle</em></strong>, who had stamped him with that mark of distinction, who commended him to you, and who put him in your charge? Only so may you with confidence disembark him [i.e., Paul]: only so can he avoid being proved to belong to him who has put in evidence all the documents that attest his apostleship.&nbsp;<strong><em>He [i.e., Paul] himself, says Marcion, claims to be an apostle, and that not from men nor through any man, but through Jesus Christ</em></strong>. Clearly any man can make claims for himself: but his claim is confirmed by another person&rsquo;s attestation. One person writes the document, another signs it, a third attests the signature, and a fourth enters it in the records.<strong><em>&nbsp;No man is for himself both claimant and witness</em></strong>. Besides this, you have found it written that many will come and say, I am Christ. If there is one that makes&nbsp;<strong><em>a false claim to be Christ, much more can there be one who professes that he is an apostle of Christ</em></strong>....&nbsp;<strong><em>[L]et the apostle, belong to your other&nbsp;god</em></strong>:....&nbsp;(Tertullian,&nbsp;<em>Against Marcion</em>&nbsp;(Oxford University Press, 1972) at 509, 511, reprinted online at &nbsp;<a href="http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/evans_marc_12book5_eng.htm">Link</a>.<a href="http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/evans_marc_12book5_eng.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;"></a><br /></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Earlier, in Book 4, chapter 2 of Tertullian's&nbsp;<a name="pgfId=464200"></a><strong>Against Marcion</strong> (ca. 207 A.D.), Tertullian &nbsp;had also clearly said Paul's authority is inferior to that of the twelve apostles. Tertullian explains Paul's gospel is only valid so long as it is consistent with Jesus and the twelve.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span>First, in what we will quote in a moment, Tertullian starts out by emphasizing the priority of the gospels written by the <strong>actual</strong>&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"></span>twelve apostles, namely the gospels of Matthew and John. Those of Luke and Mark were inferior because they were produced merely by disciples of their teachers. Tertullian was&nbsp; rebutting Marcion's apparent claim Paul's authority comes from his association with Luke.&nbsp; Later Tertullian identifies Luke and Mark as "apostolic men," but not as apostles. Tertullian writes:</span></p>
<p class="Quote" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a name="pgfId=464202"></a>I lay it down to begin with that the documents of the gospel have the apostles for their authors, and that this task of promulgating the gospel was imposed upon them by our Lord himself. If they also have for their authors apostolic men [<em>i.e.</em>, Luke and Mark], yet these stand not alone, but as&nbsp;<strong><em>companions of apostles or followers of apostles</em></strong>: because the preaching of disciples [i.e., Luke or Mark] might be made suspect of the desire of vainglory, unless there stood by it the authority of their teachers [<em>i.e.</em>, the twelve apostles], or rather the authority of Christ, which made the apostles teachers. In short, from among the apostles<strong><em>&nbsp;the faith is introduced to us by John and by Matthew</em></strong>, while from among&nbsp;<em><strong>apostolic men</strong></em>&nbsp;Luke and Mark give it renewal, &lt;all of them&gt; beginning with the same rules &lt;of belief&gt;, as far as relates to the one only God, the Creator, and to his Christ, born of a virgin, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.****Marcion seems to have singled out Luke for his mutilating process&nbsp;<em>[i.e.,</em>&nbsp;writing a gospel apparently based on Luke but altering it].&nbsp;<strong><em>Luke, however, was not an apostle,</em></strong>&nbsp;but only an<strong><em>&nbsp;apostolic man</em></strong>; not a master, but a disciple, and so&nbsp;<strong><em>inferior to a master</em></strong>.... [<a href="http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/evans_marc_10book4_eng.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">link</a>]<a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2016html.html#pgfId=464205" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></a></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This unquestionably puts Luke below the other Gospels of Matthew and John. Thus, Tertullian was saying that (1) to the extent Marcion is using Luke legitimately then (2)&nbsp;<a name="marker=464207"></a>Luke is still inferior to the gospel accounts of Matthew and John.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Tertullian's quote below continues from the last quote above. In this next quote, Tertullian starts out by making clear that&nbsp;Luke is inferior to the apostles' gospel because Luke's Master (Teacher) was Paul, and Paul was a "lesser" apostle than the twelve, <span data-mce-mark="1"><em>i.e.</em><span data-mce-mark="1">, apostle with a small "A."</span></span>&nbsp;Tertullian then explains Paul (a) could not come with another gospel than the twelve and (b) Paul's authority derived from the twelve and Paul was inferior to them. Tertullian cites Acts chapter 15 as proof, just as we did above. Tertullian explains:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="Quote" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span>Now Luke was not an apostle but an apostolic man, not a master but a disciple, in any case<em><strong>&nbsp;less than his master [i.e., Paul]</strong></em>, and assuredly even more&nbsp;<strong>of lesser account</strong>&nbsp;as being the<strong><em>&nbsp;follower of a later apostle, Paul,</em></strong><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2016html.html#pgfId=464227" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">&nbsp;9</a>&nbsp;to be sure: so that even if Marcion had introduced his gospel under the name of Paul in person, that&nbsp;<strong><em>one single document would not be adequate for our faith, if destitute of the support of his [i.e., Paul's] predecessors</em></strong>&nbsp;[the twelve apostles]. For we should demand the production of that gospel also which Paul found &lt;in existence&gt;, that to which he gave his assent, that with which shortly afterwards he was anxious that his own should agree: for his intention in going up to Jerusalem to know and to consult the apostles, was lest perchance he had run in vain--that is, lest perchance he had not believed as they did, or were not preaching the gospel in their manner. At length, when he [i.e., Paul] had conferred with the original &lt;apostles&gt;, and there was agreement concerning the rule of the faith, they joined the right hands &lt;of fellowship&gt;....If he [i.e., Paul] therefore who gave the light to Luke chose to have his pre-decessors' authority [i.e., the twelve] for his faith as well as his preaching, much more must I require for Luke's gospel the authority [i.e., from the twelve] which was necessary for the gospel of his master [i.e.,&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"></span>Paul]. [The source is <span data-mce-mark="1">Tertullian (edition by Evans),<strong>&nbsp;</strong></span><strong>Against Marcion</strong><span data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;at pages 263, 265, Book 4 chapter 2.)</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2016html.html#pgfId=464231" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></a></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Tertullian could not be more clear. Paul's authority was not recognized as direct from Jesus or by revelation. <strong>The book of Acts by Luke proves it only derived from Paul's recognition by the twelve apostles.</strong> He was their disciple, and they were Paul's masters. If Paul created a gospel text, Tertullian responds that Paul's conduct in Acts chapter 15 reveals Paul's authority could not exceed the words and guidance of the twelve. Paul was not allowed to run beyond the teaching of Christ that the twelve had. Thus, if Paul was Luke's source for his gospel, then Luke's gospel still must be consistent with the apostolic canon of Matthew and John or otherwise it is invalid. This means that for Tertullian, Paul was not free to utter doctrines that were inconsistent with the gospels of Matthew or John.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1 class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span data-mce-mark="1">Conclusion</span></strong></span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Scholars now concur with Tertullian's view of Acts -- Paul is never called an apostle of Jesus Christ with a capital A. Only Matthias filled the last and final spot to complete the number at 12. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, whatever authority belongs to an apostle of Jesus Christ, Luke did not recognize Paul had it. Rather, Luke undermined it, and gave that final office -- the only available space after Judas' betrayal -- to Matthias.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul's claim of apostleship with a capital A (if he meant that) rests solely on his own word. Jesus told us in Rev. 2:2 that self-reporting is not enough. Because Paul also used the term "apostle" loosely -- in its ordinary 'messenger' sense -- one cannot prove Paul deliberately lied unless we read Jesus telling us that in Rev. 2:2. (See "<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/263-pauls-loose-use-of-the-term-apostle.html">Paul's Loose use of the term Apostle</a>.")</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, if one concedes that Paul used the term 'apostle' loosely, then one must regard Paul's claim of "apostleship" only had a very loose meaning to it. Paul thus would have no authority of that title.</span></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, whichever way you interpret Paul's words - as apostle with a capital A or not, simply remember that whenever you hear the oft repeated title "Apostle Paul," it is misleading. It is being used in a title sense which is untrue for Paul. The last apostle appointed to fill their number back out at 12 -- chosen by the Holy Spirit (per Acts 1) -- was Matthias.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #494a44; line-height: 20px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;<span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Study Notes</strong></span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">A friend of our ministry wrote a good piece <strong>How Many Apostles of Jesus Christ in the Bible</strong> that is another approach to supporting the conclusion of the article above.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">In the "<a href="http://www.problemswithpaul.com/Apostle_Paul.html">History of Paul</a>" at Problems with Paul (9/11/2014), we read:</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Every occurrence of the number&nbsp;<em>thirteen</em>, and likewise of&nbsp;<em>every multiple</em>&nbsp;of it, stamps that with which it stands in connection with&nbsp;<em>rebellion, apostasy, defection, corruption, disintegration, revolution,</em>&nbsp;or some kindred idea." E.W. Bullinger.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The number thirteen also includes famine.&nbsp;<strong>Amos 8:11</strong>&nbsp;tells us of the famine for the word of Yahweh in the last days.&nbsp;<em>Could a 13th &lsquo;apostle&rsquo; be the reason for this famine?&nbsp;</em>Paul wrote 13 epistles in the New Testament.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">So I looked up the Bullinger reference. The quote is valid, citing numerous scriptures as proof (e.g. Gen 27:25) and is found in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._W._Bullinger">E. W. Bullinger</a> (1837-1913) -- descendant of the famous Reformer of the same last name -- in his&nbsp;<em>Number in Scripture: Its Supernatural Design and Spiritual Significance</em>&nbsp;(Kregel, 2003) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=2gEnde7m27sC&amp;lpg=PA205&amp;ots=p5tTkte_QW&amp;dq=Every%20occurrence%20of%20the%20number%20thirteen%2C%20and%20likewise%20of%20every%20multiple%20of%20it%2C%20stamps%20that%20with%20which%20it%20stands%20in%20connection%20with%20rebellion%2C%20apostasy%2C%20defection%2C%20corruption%2C%20disintegration%2C%20revolution%2C%20or%20some%20kindred%20idea.%20%E2%80%93E.W.%20Bullinger.&amp;pg=PA205#v=onepage&amp;q=Every%20occurrence%20of%20the%20number%20thirteen,%20and%20likewise%20of%20every%20multiple%20of%20it,%20stamps%20that%20with%20which%20it%20stands%20in%20connection%20with%20rebellion,%20apostasy,%20defection,%20corruption,%20disintegration,%20revolution,%20or%20some%20kindred%20idea.%20%E2%80%93E.W.%20Bullinger.&amp;f=false">205</a>. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Perhaps to spare any arrows being thrown at Paul, Bullinger ascribes 14 epistles to Paul. &nbsp;See&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=2gEnde7m27sC&amp;lpg=PA205&amp;ots=p5tTkte_QW&amp;dq=Every%20occurrence%20of%20the%20number%20thirteen%2C%20and%20likewise%20of%20every%20multiple%20of%20it%2C%20stamps%20that%20with%20which%20it%20stands%20in%20connection%20with%20rebellion%2C%20apostasy%2C%20defection%2C%20corruption%2C%20disintegration%2C%20revolution%2C%20or%20some%20kindred%20idea.%20%E2%80%93E.W.%20Bullinger.&amp;pg=PA26#v=onepage&amp;q=paul&amp;f=false">26</a>.&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">This requires one to include erroneously the Epistle to the Hebrews which in the 400s was ascribed to Paul,&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">but Paul in fact did not write it, as is almost universally now recognized. See our article <a href="/component/content/article/9-bible/272-authorship-of-hebrews.html">Who Wrote Hebrews</a>.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/E.W._Bullinger.jpg" alt="E.W. Bullinger.jpg" width="79" height="90" style="float: right;" /></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC');"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">For a thorough non-scholar Bible-based analysis on Paul&rsquo;s apostleship in an anonymous blog from 2010, see Paul &mdash;&nbsp;</span><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/505-paul-a-false-apostle-blog.html" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">False Apostle Blog</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.</span></p> </td>
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<td valign="top" ><span>"The presence of anti-Pauline texts in [Matthew's] Gospel</span><span>, point</span><span> inevitably towards the conclusion that the evangelist himself [sic: really Jesus] was anti-Pauline</span><span>." D.C. Sim [2002:780]</span></td>
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<h1><span style="color: #000080; font-size: 24pt;">Paul's Trance - What It Says About Paul</span></h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+22%3A17&amp;version=ASV">Acts 22:17</a> speaks &nbsp;in Greek of experiencing "ecstasy" in which his Jesus speaks to him. This is translated as a "trance" in English. Paul explains his Jesus spoke to Paul while he was praying at the Temple of Jerusalem. This was a few days or a couple of weeks after the Damascus-road encounter. Paul's Jesus in this "ecstasy" -- this trance -- tells Paul not to try to see the 12 apostles, as Paul was planning to do to tell them of the amazing wonder of "Jesus" appearance to him outside Damascus. Instead, Paul's Jesus tells Paul to leave Jerusalem immediately because the 12 will not believe Paul truly met the real Jesus. (Why was "this" Damascus-road Jesus worried? Could he not speak to the 12 just as he supposedly had done with Paul? But we digress.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What is a trance? In Greek, it is the word "ekstasis." Our English word "ecstasy" derives from it. In Greek, it literally means to "stand outside oneself." &nbsp;("<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecstasy_(philosophy)">Ecstasy</a>," Wikipedia.) Its Greek meaning is explained in the CTI Textbook for psychology students entitled <strong>Hallucinations: A Practical Guide to Treatment and Management</strong> (2016): &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Esstasy (or ekstasis) from the Ancient Greek ek-stasis, is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of his or her awareness. Because total involvement with an object of our interest is not our ordinary experience since we are ordinarily aware also of other objects, the ecstasy is an example of <strong>altered state of consciousness characterized by diminished awareness of other objects or total lack of awareness of surroundings and everything around the object</strong>. [<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ClD1Q8M1grEC&amp;lpg=PT230&amp;dq=ekstasis%20hallucination&amp;pg=PT230#v=onepage&amp;q=ekstasis%20hallucination&amp;f=false">Link</a>.] </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An ecstasy in its Greek meaning fits the modern clinical definition of hallucination. This is because it is a subjective experience without external stimuli. In our scientific era, it would be dismissed as self-communication that has no divine or demonic source. But we are Christians, and <strong>we believe divine communication is possible</strong>. But would God speak by an ectasy -- a trance? &nbsp;The answer is NO! Only the pagan prophets and diveners of false gods did so.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Before Paul, A Trance Is How Pagan gods Alone Communicated</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But in Paul's era, an ecstasy was the way pagans received inspired messages - by ecstasias -- from both gods and friendly demons. However, it was <strong>NOT</strong> the means God Yahweh used to speak with Hebrew prophets. In Aaron Milavec's work&nbsp;<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">The Didache:&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><strong>Faith, Hope, &amp; Life of the Earliest Christian Communities, 50-70 C.E</strong>. (2003), he explains:&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">"In the ancient world, <strong>pagan prophets spoke in ecstasy</strong> -- thereby signaling that a god had taken over the faculties of his / her messengers. Contemporary studies of the Hebrew prophets have <strong>not yielded any agreement</strong> as to whether ecstasy was a normal part of the observable behavior of the prophets. R. Wilson: 324.)."</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent; color: #000000;">The 2016 textbook on <strong>Halluctionations</strong>&nbsp;quoted above explains the meaning of hallucination in our modern view, although such term 'hallucination' did not exist in Paul's era: &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations as defined as <strong>perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception</strong>, in that they are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space. The latter definition distinguishes hallucinations from related phenomena of dreaming, which does not involve wakefulness;&nbsp; illusion, which involves distorted or misinterpreted real perception; imagery, which does not miimic real perception and is under voluntary control; and pseudohallucination, which does not mimic real perception, but is not under voluntary control. [<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ClD1Q8M1grEC&amp;lpg=PT230&amp;dq=ekstasis%20hallucination&amp;pg=PT218#v=onepage&amp;q=hallucination&amp;f=false">Link</a>.]</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, Paul experienced what modern science would say was an hallucination, but in Paul's era is how pagan gods -- not Yahweh -- spoke "inspired" messages to their pagan followers.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Sabine-Baring Gould in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">A Study of St. Paul, His Character &amp; Opinions</span> (1897) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZsgUAAAAYAAJ&amp;lpg=PA118&amp;ots=iX02kdqRQ6&amp;dq=paul%20i%20fell%20into%20a%20trance&amp;pg=PA118#v=onepage&amp;q=paul%20i%20fell%20into%20a%20trance&amp;f=false">118</a> wrote about this ecstasy that Paul's experienced as follows:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"At this point, just before starting for Antioch, Paul fell into an <strong>ecstasy</strong>, and in this condition received a mysterious communication from on high."</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The ecstasy-trance came at the Temple of Jerusalem when Paul ran there to share with the 12 the amazing appearance of "Jesus" to Paul outside Damascus. Baring-Gould explains:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul fell into a trance, while praying in the Temple. He saw Christ who said: 'Make haste and get quickly out of Jerusalem, for <strong>they will not receive your testimony concerning me</strong>." These words certainly intimate mistrust as to the fidelty of facts in Paul's statement relative to his commission received in a vision."&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZsgUAAAAYAAJ&amp;lpg=PA118&amp;ots=iX02kdqRQ6&amp;dq=paul%20i%20fell%20into%20a%20trance&amp;pg=PA122#v=onepage&amp;q=paul%20i%20fell%20into%20a%20trance&amp;f=false">122</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Paul's Jesus predicted that Paul's version of facts about "Jesus'" appearance to Paul, if delivered to the 12, would be rejected by the 12. Rather than Paul's Jesus telling that he, the Damascus-Road Jesus, would appear again to the 12 with Paul, or some other means of endorsement, Paul's Jesus tells him to run and "make haste" to leave without ever seeing the 12 for the mere fear the 12 won't believe Paul met the true Jesus. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Please realize the apostles at Jerusalem and Bishop James were at a gate daily at the Jerusalem Temple. Paul was merely a few yards from them when told to, in effect, run away by Paul's Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then Baring Gould says Paul's varying accounts before Agrippa and others about the Damascus-road experience involved inconsistencies that means Paul's Jesus' prediction would have to come true &nbsp;-- the twelve would never trust Paul's words alone. We read on page 122:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZsgUAAAAYAAJ&amp;lpg=PA118&amp;ots=iX02kdqRQ6&amp;dq=paul%20i%20fell%20into%20a%20trance&amp;pg=PA122&amp;ci=194%2C804%2C692%2C305&amp;source=bookclip"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZsgUAAAAYAAJ&amp;pg=PA122&amp;img=1&amp;zoom=3&amp;hl=en&amp;sig=ACfU3U2xUqcCaFcgQ_RwDDwN5NKCaqk2fA&amp;ci=194%2C804%2C692%2C305&amp;edge=0" alt="" /></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Baring Gould then says Paul lets us know &nbsp;things never changed with the 12 -- they never approved Paul. For Paul admits in a late epistle that's he did not receive any acknowledgment from men of his apostleship, including the 12 - Paul insisting his approval only came from Christ - page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZsgUAAAAYAAJ&amp;lpg=PA118&amp;ots=iX02kdqRQ6&amp;dq=paul%20i%20fell%20into%20a%20trance&amp;pg=PA124#v=onepage&amp;q=paul%20i%20fell%20into%20a%20trance&amp;f=false">124</a>:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZsgUAAAAYAAJ&amp;lpg=PA118&amp;ots=iX02kdqRQ6&amp;dq=paul%20i%20fell%20into%20a%20trance&amp;pg=PA124&amp;ci=207%2C168%2C661%2C164&amp;source=bookclip"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZsgUAAAAYAAJ&amp;pg=PA124&amp;img=1&amp;zoom=3&amp;hl=en&amp;sig=ACfU3U3fI7j8n4pm0UkeFv57CyP2FvBnhw&amp;ci=207%2C168%2C661%2C164&amp;edge=0" alt="" /></a></span></p>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Trace Evidence of Continuing Non-Acceptance of Paul</span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Further, in Romans 15, Paul speaks of persecution by those who are "disobedient" in Judea, and his seeking to bring a cash gift to Jerusalem, yet seeks prayer from the Romans that his "ministration" (cash gift) will be "acceptable to those in Jerusalem." &nbsp;Paul writes:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span id="en-ASV-28334" class="text Rom-15-30" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="versenum" style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">30&nbsp;</span>Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span id="en-ASV-28335" class="text Rom-15-31" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="versenum" style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">31&nbsp;</span>that I may be delivered from them that are <strong><em>disobedient in Judaea</em></strong>, and that my ministration which I have for Jerusalem <strong><em>may be acceptable to the saints</em></strong>; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+15&amp;version=ASV">Romans 15:30-31</a>, ASV.)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Rom-15-31" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, evidently, Paul was anticipating opposition from the leadership in Judea. They might not accept the gift to the Jerusalem church he was bringing from the Gentile churches. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Rom-15-31" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Please note, Paul is not talking about bringing an offering for the poor at the Temple which is always beyond rejection. It simply goes into the poor box, and no one can say no to the offering. Instead, Paul was specifically talking about an offering to the Jerusalem church and its leaders. Paul anticipated some controversial issue might prevent its acceptance, which would never be an issue if the money were intended as a Temple offering.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Rom-15-31" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And Paul's fear proved to be a valid one. &nbsp;It was Apostle John's direction &nbsp;that missionaries from Jerusalem should give charity to the "strangers" (Gentiles), but do as <strong>earlier missionaries</strong> did among the "strangers" (Gentiles). They took no money from the Gentiles. "For the name's sake [God's sake], they [i.e., earlier missionaries] went forth, <strong>taking nothing from the Gentiles</strong>."(<a href="http://biblehub.com/kjv/3_john/1.htm">3 John 1:5, 7 KJV</a>.) John was urging the last crop of missionaries to the Gentiles to follow that same practice.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Rom-15-31" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Implicitly, at the time of Paul's Gentile Offering, Apostle John would have not accepted Paul's offering to the Jerusalem Church as a body. For to do so would be contrary to the principles of those sent out from Jerusalem to evangelize Gentiles. Apostle John evidently was concerned to obey Jesus' commands to "take nothing" from those to whom you preach and teach. (Matt 10:8-10). A missionary was only supported by seeking a home of a worthy person to stay in at each town you preach within. You would do house chores, and get compensated. This will be your sole means of support. See Matt 10:10, Jesus alluding to the Mosaic Law of Hospitality. Otherwise, you can become beholden to mammon (Matt 6:24), and make the paying Gentiles your new master in preference over the Lord you must serve with unswerving dedication and loyalty. Paul thus correctly anticipated "disobedience" at Jerusalem to Paul's gospel that included taking money from Gentile believers for preaching and teaching to them. See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Tim.+5%3A17-18&amp;version=KJV">1 Tim. 5:17-18</a>.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Rom-15-31" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When Paul arrived with the gift from the Gentiles, Paul no doubt was shocked by its likely rejection by the Jerusalem church. Paul did not know the missionary principles of Jesus upon which Apostle John and the other 11 apostles relied. How could Paul not know? </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Rom-15-31" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Because Paul boasted late in his career of having been"imparted nothing by" the 12 apostles (Gal. 2:6) -- relying instead upon the <strong>unspeakable</strong> "revelations" from his Jesus (2 Cor. 2:1-16). Paul began his journey with the Gentile offering hopeful that the 12 would accept the Gentile offering. However, Paul did not know that Apostle John and the others among the 12 would have a valid reason to reject the Gentile offering. The 12 in rejecting it would simply be obeying Matt 10:10 as well as Jesus&rsquo; two masters and mammon warning. The twelve knew that the elders who preach and teach are not entitled to a "double honor" of payment for their services from the Gentile congregants, unlike what Paul taught in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Tim.+5%3A17-18&amp;version=KJV">1 Tim. 5:17-18</a>. The true church's leaders cannot grow in wealth by taking offerings from anyone. Had they accepted the Gentile offering from Paul, it would have been approving a wrong practice of collection from the Gentiles employed by Paul. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Rom-15-31" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, the 12 were duty-bound, by the words of Christ, to reject the Gentile offering that presumably Paul laid at their feet at some point. (Neither Luke not Paul mention the gift was actually delivered by Paul.)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Rom-15-31" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">No doubt the manner to tell Paul "no" was done politely. The money could have then gone instead to the Temple as an offering for the poor. In such case, there is then no self-aggrandizement of the church at Jerusalem. This is likely what happened to the Gentile offering which Paul brought. But this is not what Paul intended from the beginning. Paul was intending to score points using someone else's money, only to learn that the 12 apostles would not accept it. Ironically, &nbsp;the very reason for doing so was that, as Jesus warned, it might make the 12 beholden to Paul or the Gentiles whom he served. The apostles wisely and properly refused, reflected by 3 John 1:5,7.</span><span class="text Rom-15-31"><em><br /></em></span></span></p>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></h1>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Is A Trance Mentioned in Hebrew Equivalent in OT?</span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In the Original Testament, Balaam - the true prophet who later turns into a false prophet - had an experience which was translated in the Septuagint as "ecstasy". However, the "ecstasy" terminology is not supported in the original Hebrew, so says Faussett Brown, citing Numbers 24:4, and 16. Here is an excerpt from the Faussett-Brown dictionary entry on "<a href="http://www.bible-history.com/faussets/T/Trance/" style="line-height: 1.3em;">Trance</a>" that explains this translation background of the Hebrew relating to Balaam :</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Greek <em>ekstasis</em> (Numbers 24:4; Numbers 24:16). Balaam "fell" (<strong>into a trance is not in the Hebrew</strong>) overpowered by the divine inspiration, as Saul (1 Samuel 19:24) "lay down naked (stripped of his outer royal robes) all that day and all that night." God's word in Balaam's and Saul's cases acted on an alien will and therefore overpowered the bodily energies by which that will ordinarily worked. Luke, the physician and therefore one likely to understand the phenomena, alone used the term.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">...Paul in trance received his commission, "depart far hence unto the Gentiles." </span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">The KJV follows the Septuagint error in Numbers 24:4 and Numbers 24:16, inserting "trance" to explain Balaam's experience. But the NIV properly corrects it both times to merely say "sees a vision... falls prostrate and whose eyes are opened." (See <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/24-4.htm">Num 24:4 both KJV &amp; NIV</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/24-16.htm">Numbers 24:16 both KJV and NIV</a>.) This was exactly what Faussett-Brown said was a necessary correction to these passages in Numbers. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Why is Saul's experience discussed under "trance" for no translation uses that word under 1 Sam. 19:24? It appears Saul's experience is mentioned by Faussett-Brown to show that possibly Saul's nakedness reflected a lack of consciousness while prophesying outloud. But (a) this is not called a "trance" even in the Septuagint, and (b) Saul was conscious when prophesying out loud, and hence not in an ecstasy which is only about the receiving a message in one's mind while disengaged from the world, including speaking to others. See <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/19-24.htm">1 Sam. 19:24 at Bible.hub.</a>&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Impact on How To Read Acts 10.</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Given this background, then notice Peter in Acts 10 has a "trance" too -- subsequent to Paul's trance (even though Paul discloses it later - in Acts 22), and look at the type of content the message reputedly had -- supposedly undoing God's Law on food laws -- the distinction of whether something is clean or unclean. Faussett-Brown says:&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">Acts 10:10, Peter in trance received the vision abolishing distinctions of clean and unclean,.... (<a href="http://www.bible-history.com/faussets/T/Trance/">link</a>.)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Be aware that Peter later concludes that even though the message appeared to mean what Faussett-Brown says, it could not and did not mean this. Peter next hears from the "Holy Spirit" -- not a trance any more -- a message that redirects Peter away from the literal words spoken in the trance to a wholly different goal - to visit with Cornelius:&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">17&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Now while Peter was <strong>much perplexed in himself</strong> what the vision which <strong>he had seen might mean</strong>, behold, the men that were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon&rsquo;s house, stood before the gate,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">18&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">and called and asked whether Simon, who was surnamed Peter, were lodging there.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">19&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">And while Peter<strong> thought on the vision, <span style="color: #ff0000;">the Spirit said unto him,</span></strong> Behold, three men seek thee.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">20&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">But arise, and get thee down, and go with them, nothing doubting: for I have sent them.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">21&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">And Peter went down to the men, and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come?&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">22&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">And they said, Cornelius a centurion, a righteous man and one that feareth God, and well reported of by all the nation of the Jews, was warned&nbsp;</span><span style="font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">of God</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;by a holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words from thee.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">23&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">So he called them in and lodged them. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+10&amp;version=ASV">(Acts 10:17-23 ASV.)</a></span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+10&amp;version=ASV"></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Notice the Holy Spirit never confirms the content of the trance. After this direct message from the Holy Spirit, Peter surmizes independent from any blunt message from the Holy Spirit that the prior message in a trance really meant to be directed at accepting Gentiles, and not regard them as "unclean" as was a tradition -- not a Law. God thereby intervened to protect Peter from what was a false message in a "trance" -- as ecstasy is never a means of communication that the true God ever uses.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">What is interesting is God does so without telling Peter the trance was false; the Holy Spirit merely directs Peter to contemplate a different meaning to the message other than a literal one. Perhaps God is testing us once more to read carefully this account, and to recognize Peter's trance message reflected "apostasy" if it was meant literally -- proof of a false prophecy in Deut 13:1-5. God did not want to make your personal test too easy. You have to read this passage carefully, and see there is (1) an apostate trance message about the food laws; and (2) a non-apostate Holy Spirit message that is lawful about Gentiles not being unclean -- as tradition, but not the Law, said otherwise.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"></span></span></p>
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<td valign="top" ><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Much contemporary preaching proceeds as if all that counts is selected sections or verses of the apostle Paul and the cross of Jesus. (Minister Anthony Buzzard, 1998)</span></p></td>
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<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The "New Testament" in Prophecy</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A. <strong>The Misnomer of "New Testament."</strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Our Bible was first called the New Testament in 331 AD with the Constantine Bible -- 50 copies which he mandated to be given as Gifts to the Roman Church. However, the term "testament" to describe the present dispensation is borrowed exclusively from the Epistle to the Hebrews ("<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Covenant">New Covenant" Wikipedia</a>) - a letter apparently written by Barnabas, as the early church solely attributed it. See <a href="/component/content/article/9-bible/272-authorship-of-hebrews.html">Barnabas as Author of Hebrews</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Jesus called this dispensation a "new covenant" in "my blood." See <a href="https://biblehub.com/luke/22-20.htm">Luke 22:20</a>. Cf. Matt 26:28 ("blood of the covenant"); Mark 14:24 ("blood of the covenant").</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Regardless, we entitled this article as about the "New Testament" even though it is anomolous because it is the traditional name for the Christian dispensation.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">B. <strong>New Covenant v. Prior Covenants</strong>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The whole notion that the "New Testament" does away with the original Covenant's Law is contrary to the prophecies of what the New Covenant represents. It may be what Paul claims happened, but Paul's words cannot be accepted at odds with the prior Holy Scripture. The words "new covenant" only appear in one such passage, and that is in Jeremiah. The inspired scripture teaches clearly that the New Covenant will be with the "House of Israel" -- whom God previously divorced (meaning the northern kingdom) -- to revitalize the Covenant-Law given Moses by placing it on these people's hearts rather than only on tables of stone:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&ldquo;Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a<strong> new covenant</strong> with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: <strong>I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts</strong>. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, &lsquo;Know the Lord,&rsquo; for <strong>they shall all know me</strong>, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will <strong>forgive their iniquity</strong>, and I will remember their sin no more.&rdquo; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+31%3A31-34&amp;version=ESV">Jeremiah 31:31&ndash;34, ESV</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See also Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; Ezekiel 11:19-21)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Ezekiel, who lived around the same time as Jeremiah, appears to explain the new covenant further, adding that God will give a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit will cause believers to walk in God&rsquo;s statutes and obey His rules.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">26&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And I have given to you a <strong>new heart,</strong> And a new spirit I give in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given to you a heart of flesh.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">27&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And My Spirit I give in your midst, And I have done this, <strong>so that in My statutes ye walk, And My judgments ye keep</strong>, and have done them. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+36%3A26-27&amp;version=YLT">Ezekiel 36:26-27 YLT</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The original "Covenant" means the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 34:28 KJV, it reads: "And he wrote upon the tables the words of <strong>the covenant, the ten commandments</strong>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The New Covenant does not change the ten commandments, but instead will change hearts to want to obey the first covenant on stone tablets, the ten commandments. God will write the covenant -- at least the ten commandments -- it is not necessarily clear whether the term "covenant" includes more) -- on a new heart of flesh that turns "aside the heart of stone." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jeremiah and Ezekiel were written about 600 years before Christ, so everyone knew what &ldquo;my Law&rdquo; and "My statutes" meant. It is none other than the living oracles (as Stephen called them in Acts 7:38) given at Mt. Sinai by God through Moses -- the Ten Commandments at minimum.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, instead of the Law or the Covenant of the Ten Commandments being some horrible thing we must flee from, supposedly because it makes us a 'legalist' (Paulinists speaking again), the Law, including the Covenant of the Ten Commandments, is always spoken everywhere else very highly:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is <strong>love</strong> (John 15:10, 12-14),<em><strong> light and lamp</strong></em> (Proverbs 6:23; Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 8:20; Revelation 21:23, 22:5); <em><strong>life</strong></em> (Deuteronomy 4:1, 32:46-47; Proverbs 1:17, 8:33-36; Matthew 19:16,17); <strong>seed</strong> (Matthew 13:18-23), <strong><em>instructions</em></strong> (Isaiah 1:10; Exodus 16:4 24:12; Jeremiah 35:13; Job 22:22, 36:10; Psalm 78:1; Zephaniah 3:1-7; Malachi 2:1-9, Proverbs 1:2,3,7,8 4:1,2); law (Jeremiah 6:18-19; Zechariah 7:12; Deut 5:5 17:11, 27:1-3, 26, 30:10,14, 32:46,47; John 15:25; Acts 6:2-4,7 13:44,48,49, 28:23); <strong><em>commands, judgments, teachings &amp; ways</em></strong> (Isaiah 2:3; Proverbs 5:12 7:2 8:10 1:8 4:2 3:1 6:20-23; Jeremiah 32:33; Deuteronomy 4:1; 2 Chronicles 15:1-7; Matthew 4:23 7:28,29 9:35 13:54 15:9 28:20; Acts 2:42 4:2 18:11); <strong><em>wisdom, and truth</em></strong> (Psalm 119:43,44,142 138:2; Proverbs 23:23; Malachi 2:6; 1 Kings 2:3-4; John 17:17, 18:37-38, 8:31-32; James 1:18, 21-23,25). &nbsp;It is the straight paths for our feet and a light to our way. (This list is taken from <a href="http://www.wholebible.com/Doctrinal_Specifics.htm">WholeBible.com</a>.)</span></p>
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<h1>&nbsp;</h1>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The Jesus' Words Only Principle Explained</span></strong></span></h1>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></strong></span></h1>
<h1>&nbsp;</h1>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Introduction</span></strong></span></h1>
<p><span style="color: #000080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">A. Not All Messages from God Are Equally Authoritative</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Even a very astute and logical Christian thinker can denigrate the "sole teacher" status Jesus said He had. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+23%3A8-11&amp;version=DLNT">Matt 23:8-11</a>.) Such a good Christian and evangelical radio personality -- Greg K. -- recently wrote in an article entitled "Are the Red Letters More Important" in his monthly newsletter for&nbsp;June 2014:</span></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1402466227737_5820" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: 'Gill Sans', Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Therefore, <em><strong>Jesus&rsquo; words have no more authority than Jude&rsquo;s, and Paul&rsquo;s words have no less authority than Christ&rsquo;s</strong></em>.&nbsp; In fact, since Jesus is God&mdash;the same God who inspired all of Scripture&mdash;in a very real sense, Titus&rsquo;s words and <em><strong>Paul&rsquo;s words are Jesus&rsquo; words</strong></em>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1402466227737_5888" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: 'Gill Sans', Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Since the same doctrine supporting Jesus&rsquo; words endorses every other biblical writer, <strong><em>singling out Jesus as a special authority undermines the doctrine of inspiration for all of Scripture</em></strong>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In his monthly newsletter&nbsp;of June 23, 2014, this same well-known Bible commentator likewise writes: </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"<span style="color: #494949; line-height: normal;">The mistake [of Red Letter Christians] is thinking that red-letter verses (the words of Jesus) have more authority than the rest of the Bible."</span><span style="line-height: 1.3em;"></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So if this Christian thinker is correct, then the words "that are difficult to be understood" from Paul, as <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203">Second Peter 3:15</a> says about Paul's words, are of equal weight to those from "The Prophet" as Peter calls Jesus in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2018:15,18;%20Acts%203:20,22;7:37;%20Hebrews%203:2-6">Acts 3:22,</a> quoting Deuteronomy 18:18-19.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But if that were true, then why did John the Baptist&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;-- the greatest prophet who ever lived prior to Jesus (Matthew&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/11-11.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; line-height: 21px;">11:11</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">) -- believe he "must decrease" so that unfettered acceptance of Jesus' message would "increase" (John</span><a href="http://bible.cc/john/3-30.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;3:30-31</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">)?</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In the Deuteronomy passage which Peter quotes in Acts 3:22 (more on those words later), God Yahweh tells Moses that "every word" of a special prophet called "the Prophet" will be from Yahweh, and God will hold every man "to account" who does not follow what "the Prophet says." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+18:18-19">Deut. 18:18-19</a>.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">God never says this about anyone else other than <em><strong>the Prophet</strong></em>. Not everything any other prophet ever spoke was <strong><em>always</em></strong> from Yahweh. Only the words a prophet <strong><em>quoted Yahweh as saying </em></strong>were from Yahweh. Casual talk and explanations recorded in the Bible even though uttered by a prophet are not words from Yahweh.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Moses had no constant inspiration in everything he said or did. Sometimes his acts were sinful as when he struck a rock inconsistent with what God told him to do. God punished him by not letting him enter the promised land of Israel. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">An example of the lack of constant inspiration is the one time Moses was confronted with a difficult legal case to decide, and he concluded he was unable <strong><em>on his own</em></strong> to resolve it. So he "went" to Yahweh with the issue. &nbsp;(Numbers 27:3 <em>et seq.</em>)&nbsp;This is in accord with Deut. 1:17&nbsp;"The case that is<em><strong> too hard for you</strong></em>, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it" (Deuteronomy 1:17). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus, however, would not have had the same difficulty or limitation, as we shall see.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">There was something distinctly different, unique and superior about <em><strong>The Prophet</strong> </em>to come where every word he spoke somehow was from God Yahweh Himself. We know now how this happened, for as Jesus says "the <em><strong>father dwells in me</strong></em>" -- John 14:10 -- an event never true of any other prophet who always, other than Moses, God communicated with by visions. In those cases, the Holy Spirit spoke to the prophet by visions. More proof on that below.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, <em><strong>The Prophet</strong></em> has an even superior standing to Moses, as Moses heard intermittently from Yahweh. Even when Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18-19 announces the words from Yahweh about The Prophet, Moses introduced the quote by his own explanation of the words from Yahweh to follow. See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+18%3A15-16&amp;version=ASV">Deut 18:15-16</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Moses necessarily implied his own explanation is <em><strong>NOT</strong></em> what Yahweh said, but Moses' own interpretation of what it meant. Other than that comment, Moses quotes Yahweh promising that a unique prophet is yet to come -- whom we now know as Jesus -- whose<em><strong> every word</strong></em> is God speaking through Him, and thus we are held to account to The Prophet above all prophets.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus below, I will establish that Greg --- the Bible thinker who<strong> says Jesus' words are not more important than any other passage in the Bible</strong> -- is not only an ill-informed opinion, but is <strong>soundly rejected by God</strong> in Numbers 12:1-14. God explains in that passage that not even all prophets speaking in Holy Scripture when quoting God are speaking with equal authority and clarity. It may be all equally inspired in a general sense when quoting God, but their words do not all have the same priority of emphasis and clarity as to Moses' revelation from God. Our God explains this in Numbers 12:1-14 and Deuteronomy 18:18-19, as more fully discussed below. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And Jesus also explained that the "<strong><em>apostle is not more important than his master."</em></strong>&nbsp;John&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/john/13-16.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">13:16</a>. Thus, Jesus explained His words have a priority over any words from an apostle, particularly one whom Second Peter says speaks with "words difficult to be understand." Those words in Second Peter directly relate to God's rebuke of Miriam in Numbers 12:1-14. In that passage, Yahweh says all prophets (except The Prophet) are inferior to Moses because God speaks less clearly to general prophets -- via visions -- and thus in a way more difficult to be understood than God speaks to Moses or The Prophet to come. To repeat, the latter speaks verbatim God's words by some unexplained direct and obviously much clearer means.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">An Error in Categories by Greg</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Besides these principles of priority. we will prove below that Greg makes a categorical error in the above quote. He describes <em><strong>non-prophets</strong></em> as on par with Jesus. That certainly endangers taking Jesus' words as seriously as intended by God.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> For example, Jude is no prophet; he was simply a bishop of Jerusalem. The third Bishop of Jerusalem, to be precise.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul is also not a prophet. The best that any one has claimed for Paul is that he is an apostle of Jesus. While there are not two witnesses to establish that as true, even so, Jesus said the apostles were only inspired to remember Jesus' words which he spoke to them.&nbsp;(John&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/john/14-26.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">14:26</a>.) However, Paul in his epistles never clearly quotes Jesus except from Luke's Gospel -- the communion liturgy. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Otherwise, the only other possible exception in Paul's epistles is 2 Corinthians 12:7. However, it is so problematical that even Paul aficionados reject these were possibly the words of our Lord Jesus. There Paul says the "Lord" (Jesus? Paul does not say) refused Paul's repeated prayers to be free from the "torment" of an "angel of Satan.&rdquo; The Lord of Paul supposedly refused to do so, telling Paul that "my grace is sufficient for you." &nbsp;Because this apparently has our Lord Jesus refuse to lift a demonic influence over Paul, Pauline teachers insist that there is something wrong in this text. It supposedly could not be as Paul intended it. &nbsp;Regardless, this would be the only words of a "Lord" -- possibly Jesus -- quoted in Paul's epistles other than the two quotes of Jesus from Luke's Gospel. &nbsp;This is hardly any track record to conclude that Paul was a prophet of Jesus' words.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence Paul has no words in his epistles from Jesus which are unique and depend upon Paul's recollection that can be relied upon. &nbsp;In fact, Paul only a few times says the "Lord" says something -- probably intended as an allusion by Paul to OT scripture: 1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Tim. 2:11; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess.4:1-2,8; 1 Thess. 2:13; Eph. 4:17. cf. 1 Cor. 7:25, 40.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Tiers of Authority</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Instead, there are four tiers of inspired authority which God demands we follow differently based upon which has priority over the other. The primary passages establishing this are Numbers 12:1-14 and Deuteronomy 18:18-19.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Consequence of Breaching This Order of Priority</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As we shall demonstrate below, when we defy this order of priority, God says we are disgraced in God's view. We have improperly inverted the order of authority within those given revelations from God. <em><strong>One is more clear than the other</strong></em>. For example in Numbers 12:1-14, God says Moses' words are<strong><em> more authoritative than words of a mere prophet because God speaks more clearly to Moses than He does to a mere prophet</em></strong>. God intends we understand the more clear authority trumps the authority of the less clear.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">How do we defy this order of priority? God says we do so when we treat someone of lesser authority (such as an ordinary prophet who has only a vision, or a prophet's messenger / apostle of God's word) as on par --- of equal WEIGHT --- with a higher authority such as Moses who spoke with God "mouth to mouth" or <em><strong>The Prophet</strong></em> to come who has the most intimate connection of all. God Yahweh explains these principles in Numbers 12:1-14 and Deuteronomy 18:17-18, as we will explore below.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000080;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">B. The Four Tiers of Authority Versus A Disgraced God-Encounter</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000080;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">These four tiers of authority are: (1) The Prophet (Messiah); (2) next below Him is Moses; (3) next below Moses are all other prophets because they merely have visions in which God speaks to them; and (4) next below any of the above are prophets only secondarily -- as a "messenger" (apostle) of one who is in divine communication with God, e.g., carrying the message of another who is in divine contact with God -- such as either Aaron who was an apostle to Moses or one of the 12 apostles to <em><strong>The</strong></em> Prophet (Jesus).&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">There is a fifth category of one who experiences a direct communication with God. However, God's purpose in this category is to disgrace that person and chastise them for disobeying the priority of authority outlined here, as God does with Miriam in Numbers 12. Because this kind of experience intends to disgrace the recipient, the actual sight of God's form or the vision lends no authority or credence in the recipient's words or teachings.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">We shall see this happens to Miriam because she speaks up for her brother Aaron and herself as prophets too. "Has Yahweh only just spoken through Moses?" (Numbers <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/12-2.htm">12:2</a>, Friedman.) God then disgraces her for this audacity of claiming equal divine communication as Moses, despite she and Aaron did have some limited prophetic experiences.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">C. Aaron &amp; Miriam as Prophets, And Messengers of A Prophet (Moses)</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">To understand Numbers ch. 12, we need to know about the prior prophetic role of Aaron and Miriam. Each has a valid claim, but not as significant or substantial as Moses.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">First, Aaron primarily acted as a messenger of God's word between God and his brother Moses.&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, Aaron was called Moses' "prophet" in addressing the Pharoah. (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/7-1.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 19.1875px;">Exodus 7:1</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;("Aaron will be your prophet")</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">. This event signified that whatever words Moses heard from the Lord Yahweh were then spoken through Aaron to Pharoah.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Aaron also performed signs before the people. (Exodus 4:15-16.) God commanded Moses once to tell Aaron to stretch out his wooden rod in order to bring on the first of the three plagues. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/7-19.htm">Exodus 7:19</a>, Yahweh told Moses "tell Aaron..."); 8:1, 12.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">With one exception that we know of, Aaron never received a direct prophecy that went only to Aaron. Instead,&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">it is said fifteen times in the&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah" style="line-height: 19.1875px; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: underline; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" title="Torah">Pentateuch</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;that "the Lord spoke to Moses and&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"></em></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Aaron" ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Aaron</a>," Wikipedia) -- obviously in a messenger role first exemplified in Exodus 7:1. The exception is in <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/4-27.htm">Exodus 4:27</a> "Yahweh said to Aaron, 'Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.'" This was a rather insignificant prophecy directly with Aaron.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As a result, Aaron was an inferior "prophet" to Moses. This was understood in early Judaism although in the later post-exile period Rabbinical Judaism elevated Aaron's status to an equality with Moses. But in the Bible itself, we learn:</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus Aaron, the first priest,&nbsp;<em><strong>ranks below Moses</strong></em>: he is his&nbsp;<em><strong>mouthpiece</strong></em>, and the executor of the will of&nbsp;<strong><em>God revealed through Moses</em></strong>, although it is pointed out</span><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron#cite_note-11" style="color: #0b0080; text-decoration: underline; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[10]</a></sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;that it is said fifteen times in the Pentateuch&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah" style="color: #0b0080; text-decoration: underline; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Torah"></a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">that "the Lord spoke to Moses and&nbsp;</span><em style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Aaron." ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Aaron</a>,"&nbsp;<em>Wikipedia</em>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, in Aaron's primary role, it was inferior to Moses. God would directly speak a prophetic message to Moses which Aaron would likely hear second-hand from Moses. (Or perhaps sometimes heard simultaneously. We cannot rule out that possibility.) Then Aaron would repeat that message to another. In that Messenger role, Aaron was clearly inferior to his master (Moses). In Greek, the word "messenger" is "apostolos" - rendered Apostle in English. On this topic, Jesus explained that the "apostolos is not more important than the one who sent him."&nbsp;(John&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/john/13-16.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;">13:16</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Otherwise, as noted above, the only direct prophetic communication to Aaron recorded is in Exodus 4:27. But it was quite inconsequential: "Yahweh told Aaron, 'Go to see Moses in the wilderness....'"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As to Miriam, we read in <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/15-20.htm">Exodus 15:20</a>: "</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Then <em><strong>Miriam the prophet</strong></em>, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, both Aaron and Miriam had valid claims to be prophets of God. However, Aaron was more the messenger (apostle) of Moses -- repeating what Moses heard from Yahweh. It is unclear what prophetic messages Miriam received, but we know they took place. Thus, both Aaron and Miriam were within their right to both claim to be prophets of God.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">D. Levels of Authority Based on Clarity And Directness of Communication</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">These four types of prophetic experiences are a tiered hierarchy where the words given by one are more important than the rest, the second than the third, etc. </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As discussed below, in Numbers ch. 12 God explains the second and third tiers of authority in my list, indicating&nbsp;Moses is greater than ordinary prophets who God only speaks to in riddles (enigmas) or in visions or in dreams. However, with Moses, God spoke face-to-face ("mouth to mouth"), and explains He does not speak in riddles, speaks clearly to Moses, and Moses sees the form of Yahweh.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As Friedman explains in <em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Commentary on the Torah</span></em> (Harper 2001) at pages 467-468 -- a great Jewish resource for Christians:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>In a vision, in a dream</strong></span>. All prophetic experiences in the Tanak [the Law, Prophets &amp; Writings of the Hebrew Bible] are understood to be all through <em><strong>visions and dreams &nbsp;-- except Moses'</strong></em>. The fifteen books of the Hebrew Bible that are named for prophets either identify the prophet's experiences as visions or else leave the form of the experiences undescribed (Ezek 12:27, 40:2; Hos. 12:11; Hab. 2:2; Mic. 3:6). Many begin by identifying the book's contents as the prophet's vision: "The<em><strong> vision</strong></em> of Isaiah" (Isa 1:1; cf. 2 Chr. 32:32); "The <em><strong>vision</strong></em> of Obadaiah" (Oba 1); "The book of the<em><strong> vision</strong></em> of Nahum" (Nah 1:1); "The words of Amos...which he <em><strong>envisioned</strong></em>" (Amos 1:1); "The word of YHWH that came to Micah...which he <strong><em>envisioned</em></strong>" (Mic 1:1); "The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet <strong><em>envisioned</em></strong>." (Hab 1:1).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, <em><strong>Moses' priority exists from the CLARITY of expression God uses</strong></em> with Moses, unlike the way God speaks less clearly and more enigmatically to the ordinary prophet.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Then the priority of The Prophet over Moses is explained in Deuteronomy 18. There God Yahweh explains there is The Prophet who is to come. He is even greater than Moses because "every word" The Prophet speaks is from God. This is a higher connection than even Moses had whereby Moses intermittently heard messages directly from the Lord. Not everything Moses said reflected God's word unlike The Prophet to come whose every word would be from God.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">E. Why Jesus Has The Most Direct Connection</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">How did this constant direct inspiration operate with Jesus?</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus explained how it worked: the "Father dwells in me" (John 14:10). Every word or act Jesus did was because He saw and heard first the Father doing it. (John 5:19).</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">In conformance with the priority of Jesus over the classic prophet, we learn John the Baptist -- the "greatest prophet" &nbsp;-- stops his ministry once he sees Jesus is on the scene. "I must decrease so he may increase." <span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">(John</span><a href="http://bible.cc/john/3-30.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;3:30-31</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">.)&nbsp;</span>John, the greatest prophet, knew Jesus had the priority over a mere prophet, even the "greatest prophet." For God spoke from heaven at John's baptism to Jesus: "this day I have begotten thee." (See<a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/235-hebrew-matthew-baptismal-account.html"> link</a>.) John realized the Logos had become flesh.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">In addition, Jesus in the NT says He is the "sole teacher" <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2023:6-11&amp;version=NASB" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Matt. 23:6-11</a><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">, NASB)&nbsp;</span>and "sole pastor" <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2010:16&amp;version=NASB" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">John 10:16</a><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">.)</span>&nbsp;and otherwise, there is no hierarchy to exist in the church among equal brethren. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+20%3A25-26&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Matt. 20:25-26</a><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">.)&nbsp;</span>This preserved His role as the superior within the church -- even greater than "apostles" (messengers) -- because all members were equal.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">So the Jesus' Words Only principle teaches the New Testament is solely subject to one voice, one set of commands -- those of Jesus. Yet, when Jesus reaffirms the Law given Moses continues (Matt 5:17-19), that means those commands continue based upon the authority of Jesus despite a "New Testament." The new does not remove or replace the old. They are revitilized and re-interpreted with the greatest clarity by Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Nevertheless, Jesus has superiority over all the predecessors due to the intimate connection which even Moses did not have: the abiding presence of the Father within Himself. (John 14:10.) Jesus would then be a recipient of even a more clear communication from the Father than even Moses received.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">With that introduction in mind, let's begin our study.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000080;">Numbers 12: God Reproves Miriam and Aaron On Tiers of Prophetic Authority</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Miriam and Aaron were upset that Moses took a Cushite wife. They claimed they too spoke for God, or that God had communicated with them. So therefore Moses should not be the sole point of authority among the Israelites. To this, God reproved them. Here is the entire series of related verses:</span></p>
<p class="chapter-2" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Ch. 12 &nbsp;1.&nbsp;</span>Miriam<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for he had married a Cushite.</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">2&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;<strong><em>Has the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;spoken only through Moses?&rdquo; they asked. &ldquo;Hasn&rsquo;t he also spoken through us?&rdquo;</em></strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;And the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;heard this.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">3&nbsp;</span>(Now Moses was a very humble man,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">4&nbsp;At once the Lord&nbsp;[Yawheh] said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, &ldquo;Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.&rdquo; So the three of them went out.&nbsp;5&nbsp;Then the&nbsp;Lord [Yahweh]&nbsp;came down in a pillar of cloud;&nbsp;he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward,&nbsp;6&nbsp;he said, &ldquo;Listen to my words:</span></p>
<div class="poetry top-05" style="margin-top: 1em; margin-left: 33px; position: relative; margin-bottom: 1em; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">
<p class="line" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&ldquo;When there is <strong><em>a prophet among you</em></strong>,</span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">I, the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord [Yahweh]</span>, <em><strong>reveal<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;myself to them in visions,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></strong></em></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></strong></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>I speak to them in dreams</strong></em>.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">7&nbsp;</span>But this is not true of my servant <strong><em>Moses</em></strong>;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">he is faithful in all my house.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">8&nbsp;</span><em><strong>With him I speak face to face,</strong></em></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">clearly and not in riddles;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></strong></em></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></strong></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>he sees the form of the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>.</strong></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Why then were you <em><strong>not afraid</strong></em></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></strong></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>to speak against my servant Moses</strong></em>?&rdquo;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></p>
</div>
<p class="top-05" style="margin-top: -0.5em; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">9&nbsp;</span>The anger of the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;burned against them,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;and he left them.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">10&nbsp;</span>When the cloud lifted from above the tent,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;Miriam&rsquo;s skin was leprous<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+12&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-4070a" style="color: #b37162; vertical-align: top;" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</span>&mdash;it became as white as snow.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">11&nbsp;</span>and he said to Moses, &ldquo;Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">12&nbsp;</span>Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother&rsquo;s womb with its flesh half eaten away.&rdquo;</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">13&nbsp;</span>So Moses cried out to the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>, &ldquo;Please, God, heal her!<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&rdquo;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">14&nbsp;</span>The&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;replied to Moses, &ldquo;If <strong><em>her father had spit in her face</em></strong>,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for seven days; after that she can be brought back.&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">15&nbsp;</span>So Miriam was confined outside the camp<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for seven days,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;and the people did not move on till she was brought back. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+12&amp;version=NIV">Numbers 12:1-14 NIV</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">God essentially equates Miriam's act of rebellion as justifying God disgracing her by leprosy -- the equivalent of "spitting" in her face.&nbsp;<br /></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">What was Miriam's contention against Moses about?</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Miriam was claiming with Aaron that since God used Aaron and her as prophets, they had an equal authority as prophets from God.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">But God explains in Numbers 12 that Aaron or Miriam -- although prophets -- they still rank below Moses. God reproves Miriam for attacking the priority of Moses over them. &nbsp;The difference God said between the way He speaks to a mere prophet (like them) versus the way He speaks to Moses is:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">God speaks clearly and without riddles ("enigmas") to Moses.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">God does not speak clearly or without riddles to ordinary prophets.</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Proof of the latter is that John the Baptist, the greatest prophet, was never told by God Yahweh that Jesus was Messiah. (Matt 11:2.) John met Jesus at the baptism, saw the sign from heaven, and heard the voice of Yahweh, but even then nothing was said that Jesus was Messiah. The voice said "this is my beloved son," etc. So John was in the dark -- no doubt hearing riddles and unclear messages. Yet, Jesus calls John the "greatest prophet." Obviously, that did not put John on a higher plane than Moses or Jesus. Those two were on a higher plane. &nbsp;John never prophetically knew Jesus was Messiah,&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">and thus had to ask Jesus through his disciples visiting Jesus to inquire. (Matt. 11:2.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">And Jesus was on the highest plane of all, as Deuteronomy 18 will demonstrate.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Deuteronomy 18: The Prophet Is Someone Where Communication is Unique</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">When people saw Jesus feed the 5000, they thought this meant Jesus was "the Prophet." <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+6%3A14-15&amp;version=ESV">John 6:14-15</a>. After the Ascension, Peter in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+3%3A22-23&amp;version=KJV">Acts 3:22-23</a> and Stephen in&nbsp;<a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/7-37.htm">Acts 7:37</a> says Jesus is indeed "The Prophet" spoken about in Deuteronomy 18. There Moses first tells Israelites about "The Prophet." After his preface, Moses then quotes God Yahweh directly on what He said about "The Prophet" in the following passage:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">15&nbsp;</span>The&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;[Yahweh] your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;<em><strong>You must listen to him</strong></em>.</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">16&nbsp;</span>For this is what you asked of the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;[Yahweh] your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, &ldquo;Let us not hear the voice of the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;[Yahweh] our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.&rdquo;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 60px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">17&nbsp;</span>The&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;[Yahweh] said to me: &ldquo;What they say is good.</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">18&nbsp;</span>I will raise up for them a prophet<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;in his mouth.<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;He will tell them everything I command him.<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">19&nbsp;</span>I myself will call to account<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;anyone who does not <em><strong>listen<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;to my words</strong></em> that <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">the prophet</span></strong></span> speaks in my name.<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span>&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy%2018&amp;version=NIV">Deut. 18:18-19 NIV</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Note at&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus' transfiguration, a voice of the same Yahweh speaks from heaven and says of Jesus "<em><strong>listen to Him</strong></em>." (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%209:7&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Mark 9:7</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">; Matt 17:5, transfiguration.)&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">These words -- "listen to Him" -- repeat what Moses said about The Prophet in Deuteronomy 18.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Note too that Moses is not shy to tell you this Prophet is above himself in intimacy to Yahweh. The Prophet will be a fellow-Israelite. But then something different is true. God is no longer speaking face-to-face to this one like Yahweh does with Moses, or by visions with ordinary prophets:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">and I will put my words<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;in his mouth.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;He will tell them everything I command him.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">19&nbsp;</span>I myself will call to account<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;anyone who does not listen<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;to my words that <em><strong>the prophet</strong> </em>speaks in my name.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy%2018&amp;version=NIV">Deut 18:18-19 NIV</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Moses explains why God is working this way through this One to come:</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">16&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">For this is what you asked of the&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, &ldquo;Let us not hear <strong><em>the voice of the&nbsp;</em></strong></span><strong><em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span></em></strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em>&nbsp;</em></strong>our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.&rdquo; (Deut 18:16.)</span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, God was going to work directly through a MAN like Moses who would not freighten people, as when God was talking from within a fire. This Man would be just as if God was speaking to them with "the voice of the Lord," but now instead of a fire with a scary voice, it would be a voice coming from a "fellow Israelite," a Man who would not freighten them. For previously, the people were so alarmed hearing God's voice, they begged Moses as follows: "Then they said to Moses, Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+20%3A19&amp;version=NASB">Exodus 20:19 NASB</a>.)</span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">It is clearly implied in Deuteronomy 18:16 that this One is not an ordinary prophet who has a vision, or even hears "mouth to mouth" like Moses did. Instead, this prophet was different. God says "I will put my words in his mouth."</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;Because this obviously produces a greater clarity and directness than even Moses enjoyed, God says "I myself will call to account &nbsp;anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name." &nbsp;</span><em style="line-height: 19.1875px; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"></em><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The words of that prophet will judge every man.</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">God never implies in this context that any ordinary prophet will have this role, because again in Numbers 12 God already told us that an ordinary prophet does not hear as clearly or as directly as did Moses. But here, "the" prophet depicted in Deuteronomy 18 enjoys a special status of somehow being the "voice of the Lord" talking as directly through himself as God spoke from the fire on Mount Sinai.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus explained how this worked.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">First,&nbsp;John 1:1,<a href="http://biblos.com/john/1-14.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">14</a>&nbsp;tells us the&nbsp;"Logos [was] made flesh." But Jesus tells us in John&nbsp;<a href="http://biblos.com/john/14-24.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">14:24</a>&nbsp;that the&nbsp;"Logos you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me." In the same context, Jesus tells us in John&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/john/14-10.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">14:10</a>, the "Father ...dwells in me."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus said that He was simply doing (and saying) what He saw (and heard) the Father doing (and saying):</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">"Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because <em><strong>whatever the Father does the Son also does</strong></em>." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/john/5-19.htm">John 5:19 NIV</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As Jesus elsewhere said: "</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;to say all that I have spoken." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2012:49&amp;version=NIV">John 12:49 NIV</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Conclusion</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, Jesus was unique. He had a communication with the Father that even Moses knew ahead of time was uniquely different from the way God spoke with Moses. So even though God told Moses, Miriam and Aaron that Moses had a clear and more meaningful contact with Yahweh-God, Moses revealed an even more direct use of The Prophet in the future. This servant would operate like the burning bush served in Moses' encounter. However, instead of the voice coming out of the bush -- scaring people -- it would come out of a Man -- a "fellow Israelite" -- and thus be more familiar and less freightening.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">At the same time, God reproved Aaron and Miriam for thinking merely because Aaron spoke God's words which God gave Moses to Pharoah, and on other occassions both Aaron and Miriam spoke as true prophets, that this made Aaron and Miriam equal to Moses. Instead, Aaron remained a mere "messenger prophet" -- having no significant direct revelation akin to Moses' connection to Yahweh. Aaron's messages were derivative of Moses, and hence Aaron could not speak with the same authority which Moses had. And when Miriam and Aaron spoke as prophets, it was merely as temporary visions of God which God says is not the same as He speaks with Moses which is "mouth to mouth," where Moses can see God's "form" and most importantly, God speaks "clearly" and not by "enigmas."</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">What does God-Yahweh say He regards one who is a Messenger (Apostle) claiming authority equal to one like Moses, let alone one superior to Moses? as equal to or superior to The Prophet Jesus? God said it deserved His doing what is equivalent to spitting in your face to show how disgraced you are before Him.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Remember Miriam was struck with a skin disease as punishment, and then God explained what she had done:</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">13&nbsp;</span>So Moses cried out to the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>, &ldquo;Please, God, heal her!<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&rdquo;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">14&nbsp;</span>The&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;replied to Moses, &ldquo;<em><strong>If her father had spit in her face,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;would she not have been in disgrace for seven days</strong></em>? Confine her outside the camp<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for seven days; after that she can be brought back.&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">15&nbsp;</span>So Miriam was confined outside the camp<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for seven days,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;and the people did not move on till she was brought back. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers%2012&amp;version=NIV">Numbers 12:13-15 NIV</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, even though Miriam's encounter with God appears that now she even saw God's form standing in front of the tent, and shared this amazing experience with Moses and Aaron, it certainly was not intended to create any kind of trust in Miriam or Aaron thereafter. We were to view them now with distrust for such disgrace. </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, not every communication with God and even seeing His form is the same or signifies someone is thereafter a prophet. Miriam and Aaron only served as "witnesses" of this appearance of God and His words as Moses recorded them in Numbers 12. God was not making Miriam or Aaron ongoing prophets after this shameful act, and never spoke through them again.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul had a similar experience to the reproof of Miriam and Aaron. Paul has only one encounter with what he once calls a "vision" of light that says "I am Jesus." (Other times Paul says he saw in the light a physical appearance of the resurrected Jesus, making himself an equal witness to the 12 of the resurrection.) </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The words of this "Jesus" are all negative toward Paul. Like Miriam's affliction with leprosy, Paul is afflicted with blindness.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Later, Paul is told that another -- &nbsp;one Ananias (about whom nothing is known) -- that Paul would be a "martus" -- a witness -- to the Gentiles. Not an apostle, not a prophet, but just a witness of this appearance of Jesus to himself to the Gentiles. So nothing greater was invested in Paul than was Miriam invested with when she saw God outside the tent of meeting in Numbers 12 to repove her with leprosy. Paul's reproof was blindness. </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">While I believe there is reason to disbelieve this is the true Jesus in Acts 9 afflicting Paul (see <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">link</a>), let's assume it is so. Here is Acts 9 depiction of this event similar to Miriam's experience, where an angry reproof is given to Paul by one who says "I am Jesus" -- The Prophet - similar to what God said to Miriam outside the tent of meeting in Numbers 12:<br /></span></p>
<p class="chapter-1" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">9&nbsp;</span>And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">2&nbsp;</span>And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">3&nbsp;</span>And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">4&nbsp;</span>And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, <span style="color: #ff0000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?</strong></em></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">5&nbsp;</span>And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><em><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks</span>.</em></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">6&nbsp;</span>And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, <span style="color: #ff0000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.</strong></em></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">7&nbsp;</span>And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">8&nbsp;</span>And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9&amp;version=KJV">KJV</a>)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The words this Jesus speaks directly heard by Paul -- and not through others -- are <em><strong>entirely negative</strong></em>. All words spoken by this Jesus in this account are highlighted in red and bold. You can see they are the <strong><em>same kind of reproof Miriam received</em></strong>. An affliction of blindness happens as well, <strong><em>similar to what Miriam suffered</em></strong>. This experience does not make Paul a prophet or an apostle. Later Ananias tells Paul that the Holy One told him that Paul should "bear" Jesus name to the Gentiles. The role for Paul depicted in other versions of this account is he would be a "witness" -- Paul would be a witness of this Jesus's reproof for trying to kill Christians. This is not making Paul a "messenger" of any messages of Jesus privately communicated to Paul. <em><strong>Paul was just a witness</strong></em>. </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, Paul is not even at the level of Aaron -- who typically was a messenger of God's word given first to Moses. Paul was outside the four tiers of authority -- and rather was a witness to the wrath and negativity of Jesus for persecuting His people. Paul was to share this negative experience to the Gentiles, just like Miriam could witness to the world what negative experience comes from God when you claim to be on par with Moses but you are just a mere prophet, as she was.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">On top of this, even Second Peter -- often cited to equate Paul to 'scripture (although a misreading of what this means, see <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/57-second-peter-reference-to-paul.html">our</a> link), says Paul is "difficult to understand." (2 Peter 3:15-17.) &nbsp;When true, this implies Paul is subject to the higher priority of those to whom God spoke more "clearly" and not in "enigmas" (riddles) (Numbers 12:8). Paul is thus a lesser authority (even if intermittently inspired) than Moses or Jesus. What does this imply? The Bethel Church of God in 2012 said it right:</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Based on the above texts, as well as others, there is<strong><em>&nbsp;only one way to understand Paul&rsquo;s Epistles.</em></strong>&nbsp;They&nbsp;<strong>must be interpreted</strong>&nbsp;by the clear texts in the Bible,<strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;texts that are</span>&nbsp;</strong><em><strong>not</strong></em><strong>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">difficult to understand</span></strong>. ("<a href="http://www.bethelcog.org/church/understanding-paul/understanding-paul-1" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Understanding Paul</a>," Bethel Church of God (2012).)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Because Paul's epistles never quote Jesus other than the liturgy and maybe the worker-is-worthy-of-his his wage (both of&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">which are in Luke), and once dubiously Paul's Lord refused to release Paul from a torment by an "Angel of Satan" (2 Cor. 12:7),&nbsp;</span>any reliance on every word of Paul as inspired is a disgraceful act, God says. Why? </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Because when you treat Paul's<em><strong> every word</strong></em> as on par with Jesus, as well as able to subvert and revoke Moses' words, you are subject to disgrace for three misdeeds:&nbsp;</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">first, by putting Paul equal in authority to The Prophet;&nbsp;</span></li>
<li></li>
<li style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">second, by putting Paul's words above Moses words which Aaron and Miriam did not even dare to do -- who were reproved sorely for pleading for an equality between Miriam's and Aaron's roles and Moses' role; and</span></li>
<li></li>
<li style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">finally, by treating Paul as if Paul were The Prophet whose every word was inspired -- which is only true of The Prophet, and not even true of Moses who only had intermittent communication with God!</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Paulinists thus will suffer, absent repentance, God's disgrace upon them, equivalent to God spitting in their face on Judgment Day.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">So why would we want to ever take the chance of treating someone like Paul as an inspired authority in every word written even when <strong>99% of the time Paul never claims to be quoting God or Jesus</strong>? The only two times Paul quotes Jesus is [1] his quote in 1 Cor. 11:24 from Luke's liturgy of the communion in Luke 22:19 and [2] apparently in 1</span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Tim 5:18 about the worker is worthy of his wage. Paul each time does not even imply this involved any inspiration by himself -- Paul. Otherwise, &nbsp;we are left with the highly problematic quote by Paul of a "Lord" &nbsp;refusing to release Paul from the torment by an angel of Satan in Paul's flesh. (2Cor. 12:7.)</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Then there are only five examples where Paul is quoting the Lord God (not Jesus specifically), and we can infer Paul was quoting what he accepted as oral Torah or it was a loose quotation of the Law or Prophets. See&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Tim. 2:11; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess.4:1-2,8; 1 Thess. 2:13; Eph. 4:17.</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;See also our article "</span><a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/80-paul-admits-often-uninspired.html" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 19.1875px;">Paul Admits He Often Is Speaking Without Inspiration</a><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">."</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">What we have done incorrectly is quote Paul as inspired in every word just like we can quote Jesus as inspired in every word. The only reason that is true of Jesus is because Deuteronomy 18 said <strong><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">this would be true alone of The Prophet</span></strong>.&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy%2018&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Deut 18:18-19 NIV</a>.)</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp; No such honor or elevation belongs to Paul's mere letters. To give them such importance will cause what? God's disgrace upon you, especially as you have let yourself be drawn away from the words and teachings of Jesus - our&nbsp;<em><strong>sole teacher</strong></em>.</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">End.</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;D. &nbsp;v.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Study Notes</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Not all inspiration is of the same authority. This explains why Jews always taught that Torah had higher authority than the prophets. &nbsp;The Law or Pentateuch - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy &amp; Numbers -- given by God to Moses - always had an authority above any of the Prophets in the Prophets section. (See "</span><a href="/recommendedreading/335-writings-section-of-original-testament-of-bible-knol.html" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;">Writings in the Original Testament</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">.")</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">A father spitting in a child's face was the most extreme form of displeasure and disgrace to exhibit in the Middle East of that era. God was saying that is what Miriam deserved.</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The verb for spit is repeated twice here in Numbers 12, to suggest repeated spitting. This means it was not some accidental act of a father. Rather, it was the punishment from a father upon a child.</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Aaron was silent, incidentally, as Miriam spoke up on his behalf for an equality with Moses. He was not punished, showing a lesser anger at him for colluding quietly than against Miriam who was the instigator. Friedman suggests it was because Aaron was the high priest, and he had to make personal atonement rather than be disgraced due to his office.</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #800080; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;<span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Email Comments</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">I read this entire article- it&rsquo;s absolutely great!</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp; (Matt P, graduate Dallas Theological Seminary, July 29, 2013).</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<td valign="top" ><p>"A young girl...having a Spirit of [the demon] <strong>Python</strong>...having followed Paul ... was crying [to the public many days], saying, '<strong><em>T</em></strong><em><strong>hese men</strong>...<strong>declare to us a way of salvation.'</strong></em>"<em> </em>Acts 16:16-17</p></td>
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<h1><strong><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Proofs that Paul did not truly Meet Jesus outside Damascus</span></strong></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We have written several articles that state individual examples of what proves Paul did not meet the true Jesus outside Damascus. It was an imposter. Now we will collect all these individual proofs in one article so you can see the collective force of the strength of the position we have previously taken.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In logic, you can know you have reached the correct conclusion when the evidence from multiple angles all independently point to the same conclusion. Thus, by combining all these proofs in one article, you can more clearly see the unassailable nature of this contention.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Proof One</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus warned in his talk to the apostles at the Mount of Olives that after He ascends to heaven, many imposters will come in his name saying they are Himself, but do not believe them if someone claims to have seen Him return from heaven just in a wilderness place or in a private room. Jesus says the distinction of how He will reappear on earth is that when it's truly him every eye will see Him from every point East and West. See our article on <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">Matthew 24:5 to 7, 23-27</a>. &nbsp;Paul in Acts 9:1-11 in the wilderness outside Damascus met someone saying "I am Jesus." Those with Paul saw no one but heard the voice. This fits Jesus' warning to a tee about a false return by Jesus from heaven after the Ascension.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Proof Two</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Immediately after Paul's experience with someone saying "I am Jesus," &nbsp;Paul wanted to go to Jerusalem to try to see the apostles. But the Jesus whom Paul met outside Damascus appears to Paul in a trance (recounted in <a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/22-17.htm">Acts 22:17</a>) who tells Paul to depart from Jerusalem because the church there -- the 12 apostles in context -- will not believe Paul truly met Jesus. But this makes no sense if it were truly Jesus, because Jesus could always speak through the Holy Spirit to the 12 to tell them that Paul is truly a follower of the true Jesus. Only a false Jesus would ever tell Paul to not go to Jerusalem&nbsp;because&nbsp;the 12 would not believe Paul's story. A false Jesus would not want Paul to talk to the 12 apostles because they would give him the imposter criteria which the true Jesus gave them that would have clearly excluded the possibility that Paul had met the true Jesus outside Damascus. So in this instance Paul departed Jerusalem, and never was explained the sign of the Son of Man coming on clouds of glory which would have let Paul realize he was being duped by a false Jesus. See articles (1)&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/500-pauls-trance.html">Paul's Trance</a>;&nbsp;(2) <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/499-odd-message-from-jesus-to-paul-about-apostles.html">Odd Message of "Jesus' in Paul's Trance</a>; and (3)&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/584-paul-omits-jesus-is-son-of-man.html">Paul Did Not Know the Son of Man Prophecy Which Would Have Protected Him.</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As we explained in our article on the importance of Paul not going to meet the 12 early on, Paul never heard the Son of Man criteria which filters out the Jesus whom Paul met as false. We wrote:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; font-size: 14.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul himself admits this at the time he wrote Galatians more than 20 years after becoming a Christian. Paul said he declined to listen to the twelve apostles, preferring instead his direct revelations from the Lord Jesus whom he met during that first experience. In&nbsp;<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/1-12.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Galatians 1:12</a>, Paul explained: "I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ." In Galatians 2:6, talking of the twelve apostles, Paul says:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 60px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; font-size: 14.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But from those who were reputed to be somewhat (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth not man's person)-- they, I say, who were of repute&nbsp;<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">imparted nothing to me</span></strong>: (<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/2-6.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Galatians 2:6</a>&nbsp;ASV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Proof Three</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Would the true Jesus have&nbsp;inspired the following blasphemies that we find clearly in the writings of Paul?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1. God supposedly will send a delusion on people to believe a lie and remain lost, when the true Jesus says that God will seek out the lost sheep&nbsp;to bring them to salvation. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/188-blasphemy-a-paul.html">Paul's Words Supporting Blasphemies</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2. The rulers of this world are agents of God, and whoever rebels against their commands "rebels against God." (Romans 13:1-5) But the true Jesus taught they are under the dominion of Satan. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/244-satans-domain-over-world-rulers.html">Satan's Domain over World Rulers</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">3. The Law is so thoroughly abrogated that there's nothing unlawful in itself, but there are only things inexpedient to do. This is a terrible immoral principle that undermines all&nbsp;morality. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/578-evil-immoral-commands-from-paul.html">Are These Immoral Teachings in Paul's Writings?</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As a result, Paul contradicts Jesus' three statements to his church not to eat meat sacrificed to idols, and instead Paul says that it is permissible to eat such meat unless it is inexpedient to do so such as when you're in the presence of someone who is weak about this issue and believes he truly should not eat meat sacrificed to idols. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/554-idol-meat-issue-paul-versus-jesus.html">Paul's Contradiction of Jesus on Eating Idol Meats.</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And on the same rationale that expediency is the test of right and wrong, Paul taught that he knows every day of the week is the same, so that there is no particular day of rest. Thus, if you want to rest, don't worry about resting on the day of rest - the Sabbath - in the 10 Commandments. Paul said if you do rest on Sabbath to satisfy a command you think affects your salvation to disobey, you are "severed from Christ." Paul specifically told Gentiles with this attitude they lose their salvation by resting on Sabbath. &nbsp;Paul said this even though the Law given Moses said Sabbath rest applied to sojourners (Gentiles) in the gates of any Israelite city. Paul thereby damned all Gentiles who followed Paul to disregard Sabbath because Sabbath is the one command that God consistently said not only in the Law but in the prophecies about a new covenant that the Gentiles must obey as a condition of their salvation. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/242-paul-abolished-sabbath.html">Paul Abrogates the Sabbath Command</a>.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Proof Four</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Approximately 21 years after Paul became a believer in Jesus, he went to Jerusalem, even though a prophet Agabus and other believers speaking through the Holy Spirit, according to Luke, told him not to go to Jerusalem. On this trip, Paul's traveling companion defiled the temple by entering it in an uncircumcised state. In this instance, why didn't the true Jesus who Paul supposedly knew tell Paul that these other Holy Spirit messages were indeed to be obeyed? If Paul were truly in such normal contact with Jesus, how could Paul disobey the Holy Spirit in this way? See our article on <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/65-trophimus.html">Trophimus</a>.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Proof Five</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">When Paul is being afflicted by a stinger sent by an Angel of Satan, he asked the Lord to release him from it. But supposedly the Lord -- apparently either Yahweh or Jesus -- Paul does not specify -- said "my grace is sufficient for you."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Why would the Lord God or Jesus leave Paul subject to the dominion such a stinger from an Angel of Satan represented? Wouldn't only a false god or an imposter Jesus serving Satan leave Paul afflicted by Satan's stinger? &nbsp;See our article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/372-skolops-sent-by-an-angel-of-satan.html">Why Would Jesus' Not Remove An Affliction of Satan upon Paul?</a></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Proof Six</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul is endorsed by the influential and popular demon, the Python priestess at Philippi in Acts 16. She specifically endorses his "plan of salvation." &nbsp; &nbsp;Paul lets this go on for several days without interrupting her before casting the demon from her. &nbsp;See our article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/373-spirit-of-python-promoted-paul-in-acts-16.html">The Python Priestess Endorses Paul</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why would a popular demon spirit of Python endorse Paul if he was a representative of the true Lord Jesus Christ?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This would represent a kingdom divided against itself. Thus, it logically follows that this could not possibly be the true Lord Jesus who Paul followed and was teaching a plan of salvation approved by demons. We are forced to ask: who gave Paul the plan of salvation which the demon endorsed? The answer is obvious.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Proof Seven</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul at least 24 times contradicts the Lord Jesus Christ. See our article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/175-pauls-contradictions-of-jesus.html">Paul's Contradictions of Jesus</a>. Can the true Jesus possibly contradict himself through Paul? Obviously not. Ironically, Paul himself said anyone who contradicts the Lord Jesus Christ is a man of pride. See 1 Tim. 6:3-4, discussed at this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/141-paul-endorses-jwo.html">link</a>. The best explanation for these contradictions is that Paul did not meet the true Lord Jesus Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;<strong>Conclusion</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are many more such proofs, but these are the top seven. Hence, when multiple angles point to the same conclusion -- that Paul did not meet the true Jesus Christ -- we can with confidence conclude that is the truth. This means Paul met an imposter Jesus outside Damascus in the wilderness, as warned by Jesus in Matthew 24:4-5, 24-27.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Anomia in NT Means Apostasy -- Negation of Mosaic Law</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus in Matthew 7:15-24 refers to "signs and wonders" prophets. He identifies methods of strong seduction that can mislead you: prophecy in Jesus&rsquo; name; casting out demons in Jesus&rsquo; name, and &ldquo;many wonderful works.&rdquo; But Jesus then says we must reject these persons who do such signs and wonders when they are workers of ANOMIA. Hence, we ignore such prophets because they are guilty of ANOMIA. This means ANOMIA makes such prophets with apparently true signs and wonders in Jesus' name nevertheless false prophets. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What is ANOMIA? Let&rsquo;s listen to the full context to figure it out:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; <strong>but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven</strong>. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not <strong>prophesied in thy name</strong>? and in <strong>thy name</strong> have cast out devils? and in <strong>thy name</strong> done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work <strong>ANOMIA</strong>. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+7%3A21-23&amp;version=KJV">Matthew 7:21-23 KJV</a>, the Greek anomia replaces &ldquo;iniquity&rdquo; used in KJV.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">22&nbsp;</span><span>for there shall rise false Christs and false prophets, and they shall give <em><strong>signs and wonders</strong></em>, to <strong>seduce</strong>&nbsp;[<a href="http://biblehub.com/text/mark/13-22.htm">Greek, APOPLANAN</a>] if possible, also the chosen; &nbsp;(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+13%3A22-23&amp;version=YLT">Mark 13:22 YLT</a>)</span></span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Anomia here means negator of the Law of Moses. An <strong>apostate</strong> in the Deuteronomy 13:1-10 sense. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In the Greek translation in 257 BC of Deuteronomy 13, it says a prophet who has prophecy that "comes to pass" and has signs and wonders is still a false prophet if they also try to "seduce you away from following the Law," and cause you to "turn away" from Yahweh thereby. The Hebrew word for "turn away" is rendered in Greek in the verb form of "<strong>apostasia</strong>." See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+13:10">Deut 13:10 NKJV</a> and compare Deut 13:10 in the Septuagint Interlinear at <a href="http://septuagint-interlinear-greek-bible.com/OldTestament.pdf">this link</a> at page 278. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The Greek word APOSTASIA is based upon the roots APO and HISTEMI. See <a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/868.htm">Strong's 868</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">That is why Bernard Levinson says in <strong>Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation</strong> (Oxford U.P.: 1997) at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=U-GJFShHwzsC&amp;lpg=PA133&amp;ots=BhbMbhhUXn&amp;dq=deuteronomy%20septuagint%20apostasy&amp;pg=PA133#v=onepage&amp;q=deuteronomy%20septuagint%20apostasy&amp;f=false">133</a>: "In Deuteronomy 13, the offense is <strong>consistently apostasy</strong>...."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In the NT appears a synonymn for APOSTASIA in Greek -- the word ANOMIA. It was used that way in the Septuagint Greek translation of 257 BC in Isaiah 1:5, as we shall prove below. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">And thus the correct translation of ANOMIA in the NT should be "apostasy" rather than "iniquity," as we will demonstrate. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">That is certainly true in Matthew 7:21-23 because Jesus talks about persons who "prophesy in my name," and have "signs and wonders." Jesus then says they are false because of ANOMIA. Did Jesus mean "lawless" (the common translation) or APOSTASY? Because He is clearly paraphrasing Deut 13:1-10 up to that point, it is obvious Jesus means by ANOMIA -- a noun -- the verbal concept of "turn away" -- resulting in APOSTASIA -- as used in Deut 13:10 in the &nbsp;Septuagint Greek of 257 BC. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Let's now go into more depth to prove this more completely.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why Jesus Meant Law-Negation &amp; Apostasy in Matthew 7:23</span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">First, "<strong>anomia"</strong> in the Bible clearly &ldquo;has the meaning of <strong>apostasy</strong>...especially in Isaiah 1:5.&rdquo; (Hugh James Rose, B.D., editor, <strong>A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament by John Parkhurst </strong>(London: C.J.G. &amp; F. Rivington, 1829) at 60.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">This is a reference to how the Greek Septuagint in 257 BC translated such rebellion or "turning away" as anomia. If you wish to see the Greek parsing of Isaiah 1:5 into our phonetic lettering, see this <a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/gopher/text/religion/biblical/parallel/40.Isaiah.par">link</a>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">In the Septuagint Greek translation of 257 BC, anomia is a proper means to translate as a noun the Hebrew word for "apostasy" (turn away) in Deuteronomy 13:10's usage when you are generalizing 'apostasy.' </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Theo A.W. van der Louw in&nbsp;<strong>Transformations in the Septuagint</strong> (Peeters Publishers 2007) at&nbsp;</span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=F6DHbSnDnwoC&amp;lpg=PA173&amp;ots=XI3ojZVMJD&amp;dq=apostate%20deuteronomy%2013%20greek&amp;pg=PA174#v=onepage&amp;q=apostate%20deuteronomy%2013%20greek&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">173</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">-174 explains: </span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">"Now apostasy is always apostasy from someone. When the text mentions 'apostasy' without the prepositional phrase 'from someone,' the <strong>noun apostasy is generalized in Greek</strong>. This is the case in Isaiah 1:5 [which uses]... <strong>ANOMIA</strong>...."&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Second, Jesus has quoted from Deuteronomy 13:1-10 twice already in these passages of Matthew 7:21-23 and Mark 13:22 -- the rule on apostasy in the Law. Jesus quotes the "signs and wonders" terminology, and the "seduce" terminology and "anomia" (translated typically as &ldquo;lawlessness"). (Mark 13:22 YLT.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, Jesus in the word ANOMIA is drawing upon the third element of the rule &mdash; that you test the prophet or dreamer by the rule of what is apostasy in 13:10 &mdash; are they turning you away from the Mosaic Law? <br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Remember apostasy is described in Deuteronomy13 as one who &ldquo;seduces you from the way in which <strong><em>t</em></strong><em><strong>he Lord your God commanded you to walk</strong></em>.&rdquo; This "way" means the Mosaic Covenant in context.</span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Third, anomia generally does not mean iniquity in a loose sense of sin in the NT. If that were the intent, the Greek word for iniquity or sin was <strong>amartio</strong>. Instead, Robinson explains that <strong>anomia</strong> had a &ldquo;more <strong>specific and definite meaning</strong>&rdquo; than mere iniquity, and that was a meaning related to turning away from the Law given Moses. (Edward Robinson, <a href="https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=bbMGAAAAQAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;pg=GBS.PP1">Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament</a> (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans)(1850) at 61.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why does Robinson think so besides relying upon the Septuagint usage? Because anomia is formed by using the negative prefix A before <strong>nomos</strong>. The word <strong>Nomos</strong> in the NT generally means the Mosaic Law. Anomia thus also means without the revealed Law, i.e., the Mosaic Law.</span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Rose likewise explains this latter comparable sense of anomia to apostasy: </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">&ldquo;The word in the N.T. means &ldquo;without a revealed law,&rdquo; i.e., &ldquo;<strong>the law of Moses</strong>.&rdquo; (Hugh James Rose, B.D., editor, <strong>A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament by John Parkhurst</strong> (London: C.J.G. &amp; F. Rivington, 1829) at <a href="https://books.google.com.pa/books?id=i59tAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=Hugh%20James%20Rose%20Greek%20and%20English%20Lexicon%20of%20the%20New%20Testament%201829&amp;pg=PA60#v=onepage&amp;q=Hugh%20James%20Rose%20Greek%20and%20English%20Lexicon%20of%20the%20New%20Testament%201829&amp;f=false">60</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Rose specifically states this to correct an error on this very point in Parkhurst&rsquo;s dictionary work that Rose is editing and republishing. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Of interest, Rose also mentions that Schleuser says </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">"that in <a href="/2%20thess%202:7">2 Thessalonians 2:7</a> it [i.e., anomia] has the meaning of<strong> apostasy</strong> (referring to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=job+7%3A21&amp;version=YLT">Job 7:21</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=job+8%3A4&amp;version=YLT">8:4</a>, and especially <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+1%3A5&amp;version=YLT">Isaiah 1:5.</a>)" (Id., 1829, at <a href="https://books.google.com.pa/books?id=i59tAAAAIAAJ&amp;dq=Hugh%20James%20Rose%20Greek%20and%20English%20Lexicon%20of%20the%20New%20Testament%201829&amp;pg=PA60#v=onepage&amp;q=Hugh%20James%20Rose%20Greek%20and%20English%20Lexicon%20of%20the%20New%20Testament%201829&amp;f=false">60</a>.) </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In other words, Paul uses anomia himself to mean apostasy. Hence, when Jesus uses anomia, Paul himself cannot complain if we translate it the same way that Paul used anomia in 2 Thess. 2:7. Of course, what is conclusive is that Jesus clearly intended the meaning of apostasy for anomia as he clearly is paraphrasing Deut. 13:1-5 -- the Punishment of Apostates section of the Law - in Matt 7:21-23.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus Quotes From Deut 13:1-10 Again Later</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why does God let someone have true prophecy and signs and wonders who tries to turn you away from God's Law? God explains that He allows this to test whether you love Yahweh "with your whole heart, mind and soul." (Deut 13:5.) It is your greatest personal test whether you love Yahweh over any would-be speaker on His behalf.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">How important is this command? Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 13:1-10 a second time, and He lifts these words right out of that passage, and makes them the most important command in the Bible. Jesus in Matthew 22:36-37 is asked: "Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law." Jesus responds: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/22-37.htm">Matt 22:37 NIV</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Jesus means this section in Deuteronomy is the number one law in the Bible. &nbsp;Bernard Levinson in <strong>Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation</strong> (Oxford U.P.: 1997) at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=U-GJFShHwzsC&amp;lpg=PA133&amp;ots=BhbMbhhUXn&amp;dq=deuteronomy%20septuagint%20apostasy&amp;pg=PA133#v=onepage&amp;q=deuteronomy%20septuagint%20apostasy&amp;f=false">133</a>, unintentionally describes Deuterononomy 12 and 13 in a way that explains why Jesus calls this the "greatest commandment." These two chapters make the two requirements in Deut 13 "to conform to the new...protocol and the requirement of fidelity to Yahweh [so that they]&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span>[t]ogether function as <strong>a kind of primary commandment</strong>, from <strong>which all else follows</strong>."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">All the commandments thus hang on your zealous love for God Yahweh which requires fidelity to the Law He gave at Sinai. This applies to everyone although it has different rules for "sons of Israel" versus Levites and versus sojourners (Gentiles) dwelling in Israel. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/98-law-applicable-today.html">Law Applicable Today</a>. Apostasia aka ANOMIA by signs-and-wonder prophets whose words "come to pass" is allowed by Yahweh as a test whether you will obey the primary command upon which Jesus says the entire Law and prophets stands. How are you doing with this command?</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">End </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong>Study Notes</strong>&nbsp;</span></span>&nbsp;</p>
<p><br /><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Example of Anomia in Classical Greek Text</span></strong></span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Interestingly, anomia was used in 322 BC as &ldquo;negation of law&rdquo; in a court speech by Demosthenes. It did not mean "iniquity" or "sin." Thus, it is very helpful to correct our English translations. This thus helps construe Jesus' meaning when He says as to workers of anomia in Matthew 7:23 that He will judge such antinomians as &ldquo;I never knew you&rdquo; even though they were performing signs and wonders in Jesus&rsquo; name, i.e., believed in him and did great works to honor Jesus.</span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In this speech, Demosthenes argued that if the Court did not impose the appropriate sentence after the people&rsquo;s vote, it was the same as negating the law reflected in the people&rsquo;s decision on what was wrong. Demosthenes calls this an impious act. Demosthenes declared it was &ldquo;negation of law&rdquo; -- anomia.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">That you are empowered to pass sentence of imprisonment I prove by this argument; and I take it that everybody will agree that to invalidate judicial decisions is monstrous, impious, and subversive of popular government. Our commonwealth, gentlemen of the jury, is administered by laws and by votes of the people; and if once decisions by vote are repealed by a new law, where will be the end of it? Can we justly call this thing a law? Is it not rather the <strong>negation of law</strong>? Does not such a lawgiver merit our strongest resentment?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Demosthenes, Against Timocrates 24:142 at Tuft&rsquo;s Perseus Project.</span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, if an old law is repealed by a new law, Demosthenes calls this anomia. This meaning of &ldquo;negation of law&rdquo; is comparable to what Jesus meant in Matthew 7:23 by use of the same identical Greek word. Jesus <strong>did not mean iniquity</strong>, as the KJV and others translate. Thus, Jesus meant anyone who tries to repeal the preceding law &mdash; the Mosaic Law, and replace it with a new law, was guilty of anomia. You can have miracles, signs and wonders, but if you try to seduce anyone from following the preceding law, you are guilty of anomia. You are a false prophet. A false teacher. An apostate.</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span></p> </td>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>DOES SECOND PETER COMMEND PAUL AS AN APOSTLE?</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">A friend shared with me an email from a Paul-defender named Don who argued Second Peter commends Paul as an apostle as follows:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Peter Defends Paul's Apostleship by Don</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Probably the greatest proof of Paul's apostleship and authority is found in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+peter+3%3A15-16&amp;version=KJV">2 Peter 3:15-16</a>. There Peter refers to Paul as "our beloved brother." He states that Paul wrote "according to the wisdom given him." Finally, Peter refers to (apparently) a collection of Paul's letters and calls them "Scripture." It is true that, in the early church, the term "Scripture" was generally used to refer to that of the Old Testament. But notice that Peter categorized the writings of Paul in the same class as "the rest of the Scriptures," thus giving a clear indication that Paul's writings are indeed truthful and authoritative. (A collection of Paul's writings commonly known as the Pauline Corpus is dated from early in the 2</span><span style="vertical-align: super; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">nd</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;century.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Jesus said, "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+16%3A13&amp;version=KJV">John&nbsp;16:13</a>). The apostles would thus be divinely guided by the Holy Spirit in their teaching and writing. The apostle John was inspired when he recorded those words of Jesus. Luke was inspired when he wrote the account of Paul being called to be an apostle. Peter was inspired when he wrote that Paul's writings were Scripture. Thus if Paul is not to be accepted as a true apostle and his writings as genuinely inspired, then several other inspired writers must also be shunned. It would be hoped that few would be willing to go to such an extreme.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Don</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>My Reply</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">Don admits the "greatest" proof of Paul's apostleship is in Second Peter, which means Don should realize it is a sad commentary that the best poof only calls Paul a "brother," not an apostle. Don cannot cite Second Peter to prove Paul is an apostle.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">The second reason this 'best proof' must fail, besides only calling Paul a brother, is it would contradict Acts and Jesus' words in Revelation. For Acts ch. 1 proves Paul can never be the 12th apostle. The 11 prayed for Jesus's direction, and the Holy Spirit then chose by means of lots which of 2 candidates would&nbsp; replace Judas as the 12th. It is clear in context the 11 knew they could not add the second candidate to the list of apostles because a 13th apostle is impermissibly too many.&nbsp; Thus only Matthias replaced Judas as #12, and the other candidate was not accepted as any kind of apostle.&nbsp; See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/613-mathias-as-the-12th-apostle-holy-spirit-chose-before-paul.html">Matthias Chosen as The 12th Apostle.</a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">This matches what the Revelation of Jesus said &mdash; &nbsp;that there are only 12 apostles "of the Lamb" (Jesus) to rule in the new Jerusalem. Revelation says: "The city was built on twelve foundation stones. On each of the stones was written the name of one of the&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Lamb's twelve apostles</span>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+21%3A14&amp;version=CEV">Rev. 21:14 CEV</a>.)</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">So if Don said Second Peter proved Paul was a "brother," that is truly what it says, but it is no proof Paul is an apostle. Even Paul in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Cor.+15%3A5&amp;version=CEV">1 Cor. 15:5</a> says the "12" before himself saw Jesus resurrected, and then "lastly" Paul did, as a child born out of turn. Thus, Paul understood he was not one of the 12 apostles.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">So what about Paul&rsquo;s repeated claim to being an apostle in the opening verse of many epistles? For example, Ephesians 1:1.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">First, in all three accounts by Luke of a voice and light outside Damascus who says "I am Jesus," Luke never has the Damascus Jesus say to Paul that Paul is an apostle. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/515-inconsistency-in-paul-vision-accounts.html">Inconsistency in Appearance Accounts in Acts.</a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">As a result, Paul's claim of apostleship to the Ephesians and to other churches is entirely self-serving. How do we analyze that?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Well, we know that Jesus said if He alone bore witness to Himself, then His witness would be untrue. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+5%3A31&amp;version=KJV">John 5:31</a>, "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.")</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus was extending the Law's principle, so that two witnesses were necessary to establish not only a wrong, but also anything as important as God sending someone for a special role.&nbsp; In fact, Jesus in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev+2%3A2&amp;version=KJV">Revelation 2:2</a> clearly agrees a self-serving claim to be His apostle is insufficient:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">"I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those <strong>who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.</strong>"</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, Jesus condemned those who "claimed' or "said" they were apostles, who the Ephesus church put on trial ("tested") and found no corroboration that they were one of the 12 apostles.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, Paul's claim to being an apostle suffers from being self-serving, just as those who made a similar claim at Ephesus, and whom Jesus said the Ephesians properly found were not telling the truth. By a Biblical standard from Jesus Himself, Paul's self-witness "is not true."</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Second Peter's Criticisms or Slights on Paul.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">It should be noted that Second Peter says Paul writes by the "wisdom God gave him" but not by inspiration. Second Peter also said Paul's wisdom was sometimes not present in a material way, and in fact Paul's words were salvation threatening when read by the "ignorant and unstable." For Second Peter says Paul's writings are "sometimes dysnoetas." Noetas means sensible. The prefix <strong>DYS</strong> in ancient Greek means "<strong>DESTROYING THE GOOD SENSE</strong> OF A WORD" which follows this Greek prefix. (Liddell &amp; Scott quoted at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dys-"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Dictionary.com</span></a>]. English uses the prefix the same way. For example, non-functional means something that does not work. But <strong>dys</strong>functional means something that <strong>mal</strong>functions. See <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dysfunctional">Dictionary.com</a>.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">This word dysnoetas thus means&nbsp; &ldquo;contrary to good sense" or "destructive of good sense." You could lessen it to "nonsensical" with a pejorative intention but that may be still too soft.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">However,&nbsp; it is softened even further in translation in 1611 by the KJV as "difficult to understand." But Calvin in the early 1500s knew the Greek was a harsher term than that, and for this reason, he said Second Peter is not written by Peter, because Peter supposedly would never talk this harshly about Paul.&nbsp; Calvin wrote:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">"And yet, when I examine all things more narrowly, it seems to me more probable that this Epistle was composed by another according to what Peter communicated, than that it was written by himself, for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Peter himself would have never spoken thus</span>." (<a href="http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_vol45/htm/vii.iv.iv.htm">Bible Study Guide</a>.)</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Why Did Reformers Reject Canonicity of Second Peter?</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">This brings up the other hurdle for Don. The leading Protestant Reformers -- both Calvin and Luther -- rejected Second Peter. Also, the church by the 300s rejected Second Peter as a falsely attributed work of Peter,&nbsp; but it was allowed to be printed in canon as 'profitable' to read when read with 'other' truly valid writings. Eusebius, the major historian of the early Roman Catholic church wrote in about 325 AD: "One epistle of Peter, that called the first, is acknowledged as genuine.&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">But we have learned that his extant second epistle, does not belong to the canon</span>. Yet as it has appeared profitable, it has been used with the other scriptures." (Eusebius,<strong> History of the Church 3:3:1, </strong>in Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. I at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.pdf"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">254</span></a>.)</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Does "Scripture" in&nbsp; Second Peter Mean Holy Scripture Inspired from God?</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">As to Don's view the word <strong>scripture</strong> means here a holy inspired writing, this is incorrect. The Greek is simply <strong>graphe</strong> -- writing, and does not necessarily imply Holy Scripture. However, I understand how Don has the view otherwise due to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+timothy+3%3A16&amp;version=KJV">2 Tim 3:16</a> which appears to say "all scripture <strong>is</strong> inspired of God" in the King James Version (KJV), but even the KJV does not actually say that is true.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">The sentence reads properly in Greek, "all<strong> writing inspired</strong> of God <strong>is</strong> useful for edification, etc." The KJV knew this, but added an "is" after "scripture (writing),&rdquo; yet italicized the "is." It did so because the KJV preface explained that italicized words in the NT are not present in the Greek. The editors would add a word like "is" there to supposedly smooth out the sentence, or provide a clearly implied term, etc. But the "is" in 2 Tim. 3:16 is properly only implied after "graphe inspired of God." For listen to how odd it reads in the Young's Literal when "graphe" is rendered properly as "writing." It reads: "<strong>Every writing</strong> is God-breathed, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, etc." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/2_timothy/3-16.htm">2 Tim. 3:16</a> YLT.) This would mean, if true, that any "writing" -- such as a book I wrote -- is "God-breathed" because it is a "writing" - a graphe. (Graphe truly in Greek means nothing by itself about an inherently inspired writing unlike the English word "Scripture" which due to 2 Tim. 3:16 in the KJV gained such a meaning in English.) Then Don would have to reject Paul because my book claims Paul is not a valid apostle appointed by Jesus. So if Paul is correctly modified by the KJV to add &ldquo;is&rdquo; where it does not appear, then Paul&rsquo;s authority is unravelled by the mere fact my book is a writing... a graphe. (I am joshing to make a point that 2 Tim. 3:16 in the KJV could not plausibly have been correct inserting IS where it did.)</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, the truth is the word "graphe" in Greek means any paper that contains writing, such as bills and letters.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, Young's Literal's use of "writing" instead of the now distorted word "Scripture" in English allows us to see the nonsensical nature of the KJV implying "is" prior to the words "God-breathed."</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Now many misled generations later, we don't read the preface to the KJV. We don't notice the italics for the word <strong>is</strong> means you can erase from your mind it as an addition that clearly does not belong where it was inserted. We are thereby misled to believe the word "scripture" in English is unique, and means <strong>necessarily</strong> a holy inspired writing. The &ldquo;is&rdquo; after &ldquo;writing&rdquo; impermissibly changed the meaning of the word &ldquo;writing&rdquo; in Greek when transmuted into our English word "Scripture," suggesting thereby it was a unique term. But the word "is" was neither implied at that point nor smoothed out the sentence. So this &ldquo;scripture&rdquo; argument is no argument at all for Don. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/669-mistranslation-of-2-timothy-3-16-causes-misunderstanding-on-word-scripture.html">Mistranslation of 2 Tim. 3:16 affecting Meaning of "Scripture."</a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Conclusion</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">So all of Don's hope that Second Peter can sustain Paul as an apostle dissipates when Second Peter is observed not to say Paul is an apostle, nor say Paul is inspired, but also actually criticizes Paul's writings as sometimes destructive of good sense.&nbsp; And the scripture reference actually backfires, as Peter compared Paul to any kind of writing that causes people to stumble from their 'steadfastness' in Christ into "lawlessness." (NIV 2P3:17).</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Finally, while I wish Second Peter was truly inspired, I am out voted by the Paulinists. They wish to do so to protect Paul. They have ganged up to reject Second Peter as any kind of true commentary on Paul's writings. Don will realize he needs to keep Second Peter out of canon if he studied the word <strong>dysnoetas</strong> in the original Greek usages in true Greek dictionaries of unbiased scholarship. (I suspect he relies on Strong&rsquo;s for Greek meanings. However, Strong's is a concordance of at least always how a word was translated in the KJV; it is not a true dictionary.&nbsp;See&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/783-strong-concordance-is-not-to-be-used-as-dictionary.html">Strong's Cannot Be Used as a Dictionary.&nbsp;</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, it is no help in any argument where the KJV exercised bias of the Calvinists who controlled the final edition, and mistranslated a word to protect Paul or fit doctrine.)</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Why is Second Peter in fuller context so inimical to Paul's validity that the Reformers strained to remove it?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Second Peter is clearly saying the "dysnoetas" -- words destructive of good sense - "sometimes" are present in&nbsp;<span style="color: #222222; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Paul's writings, and they are partly to blame for people falling from their "steadfastness" in Christ and into the "error of the</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #222222; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;lawless</span><span style="color: #222222; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">." (NIV). </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Does Don truly want to say these are words about a true Apostle?&nbsp;That Second Peter is inspired? These words in full context crush Paul, when objectively analyzed. This is why Paul-defenders who know Greek have gone to what Don calls an "extreme" (removing an item of canon) and effectively removed Second Peter from Holy Scripture in seminary where the truth about the Greek may be discovered. Thus, among those who know the Greek, it is only those who defend Jesus as "sole teacher" and "sole pastor" who want Second Peter in canon. That includes me. Don has been improperly influenced to see Second Peter as a bulwark to defend Paul when it is truly the opposite. Most important, Second Peter does not call Paul an Apostle. It speaks only of Paul as a brother, just like all Christians are brothers and sisters of one another, as Jesus said.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">I hope that helps.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Doug</p> </td>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 24pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Paul Errs That Those Not Under the Law Can Invoke Atonement</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.What Paul teaches About Salvation and Atonement</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Paul twice underscores that if you hold steadfastly to three beliefs about Jesus that you are saved. One of these beliefs is the belief in Christ&rsquo;s Atonement.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+15%3A1-6&amp;version=KJV">1 Corinthians 15:1-6</a>, Paul teaches us that if we hold three beliefs steadfastly - belief in Christ's atonement, his burial, and in His resurrection, we are saved:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">15&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">2&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">by which also you are saved,&nbsp;<strong>if you hold fast that word</strong>&nbsp;which I preached to you&mdash;unless you believed in vain.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">3&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">4&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">and that He was buried, and that&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">5&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">6&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">After that He was seen by....etc.</span>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">This is an Atonement-based creedal Christianity. Salvation is determined solely by what facts you believe about atonement. If you believe Christ's atonement applies to you, his atonement saves you. Succinctly and precisely, Paul says holding to three beliefs saves you: [1] Jesus died for your sins, i.e., atonement, [2] was buried, and [3] Jesus resurrected. Nothing more.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #3366ff;">Contrast Apostolic Faith of John</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Contrast Apostle John who says he wrote his gospel so you believe Jesus is the "Christ, son of God" so you "<strong>may</strong>" have eternal life. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+20%3A31&amp;version=KJV">John 20:31 KJV</a>.) </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">John wants you to believe facts about Jesus that mean you accept Jesus as the "Son" figure in Psalm 2 who is depicted as a ruler and is called "Messiah" ("Annointed") in the same Psalm. Because all kings are annointed with oil at the inception of their realm, Psalm 2 is depicting a Son of God who is a King-Messiah.&nbsp; </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In Psalm 2, God speaks to this Messiah-Son-King: "<strong>This day I have begotten thee</strong>," and "Kiss the son lest he be angry.&rdquo; &nbsp;Yahweh in Psalm 2 has made this King-Messiah-Son the judge over mankind. It says due to the Son-king's role in judgment over us, you are to "serve Yahweh" in "fear" and "rejoicing." See Psalm 2 in its entirety at this </span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+2&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">link</a><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">This matches perfectly what Apostle John records Jesus saying in <a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-16.htm">John 3:16 KJV&nbsp; (Bible Hub)</a>. For God sent his "<strong>Son</strong>" that whoesever "<strong>obeys</strong> unto" him (pisteuosin eis as Son of God in Psalm 2 sense, i.e., as Messiah = Annointed One / king in Psalm 2) [see <strong>NIV Theological Dictionary</strong> (2000) at 1027 --scan available <a href="https://airtable.com/shrxOOQF46Q2Tv0EM">here</a>&nbsp;-- says means "<strong>obey</strong>" when directed to a person] "should not perish but ["<strong>might</strong>"] have eternal life." Many translations omit this "might." But see the Greek tab at Bible Hub link that "have" is the present subjunctive active verb tense meaning "<strong>might have</strong>."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, Apostle John wants to foster an apostolic belief by his Gospel message that you accept / believe / understand Jesus is your King-Messiah and Son of God, and thus you &ldquo;obey unto&rdquo; him. See John 3:16 (pisteusin eis = obey unto.) This status of Jesus implies you must obey him so you "may" or "might" have eternal life. See our YouTube video on <a href="https://youtu.be/expLPsXbeEY">John 3:16's Correct Translation</a>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">By contrast, Paul says belief in theee facts about Jesus will 100% automatically save you. The first fact is a belief Jesus atoned for your sins; the second is Jesus was buried; and the third fact is a belief that he resurrected. No such beliefs alone signified you also had to<strong>&nbsp;believe Jesus has any status as King or Son</strong>&nbsp;(or even as Anointed One=Messiah in Psalm 2 sense). </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Hence none of these three beliefs necessary to be saved in Paul&rsquo;s gospel implied a belief Jesus is&nbsp; a king, a Messiah or any authority that would imply you must obey Jesus for salvation. In Paul's Gospel in 1 Cor. 15:1-6, you do not have to have any works of service nor any obedience to anyone, even for Jesus.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">This omission is deliberate by Paul. These three facts about atonement, burial &amp; resurrection, if believed, "shall" give you eternal life. In other epistles, Paul condemns any repentance-obedience elements in salvation as "works." You are saved by "faith, not works," Paul insists. S<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+2%3A8-9&amp;version=NIV">ee Ephesians 2:8-9</a>. Paul contends that one who works for something does not receive it by grace. Thus, instead "faith" alone supposedly justifies the ungodly by grace.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+4%3A4-5&amp;version=NIV">Romans 4:3-5</a>. Paul in these passages is quite at odds therefore with John's apostolic view of what the significance of "belief" about Jesus is all about. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Faith in Jesus Is Ineffective In The Gospel and Book of Revelation by John Without Your Works.</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">To amplify the point, Apostle John's writings emphasize a faith in facts about Jesus - He is Son of God and Messiah / Christ, and hence Jesus is the Psalm 2 figure entitled to obedience as regent / king acting on God's behalf. This apostolic faith means obedience / works are not optional.&nbsp; But Paul, by contrast, emphasizes a belief in facts about Jesus that imply nothing similarly - just believe Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you shall be saved.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The contrast is clear when one looks at Apostle John&rsquo;s many quotes of Jesus about obedience. Jesus in<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A51&amp;version=AMP" style="color: #517291;">&nbsp;John&nbsp;8:51</a>&nbsp;says &ldquo;whoever keeps on <strong>obeying</strong> (<em>tereo</em>) My Teaching&nbsp;should never ever die.&rdquo;<sup><strong>1</strong></sup>&nbsp;In&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15%3A1-10&amp;version=AMP" style="color: #517291;">John 15:1-10</a>, Jesus says a &ldquo;branch in me&rdquo; that does <strong>not &ldquo;bear fruit&rdquo;</strong> is &ldquo;taken away,&rdquo; &ldquo;cut off from the vine,&rdquo; thrown &ldquo;outside and burned.&rdquo;<sup><strong>&nbsp;2</strong></sup></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Apostle John likewise quoted Jesus saying in total accord:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth;<strong> they that have done good [things], unto the resurrection of life</strong>; and they that have <strong>done evil [things], unto the resurrection of </strong>damnation. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+5%3A28-29&amp;version=AMP" style="color: #517291;">John&nbsp;5:28-29</a>&nbsp;KJV).<sup><strong>3</strong></sup></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">We saw again in Revelation that Apostle John was told by Jesus that&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">those who obey the commandments (plural) of God have&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">the right to the tree of life. (Rev. 22:14.) John writes:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Happy [are] the <strong>ones doing His commandments</strong>, so </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">that their <strong>right</strong> will be to the tree of life, and they </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">shall enter by the gates into the&nbsp;city. (Rev 22:14)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+22%3A14&amp;version=KJV">KJV</a>) (ALT)(<span style="background-color: #ffffff;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+22%3A14&amp;version=GNV" style="color: #517291; background-color: #ffffff;">GSB</a>). (For detailed discusssion on this </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">passage, see this <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/648-right-to-tree-of-life-in-revelation-22.html">link</a>.) </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">This variance on faith and works is also overwhelmingly&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span>clear in Revelation in multiple passages.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">For example, when Jesus in Revelation 3:1-3 says he&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span>will spew out of his mouth those Christians with "lukewarm works,&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus made faith alone ineffective for&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">salvation. He was implying what is source for the true apostolic faith that may lead to salvation -&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus is your King and God's son. For the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">apostolic faith which John&lsquo;s Gospel conveys about Jesus necessarily means it is&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">nonsense to call Jesus "Master," Lord, King, Messiah,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God's Son, etc., and not do what He says. Jesus even&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">expressly says the same in <a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/7-21.htm">Matt 7:21</a> and Luke 6:<a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/6-46.htm">46</a>.&nbsp; (For detailed&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">discussion on Rev. 3:1-3, see this <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/732-chapter-24-lukewarm-works-in-revelation-31-3.html">link</a>.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">In this passage of Rev. 3:1-3 and numerous other places&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span>in Revelation,&nbsp; Apostle John's Jesus undercuts faith&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span>alone in facts that Jesus died for your sin and rose from the dead could ever possibly save you.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">This caused the young Luther and Calvin and all&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span>faith-alone seminary teachers since to disregard&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span>Revelation as truly inspired.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; As&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Christian professor</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Palmer_Gould" style="color: #517291;">Ezra Palmer Gould</a>&nbsp;in his book entitled&nbsp;<strong>The Biblical Theology of the New Testament</strong>(MacMillan 1900) says, Revelation is anti-Paul, although Gould blames -- without proof -- some "anti-Pauline" editor who supposedly substantially changed it. Gould confesses:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">"The&nbsp;<strong>Apocalypse</strong>&nbsp;[i.e., Revelation written by Apostle John] ... represents an&nbsp;<strong>unqualified opposition to Paul</strong>....The Apocalypse [is]&nbsp;<strong>anti-Pauline</strong>."&nbsp;[<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=jxpVAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=inauthor%3A%22Ezra%20Palmer%20Gould%22&amp;pg=PA125#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291;">Page 125</a>.] "[Revelation is] a writing&nbsp;<strong>distinctly anti-Pauline</strong>." [<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=jxpVAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=inauthor%3A%22Ezra%20Palmer%20Gould%22&amp;pg=PA131#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291;">Page 131</a>.] </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, what essential facts one believes about Jesus so one "may" or "shall" inherit eternal life directs you down two different paths. If you choose the apostolic faith in facts about Jesus as Messiah, Son of God as crucial, then this implies you follow a repentant path of works of obedience to God and His Messiah so you "may" be saved.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">On the other hand, if you choose the non-apostolic Pauline view that solely requires holding "steadfastly" to the belief Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, then this expressly says works are optional for salvation. (And in the young Luther's view based upon Eph 2:8-9, you are in more spiritual danger in trying to do good works than failing to do them because Paul warns us the risk of doing works to please God will tempt us to damning pride / boasting).</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">One can readily see that one view is <strong>easy</strong>, and involves no straining (the non-apostolic faith), while the other view -- the apostolic view of faith -- involves <strong>straining</strong> to enter. And it is the latter path which Jesus says is necessary to "enter" the kingdom of heaven. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+13%3A24&amp;version=KJV">Luke 13:24</a> "agonize" "strive" to enter kingdom of heaven.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Paul Repeats Believing The Facts About Resurrection Saves.</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">There is no mistaking what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 15:1-6. For Paul repeats the resurrection-belief trigger to salvation in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+10&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">Romans 10:9&nbsp;</a>(NKJV) -"if you ...<strong>believe</strong> in your heart that <strong>God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved</strong>." Thus, a resurrection creed also was a key step to merit / acquire salvation by a faith belief in Paul&rsquo;s view. This belief "shall" save you if you also believe Jesus atoned for your sins.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"><strong><span style="color: #3366ff;">Obedience / Repentance from Sin is Absent in Paul's Facts To Believe.</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Notice in the Corinthians salvation formula that Paul never requires repentance from sin, nor implies any kind of obedience to Jesus as King-Messiah-Son-of-God. Paul's salvation formula is simply a belief in facts that Jesus atoned, was buried, and rose from the dead and you will obtain the receipt of a free gift -- salvation. As we said earlier, Paul says this in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians+2%3A8-9&amp;version=KJV">Eph. 2:8-9</a> and again in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+4%3A3-5&amp;version=KJV">Romans 4:3-5</a>&nbsp;("<strong>works not, but believes, ...counted as &nbsp;righteousness</strong>.")&nbsp;You appropriate the atonement by supposedly&nbsp;<strong>merely believing in it</strong>, and that you also believe Jesus rose from the dead, and in return you "shall" (not simply "may") be saved.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Furthermore, elsewhere Paul says this salvation is "guaranteed" in heaven for us (<a href="http://biblehub.com/ephesians/1-14.htm">Ephesians 1:14</a>), and nothing can ever again "separate" us from the love of God (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8%3A31-39&amp;version=NLT">Romans 8:31-39</a>), and we no longer can be "condemned." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/8-1.htm">Romans 8:1</a>.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">In other words, once we believe in the facts of atonement by Jesus, his burial, and that Jesus rose from the dead, we are supposedly eternally secure, so Paul appears to clearly say. Sin by us -- violating the commands of our King Messiah and the Son of God -- do not supposedly cause us to become spiritually dead; we are supposedly not at risk as Christians even if we have "lukewarm works" from ever being spewed out of Jesus' mouth. At least that is how 95% percent of Christian media and evangelical pastors in the USA today read and understand Paul. At the same time, they don't tell their listeners they have the Reformation-era view that the book of Revelation is not truly inspired. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Incidently, the young Luther's view was that any written work in the Bible at odds with Paul, including not only any words from Moses, but also any words from Jesus, were uninspired. Surprised? Then read this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/196-luther-thoughts-on-inspiration.html">link </a>where you learn the young Luther not only says this, but expressly thought Jesus was behind Paul when it came to knowing that the Law was abrogated.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">2.<span style="color: #0000ff;"> Why Did Paul Work Harder than 12 Apostles to Promote Beliefs in Atonement and Resurrection Alone for Salvation?</span></span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; widows: 1;">Paul ends the salvation message of 1 Corinthians 15 by boasting that he did more than the 12 apostles to propagate this gospel, claiming God showed him more "favor" (grace) than the 12 in order to do so.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; widows: 1;">But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his <strong>special favor on me</strong>&mdash;and not without results. For I have<strong> worked harder than any of the other apostles</strong>; yet it was not I but God who was <strong>working</strong> through me <strong>by his grace</strong>. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+15%3A10&amp;version=NLT">1 Cor. 15:10 NLT</a>)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; widows: 1;">Please note that Paul&rsquo;s &ldquo;humble&rdquo;explanation of how he was supposedly more favored to spread such a faith-alone gospel does not expand the creeds we must have beyond the three mentioned. Thus, Paul clearly made it all about just three factual beliefs implying no obedience to Jesus which you need to continue to believe to be saved. A key belief was in the Atonement.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">May I suggest the reason the 12 did less to promote this gospel of belief alone in atonement alone than Paul did was because it was only Paul's view of the gospel. It was not because the twelve lacked God&rsquo;s Favor (grace) to do so. &nbsp;Just reading the New Covenanf scriptures, we see Paul's view of the gospel in First Corinthians did not match the Gospel which the true Jesus gave the 12 in the first place, including what Apostle John was saying. Nor was it the Gospel which Apostle Peter preached post-Ascension and post-Atonement in Acts 3 which in turn &nbsp;led 3000 to Christ in one sermon.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Hence, indeed Paul worked harder than the 12 to promote this <strong>Atonement</strong>-<strong>creedal Christianity</strong> but the reason is that the 12 were busy preaching the <strong>Gospel of the Kingdom</strong> that Jesus taught - a far different gospel than what Paul taught. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">The twelve apostles taught <strong>Jesus&rsquo; gospel issued as King-Messiah and Son of God with commands on &ldquo;believers&rdquo; such as doing&nbsp;</strong>works worthy of repentance for salvation sake. In Mark 9:42-47, Jesus addressed "believers ensnared in sin," and said you can go to "heaven maimed" by stern works of repentance or you will go to "hell whole.&rdquo; Jesus similarly said that He will judge all -- including us Christians --&nbsp; impartially based upon works. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+16%3A27&amp;version=KJV">Matt 16:27</a>&nbsp;KJV "Son of Man is coming with his angels, and will repay every man according to his <strong>works</strong>;"&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+2%3A23&amp;version=KJV">Rev. 2:23</a>&nbsp;KJV.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Likewise, Jesus warns believers at Thyratira: "I will give to each one of you according to your <strong>works.</strong>" Compare&nbsp;<a href="http://biblehub.com/1_peter/1-17.htm">1 Peter 1:17</a> KJV &amp; NIV --- "you call on the Father, who <strong>impartially judges every man's works</strong>" and thus "pass the time of sojourning here <strong>in fear.</strong>"</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">As discussed next, Apostle Peter&rsquo;s sermon post-ascension and post-Christ's-atonement calls for repentance by the crowd who had previously exhorted the murder of Jesus. In the same sermon, Apostle Peter never insisted upon a belief that Jesus died to atone for sin. Peter insisted only that Jesus was The Prophet promised in Deut 18:14-19 who God will hold all persons accountable to obey or be destroyed (spiritually) &mdash; a figure who was also called Messiah by rabbinical lessons, as discussed in the next section.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"><strong><span style="color: #800080;">3. The Post-Atonement &amp; Post-Resurrection "Repentance from Sin" Gospel Preached by Peter.&nbsp;</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">What did the 12 preach after Christ's burial, resurrection and atonement to save people? The belief in those three facts saves, as Paul clearly taught? No.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Right at his very first sermon, Peter preached a sermon that led thousands to become saved which did not mention any belief other than that Jesus was The Prophet of Deuteromony 18. He told the crowd in Acts chapter three to "<strong>repent and turn around, that your sins may be blotted out.</strong>" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+3&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">Acts 3:19.</a>) Apostle Peter said that then the presence of God will send "refreshing" so that God may send "the Lord Jesus who was preached to you before whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+3&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">Acts 3:19-20</a>). That is, Jesus is in heaven until the kingdom of God is established on earth. Then Apostle Peter draws them to follow the commands of Jesus whom was already "preached to you before."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Peter then quotes Deuteronomy 18:18-19. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">By quoting Deut 18:18-19, Apostle Peter was saying Jesus is "the Prophet" whom God told Moses He would send and whom God will hold all men accountable to have followed the words which the Prophet speaks. Peter quotes the passage, saying "<strong>you shall hear [i.e., listen / obey] all things whatever he [i.e., the Prophet] speaks to you</strong>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+3&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">Acts 3:22</a>). And again Apostle Peter quotes it, telling the crowd: "It shall be that <strong>every soul that will not hear [i.e., listen / obey] that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among his people</strong>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+3&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">Acts 3:23</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Peter in context is telling them to repent from their sin, and accept all commands from Jesus as from The Prophet prophesied in Deuteronomy -- a figure equated to Messiah in many commentaries and Rabbinical writings prior to Jesus Christ&lsquo;s birth. For quotes, see Shalom.org's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.shalom.org.uk/library/MessiahPages/ProphetLikeMoses.html" style="color: #517291;">The Messiah -The Prophet.</a>&nbsp;Peter then says God sent and "raised up Jesus to bless you, <strong>in turning every one of you away from your iniquities.</strong>" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+3&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">Acts 3:26</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Apostle Peter thus was all about Jesus as The Prophet and impliedly as Messiah who in Psalm 2 is also called "King" and "Son" of God, as well as the necessity of repentance from sin toward obedience to Jesus' commands. <strong>Nothing is mentioned that you must believe Jesus atoned or resurrected</strong>. The resurrection is mentioned as a blessing on them to turn them from sin. Evidently, as a victory sign to touch their conscience. However, Peter did not say the fact of Jesus' resurrection, if believed, along with a belief in Christ's atonement, would save you by the mere believing these facts are true, unlike Paul who says such beliefs in those two facts saves you.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 24pt;"><strong>4. Jesus' Gospel v Amoral Non-Yahweh Gospel of Paul</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><strong>Jesus Says Atonement Has No Effect Until After Moral Action aka Works Worthy of Repentance</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What is the true relevance of Christ&rsquo;s atonement according to Jesus?</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus taught if you stood at the altar of atonement with an atonement offering, but you knew someone had something against you, the offering would not be effective to atone for you. You had to leave the atonement offering there, and first do whatever it takes to be reconciled to the one you offended. You had to appease the anger of the one whom you wronged. See&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A22-26&amp;version=ASV" style="color: #517291;">Matthew 5:22-26</a>. If this were God alone you offended, then the same principle applied.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Once you do this moral action -- which Jesus and the Baptist call "<strong>works worthy of repentance</strong>" -- to appease the one offended, now you can bring your atonement offering. You will find a full discussion of this passage in our&nbsp;<a href="/recommendedreading/128-chapter-1-jwos.html" style="color: #517291;">chapter one</a>&nbsp;of the book <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Jesus' Words on Salvation</span>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An example of this gospel in action is when Jesus tells Zaccheus that as a result of his promise to return four-fold what he stole from the poor, "this day&nbsp;<strong>salvation</strong>&nbsp;has come to this house." (Luke 19:8.) Some of such works to be done for forgiveness -- hence prior to atonement offerings -- &nbsp;are specified in Leviticus 6:1-7. For more on Jesus' Gospel of works worthy of repentance, please see&nbsp;<a href="/recommendedreading/628-works-worthy-of-repentance.html" style="color: #517291;">this article</a>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus thus intends us to understand that&nbsp;<strong>believing in the effect of atonement</strong>&nbsp;has no effect on whether it validly applies to yourself. God is the sole measure of its effectiveness on you personally - and&nbsp;<strong>it is not acquired by merely believing you have brought an effective atonement to God</strong>. Thus, Jesus' atonement, although it paid for your sins, and belief this is true is a correct belief, mere&nbsp;<strong>belief</strong>&nbsp;there has been a payment for your sins&nbsp;<strong>does not make such payment force God to grant you forgiveness</strong>. It merely represents a legal satisfaction of a debt but only if God accepts it to apply to you personally. Your belief about its effect does not cause any forgiveness by God unless His conditions of Mercy aka Grace for you personally are satisfied.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is like a voter under 18 who is prohibited from voting even though the machinery works satisfactorily. He lacks the right to use the voting machine. His vote, if cast anyway, is null and void. Likewise, Jesus taught&nbsp;<strong>the unrepentant who lack works worthy of repentance are disqualified from using atonement</strong>&nbsp;-- even an atonement that would otherwise satisfy God's wrath for one's wrong. The underage voter and the unrepentant and disobedient are in the same boat: they can try to use a valid mechanism the law permits others to use, but for themselves, the result for each is void in God's sight.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>5. Prophetic Condemnation of Workless-Atonement.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The prophets excoriated as serious error any belief that atonement is effective on you personally&nbsp;despite your personal lack of repentance and turn to obedience. Jesus and the Bible condemns those who believe their disobedience and unrepentance are no barrier to use of a sacrificial atonement. These condemnations equate such a wrong-idea to some of the most egregious crimes. Any notion that you think you can literally force upon God a duty to forgive you&nbsp;<strong>without any moral condition is equated to the worst of sins in the Bible.&nbsp;</strong>As we find in 1 Sam 15:22, when the Benjamite king Saul tried bringing an atonement offering from war booty which God told Saul beforehand not to take back to Israel, God responds:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?&nbsp;<strong>To obey is better than sacrifice,</strong>&nbsp;and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is&nbsp;<strong>like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry</strong>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+samuel+15%3A22&amp;version=NASB">1 Sam. 15:22</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The amoral atonement is <strong>pride</strong> &mdash;&ldquo;arrogance&rdquo;&mdash; that you somehow control God. Also it is &ldquo;<strong>divination</strong>&rdquo; &mdash; worshipping a false god, and &nbsp;&ldquo;<strong>idolatry</strong>&rdquo;&mdash; that you now believe you have a power to command God to forgive you, and hence you are godlike. This is why prophet Samuel conveys that God equated amoral atonement to the sins of pride, divination and idolatry. It was rejected by God although ordinarily it would be effective had love for God and renewed obedience preceded it.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This should have come as no surprise to the Benjamite King Saul whom God condemns through the prophet Samuel. For Mercy is not predicated solely upon sacrifice. In the Ten Commandments, right after the first commandment, Yahweh explains in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=KJV">Exodus 20:6</a>, that&nbsp;<strong>mercy</strong>&nbsp;(grace) is predicated on you or I lovingly turning toward obedience to Yahweh's commands: &ldquo;[I show]&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>mercy</strong> </span>unto thousands of them that <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">love me</span></strong>, and <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">keep my commandments</span></strong>." </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is similar to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chronicles+7%3A14&amp;version=YLT">2 Chron. 7:14</a>, where Yahweh speaks about mercy for turning back from sin to obedience, saying:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">[If] My people on whom My name is called be humbled, and pray, and seek My face, and <span style="color: #ff6600;"><strong>turn back from their evil ways</strong></span>, then I -- I hear from the heavens, and <strong><span style="color: #ff6600;">forgive their sin</span></strong>, and heal their land. YLT.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, we can understand why Jesus said: "But go and learn what this means: &lsquo;<strong>I desire mercy, not sacrifice</strong>.&rsquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/9-13.htm" style="color: #517291;">Matthew 9:13</a>, quoting Hosea 6:6. Again Jesus elsewhere says: "If only you had known the meaning of 'I desire&nbsp;<strong>mercy</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>not sacrifice</strong>,' you would not have condemned the innocent." <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+12%3A7&amp;version=KJV">Matthew 12:7</a>. Jesus is also alluding to the similar words that Yahweh spoke which Samuel relayed to Benjamite king Saul. Repentance is necessary without which a sacrifice (atonement) is meaningless and hence ineffective.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, Yahweh made very clear elsewhere that He never gave any Law of atonement to the fathers before they left Egypt <strong>so that</strong> the people would know <strong>OBEDIENCE</strong> comes before <strong>ATONEMENT.</strong> God explains He did not give atonement laws until after He first gave the Law on moral rules (which includes works-worthy-of-repentance) for this very reason: &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">22&nbsp;</span>For I s<strong>pake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices</strong>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">23&nbsp;</span><strong>But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice</strong>, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+7%3A22-23" style="color: #517291;">Jeremiah 7:22-23 KJV</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<h1 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 40.599998474121094px; font-weight: normal; font-size: 28px; color: #2e496a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">6. Compare The Way of Salvation in the Law &amp; Prophets</span></strong></span></h1>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><br />Despite atonement being a principle in the Law, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel+18%3A1-20&amp;version=WEB">Ezekiel 18:1-20</a> capsulizes the life of a righteous person and a sinner without mentioning the role that atonement plays in salvation...thus emphasizing the primary role repentance plays in salvation. A sinner will die, but a man who turns to obedience maintains justification / righteousness. This path is not disparaged as we so often hear today that this means you are earning salvation. A more objective non-disparaging concept of God's actual words is <strong>simply to accept God sees you as righteous and worthy of &ldquo;life&rdquo; (eternal life) when you repent by doing works &ldquo;worthy&rdquo; of repentance, and hence are forgivable and then you maintain that path of worthiness of God&rsquo;s continued grace / favour &nbsp;by obedience. </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here is what this passage says&mdash; Ezekiel conveying Yahweh God speaking on how God views a sinner who repents and continues that path versus the obedient who then disobeys God's laws who has not yet repented from sin:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-weight: bold; position: relative; line-height: 0.8em; bottom: -0.1em; left: 0px;">18&nbsp;</span><strong><em>Yahweh</em></strong>&nbsp;spoke his word to me. He said,&nbsp;<span id="en-NOG-20848"><span style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">2&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;What do you mean when you use this proverb about the land of Israel: &lsquo;Fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their children&rsquo;s teeth are set on edge&rsquo;?&nbsp;</span><span id="en-NOG-20849"><span style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">3&nbsp;</span>As I live, declares&nbsp;<strong><em>Adonay Yahweh</em></strong>, you will no longer use this proverb in Israel.&nbsp;</span><span id="en-NOG-20850"><span style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">4&nbsp;</span>The life of every person belongs to me. Fathers and their children belong to me. <strong>The person who sins will die.</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span id="en-NOG-20851"><span style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">5&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;Suppose <strong>a righteous person does what is fair and right.</strong>&nbsp;</span><span id="en-NOG-20852"><span style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">6&nbsp;</span>He doesn&rsquo;t eat at the illegal mountain worship sites or look for help from the idols of the nation of Israel. He doesn&rsquo;t dishonor his neighbor&rsquo;s wife or have sexual intercourse with a woman while she is having her period.&nbsp;</span><span id="en-NOG-20853"><span style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">7&nbsp;</span>He doesn&rsquo;t oppress anyone. He returns what a borrower gives him as security for a loan.&nbsp;<strong><em>He doesn&rsquo;t rob anyone</em></strong>. He gives food to people who are hungry, and he gives clothes to those who are naked.&nbsp;</span><span id="en-NOG-20854"><span style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">8&nbsp;</span>He doesn&rsquo;t lend money for interest or make an excessive profit. He <strong>refuses to do evil things</strong>, and he judges everyone fairly.</span><span id="en-NOG-20855"><span style="line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-weight: bold;">9&nbsp;</span>He lives by my rules and obeys my laws faithfully. This person is <strong>righteous</strong>. He <strong>will certainly live</strong>,&rdquo; declares&nbsp;<strong><em>Adonay Yahweh.</em></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Once you sinned, repentance from sin is always an option unless you died too suddenly to repent. This option to repent for lapses is clearly mentioned repeatedly in God&rsquo;s Word in the Law and Prophets. This is quite unlike how Paul is read to say that any sin under the Law means you are irreversibly cursed (but supposedly faith alone in Christ frees you from the "curse of the Law" - <a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/3-13.htm">Gal. 3:13</a>.) For example:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And thou, son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby&nbsp;<em><strong>in the day that he turneth from his wickedness</strong></em>; neither shall he that is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sinneth. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel+33%3A12&amp;version=NASB">Eze 33:12</a>)(NASV)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Ezekiel teaches when the righteous sin, they lose life,&nbsp;<em>i.e.</em>, eternal life. When the sinner repents, he lives,&nbsp;<em>i.e</em>., he has eternal life. Nothing short of the grave is ever irreversible. Therefore, when one repents and is obeying the Law, such works &ldquo;worthy of repentance&rdquo; are deemed to be imputed righteousness, so says <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+6%3A25&amp;version=NASB">Deut. 6:25</a> ("it will be righteousness unto us if we are careful to obey all his commandments").</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The principle of repentance from sin and restoration is also reflected in the Law &mdash; in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+30%3A1-10&amp;version=NASB">Deuteronomy 30:1-10</a>, which states without regard to what role atonement could play in your salvation:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When all these things befall you...and you return them to your heart... and&nbsp;<em><strong>you return to God.</strong></em>..then God will turn your captivity and take you back in love...<strong><em>God will bring you back</em></strong>...God will return and gather you...then you will return to hearing God&rsquo;s voice...And God will again rejoice over you...<em><strong>if you turn to God with all your heart and all your soul</strong></em>. (Deut. 30:1-10).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In all this, atonement has no role other than an after-the-repentant-works-are-done as a gift you give God. But it is conditioned beforehand on works &ldquo;worthy&rdquo; of repentance. This is why God prefers the principle of mercy -- loving God and obeying His commandments -- rather than any sacrifices you may bring. Sacrifices / atonement are not what truly pleases God's heart, and this is why a sacrifice by itself is not what triggers the application of atonement to you. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You thus do not earn salvation by works that somehow entitle you to demand salvation; you instead by works of obedience render yourself <strong>worthy</strong> of grace / favor unto life, and now you can prayerfully <strong>ask</strong> God...not demand as a right ...that God accept your offering (atonement gift) and then grant you forgiveness. Yet you do so confidently because God promises mercy to those who love Him and obey His commandments. Exodus 20:6.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">7. Repenting And Doing vs. Saying You Will But Not Doing</span></strong></span></p>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In the Parable of the Two Sons, Jesus specifically taught a lesson that repentance is measured by action that follows, and <strong>not by your belief in atonement for sins.</strong> God could care less what you say or the atonement you brought to him if it is not done in conjunction with an obedience consistent with your mental belief. This Two Sons lesson mirrored Jesus&rsquo; citation of the example of the Ninevites as repentance (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+12%3A41&amp;version=ASV" style="color: #517291;">Matt. 12:41</a>). For their mental sorrow had no validity until their words were followed by consistent action. God did not repent of His plans to punish the Ninevites until God &ldquo;<strong>saw their works, that they turned from their evil ways</strong>.&rdquo; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jonah+3%3A10&amp;version=ASV" style="color: #517291;">Jonah 3:10</a>.) Hence, repentance, to be valid, always implies the necessity to turn from sin. Mere sorrow for sin has no effect to stave off God&rsquo;s ire for your sin, or trigger God's acceptance of an atonement made on your behalf.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+21%3A28-31&amp;version=ASV" style="color: #517291;">Matthew 21:28-31</a>, Jesus illustrates this principle in the story of two sons. One says he will do his father&rsquo;s will, but then does not do it. The other son says he will not obey, but ultimately &ldquo;repents&rdquo; and does what His father asked.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus asks: who did God&rsquo;s will?</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Obviously, the son who repented and did what he was told. It was not the son who verbally agreed to do his father&rsquo;s will but then failed to do it. Jesus never gave mere mental assent toward obedience, let alone a mental acceptance of his atonement, any independent power to make you worthy of forgiveness from God apart from repentant actions.</span></p>
</div>
<h1 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 40.599998474121094px; font-weight: normal; font-size: 28px; color: #2e496a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;">8. Satan's Scheme In Garden Was to Undermine That God Punishes Disobedience with Spiritual Death</span></h1>
<h2 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 34.79999923706055px; font-weight: normal; font-size: 24px; color: #66869a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #800080; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></strong></span></h2>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Any teaching that atonement, once performed or acquired or believed to have been done for you, somehow alone grants you forgiveness and salvation mirrors the lie in the Garden of Eden.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">The serpent's temptation in the Garden was to&nbsp;<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">doubt God's threat of death -- spiritual death -- for sin -</span></strong>&nbsp;the same twisting Satan does today through false apostles, false prophets, and false messages that somehow that belief in atonement by Jesus saves you.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Here is the key passage:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">1&nbsp;</span><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">Now the serpent</span><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;was more crafty than any of the wild animals the&nbsp;</span><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;God had made. He said to the woman, &ldquo;Did God&nbsp;<strong>really say, &lsquo;You must not eat from any tree in the garden<em>&rsquo;?</em></strong></span><em><strong><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></strong></em><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1"><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">2&nbsp;</span>The woman said to the serpent, &ldquo;We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,</span><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1"><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">3&nbsp;</span>but God did say, &lsquo;<strong>You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden</strong>, and you must not touch it,&nbsp;<em><strong>or you will die</strong></em>.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;</span><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1"><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">4&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;<span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>You will not certainly die,&rdquo; the serpent said to the woman</strong></span>.</span><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1"><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">5&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.&rdquo; &nbsp;</span><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1"><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">6&nbsp;</span>When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable&nbsp;for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,&nbsp;who was with her, and he ate it.</span><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1"><span id="en-NIV-62" data-mce-mark="1">7&nbsp;</span>Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;&nbsp;so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203" style="color: #517291;">Genesis 3:1-7 NIV</a>)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Actually, Eve substantially related correctly God's command. The only change is she added "you must not touch it...." Otherwise, it was 100% accurate. The Serpent did try to imply that God did not say the substance of what Eve then said God did indeed say.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence,&nbsp;<strong>so far Eve has not fallen for the Serpent's effort to make her wonder what God in fact said</strong>. She remembered it adequately, including the warning that "<strong>you will die</strong>" if you breach this command.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">The Serpent, having failed to raise any successful doubt about the specific words used, next tried to make Eve believe&nbsp;<strong>the threat of the consequence of sin was not present: death</strong>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">The Serpent says if she disobeys "<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;" data-mce-mark="1">you will not certainly die</span></strong>." The Serpent then gives an explanation that God merely says this threat but&nbsp;<strong><em>does not mean this threat</em></strong>. God won't kill her, the Serpent says. Instead, God wants to prevent her from having her "eyes ... opened" and then "be like God, knowing good and evil."</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">The Serpent thus allowed Eve to keep God's literal words. However, the Serpent next suggested God's warning of consequences was not a true threat. The warning supposedly had a different purpose. God was not seriously ever going to cause Eve to suffer death, the Serpent told her. This is the lie of the Serpent.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Eve ate, and then God dealt out consequences.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence,&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">1. The Serpent failed to cause Eve to doubt God's words were actually uttered.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">2. The Serpent <strong>led Eve to believe the threat she recalled of death was not intended by God to be carried ou</strong>t. God's warnings of death were supposedly not serious.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">When we compare this to the writings of Paul,<strong><em>&nbsp;</em>we are told by Pauline apologists</strong><em>&nbsp;</em>that Paul teaches the threats on Christians found in the Bible -- such as those Jesus makes repeatedly in all the Weeping and Gnashing parables --<strong><em>&nbsp;</em>are not serious threats<em>.</em></strong>&nbsp;We are supposedly safe to disregard them. We are saved by faith alone in Christ's atonement, which salvation supposedly cannot be lost by the acts / conduct Jesus says will cause us to suffer weeeping and gnashing of our teeth in Gehenna. See, e.g., <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+25%3A14-30&amp;version=KJV">Matt 25:14-30 </a>(unprofitable servant who did not put his talents to use is cast outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth). Cf. Matt 13:42 ("fiery furnace" is place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth").</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, the construction of Paul's words by his major apologists like Charles Stanley is identical to what the Serpent's&nbsp;<strong>successful deception<em>&nbsp;</em></strong>was in the Garden. According to the major evangelists of today, the words of Jesus are accepted as valid for their time before the cross, <strong>but the threat is supposedly not real for the saved</strong> after the cross. Such threats, by one explanation or the other - usually from Paul's writings -- supposedly will never happen to us as long as we have&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"><strong>faith -- a mental belief Christ died for our sins as an atonement</strong></span>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What did succeed with Eve was the Serpent's casting <strong>doubt</strong> on the seriousness of the threat of punishment -- this day "<strong>you shall surely die</strong>" --- for violating God's command. Modern Pauline preaching<strong> fits precisely into the kind of temptation</strong> that took place in the Garden. It insists as true something never proveable from incontestable inspired scripture -- the words of Jesus. Relying exclusively upon Paul, they claim that by merely believing an atonement from Messiah applies to you will necessarily and always result in you now and forever being forgiven of all sin, past and future, without any repentance. Such a belief in atonement is portrayed as a permanent insurance policy against damnation.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Will you fall for this deception despite the clear example of true Scripture of how wrong Eve was for being seduced to a similar belief that just a simple taste of a fruit was safe, and then she led herself and her husband into spiritual-death by sin?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">9. The Gentile Under New Covenant Prophecy</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The amazing mistake of Paulinists is they contend that someone<strong> who they insist is not under the Mosaic Law can also supposedly invoke a sacrifice</strong>&nbsp;whose benefits as atonement only appies to those under that Law&nbsp; -- <strong>the spiritual citizens of Israel, both "Sons of Israel" and "Sojourners in their gates."</strong>&nbsp;So if Jesus died as a passover sacrifice for the spiritual citizens of Israel -- a law only first existing under the Mosaic Law -- then how could a non-citizen or non-sojourner of Israel benefit? A Gentile who had not complied to become a citizen of Israel by moving inside a city gate of Israel, thereby subjecting himself / herself to its Mosaic laws (which did not extend circumcision to Gentile citizens of Israel -FYI), had no right to invoke atonement. Here's the background to prove this:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, we must know that the law of atonement did not precede the Mosaic Law. The concept of forgiveness by atonement, God explained later, was only given after the moral principles in the Mosaic Law were already given so that the people would remember obedience comes before atonement as a <strong>condition</strong> of atonement. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+7%3A22-23">Jeremiah 7:21-23</a>.) (This does not mean persons did not make 'offerings' to God prior to the Law; rather it means God never said previously that such offerings had anything to do with forgiveness. They were merely a form of worship.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then under the Law given Moses, Gentiles who "sojourned" with Israel, i.e., "lived within its gates," were allowed to bring atonement offerings (burnt offerings) for atonement. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+15%3A13-15+&amp;version=KJV">Numbers 15:13-15</a>. See also Lev. 17:8; 22:18. This process did not require Gentiles who sojourned with Israel to become circumcised. Such a circumcision rule only applies to "Sons of Israel" (Lev. 12:1-3) with two exceptions: 1. if a Gentile wished to celebrate the Passover (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+12%3A48&amp;version=KJV">Exodus 12:48</a>) or if a Gentile wished to enter the Temple Court of the Men. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel+44%3A9&amp;version=KJV">Ezekiel 44:9</a>.) Only in those latter two circumstances were Gentiles required to be circumcised.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, the Gentiles who sought to invoke atonement had to be a "sojourner" in their "gates" -- one who entered a city of Israel and assumed the obligation to keep the laws in the Mosaic Law which mention the duties of "sojourners" in the gates. These sojourner-specific commands restate most of the Ten Commandments apply to Gentiles who are 'sojourners in your gates.&rsquo; See&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+24%3A16&amp;version=NIV">Lev. 24:16</a>&nbsp;(blasphemy); <a href="https://biblehub.com/numbers/15-30.htm">Num 15:30</a> (flagrant defiance as&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">blasphemy); <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+24%3A17&amp;version=NIV">Lev. 24:17</a> ("anyone" who murders); <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut+5%3A12-15&amp;version=NIV">Deut. 5:12-15</a>&nbsp;; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+23%3A12&amp;version=NIV">Exodus 23:12</a> (sabbath); <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+25%3A6&amp;version=NIV">Lev. 25:6 </a>(land sabbath);&nbsp; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus+20%3A+10&amp;version=NIV">Lev. 20:10</a> (adultery if "a man" commits).</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A sojourner thus living in the gates meant he or she had chosen to live in one of the twelve tribes' land, and thus would be counted as a tribal member, as Ezekiel explains.&nbsp; Thus<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;any Gentile, circumcised or not, had the right to become a member of any tribe, and inherit with sons of Israel just the same, by just moving into that tribe's territory. (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+47:21-23" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Ezekiel 47:21-23.</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">) These were the Gentiles which the Law specified could receive atonement if they asked for it. Yet, they never had to transform into sons of Israel by means of any rite, e.g., circumcision, to do so.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As Blaine Robinson, M.A. explains in the <a href="http://www.blainerobison.com/hebroots/twelve-tribes.htm">Twelve Tribes of Israel </a>(2010), a Gentile who was a citizen of Israel's community was known as a sojourner::&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">No Gentile was ever called an Israelite (<em>cf.</em>&nbsp;Acts 4:10; 9:15; Rom 11:25) .... Gentiles that &ldquo;sojourned&rdquo; with Israel were <strong>treated as citizens of the commonwealth</strong>, as long as they obeyed the laws of God. (</span></span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">See Ex 12:19, 43-49; 20:10; 23:12; Lev 16:29; 17:8-15; 18:26; 20:2; 22:10, 18-19; 24:16, 22; Num 9:14; 15:14-16, 26-30; 19:10; Deut 5:14; 16:11, 14; 31:12.)&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">This status meant that they had <strong>the same justice rights as native-born Israelites</strong>. Gentiles could also share in the Passover meal as long as the males were circumcised (Ex 12:48).</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, any New Covenant with Israel includes atonement applying to Gentiles within that community, physical and / or spiritual. The whole notion that the New Covenant does away with the Law is contrary to the prophecies of what the New Covenant represents, including Christ's atonement. Abolition of the Law at the cross would do away with the ability of anyone after the Atonement of Christ to call on His Passover sacrifice as an atonement.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Of course, the doing away of the Law may be what Paul claims happened. However, Paul's words cannot be accepted as valid because they are at odds with the prior Holy Scripture from Jesus and the words Jesus affirmed -- the words and prophecies in the Law and the Prophets. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul also discards the very framework that a Gentile must see himself subject to in order to invoke a Law-based atonement, as Jesus provided. A Gentile can readily see that circumcision only applies to "sons of Israel" (Lev. 12:1-3), but the same Gentile can see "thou shall rest on Sabbath" is extended to any "foreigners" / "sojourners," who became part of the nation of Israel.&nbsp; This is why inspired scripture taught that the New Covenant revitalizes the Law given Moses. This revitalisation extends to not only Israelites but also to the Gentiles &ldquo;in the gates&rdquo; who "keep the Sabbath and avoid evil.&rdquo; </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, here is God's promise of a New Covenant with the House of Israel:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&ldquo;Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">a new covenant</span> </strong>with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:&nbsp;<em><strong>I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts</strong></em>. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, &lsquo;Know the Lord,&rsquo; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.&rdquo; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah+31%3A31-34&amp;version=KJV">Jeremiah 31:31&ndash;34</a>, ESV.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See also Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; Ezekiel 11:19-21)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Ezekiel, who lived around the same time as Jeremiah, adds that God will give a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit will cause the community in Israel&rsquo;s House to walk in God&rsquo;s statutes and obey His rules.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">26&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And I have given to you a<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> new heart,</span></strong> And a new spirit I give in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given to you a heart of flesh.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">27&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And My Spirit I give in your midst, And I have done this, <strong>s</strong><strong>o that in My statutes ye walk, And My judgments ye keep</strong>, and have done them. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel+36%3A26-27&amp;version=YLT">Ezekiel 36:26-27</a> YLT.)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The New Covenant is a new heart of flesh on which is written His Law by the Spirit. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were written about 600 years before Christ, so everyone knew what &ldquo;my Law&rdquo; and "My statutes" meant. It is none other than the living oracles (as Stephen called them in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+7%3A38&amp;version=YLT">Acts 7:38</a>) given at Mt. Sinai by God through Moses.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Then the promise of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53 was extended in Isaiah 56 to include salvation to the Gentiles -- "my salvation is about to come" to them,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-1.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">56:1</a>, and it<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;was predicated on two things: "</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong>keep the Sabbath</strong></span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;from profaning it and&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong>keep his hand from doing evil.</strong></span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">" (Isaiah&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-2.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">56:2</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">) and adds those in God's kingdom are those "who&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong>keep My Sabbaths</strong></span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">, and choose things that please Me, and</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong><em>&nbsp;</em>take hold of my covenant</strong></span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">." (Isaiah&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/isaiah/passage.aspx?q=isaiah+56:4;isaiah+56:6" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">56:4,6</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">). </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Thus, God says sabbath-keeping is one key to salvation -- the very act that Paul said if a Gentile Christian performs to please God from any concern that his / her salvation could depend upon it, then such Christians are now cursed to damnation. Paul explained this in Galatians. See our article&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/242-paul-abolished-sabbath.html">Paul Abolished Sabbath</a>.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">As Bart Ehrman, a professor on the New Testament, explains:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">&ldquo;Paul is absolutely clear [in Galatians] that he thinks non-Jews are not to do these things [<em>i.e</em>., keep Sabbath, holidays, etc.] once they believe in Christ. In fact,...&nbsp;<strong>he lays a curse on anyone who thinks that Gentiles who come to believe in Jesus should engage in such practices</strong>.&rdquo; (Bart D. Ehrman, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Peter, Paul &amp; Mary Magalene </span>(2006) at 117.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, because Paul curses to damnation those Gentile Christians who want to rest on Sabbath - the very key component God said was necessary for their acceptance in the New Covenant - Paul is a path of damnation to all Gentile Christians who follow him. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Instead, take the day off; honor God, and do not listen to Paul's "dysnoetas" -- words destructive of good sense, as Second Peter calls them in 2 Peter 3:15-18. Peter said such nonsense from Paul&nbsp; cause many "ignorant and unstable" to lose their "steadfastness" in Christ, and fall into a "lawless" way of life. See link to our article on <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/757-second-peter-does-not-commend-paul-as-an-apostle.html">Second Peter 3:15-18</a>. Peter's cure? Grow in the "knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ" - meaning study Jesus' words. See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Peter+3%3A18&amp;version=KJV">2 Peter 3:18</a>. This will prevent you from being ignorant and unstable, and fall from your steadfastness in Christ.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So returning to the issue of Sabbath: Why put any distance between you and God by refusing to rest on Saturday? Why put any distance between you and God by insisting on doing evil as God defines evil?</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: 'Calibri Light'; font-size: 20pt;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>10. What Did Jesus Mean by Mercy that Pharisees did Not Teach?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus said in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+23%3A23&amp;version=NASB">Matthew 23:23</a> that the Pharisees were shallow teachers of the Law, teaching only tithing but ignoring the "weightier matters of the Law" --&nbsp; judgments (right and wrong), "<strong>mercy</strong>" (KJV) and "pistis" (Greek for obedient "faithfulness" or faith)</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">What did Jesus have in mind for "Mercy" in the Law?</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">As we saw above, the Gospel of&nbsp;</span><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">Mercy</strong><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;also translatable as&nbsp;</span><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">Grace</strong><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;in the Original Bible was predicated not on atonement alone, but first and foremost upon works worthy repentance and a turn toward obedience. This rendered you forgivable, and now God allowed you to bring an atonement gift offering and ask for forgiveness.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">This true Gospel of Mercy and Grace was stated in the Ten Commandments. Jesus' messages repeatedly hit on this statement in that section of the Law. In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+20&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;">Exodus 20:6 KJV</a>, we read&nbsp;<strong>just before the second commandment</strong>:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">6&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And shewing&nbsp;<strong>mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments</strong>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The same Exodus verse is quoted at Qumram, and is translated in&nbsp;<strong>The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians</strong>&nbsp;(2004) at page 314 by non-Christian scholars (hence unbiased scholars who do not have an agenda to obscure the truth) as God "showing&nbsp;<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">GRACE</span></strong>" unto thousands, etc. "Grace" is a perfect synonymn for "mercy."</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The famous prayer of the prophet Daniel in his chapter 9 likewise reveals the link between this Mercy passage of the Ten Commandments and the Messiah's atonement. In this prayer by Daniel,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">he first confesses sin for himself and his people, and admits disobedience, etc. He&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">then quotes the same principle of mercy from the Ten Commandments as he next pleas for mercy, wherepon God hears and a spiritual door opens.&nbsp; The door opens to a prophecy every Christian should read regularly. It was a promise by God to send a Messiah to "make atonement for iniquity." </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What was the principle of Daniel's prayer of mercy that God responded to with this offer of a future atonement by a Messiah as a payment for sin?</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>Daniel quoted from the Ten Commandments -- Exodus 20:6 -- wherein God gives His principle of mercy and grace</strong>:</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">And I prayed unto the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Lord</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God,&nbsp;<strong>keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments</strong>; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9" style="color: #517291;">Daniel 9:4 KJV</a>)</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The bolded portion is Daniel quoting Exodus 20:6.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So how did you, and Daniel and the people of Israel get mercy? By calling on atonement? <strong>No.</strong> By bringing a sacrifice? <strong>No</strong>. You and anyone else who seeks to use atonement obtains mercy only by <strong>first loving Yahweh</strong>, and <strong>obeying Yahweh's commands</strong>. You do so by praying Daniel's prayer for yourself and everyone around you FIRST -- confessing and acknowledging sin (Nu 5:7; Lev 5:5) -- and doing the works of repentance consistent with that. God will then through the Messiah provide you a means to offer atonement. Not just once, but every time you fall and plead again for God's grace. His mercy.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: Calibri;">11. What about the Atonement? What is its purpose?</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The traditional atonement was after repentance in the heart. It was conditioned on doing first works worthy of repentance. Then atonement was the last step -- a payment by you required by God to deter you from doing it again -- a guaranteed cost. But in Daniel 9, God had a new way of doing the same thing. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is vital first to see in Daniel that God is responding to Daniel's prayer for mercy which acknowledged that God's mercy&mdash; favor and looking away from past sin&mdash; depended upon the people satisfying repentance on God's terms stated in the Ten Commandments. Daniel was acknowledging its two conditions. Then, only after this plea for mercy in Daniel 9:4 quoting Exodus 20:6 did God send Gabriel to explain a Messiah who would provide the atonement. Gabriel explains that God heard his "<strong>pleas for mercy</strong>" (<a href="http://biblehub.com/daniel/9-23.htm" style="color: #517291;">Dan. 9:23 ESV</a>), and then God commanded Gabriel to tell Daniel he was "highly esteemed" and that God would send a "Messiah" who would "<strong>make atonement</strong> for iniquity." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/daniel/9-24.htm" style="color: #517291;">Daniel 9: 24</a>). </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So a plea by Daniel for mercy on the conditions stated in the Ten Commandments - quoting Exodus 20:6 in fact -- was responded to by God with a promise to send a Messiah to atone for sin of which Daniel repented for himself and for Israel. In that prayer, Daniel promised love and obedience to God as the condition for mercy. Again, it is key to remember Daniel is quoting those requirements from Exodus 20:6.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But if God were going to use Paul's message in the future, should not have God said 'Daniel, you and your people don't need to change or obey or love me; you only need to believe that I am sending a messiah who will die for your sins and whom I will resurrect. If you believe that is a fact, you will be saved.' That's what Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:1-5 saves you, as we quoted above. But that's not how the promise of Messiah was first delivered to Daniel as a future atoning Messiah.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now why can a prince-Messiah's atonement be better than the cost of animals and money for atonement for us?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Precisely because once the Messiah came to make atonement for you, and this Messiah made it 100% clear that you only may bring such an atonement offering to God's mercy seat if works worthy of repentance are done first, then there is no justifiable error any longer to misunderstand that there is any such thing as a works-free, repentance-free access to atonement. God put you on notice. For&nbsp;<strong>you and everyone else cannot miss the Sermon on the Mount begins</strong> with the same Messiah uttering the&nbsp; condition that you cannot use atonement unless you do whatever&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">it takes to have "reconciliation" by every means possible with the one you offended, e.g., works worthy of repentance (Matt 5:21-26). God used a human messiah to personally deliver that message to us in simple terms. The purpose was to&nbsp;<strong>overcome all the nonsensical claims that atonement by itself is effective without works of repentance</strong>. The Messiah's teaching would overcome a common misconception which&nbsp; God had sent multiple prophets to excoriate and correct prior to Jesus doing likewise.&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;(Jer. 7:20-25; Mic. 6:6-8,</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Atonementhtml.html#pgfId=478171" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;8</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;Joel 2:13; Hos<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.14:1-2;</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Atonementhtml.html#pgfId=478194" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;9</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;and Mal. 1:10,</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Atonementhtml.html#pgfId=478214" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;10</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;3:3-4. Cf. Isaiah 27:9.)</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Sadly, the entire point of Jesus' atonement appears lost on several hundreds of years of Protestant-<strong>misinformed generations</strong> due to Luther's mistake in emphasis on faith alone found in Romans 4:3-5 and 1 Cor. 15:1-5. In turn, this wrong teaching of faith-alone influenced preachers to use translations which obscure Jesus' meaning in Matthew 5:21-26 on the works-condition to employ atonement -- to bring your atonement offering to the altar.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the wiles of Satan are pervasive, as few translations let you readily see Matthew 5:21-26 uses all the terms of atonement. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">First, it uses the Hebrew word for the <strong>atonement gift</strong>&nbsp;(<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>donor</strong></span> - a Hebrew term that was transliterated into Greek with the same meaning as an atonement gift). </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Second, the passage uses the Greek term for a "sacrifice" altar. But both clear indicators that Jesus' lesson is about atonement are neutered and toned down. It speaks now only of a "gift at an altar." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A23&amp;version=NIV">Matt 5:23 NIV</a>.)&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Christians are sadly not aware that in Hebrew every atonement you offered was called a "gift" -- <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">a donor</span></strong> -- the very same Hebrew word that Jesus used in this passage.&nbsp; It was adopted into the Greek language with no change in meaning.&nbsp; Thus, by almost every NT translation rendering it&nbsp; merely as a "gift" (without some explanatory term added, e.g., "atonement") the faith-alone translators <strong>left you prey to the wolves</strong>. They want you to believe you can use an atonement on a works-free, repentance-free basis at odds with God's terms as explained clearly by Jesus and numerous prophets before him, e.g., Samuel.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What are those terms again from Exodus 20:6?&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Loving God and obeying his Commandments.</strong>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This principle means to obtain God's mercy, you must have done&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">all the works in His commandments that it takes to reconcile with God and man. Many are specified in Leviticus 5 and 6, e.g., a thief must repay with interest, etc.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thus, based upon Jesus' principles and the Law of Mercy in the Ten Commandments, if you have presented to God an offering because you "believe" it happened as a fact, such as believing Jesus died for your sins, but you do so without personal repentance and a turn to obedience first, such an offering will obtain <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">NO MERCY, NO FAVOR, and NO GRACE with God</span></strong>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The promise of an atoning Messiah was only specifically given after God heard Daniel's prayer for "mercy" quoting Exodus 20:6. Gabriel specifically points this out to Daniel. That cannot be a meaningless detail that Gabriel mentioned it was <strong>not</strong> upon the confession of sin, but only after God heard the plea for "mercy" --"grace" -- correctly stated with God's <strong>true conditions in Exodus 20:6</strong>, that God "commanded" Gabriel to tell Daniel about Messiah who would atone. You, like Daniel, only have the right to use the Messiah's atonement if you pray heartfelt the same prayer for mercy that Daniel did, and acknowledge the same promise to God to fulfill the conditions for that atonement by the Messiah -- to love God and obey His commandments that apply to you.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>12. Paul Guts Jesus&rsquo; Principles on Atonement</strong></span></p>
<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">Paul's gospel reflected in his epistles, as almost everyone construes it, destroys Jesus' conditions for atonement. Yahweh's Ten Commandments, with its Gospel of Mercy, are likewise gutted. At the same time, those ten commandments, in particular the command against coveting, are insulted by Paul as inciting sinfulness to even read! (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+7%3A5&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;">Romans 7:5</a>; 7:7, 11-13.)&nbsp;Paul says we must ignore the "letter" of the Law any further because reading it incites sin and kills us spiritually, and instead we must be led by the "spirit" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+7%3A6&amp;version=KJV">Romans 7:6</a>). Paul means we must now follow what our conscience tells us is right or wrong. This is measured by "expediency," and no longer by any strict rules of right and wrong. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+6%3A12&amp;version=KJV">1 Cor. 6:12</a> "<strong>all things are lawful but not all things are expedient</strong>".) We no longer should even read the supposedly sin-inciting Law to know and understand what are the commandments of Yahweh. See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+7%3A7&amp;version=KJV">Romans 7:7</a> ("<strong>I would not have known about coveting except the Law said that 'thou shall not covet</strong>.'") See also <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+7%3A7-13&amp;version=KJV">Romans 7:7-13</a>. See our article&nbsp;<a href="/recommendedreading/188-blasphemy-a-paul.html" style="color: #517291;">Paul and Blasphemy</a>.</p>
<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">And thus Paul's Gospel is identical to the pagan form of salvation for Zeus, Athena and Apollo. Yahweh's Law disappears. It is all about incantations -- magic word formulas that bestow blessings -- that supposedly can manipulate Christ's favor at no cost whatsoever in terms of any moral reform or acts of repentance. Paul's words thus single-handedly caused the spiritual destruction of all Christians who followed <strong>his teachings over those of Jesus.</strong></p>
<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt;">And no wonder: do you see any attention being paid by Paul to the forgotten God in the room: Yahweh? In Paul's wholesale rewrite of the Gospel, no longer do we seek mercy from the God who issued the Law. No, Paul teaches in Romans 7 that Yahweh is the one who created a repulsive moral code that incites sin and offers no hope of salvation in the Law but supposedly only provides a curse. Yahweh, Paul says in Romans 7, is the "husband" of Israel who has died (presumably at the cross while in Christ) and with His death by dwelling in Jesus during his execution, the code created by the marriage to Israel expired when this Husband -- Yahweh -- died. Now we supposedly marry the living God - Jesus (see&nbsp;<a href="/recommendedreading/167-romans-7-a-major-incongruity.html" style="color: #517291;">link</a>) -- who Himself is little more than a dying and resurrecting savior who will take you to heaven. In Paul's conception, Jesus is identical to Mithras of Paganism who was favored in the region near Tarsus in what is now called Turkey where Paul grew up. See&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/mithraism-may-become-bit-less-mysterious-new-temple-discovery-turkey-008020" style="color: #517291;">May 2017 discovery of Mithras Temple in Eastern Turkey.</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #800080;">13. A Resulting Complete Disconnect</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Sadly, Paul's Gospel in 1 Corinthians represents a complete disconnect from that of Jesus. Paul's gospel there relies exclusively upon belief in facts ABOUT Jesus that do not imply any obedience to Him. But the Gospel which Jesus taught was about submitting to him as Messiah / King, Son of God, and as The Prophet of Deuteronomy 18 and doing works worthy of repentance for salvation. Jesus represents a WAY of salvation that is "agonizing" to stay on, and not fall away from. (Luke <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+13%3A24&amp;version=KJV">13:24.</a>) It requires even for one who "believes in me" severe repentance -- going to heaven maimed or you can go to hell whole -- to remain on the Way when you are &ldquo;ensnared&rdquo; in sin. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+9%3A42-47&amp;version=KJV">Mark 9:42-47</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">By contrast, Paul's way as commonly understood is the easy cost-free way of belief alone -- a wide road that is easy to find and broad enough that you need never worry about falling away from such a broad road.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">The Pauline Gospel is so at odds with Jesus' Gospel that Paulinism teaches deliberately that we can ignore Jesus' words, casting them off to a prior defunct dispensation.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">But the truth is the opposite: it is the truths from Jesus that would set you free if you obeyed them as if he were your King / Messiah, the Son of God of Psalm 2, and the Prophet of Deuteronomy 18. Salvation is not about needing to believe in unquestionable truths about the atonement and resurrection. That's why the early church called its message The WAY, not The ATONEMENT CREED THAT SAVES. For a thorough review of Jesus' gospel, please read our book free online -&nbsp;<a href="/recommendedreading/227-preface-2-jwos.html" style="color: #517291;">Jesus Words on Salvation</a>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"></span><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Conclusion.</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Paul's doctrine is wrong that you are saved by faith alone in atonement by Jesus alone. Instead, you are saved by turning to love God foremost, then obeying His commands to you issued by His Son and Appointed King-Messiah. This means first turning from sin, and doing amends to the ones you harmed, and then following and listening to Jesus on how to stay on the narrow road. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">For a Gentile, God told us already to obey sabbath (don't work on Saturday) and avoid the evil outlined in the Bible as applicable to you -- commands upon a foreigner / sojourner in the Original Testament. This is primarily the Ten Commandments. Jesus' commands His Gentile followers in the New Testament to follow them, implicitly by His words in Matt 5:17-19. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Then you <strong>can</strong>&nbsp;&mdash; and only then &mdash; call on Christ's atonement to wash you clean. God is still in control of the decision to forgive you. You don&rsquo;t earn a right thereby to demand salvation. Instead, by God's <strong>favor</strong> aka grace, God <strong>grants you the right</strong> to salvation.&nbsp; Yet, once granted, then as you walk in the light, the blood of Christ will continue to keep you clean in God's sight.&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">As Apostle John said, "confess your sins" and "keep walking in the light," and the "</span><strong>blood of Jesus will keep cleansing you</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">." (1 John 1:7-9.) </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">END</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;"><strong>Email Comments</strong>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">Hi. So well written and researched. I shared it on my facebook page. Thank you for being a leader in bringing Yeshua back into Christianity. B (3/12/2018)</span></p> </td>
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><strong>Take a Chance on Jesus Alone</strong></span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">Are you afraid to turn from Paul, Pauline doctrine, and Pauline friends and family, and turn to Jesus as your sole teacher and pastor? Well, Oswald Chambers... a leading Christian at the turn of the last century... exhorts you to just submit to Jesus&rsquo; words and see what happens. He wrote:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back?&hellip; Again and again he will come right up to <strong>what Jesus wants</strong>, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender&hellip; Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit of those who have placed their trust in him&hellip; If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when&nbsp;<strong>he must risk everything by his leap&nbsp;</strong>in the dark. In the spiritual realm,<strong>&nbsp;Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense</strong>, and leap by faith&nbsp;<strong>into what <span style="color: #ff0000;">he says</span>.</strong>&nbsp;Once you&nbsp;<strong>obey</strong>, you will merely find that what <strong>he says</strong> is as solidly consistent as common sense.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ's statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when he brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you,&nbsp;<strong>see</strong>&nbsp;<strong>that you take it</strong>. We act like pagans in a crisis &ndash;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough</strong>&nbsp;to invest his faith in the character of God. (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, entry for&nbsp;<a href="/outlook-data-detector://2" dir="ltr" style="color: #0072c6;">May 30</a>, accessed at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.utmost.org" style="color: #0072c6;">www.utmost.org</a>.)&nbsp; </span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">Experiences Prepared Me For The Leap Oswald Asks For</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">Suffering hostility for standing up for Christ's supremacy over Paul or anyone else will actually benefit you. It will strengthen your resolve to study to show yourself approved, as Peter says. Peter means you must study to be sure you are correctly reading the Word of God.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">You can well imagine the hostility that one receives if you publicly state to most Christians that Paul is not inspired. That Jesus warns us about Paul, etc. That Jesus is our sole pastor and sole teacher.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">But God provides us lessons on how to turn that hostility aimed at ourselves into something which will make each of us a stronger&nbsp; follower of Jesus. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">Here is proof from a fascinating experience I long forgot about. I recently found in my mom's estate papers a hand-written letter from 1976 which I wrote my grandma. We called her Nanzio -- an Italian affectionate form of nonna, grandma. Her name was Angelina Milacchio at birth. Her dad came from Calitri, Italy in the 1880s. She was a humble nanny and maid to many families. She moved out of our house in 1974 to marry a professor at Santa Ana College in California.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">In this letter, I shared with her the stress that an anti-Christian professor of New Testament was putting on me at Fordham University in the Bronx. I was a Freshman. This evil hearted woman was as hostile toward only me in the class as you can imagine. If there was anyone else who was a Christian, they would not stand up to her false claims about Jesus and Christianity. I never was angry to her, but I tried to explain what a Christian believes and why. However, she was unbearable, at least it felt that way to an eighteen year old.&nbsp; (On my academic path, see this <a href="/component/content/category/5.html">link</a>.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;">For example, which I still feel the pain today when I just thought about it, one time I was late to class by a few minutes. I said I was sorry as I entered. She stared at me for what felt like an eternity without saying anything. The prof wanted the entire class to know her extreme hostility toward me. She never accepted my apology. She also never treated anyone else the same way as she did me. But I long forgave and forgot about that professor. However, when I recently found this letter to my Nanzio from 1976, it showed me something important about this teacher. It reminded me that this professor was the catalyst for why I try to research every material detail carefully &nbsp;so that nothing important is overlooked.&nbsp; Of course, I still make mistakes but I pray it will never be for lack of 100% effort <strong>not</strong> to make a mistake. That evil&nbsp; professor made it impossible for me unless I could prove unequivocally she was wrong. What she intended for evil -- to dissuade me from following Jesus -- God used for good.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Here is what I wrote Nanzio in 1976. (See <a href="https://airtable.com/shrVioo4xacqNA38u">link </a>for original handwritten pages). I hope my Bible verses and edifying quotes will strengthen all Christians who follow Jesus alone to stay the path no matter what befalls you:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">In my New Testament course I have a very anti-Christian biased course and it's very hard for my answers to please my teacher. So far I have a C on one exam. But this Tuesday, I have my Second Exam and I will study for the next 2 days. ... </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">I understand your concern for my future. You are right we cannot trust anyone in these, the Latter Days of Mankind. But the End is near and we must be watchful of that day. Our works should be pleasing to the Lord. Jesus warned of wolves in sheep's clothing ("but are inwardly wolves"). As God says in the Bible, "Take ye heed, every one of his neighbor, and trust yet not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders." (Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 4.) Really only the Lord is worthy of our Trust, Belief. As Jesus said "Truly, truly, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath Everlasting Life." (John chapter 6 verse 47.) We can't even trust in our own works or selves in relation to God. (Ephesians 2:8-9.)" </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">As you can see, my ideas leaned toward Paul. We likely all have this common starting place even as we began our escape&nbsp; from spiritual bondage to Paul. This shows nothing binds you to your past way of thinking. Turn to Jesus, and study to show yourself approved, as Peter says. This will cleanse your soul, and break the bonds with non-authoritative teaching. </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">In the final quote from my 1976 letter, I make a closing remark followed by a quote to my Nanzio from a poem that I used to encourage myself to handle this professor's evil behavior:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">I'll say goodbye now with this thought. In everything we choose to do we face the consequences of that action whether it be right or sinful, profitable, or wasteful. <strong>We make the decision based on what God lets us know in wisdom and knowledge</strong>. When we see the truth and <strong>accept it rather than believe a lie we must follow it.</strong> We must take up our crosses daily James Russell Lowell, born in 1819, said:&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">They are slaves who fear to speak </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">for the fallen and the weak. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">They are slaves who will not choose </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Hatred scoffing and abuse </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Rather than in silence shrink </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">From the truth they need must think. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">They are slaves who dare not be </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">In with the 2 or 3.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Love Doug&nbsp; &nbsp;Kisses and affection&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">That letter reminded me of a painful time of persecution for following Jesus. Many more times I have endured hateful abuse and slander. But that early experience with the hateful teacher prepared me to endure all that came later.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">James says we are to count it joy when we go through such trials. It is for the perfecting and strengthening of our faith.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 36px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">In closing, dear friends of our ministry at Jesus' Words Only, please meditate on the poem in your own battles today. In the American Civil War such anti-slavery poems as this poem greatly helped the cause. It was said that Lowell's poems were worth an army corp to the Union forces. See <a href="https://www.bartleby.com/71/0411.html">link</a>. I think Jesus' followers who read it, and memorize it, will likewise be strengthened and toughened for the spiritual battles ahead.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Acts 13:2 - Does This Prove Paul Met Christ?&nbsp;</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Raissa asks: Please read Acts 13.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong>My response.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hi Raissa. I suppose you are noting <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A2&amp;version=ASV">verse 2</a> that the Holy Spirit at Antioch, Syria said to unspecified Antioch church members, &ldquo;Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">I suppose your argument is how can the Holy Spirit choose Saul /Paul for a "work" without Paul being truly visited outside Damascus as Paul claims. Several issues arise about this.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">First, we must examine whether this verse is itself inspired or merely a report of a third person -- hearsay -- that Luke trusts. If such is the case, then Luke himself would not know whether it was true or not. Luke makes clear in writing both Luke and Acts that he himself is not writing under inspiration but in reliance upon third-party witnesses. Luke explains this by noting he is writing a two-part historical work -- Luke as volume 1, and Acts as volume 2 -- based upon what he considers reliable eyewitnesses. How do we know this?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Luke advises in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1%3A1&amp;version=KJV">Acts 1:1</a> that Acts itself is part 2 of what begins with Luke's Gospel. Verse 1 of Acts reads: "In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach." So then we read in Luke's Gospel ch.<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+1%3A1-4&amp;version=KJV"> 1, 1:-4</a>:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">"1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were <strong>eyewitnesses</strong> and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have<strong> carefully investigated</strong> everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught."</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, Luke confesses from the outset of volume 1 (Luke's Gospel) that he is relying upon "eyewitnesses and servants of the word." Luke is thus claiming he is relying upon eyewitnesses to events rather than he himself is in communication with the Holy Spirit somehow. Then Acts is simply a companion volume with the same source of evidence.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Who then was the eyewitness to the events in Acts 13? The only person whom Luke mentions in Acts that he interacted with personally among those mentioned in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A1&amp;version=KJV">Acts 13:1 </a>is "Saul" aka Paul.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">When did this first happen?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Well, Luke uses "they" pronouns to speak of Paul and others in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+14%3A24-26&amp;version=KJV">Acts 14:24-26</a> and it is not until&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+16%3A13&amp;version=KJV">Acts 16:13</a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">Luke switches for the first time to</span>&nbsp;"we" at Philippi. At this point, Barnabas and Paul already split at <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+15%3A36-41&amp;version=KJV">Acts 15:36-41</a>. See discussion <a href="http://www.answers.com/Q/Was_Luke_with_Paul_on_all_his_missionary_journeys">link</a>.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.answers.com/Q/Was_Luke_with_Paul_on_all_his_missionary_journeys"><br /></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, Luke's source did not include Barnabas who appears in no "we" passages thereafter.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, we can conclude this comment about Paul and Barnabas by supposedly the Holy Spirit mentioned in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A2&amp;version=ASV">Acts 13:2</a> was only able to be confirmed through Paul in Acts 16 after Barnabas already separated from Paul.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">So is Paul reliable?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">We must consider on that score that Paul told the Corinthians that lying to capture someone's confidence is ok: "But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+cor.+12%3A16&amp;version=ASV">2 Cor. 12:16, ASV</a>.)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Paul repeats this same principle in Romans that lying can be justified when trying to advance his gospel: "For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?&rdquo; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+3%3A7&amp;version=ASV">Romans 3:7 KJV</a>. <br /><br /></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">And Paul justifies in evangelism using pretense of appearing obedient to the Law to gain over those who think the Law still applies - a practice the Savior called hypocrisy by the Pharisaical sect who cleaned the outside of the cup to appear Law-compliant. See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Cor.+9%3A+19-22&amp;version=ASV">1Corinthians 9:19-22</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+10%3A31-33&amp;version=ASV">1Corinthians 10:31-33</a>.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Further, there are many other proofs of Paul using deliberate deception and lies to protect himself (not the Gospel) during the court hearing before the High Priest, viz. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+23%3A6-7&amp;version=ASV">Acts 23:6-7</a>. See <a href="/books/jesuswordssalvation/769-chapter-12-jwos-parable-of-the-purchase-of-the-field.html">Did Paul ever deliberately lie?</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;and also see <a href="/topicindex/283-guile-in-paul.html">Guile in Paul</a>.<a href="/topicindex/283-guile-in-paul.html"><br /></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, Luke's source for what he is saying appears to be only Paul, and Paul is disqualified as a source due to his defense of lying, and doing so even in Court for his own selfish purposes. Paul should have told the High Priest the true reason Paul was on trial -- his alleged encouragement to his travelling companion -- Trophimus -- to enter the temple in an uncircumcised state which when it happened caused a furious uproar.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Second, Luke attributes -- remember based only upon his investigation not inspiration -- that the Holy Spirit only said the following in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A2&amp;version=ASV">Acts 13:2</a>: "2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, &ldquo;Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">So let's first ask: when God calls someone to a work, does that imply this person's words are always inspired?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">No, it only means a work is ordered, but does not mean constant inspiration of the person tasked for an activity. For example, Balaam was called as a true prophet initially and spoke a blessing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers+24%3A12&amp;version=ASV">Numbers 24:12</a>) but he later changed to a false prophet when -- after giving a true word from God about the coming Christ -- he taught the people they could eat meat sacrificed to idols in violation of God's law, as Jesus explains in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev.+2%3A14&amp;version=ASV">Rev. 2:14</a>. See <a href="/books/jesuswordsonly/109-chapter-seven-jwo.html">JWO ch.7</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">(Paul taught the identical lesson of Balaam on idol meat, incidently, in 2 passages. See the same last link cited.)</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, if Paul were called by the Holy Spirit to a "work" -- remember only likely known to Luke through Paul's report -- it does not prove Paul met the true Jesus earlier. Nor does it invest Paul with constant inspiration that we can trust. This is especially so when Paul teaches the identical lesson of Balaam that it was permissible to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Or when Paul preaches the abrogation of the Sabbath -- one of the 10 Commandments. The fact that Paul's abrogates the Law, in particular the 10 Commandments, is supported by virtually all commentaries, including those written by the young Luther. &nbsp;See&nbsp;<a href="/books/jesuswordsonly/106-chapter-five-jwo.html">JWO ch. 5</a>.&nbsp;<a href="/books/jesuswordsonly/106-chapter-five-jwo.html"><br /></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">And does that statement in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A2&amp;version=ASV">Acts 13:2</a>, if truly by the Holy Spirit, tell us enough that we can rule out God's plan was to use Paul as the work of a special kind of <strong>testing</strong> "prophet" which God allows in Deut 13:1-10? &nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">In that Deuteronomy passage, God says He allows a certain kind of prophet to give true prophecy (words "that come to pass") and who has "signs and wonders" but who tries to "seduce you from following the Law given here." (The Ten Commandments in context.) God says such a testing prophet is allowed to TEST you whether you love God with your whole heart, soul and mind -- the greatest commandment. You pass the test by rejecting such a prophet as false. By refusing to be seduced.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus even quotes this Deuteronomy passage in Matt 7:14-32. Jesus endorses this as the test for Christians to determine a true from a false prophet. Jesus speaks of those who have "signs and wonders" -- who cast out demons in Jesus' name. Who give prophecies in Jesus' name that come to pass. Jesus says such signs and wonders prove nothing if the prophet works ANOMIA. This word means negation of the Law - in line with Deut. 13:1-5.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Our ability to recognize what Jesus is quoting was minimized by translating ANOMIA as "lawless." Its translation should have been aligned with the text Jesus was quoting. It is clear because the Septuagint Greek translation of 247 BC used "anomia" as an expression of the apostasy from the Law which the testing prophet utters according to Deut 13:1-10.&nbsp; See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/737-anomia-in-nt-means-negation-mosaic-law.html">Meaning of Anomia</a>.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus concludes by warning he will tell such a prophet on judgment day that He "never knew them." See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+7%3A15-24&amp;version=ASV">Matt 7:15-24</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Finally, by Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas get in a very angry dispute over Barnabas' intent to take John Mark -- the author of the Gospel of Mark -- on their missionary trip. The reason? Paul rejects John Mark as explained in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+15%3A37-39&amp;version=ASV">Acts 15:37-39</a>:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul <strong>thought best</strong> not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and <strong>had not gone with them to the work</strong>. 39 And there arose <strong>a sharp disagreement</strong>, so that <strong>they separated</strong> from each other. <strong>Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus</strong>, ...</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">This disruption of supposedly the Holy Spirit's plan started with Paul having "thought best" not to take John Mark - the later gospel writer. Umm.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Now if the Holy Spirit truly said what is said in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A2&amp;version=ASV">Acts 13:2</a>, the "work" was to be jointly the same between Paul and Barnabas. Thus, these two men could <strong>not wilfully split</strong> from one another without violating the Holy Spirit's original purpose. Luke does not blame either man, but that does not matter. The point is both were wrong / sinning against the Holy Spirit's original words in Acts 13:2 if truly given. One of them should have backed down to comply with the Holy Spirit, unless a new direction was given by the Holy Spirit. But none is recorded. It all depends upon what Paul "thought best." It did not turn on the Holy Spirit talking to Paul or Barnabas to justify a change in plans. So this appears a sinful violation of Acts 13:2 to boot by both Barnabas and Paul, assuming it was trul an order from the Hoky Spirit which they both violated without any amended direction from the Spirit.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">On balance, it also appears Paul is more in the wrong here. While John Mark did not want to help in Pamphylia, John Mark was now willing to help both men. He should have been forgiven not wanting to do so earlier. Paul's intransigence appears contumacy against the Holy Spirit (if 13:2 is true) which gave Barnabas and Paul a joint mission in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A2&amp;version=ASV">Acts 13:2</a>.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, Acts 13:2 in summary does not have any reliability because Luke did not eyewitness it himself. His only apparent source was Paul, as Luke never records meeting Barnabas -- the other beneficiary of this statement. And even if true, then (a) Paul's work of the Holy Spirit could be to allow Paul to do signs and wonders, and even true prophecy as the Holy Spirit also gave Balaam (which Paul matches also on the idol meat issue) to provide a test of whether you or I would allow ourselves to be seduced by Paul into lawlessness. Paul's mission may be a test from God to prove we will resist apostasy -- lawlessness in the sense of ANOMIA -- proving our love of God thereby. Finally, Paul's split from Barnabas proves Paul was not faithful to the joint mission which the Holy Spirit supposedly gave both men. God possibly wants us to expose Paul as someone who will violate a "call" of God when he "thinks best" to do so.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">The proof that this conclusion is correct incidentally comes in Acts almost right away. This next event proves Paul must be a testing prophet that God permits to test us whether we can be seduced by apostasy aka anomia. For right after splitting from Barnabas, we find in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+16%3A16&amp;version=ASV">Acts 16:16</a> that Paul's salvation message was specifically approved by the highly popular demon-controlled Python priestess of Philippi. She for many days tells the people to follow Paul for he teaches a "way of salvation"" -- until Paul casts the demon out of her in Jesus' name a few days later. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/373-spirit-of-python-promoted-paul-in-acts-16.html">Demoniac Python Priestess Endorses Paul's Salvation Message for Days Before Paul Casts Out Demon</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong>WHAT ABOUT PAUL CASTING OUT THE DEMON IN THE PYTHON PRIESTESS?</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Does it matter Paul cast out a demon from the priestess in the name of Jesus after many days of her endorsement of his "way of salvation" (gospel) by this influential demon-controlled woman, the Python? Certainly not. Jesus already explained that it means nothing. See Matt 7:15-24 . There Jesus say that he "never knew" the prophet who comes with prophecy and signs and wonders to "cast out demons in" His name if that prophet also works "anomia" - negation of the Law (A-negative, + nomos -Mosaic Law). See our article explaining the meaning of <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/737-anomia-in-nt-means-negation-mosaic-law.html">Anomia</a>&nbsp;referenced above.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">I trust this helps answer your question.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Blessings, Doug</p> </td>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong>Letter Claiming Paul Had a Superceding Gospel. </strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">The email below typifies what many tell me: Paul's Gospel is to be followed. We supposedly can safely ignore the Gospel Jesus taught the 12 apostles. This is known as dispensationalism.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">This email is, however, better than most. It raises some serious challenges.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, I present below Bob's email and my response. I anonymize his name.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Bob's Letter of 12/26/2018</strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Thank you for you ministry.&nbsp; However I just want point out some things that very important in rightly dividing the Word.&nbsp; Every Word in scripture is from the mouth of God.&nbsp; However not all translations are accurate in expressing the true Word.&nbsp; All scripture is FOR us but not necessarily TO us.&nbsp; Jesus stated that He came "only" for the lost tribe of Israel.&nbsp; He even told His disciples to "ONLY" go the to lost tribes of Israel.&nbsp; Since Jesus' earthly ministry was to the house of Israel, what He spoke to them is still beneficial for us but not to us.&nbsp; Jesus commissioned Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles.&nbsp; Since the nation of Israel rejected John the Baptist, Jesus' and Apostle Paui's message of repent, believe on the name of Jesus and be baptized, the Lord commissioned Paul to spread the gospel of grace and salvation to the Gentiles.&nbsp; So you can't mix up what Jesus was speaking to Israel with what He commissioned Paul to preach.&nbsp; Paul preached "secrets or mysteries" not yet revealed to the 12 apostles.&nbsp; So it may seem like there is contradiction but there is not.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>My Response 12/26/2018 </strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hi Bob</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Thanks for sharing!&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">First, the last words of Jesus prior to the Ascension was a change -- "go and teach the nations (Gentiles) everything that I commanded you." See Matt 28:19-20.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">So why did Jesus give the earlier commands of which you speak? He specifically commanded the 12 to "not" go to the Gentiles, but to Israel.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">This was to fulfill the whole promise of a New Testament / Covenant - a promise in Jeremiah 31 to re-marry Israel to God-Yahweh who had decreed a divorce from Israel which was communicated through prior prophets. See my short article on <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/528-new-testament-in-prophecy.html">What is the NT</a>.&nbsp;<a href="/topicindex/528-new-testament-in-prophecy.html"><br /></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">The Messiah's promise in Isaiah 42:21 was to bring a New Covenant based upon "magnifying the Law" and making it better "honored" and followed. See <a href="/component/content/article/18-the-law-given-moses/646-new-covenant-summarized.html">NT Summarized </a>.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, this is the primary focus of the New Covenant to which you and myself claim we belong. But how are we included?&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">As to sojourners (non-Israelites who are kingdom citizens by choice), the Law addresses such Gentiles living in kingdom-Israel specifically. The commands on us are primarily the 10 Commandments. However, we have the option to follow the provisions on Atonement -- and that is how we can accept Jesus' offering for us in place of doing it ourselves.&nbsp; See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/98-law-applicable-today.html">Law Applicable Today</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">Now the expectation from the Gentiles in the New Covenant was described in Isaiah 56. Here is a discussion in my article on Sabbath:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #494a44;">The promise in Isaiah 56 of salvation to Gentiles ("my salvation is about to come",&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-1.htm">56:1</a><span style="color: #494a44;">) was predicated on two things: "</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: #494a44;">keep the Sabbath</span><span style="color: #494a44;">&nbsp;from profaning it and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: #494a44;">keep his hand from doing evil.</span><span style="color: #494a44;">" (Isaiah&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-2.htm">56:2</a><span style="color: #494a44;">) or "who&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: #494a44;">keep My Sabbaths</span><span style="color: #494a44;">, and choose things that please Me, and</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: #494a44;">&nbsp;take hold of my covenant</span><span style="color: #494a44;">." (Isaiah&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/isaiah/passage.aspx?q=isaiah+56:4;isaiah+56:6">56:4,6</a><span style="color: #494a44;">).</span>&nbsp; See <a href="/component/content/article/4-recommendedreading/33-sabbathcommand.html">Sabbath Command</a> article.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="/topicindex/33-sabbathcommand.html"><br /></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Given what is the meaning of the New Covenant, is Paul conceivably an apostle &mdash; a messenger &mdash; that compliments the true Jesus whose role prophetically was to "magnify the Law" and make it more "honored"?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Does Paul help bring the simple message to the Gentiles that they must primarily obey the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, and avoid evil as defined for Gentiles in the Law and Jesus when they join as a citizen of kingdom Israel as a spiritual member?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Based upon all Paul wrote, it is impossible that Paul is such a messenger for several reasons.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">First, Paul denigrates and insults the Law rather than bring it any honor. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/188-blasphemy-a-paul.html">Paul and Blasphemy</a>.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Second, Paul abolishes Sabbath for any New Covenant member. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/242-paul-abolished-sabbath.html">link</a>.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Third, Paul is never said to be an apostle of Jesus in the three appearance accounts in Acts. The Jesus outside Damascus is quoted from the same event three times by either Paul or Luke. Each time, Paul's Jesus reproves Paul. Paul's Jesus never says in all three accounts that Paul is an "apostle" -- a messenger &mdash; of Jesus.&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">See Acts chs.&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9%3A4-7&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">9:4-7</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">;&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+22%3A6-9&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">22:6-9</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">; and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26%3A13-18&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">26:13-18</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">The most positive aspect of something from Paul&rsquo;s Jesus is that supposedly Paul would be a "witness" (martus in Greek).&nbsp; (This was not recorded at the appearance event&nbsp; but Ananias -- a non-prophet by any measure - made the claim later that this happened in a dream he had.) Thus, if we accept this dubious assertion, still it only meant that Paul would be a witness of this &ldquo;resurrection&rdquo; appearance itself. But notably, the role of &ldquo;apostle of Jesus&ldquo; was not given Paul by the Jesus outside Damascus despite three chances for it to be recorded.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Furthermore, only Paul in the NT calls himself an Apostle of Jesus Christ. (Paul never relays any<strong> quote</strong> from a conversation, verifiable or unverifiable, &nbsp;with Jesus saying this to him. Paul simply asserts Jesus made him an apostle -- an assertion that has no quote to back it up.)&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Do you remember what Jesus said about self-serving statements about a role given by God? They are invalid.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 13.6364px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus said if He alone bore witness to Himself, then His witness would be untrue. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+5%3A31&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;">John 5:31</a>, "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.") God-Yahweh, however, spoke from heaven in the hearing of witnesses, who called Jesus his "beloved son" as well as at the transfiguration, saying "Listen to him" in front of witnesses.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">In fact, Jesus in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+2%3A2&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Revelation 2:2</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;clearly agrees a self-serving claim to be His apostle is insufficient. Jesus commended the Ephesians for finding those merely "saying" they were apostles were in fact not His apostles. Hence, in that case, there was only self-serving proof, and Jesus commended the Ephesians for rejecting that as sufficient proof of someone being His apostle. Thus, Paul's claim to being an apostle suffers from being self-serving. By a Biblical standard from Jesus Himself, Paul's self-witness "is not true."</span>(Rev. 2:2.) For more, see our article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/478-was-paul-a-true-apostle-of-jesus-christ.html">Was Paul a true Apostle of Jesus Christ?</a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">You believe that Jesus chose Paul as the Apostle of the Gentiles. However, Paul alone calls himself that. Hence, it is self-serving and thus invalid.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">In fact, do you know who the Holy Spirit called as the Apostle to the Gentiles? And who this honor belonged to which was unanimously agreed upon at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 as true? And also agreed upon by the 12 with Paul listening, but not objecting that another made the claim? It was Peter.&nbsp; In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+15%3A7&amp;version=MOUNCE">Acts 15:7</a> Peter says:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">Men&nbsp;<span style="font-style: italic;">and</span>&nbsp;brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">So it was Peter, not Paul, who God chose to be the apostle by whom the Gentiles would hear the gospel message.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Now could Paul be a messenger&nbsp; / apostle of Jesus the Messiah -- the one who is to "magnify the Law" and bring it greater "honor" when Paul incites Gentiles to disrespect the Law (instead of Paul explaining its narrow scope to them) and scares them that trying to obey Sabbath causes them to "fall away" from Grace?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Do you remember how Paul debased the Law in Romans 7:1-13? Paul says without the Law he would not have sinned, but the law by telling him to not covet, he says, incited him to covet, and thus by reading the law he fell. So Paul naturally says we should follow the spirit (summarized as "all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient" -1 Cor. 6:12), not the letter of the Law which kills us. How did that happen to Paul? By reading it! The reading of the Law on coveting (Romans 7:5-13) supposedly led him to sin. Paul presents the one who gave us the Law is guilty of tempting us to sin. Paul clearly points to God who gave those commands &mdash; a direct blasphemy of Yahweh. UGGH.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Incidentally, this is why James 1:13-15 is a rebuttal to Romans 7:1-13, James insisting that God tempts no one.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">For more background, see my exposition on Romans 7:1-3 in this article: <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/188-blasphemy-a-paul.html">Paul and Blasphemy.</a>&nbsp;<a href="/recommendedreading/188-blasphemy-a-paul.html"><br /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">You also speak about "<span style="color: #212121;">Paul's message of repent, believe on the name of Jesus and <strong>be baptized</strong>...."</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #212121;">But this is inaccurate.&nbsp; Paul says this in</span>&nbsp;Corinthians 1:17:&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">"For Christ sent me&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">not to baptize</span>, but to preach the gospel:&nbsp; ....'</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Notice the discrepancy between Paul's Jesus and the true Jesus of the twelve on this point:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Matthew 28:19&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">"Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">baptizing them&nbsp;</span>into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."[This is part of the last sayings of Jesus to the eleven Apostles after the resurrection. In Acts 1, the lot signifies Jesus' choice of Matthias as the new 12th to replace Judas -- long before Paul is on the scene in Acts 9.]&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">This is one of the 24 contradictions between Paul and the true Jesus which I list at this article: <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/175-pauls-contradictions-of-jesus.html">Paul's Contradictions of Jesus</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="/recommendedreading/175-pauls-contradictions-of-jesus.html"><br /></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Finally, Bob, your conclusion is that Paul had a superior message to that of Jesus. You say:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121; padding-left: 30px;">"So you can't mix up what Jesus was speaking to Israel with what He commissioned Paul to preach.&nbsp; Paul preached "secrets or mysteries" <strong>not yet revealed</strong> to the 12 apostles.&nbsp; So it may seem like there is contradiction but there is not."</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121;">However, I have a right to equate Jesus' message pre-Ascension to Gentiles is supposed to be the same post-Ascension. As said above,<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;the last words of Jesus prior to the Ascension was a change -- "go and teach the <strong>nations</strong> (Gentiles) everything that I commanded you." See Matt 28:19-20. This means nothing but what Jesus taught pre-Ascension is to be taught Gentiles post-Ascenscion.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121;">Thus, it is still relevant and important that Paul actually contradicts the Jesus of the 12 at least 24 times, on issues like baptism, like repentance from violating the Law / Sabbath, etc. Paul's Jesus is not the Jesus who spoke to the 12. They are wholly distinct. Paul is not even teaching amplifying principles, but is changing the message 100%.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121;">No wonder the true Jesus warned of Saul-Paul. His Latin name of Paul means "least" in Latin. Jesus said that the one who wrongfully teaches the Law is not to be followed any more will be called "least" by those who are in the kingdom of heaven, but "Great" are those who teach you to follow and obey the Law. (Matt 5:17-19.) Paul is a Latin name &mdash; Paulus. In Latin, it is a contraction of pauxililus meaning "least."&nbsp;<span style="color: #212121;">See my article on Jesus' use of Paul's name in Matt 5:17-19 - <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/280-jesus-on-paul-the-least.html">Jesus' Prophecy&nbsp; of Law Negator to Reject Whose Name is Least (which in Latin is paulus)</a>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="/recommendedreading/280-jesus-on-paul-the-least.html"></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121;">Please also be aware Paul only quotes one time in his epistles a revelation from the Damascus-Road Jesus given directly to him. Paul's Jesus in this single revelation -- <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+12%3A7-9&amp;version=MOUNCE">2 Cor. 12:7-9</a>&nbsp;-- refused to release Paul from an "Angel of Satan" despite Paul's multiple prayers. Paul's Jesus justified this by saying that he had already shown Paul favor enough. This means Paul's Jesus, unlike the Jesus of the 12, refused to release someone&nbsp; from demonic influence and control, despite prayerful requests.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121;">Paul defenders admit <a href="https://biblehub.com/2_corinthians/12-7.htm">2 Cor. 12:7</a>&nbsp;et seq. has a terrible implication -- obviously that Paul is under demonic control and worse -- that our Jesus does not care to free Paul from it. So they baselessly contend that somehow Paul's words were recorded incorrectly.&nbsp; David Barr writes:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;12:7 is notoriously difficult, prompting Barrett to write &lsquo;it can&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">hardly be in the form Paul intended it&nbsp;</span>....&rsquo;&rdquo; (David L. Barr, <strong>The Reality of the Apocalypse</strong> (Society of Biblical Lit, 2006) at&nbsp;<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zHLZob88C44C&amp;lpg=PA105&amp;dq=hyperairomai&amp;pg=PA105#v=onepage&amp;q=hyperairomai&amp;f=false">105.</a>)</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121;">So why not try just following Jesus - the true Jesus? The road you are on is the Paul road. Try the Jesus road for a change.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121;">God bless</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121;">Doug</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #212121;">Note: no response as of &nbsp;December 26, 2019.</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 24pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Pleasure Trap of Paulinism&nbsp; </span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">God's Mercy In the Ten Commandments.</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=NKJV">Exodus 20:6</a>, you will see that God gave us a principle that our conscience would normally and readily recognize as true. This verse tells us how to be saved eternally with God. It simply says God's mercy is given to those who love God and obey His commandments. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">However, we are deliberately taught by Pauline teachers that this principle on mercy / grace is false. We suffer a modern constant Pauline drubbing upon the claim that we "shall be saved" by "holding in memory" a belief in three facts about Jesus, citing <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal.+2%3A11&amp;version=KJV">1 Cor. 15:1-4</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What are these three facts which Paul says by believing them alone we will be saved eternally? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Paul says you must simply believe Jesus died for your sins, he was buried, and then rose from the dead, and you "shall" be saved. No other conditions. This is a mercy with supposedly no requirement either to love God or obey His commandments. Paul is at total odds with Exodus 20:6.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">On top of this, we are brainwashed to reject Exodus 20:6 if we ever read it. This conditioning is done by scaremongering. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">We are told that "adding" anything else to the supposed faith-alone gospel of 1 Cor. 15:1-4 will cause our <strong>damnation</strong>. Thus, not only is it supposedly wrong to think repenting and turning to obey God to obtain His mercy for your sins is necessary, but also you are told that <strong>merely</strong> believing it is <strong>true</strong> and then attempting to fulfill this condition of obeying God will <strong>sever</strong> <strong>you</strong> <strong>from</strong> <strong>Christ</strong>. Again, this is based upon Paul's teachings, particularly in Galatians 5, as discussed below.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, we are now almost universally taught that obeying God with such a mental expectation of mercy from God will cause your damnation -- the <strong>very</strong> <strong>opposite</strong> of what God promised you in Exodus 20:6 for such mental attitude and behavior.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">For Paul tells us that obeying God for salvation will "sever" a Christian from Christ. Such an effort to obey God's principles to be right with God will supposedly cause a curse, Paul says, to fall upon you that will send a Christian believer to hell. And Paul adds that Christ will profit a Christian nothing, and you will fall from grace, by taking the path of obeying God, including obeying the sabbath day of rest, if you have the mental belief that this is a means of staying justified in God's eyes. See&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+1%3A6-12&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Gal. 1:6-12</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">;&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+2%3A14-16&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Gal. 2:14-16</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;(cursed if not continue in all points of law);&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+3%3A9-12&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291; outline: none; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Gal. 3:9-12</a>;&nbsp;<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-4.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Gal. 5:4 NASB</a>&nbsp;(severed from Christ);&nbsp;<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-2.htm" style="color: #517291; outline: none; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Gal. 5:2 KJV</a>&nbsp;(Christ "profit you nothing").</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The icing on top to cement this startling view is the Pauline villification of God's principle in Exodus 20:6 as unnecessarily exposing us to the risk of boasting. Paul again is cited for this ridiculous proposition. See <span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"></span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians+2%3A8-9&amp;version=KJV" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #517291; outline: none; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Eph. 2:8-9</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">When these out-of-context verses are combined with pastors flattering us falsely every week that we can be assured salvation for faith-alone (no obedience / works necessary), we end up ensnared by the <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">pleasure trap of Paulinism</span></strong>. It will take a lot of spiritual studies to escape its snare. Hopefully, this article will help you begin to restore your spiritual-recognition that Exodus 20:6 is true. And it is something Jesus teaches and refers to many times, especially in Matthew 19.&nbsp;<br /><br /> </span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;">Does Exodus 20:6 Startle You?</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Here is Exodus 20:6 -- God clearly stating His grounds for mercy to obtain salvation -- a verse right inside His delivering the Ten Commandments &mdash; sandwiched right between the first and second commandments:&nbsp; </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">"[I extend] mercy to those who <strong>love me</strong> and <strong>obey my commandments</strong>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=NKJV">Exodus 20:6 NKJV</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">This has both a loving and conditional aspect. The loving aspect is a promise of mercy and the conditional aspect is that we must turn to love God and obey His commandments. The Ten Commandments in context. That includes taking the day off on Sabbath.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Paul's Salvation On Holding in Memory Just 3 Facts as True.</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What is the opposite message we hear today? God has supposedly made a way that there is no love and obedience condition to have a right to God's mercy, but instead we must simply keep only in <strong>memory</strong>&nbsp;just three facts about Jesus. We thereby</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;supposedly become saved forever. Thus, when&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">we sin again, we allegedly need only remind &nbsp;ourselves about these three factual-beliefs to restore our joy of salvation. As Paul puts it in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+cor.+15%3A1-4&amp;version=NKJV">1 Cor. 15:1-4</a>:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you<strong> the gospel which I preached unto you</strong>, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">2 <strong>By which also ye are saved</strong>, if ye <strong>keep in memory</strong> what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">3 For I delivered unto you <strong>first</strong> of all that which I also received, how that <strong>Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures</strong>;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 30px;">4 And that he was <strong>buried</strong>, and that <strong>he rose again the third day according to the scriptures</strong>:&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18pt;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A1-4&amp;version=KJV">1 Cor. 15:1-4 KJV</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Please note that Paul cites himself as his only authority -- it is a gospel "I preached to you." For this significant erasure of Exodus 20:6 -- part of the Ten Commandments, Paul does not cite God nor Jesus nor the Bible for this supposed new truth. Paul just directly does away with both elements -- as if neither need ever be mentioned again -- on his exclusive authority to say so by his own preaching.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Instead of what Exodus 20:6 requires, Paul clearly teaches elsewhere that faith alone saves. For you are "saved by</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;faith, not works</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">, lest any man should&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">boast</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">." (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians+2%3A8-9&amp;version=KJV" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Eph. 2:8-9</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">.) So "keep in memory" -- as Paul clearly says in 1 Cor. 15:2 -- just the facts that Jesus "died for your sins," was buried, and "rose the third day" and you supposedly "are saved."</span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Such an&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">attractive&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">principle</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;&mdash; if you latch onto it &mdash; necessarily <strong>drives from your mind any necessity to obey or love God as a condition to receive his mercy</strong>. In fact, Paul says such a belief -- ordained in Exodus 20:6 in the Ten Commandments no less --&nbsp; necessarily leads to the sin of boasting. Hence, Paul warns you will become damned necessarily if you believe works of obedience form any condition of God's mercy -- His grace. You will always supposedly fall into boasting, and hence a lost condition.</span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="background: white;">Damnation Supposedly Follows For Compliance with Exodus 20:6.&nbsp;</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="background: white; color: #000000;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: inherit;">Paul goes even farther than just this. Paul emphasizes that you are cursed, and severed from Christ, and Christ will profit you nothing if you try to obey God's law as a condition of salvation. Yet as we review Paul's contentions next, please remember Paul's principles are at total odds with &nbsp;Exodus 20:6.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In Galatians, Paul bemoans Galatian Christians who wish to keep sabbath as provided in the Ten Commandments -- a command specifically applicable to all Gentiles in community with Israel.&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">See&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%205:12-15&amp;version=YLT" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Deut. 5:12-15</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;("sojourner within thy gates");&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2025:6&amp;version=YLT" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Lev. 25:6</a>&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">("sojourner settling with thee");&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2023:12&amp;version=YLT" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Exo 23:12</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;(sojourner).</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Paul then says "anathema" -- cursed -- are those who wish to be just / justified by keeping such parts of the Law,&nbsp;<em>i.e.</em>, sabbath, etc. For otherwise, Paul argues, they will have to keep "all" of the Law, and not selected parts. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+1%3A6-12&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;">Gal. 1:6-12</a>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+2%3A14-16&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;">Gal. 2:14-16</a>&nbsp;(cursed if not continue in all points of law);&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+3%3A9-12&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;">Gal. 3:9-12</a>&nbsp;(under a curse, misquoting Deuteronomy, as explained at this&nbsp;<a href="/topicindex/360-paul-misquotes-of-scripture.html" style="color: #517291;">link</a>),&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+3%3A21&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;">Gal. 3:21</a>.&nbsp; </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">This is especially ironic because Paul says this in part to dissuade Sabbath observance among Gentiles when Paul claims Gentiles are the focus of Paul's ministries. However, Paul appears unaware of the following Bible &nbsp;promise for his target audience's entry into a new covenant:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><br />The promise in Isaiah 56 of salvation to Gentiles ("my salvation is about to come",&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-1.htm" style="color: #517291;">56:1</a>) through God's suffering servant (whom was obviously Jesus) was predicated on two things: "<strong>keep the Sabbath</strong>&nbsp;from profaning it and&nbsp;<strong>keep his hand from doing evil.</strong>" (Isaiah&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-2.htm" style="color: #517291;">56:2</a>) or "who&nbsp;<strong>keep My Sabbaths</strong>, and choose things that please Me, and<strong>&nbsp;take hold of my covenant</strong>." (Isaiah&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/isaiah/passage.aspx?q=isaiah+56:4;isaiah+56:6" style="color: #517291;">56:4,6</a>). The word <strong>covenant</strong> there means the Ten Commandments (including Sabbath), such as that term is used in the name Ark of the Covenant, i.e., a box to hold the tablets of the Ten Commandments.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul's so-called 'gospel' thereby eviscerated one of the key conditions of salvation for Gentiles -- a weekly-time out on Sabbath from work -- despite Paul claiming he had the correct path of salvation for them. Oh what man cannot be led to believe!&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In the same vein, Paul says to the Galatian Christians about those who obeyed God as Christians to stay in God's grace: "You have been&nbsp;<strong>severed from Christ</strong>, you who are seeking to be justified by Law; you have&nbsp;<strong>fallen from grace</strong>." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-4.htm" style="color: #517291;">Gal. 5:4 NASB</a>.) </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So Paul acknowledges he is talking about true Christians. They are severed from Christ by obeying Sabbath rest as a condition of salvation as expressed by God in Exodus 20:6. Thus Paul teaches you are saved by faith alone, but <strong>become damned by obeying one of God&rsquo;s commands in the Ten Commandments if motivated to satisfy the requirement in Exodus 20:6</strong> &mdash; part of the Ten Commandments too. Paul is talking about the Sabbath command in context -- a command that was specifically extended in the Law to Gentiles aka foreigners / sojourners.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">And again on the parallel topic of circumcision (which the Law necessitated a Gentile have done <strong>only if</strong> they wished to enter the Temple at Jerusalem or participate in passover), Paul says: "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised,&nbsp;<strong>Christ will be of no value</strong>&nbsp;to you at all." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-2.htm" style="color: #517291;">Gal. 5:2 NIV</a>.) Or as the KJV says, "Christ will&nbsp;<strong>profit you nothing.</strong>" (<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-2.htm" style="color: #517291;">Gal. 5:2 KJV.</a>) </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, even a Christian who wanted to be circumcised solely to enter the temple to avoid being damned by defiling the Temple's holiness standard,&nbsp; would <strong>actually lose their salvation for such clear sin-avoidance</strong>. Hence, Paul warned a Christian would be eternally separated from Christ by that act of obedience to an optional command &nbsp;that the Law said a Gentile <strong>must follow if they wanted to enter the temple and pray.</strong> </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Paul's statement is clearly a ludicrous principle -- you are supposedly damned for obeying a principle the Law said you must obey so as not to&nbsp; be damned. How ridiculous! </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Yet, your Pauline pastors teach these lessons from Paul as if they make good sense. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><br />What is their core reasoning? Supposedly, by avoiding obedience to God's law as of any conditional importance, you avoid the risk of 'boasting.'&nbsp; They cite correctly Ephesians 2:8-9 which indeed implies this. But Paul's <strong>saying it is so does not make it so</strong>. Paul has no quote of Jesus or authority of some inspired vision for this patently absurd view. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So why does this nonsense get swallowed without objection by almost everyone in the pew every Sunday? What's the attraction holding our minds to this silly doctrine?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="background: white;">Because It is The Greatest News Ever</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white;">Let's admit it -- Paul's message is <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">overwhelmingly great news</span></strong> ....&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white;"><strong>I get everything for nothing.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white;"><strong> I only have to accept three facts of history as true.</strong>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white;">But this represents the <strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">pleasure trap of Paulinism</span></strong>. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white;">Why?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: inherit;">Because Paulinism uses Paul&rsquo;s words to instill a belief that restored obedience as a condition of mercy (forgiveness of sin) is a&nbsp;</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: inherit;">frightful</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: inherit;">&nbsp;requirement, leading us invariably to the sin of pride ("boast"-ing). Based upon Paul, I can then justify doing nothing for God toward obedience or love. Instead, I can supposedly insist God must grant me mercy based upon my simply keeping in &ldquo;memory&rdquo; these three fact-beliefs which Paul specified. I can then, Paul tells me, enjoy the notion that God has to let me into heaven because I believe just these three facts of history about Jesus.</span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff; background: white;">Jude's Curious Epistle</span></strong><span style="color: #000000; background: white;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; background: white;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: inherit;">What does Jude -- second Bishop of the Church and brother of Jesus -- say about this idea? Jude talks of a doctrine of grace devoid of the second of the two principles we saw in Exodus 20:6 -- "obey my commandments" -- as a condition of God's mercy.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jude equates this view with a teaching by a "wolf in sheep's" clothing who Jude says penetrated Christianity with a lawless doctrine that twists God's "grace" into "licentiousness.&rdquo; This unnamed Christ-professing figure, <a href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jude/1-11.htm">Jude 1:11</a> says, shares the lessons of Balaam -- a figure alive in the time of Moses. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What was Balaam's doctrine? &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Let&rsquo;s look for an answer where Jesus in Revelation references Balaam in the context of talking about a fal</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">se apostle. Jesus speaks of an unnamed false apostle, and then next condemned the doctrine of a new Balaam in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+2%3A14&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">Rev. 2:14</a>&nbsp;who says he prophetically can declare Christians are permitted to eat meat sacrificed to idols. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Who can Jesus be talking about? </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Could it be Paul? </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Absolutely.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">For Paul unquestionably taught Christians are free to eat meat sacrificed to idols, only restraining from doing so around a brother with a "weaker" conscience who thinks it is wrong. But you with a "stronger conscience" -- knowing it is supposedly not wrong to eat -- by you eating such idol meat in their presence, you may encourage the "weaker" Christian -- the one who Paul says erroneously thinks it wrong to eat such meat -- to do something the "weak minded" Christian thinks is wrong. But otherwise, you have the "stronger" conscience, and know it is perfectly acceptable to eat meat sacrificed to idols outside the presence of such "weak" minds. Paul insists your freedom to eat such meat should not be otherwise constrained by another's "weak" conscience who needlessly fears that eating such meat is wrong. See&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+10%3A28-29&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; outline: none;">1 Cor.&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+10%3A28-29&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291;">10:28-29</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+8%3A4-12&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; outline: none;">1 Cor. 8:4-12</a>. See&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/690-paul-cavalier-attitude-eating-idol-meat-at-idol-temple.html">Paul's Cavalier Attitude About Eating Idol Meat at a Pagan Temple (apparently post-service free hand-outs).</a>&nbsp; See also&nbsp;</span><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/728-response-to-defense-of-paul-over-eating-idol-meat.html"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Response to Critic About Paul's Idol Meat Passages.</span></a></p>
<p><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/728-response-to-defense-of-paul-over-eating-idol-meat.html"></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">George Reber, a Paul defender, in&nbsp;<strong>The</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Christ of Paul</strong>&nbsp;(1876) is shocked at Jude for likewise calling this obvious NT figure a new Balaam. Reber derisively said of Jude:&nbsp; "The Epistle of Jude is&nbsp;<strong>nothing but a bolt hurled at the head of Paul</strong>." (<a href="http://gutenberg.readingroo.ms/3/8/3/7/38376/38376-h/38376-h.htm" style="color: #517291;">Link.</a>) If you want to see how Jude's proofs about an unnamed "wolf in sheep's clothing" obviously were meant for Paul and his principles, see para. # 18 at&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">this&nbsp;</span><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/727-proofs-the-12-apostles-rejected-paul.html" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">link</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.</span></span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff; background: white;">Scaremongering That Obedience Damns You Is The Sugar On Top.</span></strong><span style="color: #000000; background: white;"></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">The ultimate "pleasure trap" -- which I will explain later what that means -- is to define the true doctrine of salvation -- God's mercy -- so that believing in the truth of Exodus 20:6 is depicted as&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">spiritually dangerous</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">. Accepting the truth of Exodus 20:6 will supposedly cause you to fall into pride. Into boasting. This sin will then supposedly cause loss of salvation. You can then justify to God that you will&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">never try to be obedient for salvation-sake ever again</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;because such desire will supposedly always&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">backfire</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;and cause the very thing you want to avoid. You can now allegedly tell God that you will only obey Him when you feel some need to get a&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">reward</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;in heaven.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">How pleasing that is in our own sight.</span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">It is an&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">unbelievably</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">attractive&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">gospel</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;that creates a dopamine-like effect of <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">pure pleasure</span></strong>. It drives out the voice of John the Baptist, Jesus and Yahweh who give contrary warnings. Each preached to us that works worthy of repentance were an essential component of God's grace -- His mercy. See&nbsp;</span><a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/628-works-worthy-of-repentance.html"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Works Worthy of Repentance.</span></a></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/628-works-worthy-of-repentance.html"><span style="color: black; background: white; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="background: white;">Science Shows Paulinism Exploits Our Mental Proclivities</span></strong><span style="background: white; color: #000000;"></span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">A neuroscientist Tali Sharon in a Ted talk discussed studies that show people will negate a warning and accept a more optimistic projection over the warning even if the optimistic &ldquo;truth&rdquo; is untrue. See this You Tube at the six minute mark:&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><a href="https://youtu.be/xp0O2vi8DX4">https://youtu.be/xp0O2vi8DX4</a><a href="https://youtu.be/xp0O2vi8DX4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><br /></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Thus flattery combined with wishful thinking -- a pleasing &ldquo;truth&rdquo; -- attracts us like the porch light that attracts moths who mistake it for the light of the moon to which they are designed to fly toward. Our mind naturally seeks to be optimistic about our salvation. We gravitate toward pleasing messages that flatter us and have no cautions about what true path to take. We are thus susceptible to pleasure traps on what is the path to salvation. What are such traps? Such snares?</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff; background: white;">Pleasure Trap Defined</span></strong><span style="color: #000000; background: white;"></span>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">A&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">pleasure&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">trap</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;is anything&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">artificially&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">created</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;to appear like God&rsquo;s true design which is so juiced to boost&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">attractiveness</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">unrealistically</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;that true warnings are ignored. For example, as Dr. Lisle explains in his Ted Talk&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><a href="https://youtu.be/jX2btaDOBK8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">https://youtu.be/jX2btaDOBK8</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">,&nbsp; one pleasure trap is where the brain turns off natural warnings / signals, and responds to eat unnaturally processed oily salty and sugary foods solely because of unrealistic and processed taste concentrations which our ancestors never experienced.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">This too is the power of modern Paulinism. It is like the unrealistic sweet or salty junk foods we eat regularly. It is also like the unrealistic cocaine high that you cannot give up. We will self-destructively pursue recklessly the next fix of potato chips or the snort, ignoring our pangs to obey our conscience despite&nbsp; our declining physical health.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">How is this done spiritually using Paul&rsquo;s words?</span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;"><span style="color: black; background: white;"></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="background: white;">Stringing Together Out-of-Context Verses of Paul</span></strong><span style="background: white; color: #000000;"></span></span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Paulinism&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">strings</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">verses</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;together from primarily only Paul week after week at church, for a&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">powerful</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">effect.&nbsp; </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Paul&rsquo;s words, had they instead been read along with Jesus' words being given equal or greater weight, would never have been able to persuade. On top of this repetitive narrow focus on Paul, Pauline teachers juice Paul's authority by the simple uncorroborated power-claim that Paul enjoys the label &ldquo;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">apostle."</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;This label is incessantly ascribed to Paul without any proof other than Paul&rsquo;s self-serving claim. See&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/recommendedreading/564-how-many-apostles-of-jesus-christ-are-in-the-bible.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">link</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">And this is how God&rsquo;s truth of salvation &mdash; His expectation we love God and obey His commandments for forgiveness of sin &mdash; an unassailable truth from the Ten Commandments themselves &mdash; now&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">revulses</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;us. We are so satiated by sweet words of optimism that faith alone saves that the <strong>true</strong> Word of God seems like a&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">tasteless</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">unsatisfying&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">dish of unseasoned vegetables. Our pastors have fed us the equivalent of exciting Frito Lay potato chips or Hostess cupcakes. We just cannot get enough of flattery reassuring us weekly that we are saved by belief in three historical facts about Jesus: he died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead. We hear the echo incessantly of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. It is part of the Nicene Creed of the 300s that we typically are asked by our pastors to affirm as true.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Thereby, Paulinism points us directly at a path of&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">self</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">-</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">destruction</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;like the moth is drawn to the&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">unnaturally</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;bright light at night of a porch light. Paulinism presents an artificial pleasure trap that hooks into our natural attraction to be saved upon physical death but sadly we are not following truth. Instead, we follow some&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">artificially</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">exagerrated powerful misleading message</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">. In other words, a Pleasure Trap.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">What should we do in response? Our goal must be to break free, see the truth of the ungodly Pleasure Trap, and head back to the true light of God&rsquo;s and Jesus&rsquo; unassailable words.</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="background: white;">Paulinists Ignore Paul's Words That Undermine Paulinism.</span></strong><span style="background: white; color: #000000;"></span></span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: inherit;">Interestingly, here&nbsp;</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: left bottom; background-image: url('data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBQAEAJECAP////8AAAAAAAAAACH5BAEAAAIALAAAAAAFAAQAAAIIlGAXCCHrTCgAOw=='); border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; background-color: inherit;">Paulinists</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: inherit;">&nbsp;are so&nbsp;</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: left bottom; background-image: url('data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBQAEAJECAP////8AAAAAAAAAACH5BAEAAAIALAAAAAAFAAQAAAIIlGAXCCHrTCgAOw=='); border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; background-color: inherit;">enamored</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: inherit;">&nbsp;with faith-alone for salvation that they recklessly encourage a misidentification of Paul&rsquo;s self-contradictatory statements. Paul contrarily utters obedience-conditions for salvation stated in the same 1 Corinthians epistle. He also does so three times elsewhere. Paul thus a total of <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>four</strong> <strong>times</strong> </span>gives Christians warnings that they will not &ldquo;inherit the kingdom&rdquo; if they commit various sins. Paul primarily cited examples from the Ten Commandments. Paul expressed <strong>frustration</strong> that the churches he seeded understood <strong>something different from something he said</strong>. See 1 Cor. 6:9, Ephesian 5:5-7, Galatians 5:19-21, and 1 Thessalonians 4:6-8. See also full discussion at this</span></span><a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/recommendedreading/698-pauls-four-inheritance-warnings.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;link</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Yet, the Pauline preachers of today tell their followers that Paul means in these four 'you will not inherit the kingdom' passages that Paul only had in mind a loss of rewards. They supposedly know this is true because we know elsewhere such as from 1 Cor. 15:1-4 that Paul promises salvation for only keeping certain factual beliefs in &ldquo;memory.&rdquo; They read that passage to mean that no misconduct on our part can erase such salvation. They insist Paul's warning Christians elsewhere that they won't &ldquo;inherit the kingdom&rdquo; for sins specified in the Law means we are only at risk of losing a reward in heaven. We supposedly never can be barred from entry as it would violate &nbsp;Paul's promise that we will be saved by mere belief in three historical facts about Jesus' life: he died for sin, was buried, and rose from the dead. Somehow not "inheriting the kingdom" supposedly means you are still there but <strong>lack joy during your eternal life.&nbsp;</strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">These pastors equally ignore Paul's words in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://biblehub.com/romans/2-13.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Romans 2:13 KJV</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;that only the "doers of the Law are justified" but not those who "hear" alone. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">What else can that mean other than that those who believe alone but do not do the Law's requirements are not justified?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="background: white;">Pilots Who Ignore Warnings Doom Their Passengers</span></strong><span style="background: white; color: #000000;"></span></span>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">But this brings to mind the 2005 tragedy of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522">Helios airline flight 522</a> as it ascended from 10,000 to 18,000 feet after departing Cyprus while heading for Athens. The 737 gave the pilots a sound warning of an in-flight problem which sounded similar to a ground configuration warning that only sounds when on the ground. The pilots did not recognize it was an inflight-warning sound about pressurization of the cabin which will become deadly as they ascend if not addressed.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">The pilots spoke via radio with the ground mechanic. It was learned later that this mechanic had mistakenly forgot to set the pressurization switch back to "auto" when he was done. Via radio, he asked the pilots questions&nbsp; designed to alert the pilots to the true problem -- asking about the status of the auto-manual setting on the pressurization switch. However, the pilots repeatedly brushed aside his questions.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">The main pilot pressed for an answer how to throw a circuit breaker to take offline the "erroneous" warning sound. The pilots even ignored the fact that the oxygen masks had dropped for the passengers, triggered automatically by a change in pressure in their cabin. The plane's passengers thus knew there was danger. They trusted the pilots, however, were paying attention. But the pilots were not paying attention to how the passengers were doing. The passenger's confidence was <strong>misplaced</strong>, and soon enough the pilots themselves would lose consciousness, dooming all onboard. When that happened, the plane&nbsp; simply flew in one direction until the plane ran out of fuel, and crashed into the side of a mountain.&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">The pilots needed to heed the mechanic's questions (which implied a warning) in time to save the passengers and themselves.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">The pilots' fault was they remained resistant to listen to questions from the ground mechanic who tried to alert them to check the pressurization status. Thus, when the ground mechanic point blank asked the pilot: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522">"Can you confirm the pressurization is set to AUTO?," the pilot ignored him, responding: "Where are my equipment cooling circuit breakers?"</a> referring to wanting to know where was the location of the breakers to stop the warning signals.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Thus, the pilots did nothing right, ignoring the mechanic three-times pursuing the same issue. The pilots instead insisted the mechanic respond to their question on how to simply disrupt warning sounds to turn them off.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">However, had the pilots listened to the lowly ground mechanic - the one responsible for the error in the first place, and <strong>followed his questions</strong>, they would have learned that the auto pressurization was mistakenly turned to "off." <strong>All they needed to do is flip the switch from "manual" to &ldquo;auto.&rdquo;</strong>&nbsp; Instead, the pilots were &ldquo;ignoring the question,&rdquo; fixated instead on finding the breakers to turn off what they thought was the sound of a ground misconfiguration warning that should only sound while on the ground.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">See this for youselves in this re-enactment at the 7:00 to 7:57 mark of this video:&nbsp;</span><a href="https://youtu.be/Go3K0UUt2Us" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">https://youtu.be/Go3K0UUt2Us</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Let's give meaning to the death of all those people by treating this as a parable to teach us that we must pray self-styled pastors wake up, sound the warning, and flip the switch to Jesus from Paulinism. We need to reject skewed string-cites from Paul, refusing any longer to ignore Paul's four inheritance warnings given to believers to fly right or not make it to heaven.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Thus, in our present state, we have oxygen masks of Bible verses from Jesus to alert us. However, no pilot is telling us how to use them. We are doomed by our pastors' ridiculous misreading Paul&rsquo;s four inheritance warnings as not applicable to get us to grab the oxygen masks and have a true chance at spiritual survival.</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black; background: white; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="background: white;">Let's Dig Deeper Into the Helios Crash Parabolic Analogy.&nbsp;</span></strong><span style="background: white; color: #000000;"></span></span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">So why did Helios flight 522 eventually crash, killing all crew and passengers?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">A single mechanic on the ground checked the pressurization of a door, and to do that he turned the pressurization system from auto to manual. He forgot to reset it back to auto. So as the plane ascended above 10,000 feet, all the pilots ever had to do was flip a <strong>single</strong> <strong>switch</strong> from manual to auto to live.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">On three separate occasions the main pilot ignored instructions to take care of this. He didn&rsquo;t think that was the problem. He thought the problem was there was a mistake, and that the warning sound was for a ground configuration issue which he knew was impossible in flight.&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">He just wanted to turn off the sound</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">. He didn&rsquo;t want to address the truth of what the real warning was even when more reliable sources on the ground were telling the pilot what to do. The pilot <strong>did not want to even listen to the person who was most intimately involved in creating the mistake himself:</strong> the ground mechanic who should have set the pressurization back to "auto."&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">This is like the behavior of our modern pastors today. Paul is like the ground mechanic who made the mistake. Paul is "difficult to understand," Peter says in 2 Peter 3:15-18, so no wonder Paul made a mistake in stating things <strong>absolutely with no conditions</strong> in Ephesians 2:8-9, and in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Even when the four inheritance warning passages are cited as telling Christians that violating various commandments will cause us not to "inherit the kingdom of God," our pastors just know better. Paul supposedly cannot mean what this says. Our pastors contend Paul must have meant we lose rewards only. Our pastors <strong>tune</strong> <strong>out</strong> not only Paul but also anyone who says otherwise. We are supposedly ignorant&nbsp; lowly lay persons who are just disturbing our pastors' focus upon getting people saved on faith alone oxygen. The four-inheritance warnings of Paul and we lay-persons are snidely disregarded with impunity by our pastors. <br /><br /></span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Thus, our pastors remain unaware that faith-alone oxygen will evaporate as their congregants try to reach for the heavens. It is insufficient to get us to the higher altitude above 18,000 feet in this real-world parable and thus into heaven. We lack the protective pressurization that Exodus 20:6 provides -- the path of loving God and obeying His commandments for salvation -- an unmistakable warning post because&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">it is right inside the Ten Commandments</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">. <br /></span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><br />No pastor, and none of us, can ever say we never saw it there. We will have to confess instead that we just ignored words in the most read portion of the Bible: the Ten Commandments.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;">
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">So our pilot-pastors presently refuse to take Paul&rsquo;s own warnings seriously that obedience is crucial to go to heaven. Instead, they ignore even Paul's warnings. Thus, they fail to get themselves and their passengers to safety. We&rsquo;re all being led to destruction for the failure of just one flip of a switch &mdash; from Paul &mdash; with his confusing, poorly articulated words &mdash; back to Jesus &ndash; our true auto pilot. And thus we never hear Jesus' answer in Matthew 19 bluntly on how to be saved when Jesus quotes Exodus 20:6 as the answer. &nbsp;See <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/585-answer-of-jesus-to-direct-question-how-to-have-eternal-life.html">link</a>.</span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"> <br /></span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">Let's therefore make the effort to insist all of us -- pastors and their passengers -- get back on track before it is too late.&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">END</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto">&nbsp;POST-SCRIPT NOTE.</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; font-size: 24px;">Please note the absurdity of Ephesians 2:8-9 -- we are "saved by faith, <strong>lest any man should boast</strong>." There are two absurdities in this.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; font-size: 24px;">First, in light of Exodus 20:6, Paul presents boasting as if the risk of that sin necessitates God eliminating Exodus 20:6 going forward. For Paul presents the consequences of boasting as far more egregious than the consequences of disobeying any or all of the other laws of God. Paul thereby implies that we should never further try to avoid blasphemy or idol worship or adultery, etc., to remain saved. It is more important to avoid boasting, and to that end, we must accept God no longer has a condition of "loving me" and "obeying my commandments" in Exodus 20:6 so as to remove the risk of boasting. </span></span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; font-size: 24px;"><br />The second absurdity is that in this path, by the same principle against boasting, Paul should equally imply that rewards cannot be sought as well based upon loving and obeying God. For obviously such good works for rewards equally or more so pose a risk of boasting too. For now you justifiably can think you are "entitled" to rewards without any condition too. Any condition of obedience for rewards equally can lead to boasting. For rewards for obedience alone does not lessen the risk of boasting. &nbsp;<br /><br /></span></span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; font-size: 24px;">At least I don't see any thing materially different as to the moral risk of boasting if obedience solely determines rewards. For whether salvation or rewards is the goal, if you do good works to achieve either, <strong>you always have the risk of boasting either way</strong>. <br /></span></span></p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; font-size: 24px;"><br />Hence, if Paul's principle were true, both salvation and rewards&nbsp; with God must necessarily both be by "faith, not works, lest any man should boast." Thus, to be consistent, Paul must mean you enjoy complete abundant fellowship with God, with every reward possible, and not merely obtain salvation, just by believing Jesus died for your sins,was buried, and rose from the dead (1 Cor. 15:1-4.) </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; font-size: 24px;">Hence, Paul is apparently saying in Ephesians 2:8-9 'stop trying to repent from sin, obeying God, loving God, or otherwise in every case, whether for rewards or salvation, &nbsp;you will be tempted to boast&rsquo; &mdash; &nbsp;a <strong>supposedly horrifying sin that should negate your concern ever again to try to avoid any other sin</strong>. The upside is you allegedly get everything &mdash; salvation and rewards just for belief, for otherwise God would be guilty of tempting you to sin (Paul implies). Thus, you are apparently entitled in either case to salvation and rewards by faith alone, lest any one should boast.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; font-size: 24px;">However, that is silly &mdash; rewards should not be given for faith alone in theee facts &mdash; Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead. What great feat worthy of rewards does holding such three historical facts about Jesus in memory represent?</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p lang="EN-GB" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: windowtext;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; line-height: 29px;" xml:lang="EN-GB" data-contrast="auto"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman_MSFontService', serif; font-size: 24px;">Thus, Ephesians 2:8-9 &mdash; when you stop and think about it &mdash; is pure nonsense. This is why 2 Peter 2:15-18 calls Paul's words "sometimes DYSNOETAS" - literally destructive of good sense;&nbsp; nonsense, etc. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/757-second-peter-does-not-commend-paul-as-an-apostle.html">Second Peter</a>.</span></span></p>
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<td valign="top" >"Jesus said 'A disciple is not above his teacher.' (Matt. 10:24.) Yet<em><strong> we make Paul, the disciple, greater than the teacher</strong></em>." (Bercot, <em>Common Sense</em>, 1992)</td>
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<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white; color: #33cccc;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Trick or Treat:</span> </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">The mystery of the hated Judaizer revealed. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">A very short enjoyable Bible study.&nbsp; </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">By Guest Contributor FDL</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">The term Judaizing has been used as a shaming tool by Satan to silence Jesus and anyone who would dare teach Jesus. This term could easily have been coined by the Triple K.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 14pt;">22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 14pt;">23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A22-23&amp;version=KJV">Matthew 7:22-23</a>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">Strong's Concordance provides a clear understanding identifying those whom Jesus will turn away, &ldquo;ye that work iniquity.&rdquo; What does that mean?</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">458 anom&iacute;a (from 1 /A "not" and 3551 /n&oacute;mos, "law") &ndash; properly, without law; lawlessness; the utter disregard for God's law (His written and living Word).</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">3551 n&oacute;mos &ndash; law. 3551 (n&oacute;mos) is used of: a) the Law (Scripture), with emphasis on the first five books of Scripture; or b) any system of religious thinking (theology), especially when nomos occurs without the Greek definite article.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">This is what Jesus says, and NOT the rewriting of the Bible by King James, Darby, Schofield or Spurgeon. If you are not subject to the laws of God given to Moses, even though you did wonderful works, Jesus Himself will say, &ldquo;I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work outside My law.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Matthew 7.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">Those who hear and do the teachings of Jesus will be as a wise man. The teachings cannot be disputed as insults are hurled. Their arguments are well built upon the Rock of Jesus.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Those who want to hate upon the Judaizing Jesus will not do His sayings. They instead turn to another who will tickle their ears called Saul of Tarsus disguised as the self appointed apostle Paul. When examined through the testing filters of</span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">Jesus&rsquo;s words, the house built upon Paul&rsquo;s nocturnal visions will fall and great will be that fall.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">&ldquo;If ye love me, keep my (God&rsquo;s) commandments.&rdquo; <a href="https://biblehub.com/john/14-15.htm">John 14:15</a></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">The good people were not fooled.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">27 ...They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, &ldquo;Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our</span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.&rdquo; Acts 21.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">The Good Shepherd was not fooled.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles (Paul)but are not, and have found them false. Revelation 2.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">You need not be fooled.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">23 At that time if anyone says to you, &lsquo;Look, here is the Messiah!&rsquo; or, &lsquo;There he is!&rsquo; do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will</span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">26 &ldquo;So if anyone tells you, &lsquo;There he is, out in the wilderness,&rsquo; do not go out; or, &lsquo;Here he is, in the inner rooms,&rsquo; do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="background: white;">This will fool you if you take your eyes&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">off Jesus.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, &lsquo;Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.&rsquo;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">15 &ldquo;Then I asked, &lsquo;Who are you, Lord?&rsquo;&ldquo; &lsquo;I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,&rsquo; the Lord replied. Acts 26.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">Trick or treat; Paul or Jesus. You cannot follow both. Jesus says do not believe Paul that He appeared to him.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Matthew 6.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">Which one will you follow?</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11. Paul.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">or</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt;">12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, &ldquo;I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.&rdquo; John 8. Jesus. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">FDL (11/3/2019)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><strong><span style="background: white;">JWO Host Editor Comment:&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">A complete word study on Anomia -- the word Jesus used to describe those whom He will reject despite they have miracles and signs and wonders done in His name -- is at this </span><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/737-anomia-in-nt-means-negation-mosaic-law.html" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">link</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">.</span></p> </td>
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<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong>It Is Finished: Paul.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong>A wonderful Christmas account every Christian will enjoy.&nbsp; &nbsp;</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong>By contributor FDL&nbsp; [December 25, 2019]</strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Most people never seriously investigate for themselves why Jesus was born. They follow tradition. But, why listen to others when you can listen to Jesus yourself?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;I (Jesus)have glorified thee(God) on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.&rdquo; John 17:4.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Jesus said these words before He was crucified for the accused crime of insurrection. Jesus said this even before He was betrayed while praying to the Father concerning His disciples. He finished the work of the Father. Jesus continues His prayer:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;For I have given unto them (disciples) the words (God&rsquo;s doctrine) which thou gavest me; and they have received them.&rdquo; John 17:8.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Jesus sure did love those disciples of His.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.&rdquo; vs 9,10,11.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">The disciples were not only one with Jesus, but also one with God. This is quite a different picture than the bumbling [preachers] we hear about Sunday mornings. Jesus continues.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;I have given them thy word (message for salvation); and the world hath hated them...&rdquo; vs 14.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">WHOA! What is this?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.&rdquo; vs 15.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Keep them from the evil? What evil or who? Those who have ears can hear. We know the disciples are sanctified in truth.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word(message) is truth.&rdquo; vs 17.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.&rdquo; vs 19.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">The great news is that Jesus prayed for all who would listen to His 12 disciples becoming one with the father and son.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;Neither pray I (Jesus) for these (disciples) alone, but for them (you?) also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one (not 26,000 different denominations); as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.&rdquo; vs 20,21.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">We know Peter was selected by God to teach the Gentiles.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago <strong>God</strong> made choice <strong>among</strong> <strong>us</strong>, that the Gentiles by <strong>my</strong> <strong>mouth</strong> should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.&rdquo; Acts 15:7.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Paul was present. Does Paul agree with Peter?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;But contrariwise, when they (disciples) saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision (Gentiles) was committed unto me (Paul), as the gospel of the circumcision (Jews) was unto Peter.&rdquo; Galatians 2:7.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">No. Paul does NOT agree. He is contrary. Paul is referring to that meeting in Acts 15:19,20 in which the disciples also described obligations for the Gentiles which Paul ignores claiming rather they only mentioned the poor (Gal 2:10) which they did not.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">So why are we hearing Sunday mornings, evenings, Wednesday prayer and at all events the words of Paul? Because we fear being cursed if we do not listen to Paul.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;But though we (Paul and HIS disciples..followers) or an angel from heaven (Gabriel? Michael?), preach any other gospel unto you than that which we (Paul, not the disciples of Jesus) have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we (Paul) said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received(from Paul,)let him be accursed.&rdquo; Galatians 1:8,9.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Even Martin Luther knew James opposed Paul. James did NOT agree with Paul and rebuked him again as he does throughout his epistle.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.&rdquo; James 3:10.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Why substitute the confirmed teachings of Jesus for Paul&rsquo;s dreams?&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation(dreams) of Jesus Christ.&rdquo; Galatians 1:12.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">This is laughable if not so serious. It ignores Jesus&rsquo;s three year ministry completely. Surely Paul had some input from Jesus&rsquo;s disciples.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;As for those who were held in high esteem (Peter, James and John) whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism--they added nothing to my message.&rdquo; Galatians 2:6, NIV.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">No. Paul opposed the disciples of Jesus. Paul is not humble. He is not gentle. Paul is that ravenous wolf of [the tribe of] Benjamin as prophesied by Jacob. Gen 49:27. Paul would kill and later his gospel would divide as it certainly does.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood <strong>condemned</strong>.&rdquo; Galatians 2:11.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">What? Peter condemned? The one sanctified in the truth, chosen by God and [the] one with Jesus condemned and opposed? Paul changes his story several times about a talking light he met while on his way to destroy followers of Jesus.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord&rsquo;s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. Acts 26:9-11.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Paul says it is Jesus he met.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, &lsquo;Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.&rsquo; Then I asked, &lsquo;Who are you, Lord?&rsquo; &lsquo;I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,&rsquo;&rdquo; the Lord replied. Acts 26:13-15.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Was Jesus faithful? Yes. Nobody can point their finger at Jesus at the judgment for being deceived. If you have ears, you can hear. Jesus warns us not to believe Paul.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. &ldquo;Tell us,&rdquo; they said, &ldquo;when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming(Rapture) and of the end of the age?&rdquo; Matthew 24:3.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;Jesus answered: &ldquo;Watch out that no one (Not even Paul nor Benny Hinn) deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, &lsquo;I am the Messiah (Jesus); and will deceive many.&rdquo; vs 4,5.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;At that time if anyone (Paul on the road to Damascus) says to you, &lsquo;Look, here is the Messiah(Jesus)!&rsquo; or, &lsquo;There he is!&rsquo; do not believe it. For false messiahs (talking light) and false prophets ( Paul) will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive (Pauline Christianity) if possible, even the elect (disciples). See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you, &lsquo;There he (Jesus) is, out in the wilderness,&rsquo; do not go out; or, &lsquo;Here he is, in the inner rooms,&rsquo; do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming(rapture) of the Son of Man.&rdquo; Matthew 24:23-27.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Jesus says clear as a bell if anyone claims Jesus appeared to them and gave them a &ldquo;word,&rdquo; &ldquo;do not believe it.&rdquo; Nobody can deny Saul claims Jesus appeared to him and gave him a message on salvation not taught by Jesus. So what did Jesus teach?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. &lsquo;Teacher,&rsquo; he asked, &lsquo;what must I do to inherit eternal life?&rsquo; &lsquo;What is written in the Law?&rsquo; he replied. &lsquo;How do you read it?&rsquo; He answered, &lsquo;Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind;&rsquo; and, &lsquo;Love your neighbor as yourself.&rsquo; &lsquo;You have answered correctly,&rsquo; Jesus replied. &lsquo;Do this and you will live.&rsquo;&rdquo; Luke 10:25-28.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Jesus taught the same message as His Father stating not one jot or tittle of the law would disappear.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live.&rdquo; Ezekiel 18:21-22.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Most Christians hate the salvation taught by Jesus and His Father. They need Paul&rsquo;s faith only believism, yet constantly doubt their own salvation seeking a confirmation voiding out faith. God responds to those who reject His way to salvation.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;&lsquo;Yet you say, &lsquo;The way of the Lord is not just.&rsquo; Hear, you Israelites (Christians): Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?&rsquo;&rdquo; Ezekiel 18:25.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Why did not the disciples expose Paul? They obeyed Jesus&rsquo;s teachings.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; said John, &lsquo;we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.&rsquo; &lsquo;Do not stop him,&rsquo; Jesus replied, &lsquo;for whoever is not against you is for you.&rsquo;&rdquo; Luke 9:49,50.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Why? The grain and the weeds will grow together lest the grain get destroyed when rooted [up].</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous.&rdquo; Matthew 13:49.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Surely, God would not condemn a believer? Jesus will indeed.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;Not everyone who says to me, &lsquo;Lord, Lord,&rsquo; will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, &lsquo;Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?&rsquo; And then will I declare to them, &lsquo;I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.&rsquo;&rdquo; Matthew 7:21-23, ESV. Strong&rsquo;s - God&rsquo;s law.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Paul did many wonders to deceive and the multitudes are flocking to hear Paul. They love Paul, the self declared 13th apostle, more than Jesus. It is Paul, not Jesus, who teaches the things Jesus [supposedly] forgot to teach his disciples about salvation proved through basic logic. Those miracles are impressive though.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.&rdquo; Acts 19:11,12.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Jesus calls this deception, and the followers of Paul love it. Matt 24:23-27.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Peter gave Paul courtesy and called him brother just as James called him when correcting him. James 3:10. Peter then warns about confusion from the lawless Paul.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;He (Paul) 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. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless(Paul) and fall from your secure position. 2 Peter 3:16,17.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Did Paul teach against God&rsquo;s &ldquo;cursed law&rdquo; which David loved?</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. &lsquo;Romans 10:4.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Yes. Yes, Paul did teach against God&rsquo;s laws and John calls Paul out.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.&rdquo; 1 John 5:3.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">Following Paul is going the way of Saul.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have <strong>forgotten</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>law</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>your</strong> <strong>God</strong>, I also will forget your children.&rdquo; Hosea 4:6.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">The teaching for salvation was finished before the crucifixion. Jesus told us His teaching was complete. John 17. Paul teaches and replaces God&rsquo;s laws, customs and traditions.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129; padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my (Paul&rsquo;s) gospel.&rdquo; Romans 2:16.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">It is finished and God alone will be glorified. Those pointing to Paul as a defense at the judgment will be left holding an empty bag. Jesus will say, &ldquo;I warned you not to believe Paul and his dreams.&rdquo; Matt 24. &ldquo; Depart from me I never knew you.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">[Revised by JWO Studies 3/20/2020]</p>
<p style="margin-top: 4pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #1d2129;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><cite style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #595959;">&nbsp;</cite></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;Daniel Chapter 9 Says God Will Send A Messiah to Atone </span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why Do We Not Ever Hear About this Passage?</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Daniel's prophecy of Messiah in Daniel 9:24-27 is only one of 2 prophecies in all of Holy Scrpture that uses the term "Messiah" for a future figure. The other is Psalm 2. (On that passage, see this <a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/235-hebrew-matthew-baptismal-account.html">link</a>.) </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Daniel's prophecy of Messiah represents&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">God's response to Daniel's prayer for mercy. In that prayer, Daniel acknowledged that God's mercy&mdash; favor and looking away from past sin&mdash; depended upon the people satisfying repentance on God's terms stated in the Ten Commandments. In Daniel 9:4, Daniel verbatim quotes from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=KJV">Exodus 20:6</a>. So let's read that Exodus passage first:&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">[I] show[] <strong>mercy</strong> unto thousands of them that <strong>love me</strong>, and <strong>keep my commandments</strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #000000;">In the next quote, Daniel is quoting this passage from the Ten Commandments -- Exodus 20:6 -- wherein God gives His principle of mercy and grace if you obey them. Daniel introduces the quote as follows:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">And I prayed unto the&nbsp;Lord&nbsp;my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God,&nbsp;<strong>keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments</strong>; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9" style="color: #517291;">Daniel 9:4 KJV</a>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Daniel was acknowledging thereby the two conditions of mercy stated right within the Ten Commandments. Is it <strong>faith in God</strong>?&nbsp; No. Rather it is both love of God, and obedience to His commandments.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus twice teaches the same, paraphrasing Exodus 20:6, in Matthew 19 and Luke 18. See <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/585-answer-of-jesus-to-direct-question-how-to-have-eternal-life.html">Was Jesus Ever Point Blank Asked How to Have Eternal Life?</a><br /></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What commandments does Exodus 20:6 reference? In the context in which Exodus 20:6 appears, it meant these Ten Commandments.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Then only after this plea for mercy in Daniel 9:4 quoting Exodus 20:6, did God send Gabriel to explain a Messiah who would provide the atonement to cover the nation's sins over which Daniel repented as a representative.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 24px;"></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Gabriel begins by explaining that God heard his "<strong>pleas for mercy</strong>" (<a href="http://biblehub.com/daniel/9-23.htm" style="color: #517291;">Dan. 9:23 ESV</a>), and then God commanded Gabriel to tell Daniel he was "highly esteemed" and that God would send a "Messiah" who would "<strong>make atonement</strong>&nbsp;for iniquity." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/daniel/9-24.htm" style="color: #517291;">Daniel 9: 24</a>.) &nbsp;It further says in verse 26 that Messiah will be "cut off but <strong>not for himself</strong>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9&amp;version=KJV">Daniel 9:26</a>.) The meaning is subtle but also self-evident in hindsight. Messiah himself will provide the blood of the atonement -- the blood of an innocent living being whom is atoning not for his own sin, but for the sins of others.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So a plea by Daniel for mercy on the conditions stated in the Ten Commandments -- quoting Exodus 20:6 in fact -- was responded to by God with a promise to send a Messiah to atone for sin of which Daniel repented for himself and for Israel. In that prayer, Daniel made clear he knew the conditions for mercy: love of God, and obedience to God. Daniel was impliedly promising he and the nation of Israel would satisfy those conditions of repentance in return for God's mercy and forgiveness. This is what triggered God's response to send a Messiah figure "to make an atonement."&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">(</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/daniel/9-24.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; color: #517291;">Daniel 9: 24</a>.<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">)</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Again, it is key to remember Daniel is quoting those mercy requirements from Exodus 20:6. A provision appearing right between the first and second of the Ten Commandments.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">But if God were going to use Paul's message in the future, should not have God said the following?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">'Daniel, you and your people <strong>don't need to change or obey or love me</strong>; you only need to believe that I am sending a messiah who will die for your sins, be buried, and whom I will resurrect. Whoever <strong>believes those facts truly happened</strong> after they happen, they will be saved.' </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 120px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">That's what Paul says in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+15%3A1-6&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; color: #517291;">1 Corinthians 15:1-6</a>&nbsp;saves you.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: normal; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #454545;">This passage by Paul represents an Atonement-based creedal Christianity. Salvation is determined solely by what facts you believe about atonement. If you believe Christ's atonement applies to you, his atonement supposedly saves you</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">But that's <strong>not the offer of conditions of love and obedience by Daniel</strong> that <strong>led</strong> to God promising a Messiah to Israel <strong>in the first place.</strong> God was promising to have a Messiah to make the necessary atonement -- apparently for all time -- to <strong>match the promise of repentance</strong> that Daniel was offering God on behalf of God's people.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Amazing Prophecy of Date Messiah Killed.</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What explains why we virtually never hear about the most amazing proof of Jesus' validity as Messiah in the book of Daniel, as we will prove below? Is it because it is couched in a gospel of grace -- mercy -- that <strong>offends the ears of many</strong>? That cheap grace gospel barrier is dominant. But for its interference, who would doubt we should have all been taught many times about <strong>the following amazingly time-specific prophecy</strong>:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Daniel is writing in approximately <a href="https://www4.westminster.edu/staff/brennie/rel101/daniel.htm#:~:text=Although%20it%20does%20not%20actually,the%20first%20year%20of%20Darius%2C">604 BC.</a> In the passage quoted next, it says that the Messiah will be "cut off" by at least 69 periods of 7s (years)&nbsp; after the order goes out to rebuild Jerusalem. (The city laid in ruins due to the Babylonians taking away the Jews to Babylon for 70 years, destroying the city as they left.) See Daniel 9:25-26 (7 sevens and 62 sevens). </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">To be clear, technically, it says Messiah will come to make atonement at the 69 periods of 7 years after the order to rebuild Jerusalem&nbsp; -- including its streets and walls. (9:25). It separately says sometime after an earlier date of 62 periods of sevens Messiah will be "cut off." (9:26.) So that means Messiah is said to "come" (arrive) by the 69th period of 7 years, and will be "cut off" sometime after the earlier date of 62 periods of 7s. So for all intents and purposes, Messiah is to be "cut off" (killed) by the same point in time He "comes" to Jerusalem to atone: 69 periods of sevens, and no later. We know from hindsight his atonement when he came was to let himself be "cut off" not for his own sin (as Daniel said) but for the sin of others, as we can now see. Hence, when you connect the dots, Messiah will be cut off when he comes to Jerusalem to atone at the 69 sevens point.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So here is <a href="https://classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9%3A25-26&amp;version=KJV">Daniel 9:25-26</a> from the KJV:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">25&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">Know therefore and understand, that from <strong>the going</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong> forth of the commandment to restore</strong> and to <strong>build </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>Jerusalem</strong> unto the Messiah the Prince shall be<strong> seven </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>weeks, and threescore [3x20] and two weeks</strong>: </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">the <strong>street</strong> shall be&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">built again, and </span><strong style="font-size: 18pt;">the wall</strong><span style="font-size: 18pt;">, even </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">in troublous times.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">26&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">And after <strong>threescore (3x20) and two weeks </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>shall Messiah be&nbsp;</strong></span><span style="background: white;"><strong>cut off</strong>, but not for himself: and </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">the people of the prince&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">that shall come shall </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">destroy the city and <strong>the sanctuary</strong>;&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">and the end </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"> of the war desolations are determined.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Before we continue, let's pause to undestand the word which the KJV translated as "weeks" can mean week but in fact the word has a meaning of simply <strong>seven of anything</strong>, whether days, weeks, years, etc., which is derived from context:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The word 'week' also means&nbsp;<strong>seven</strong>&nbsp;(Hebrew shevua), and can mean&nbsp;<strong>seven of anything</strong>&nbsp;- days, months or years. (Tim LaHaye, Edward Hinson,&nbsp;<strong>The Popular Bible Commentary</strong>&nbsp;(Harvest House, 2007) at&nbsp;<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1A1AF0BloekC&amp;lpg=PA246&amp;ots=E8irM6k87q&amp;dq=daniel%209%3A27%20weeks%20is%20seven%20in%20hebrew&amp;pg=PA246#v=onepage&amp;q=daniel%209:27%20weeks%20is%20seven%20in%20hebrew&amp;f=false">246.</a>)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">With that said, let's continue.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">We already extracted two different time-lines from these verses above. Now let's find out when the order went out to rebuild Jerusalem. This way we can calculate when is the 69 x 7 years by which Messiah arrives at Jerusalem to atone which means it coincides with when he must be cut off.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">That's the first time line in these two verses -- verse 25 -- seven "weeks" (years) plus three score (3x20) plus two more sevens -- for a total of 69 x 7, or 483. That means the prophecy is 483 years on the Bible's measure of 360 days per year, as will be explained in a moment. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">But one more digression is important. To know how 483 lunar years are translated into our Western Julian calendars -- we need to know that in 46 BC the "first&nbsp; calendar" was imposed by Rome - a year of <strong>365 days</strong>. (<a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/julian-calendar.html">Time &amp; Date Website</a>.) Thus we need to first realize a necessity to measure the "year" interpretation of 69x7 by a lunar calendar of 360 days. Thus date differences between an annual lunar measurement and solar date must be adjusted to account for the different amount of days.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why? </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">First, a lunar calendar of 360 days operated in Babylon where Daniel lived when the prophecy was given. Also, it is evident in multiple places that the Bible's strict understanding of a year is it is equal to 12 months of 30 days or 360 days, irrespective of the necessity that came about to make additions every few years of extra days to keep the seasons in sync with astronomical activity. But this does not change the Biblical meaning of a 'Year" as 360 days. See <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/872-measure-of-month-as-30-days-and-years-as-360-in-prophecy-of-daniel.html">link</a>.&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, a Bible prophecy of years does not equate automatically into a year measured in our 365 day solar based calendar. Any date we come across using BC, BCE or AD, CE as an identifier is what is called a Julian date. It is on a 365 day per year solar calendar as we still use in the West today. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, if the prophecy for the order to rebuild Jerusalem is given to us using a Julian date, and we want to measure the years on the same Julian dating system,&nbsp; we need to translate the number of days in 483 lunar years into what how many years that represents in a 365 day year. Only by doing so can we then determine when and if Daniel's prophecy was fulfilled. This will become more clear when we take that step below.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">More on that in a moment.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">The&nbsp;</span><strong>Jewish Encyclopedia</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;gives details that this order to rebuild Jerusalem took place in 444 B.C. --a Julian date:</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Nehemiah "arrived in Jerusalem in 444 BCE with an appointment as <strong>governor</strong> of Judah... [and his] first action was to <strong>rebuild</strong>... <strong>Jerusalem</strong>." ("Nehemiah,"&nbsp;</span><strong>The Jewish Encyclopedia of Judaism</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;(1989) at 520.) </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">A modern non-Christian work similarly says:</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Nehemiah gains permission to&nbsp;<strong>rebuild Jerusalem</strong>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<strong>twentieth year of Artaxerxes</strong>&nbsp;(Neh. 1:1; 2:1); ca.&nbsp;<strong>445/ 444 BCE</strong>." (<strong>T&amp;T Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism</strong>&nbsp;(Bloomsbury 2019) Vol. 1 at this ebook&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/T_T_Clark_Encyclopedia_of_Second_Temple/1E6_DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=%22Nehemiah%2C%22%20444%20The%20Jewish%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Judaism&amp;pg=PT91&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;bsq=%22Nehemiah%2C%22%20444%20The%20Jewish%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Judaism">page</a>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, the <strong>Jewish Encylopedia</strong> says in 444 BC that Nehemiah was appointed as governor of Judah. Then his "first action" was to "rebuild" Jerusalem. He had to first ask permission, says <strong>The Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism</strong>, to rebuild Jerusalem. This "first action" to rebuild thus is estimated as late as 445 BC in the same treatise.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So Daniel says in 605 BC to measure the 69 x 7 for Messiah to come (to do atonement at Jerusalem) from the date the orders goes out to "rebuild and restore Jerusalem." Jewish history independently uses the same words to describe an event in 444 or 445 BC. There is no conscious effort by Judaism to prove when this prophecy would take place but these words do just that.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Now this is a clear date in Jewish history. These references can be compared with other references within Judaism that this 444 BCE time stamp is well-documented. This is because that year was the famous Great Synagogue Synod involving Nehemiah and Ezra.&nbsp; Ironically, these sources tell us that the book of Daniel was accepted into the Biblical canon at that synod. Here are two other sources to reflect upon:</span></p>
<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'); background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Cf. "Ezra the Scribe," <strong>The Jewish Encyclopedia</strong>&nbsp;(1916) at <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Jewish_Encyclopedia/YLw5AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=%22Nehemiah%2C%22%20444%20The%20Jewish%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Judaism&amp;pg=PA321&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;bsq=%22Nehemiah%2C%22%20444%20The%20Jewish%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Judaism">316</a> ("[I]t was only after the <strong>arrival</strong> of Nehemiah (<strong>444 BC</strong>; cf. Nehemia 8:1 et seq. that [Ezra] published the book of the "Law of Moses.")</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Cf. "The Great Synagogue Synod," <strong>The Jewish Encyclopedia</strong>&nbsp;(1905) Vol. 11 at <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Jewish_Encyclopedia_Samson_Talmid_Ha/XVZLAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=%22Nehemiah%2C%22%20444%20The%20Jewish%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Judaism&amp;pg=PA642&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;bsq=%22Nehemiah%2C%22%20444%20The%20Jewish%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Judaism">642</a> ("In addition to fixing the ritual observance for the first two quarters of the day (Neh. 9:8), the Great Synagogue engaged in legislative proceedings...[T]he memorable gathering was held on <strong>24th of Tishri, 444 B.C</strong>. [for] a single day....The following rulings were ascribed to the men of the Great Synagogue (1) They <strong>included</strong> Ezekiel, <strong>Daniel</strong> ... <strong>in the Biblical canon</strong>.")</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 120px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These multiple sources prove an order went out to "rebuild Jerusalem" by Judah's &nbsp;"governor" Nehemiah -- words echoing Daniel's prophecy -- close in time to Nehemiah's arrival in 444 BCE. This date is known because it is an event transfixed in Jewish history as the time of the Great Synagogue Synod.&nbsp; It appears that rebuilding Jerusalem was a top priority. Once permission was given that he as governor of Judah could do so, Nehemiah's next step as governor necessarily was to order the rebuilding of Jerusalem. This could be in either 444 BC or 445 BC.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, there could be a short time after Nehemiah's arrival in 444 BC, or even a 445 date attached to this order to rebuild Jerusalem. Yet, we have a very firm approximation for the order: 444 to 445 BC.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">So how can we calculate the Messiah's date of Atoning death on our calendar using this prophecy?</span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">As mentioned before, t</span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span><span>he Jewish calendar year of Daniel is a lunar-based year. There are only 360 days in the "year" of which Daniel is prophesying. Daniel's prophecy of <strong>483 lunar years</strong> thus represents 173,880 days (483 x 360). (See <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk008CgepEs06uwkBR_gB3oUfXSPGCA%3A1594048982726&amp;ei=1kEDX__sK4ff-gTWpYjwAQ&amp;q=483+x+360&amp;oq=483+x+360&amp;gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIFCCEQoAEyBQghEKABOgQIABBHOgQIIxAnOgUIABCRAjoICAAQsQMQgwE6BQgAELEDOgIIADoICAAQsQMQkQI6BAgAEEM6AggmOgYIABAWEB5Qy8cBWOjhAWDB5AFoAHABeACAAd0BiAGECZIBBTIuNi4xmAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpeg&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj_r_qa97jqAhWHr54KHdYSAh4Q4dUDCAw&amp;uact=5">Google calculation</a>.) This equates to <strong>476 solar years</strong> in our calendar. (See <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk008CgepEs06uwkBR_gB3oUfXSPGCA%3A1594048982726&amp;ei=1kEDX__sK4ff-gTWpYjwAQ&amp;q=483+x+360&amp;oq=483+x+360&amp;gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIFCCEQoAEyBQghEKABOgQIABBHOgQIIxAnOgUIABCRAjoICAAQsQMQgwE6BQgAELEDOgIIADoICAAQsQMQkQI6BAgAEEM6AggmOgYIABAWEB5Qy8cBWOjhAWDB5AFoAHABeACAAd0BiAGECZIBBTIuNi4xmAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpeg&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj_r_qa97jqAhWHr54KHdYSAh4Q4dUDCAw&amp;uact=5">Google calculation</a>.)</span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span><span>If you subtract 476 years from 444 B.C., you hit square on 32 A.D. (See <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk03wtRi5HU651rYHUYoD549eKAOinA%3A1594049012895&amp;ei=9EEDX8SVNsmv-gSznbWoCg&amp;q=476+-+444&amp;oq=476+-+444&amp;gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeOgQIIxAnOgUIABCRAjoICAAQsQMQkQI6BQgAELEDOgIIADoECAAQQzoICAAQsQMQgwE6AggmUJH3BFjIzQlgwc8JaAVwAHgAgAGPAYgBuhGSAQQ3LjE0mAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpeg&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjE36up97jqAhXJl54KHbNODaUQ4dUDCAw&amp;uact=5">Google calculation</a>.) If you use 445 BC, you hit square on 31 A.D. (See <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk01f8Mt4BLLCY_msDyLMUbbCHxtRlQ%3A1594049171292&amp;ei=k0IDX4C9Ec7f-gTCl68w&amp;q=476+-+445&amp;oq=476+-+445&amp;gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIGCAAQFhAeOgIIJlChhwRY75MEYICaBGgAcAB4AIABfIgBnQKSAQMyLjGYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjA0u_097jqAhXOr54KHcLLCwYQ4dUDCAw&amp;uact=5">Google calculation.</a>) </span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span><span>I include these google calculations because without any clear explanation, Dr. <a href="https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc.html">Thomas Constable</a> -- a famous expounder who taught at Dallas Theological Seminary &nbsp;-- provides in 2020 a calculation using a lunar-based Bible year. He starts from 444 BC, as we provide here too. Constable calculates it out to<strong> 33 AD</strong>, as I will quote in a moment.&nbsp;Thus, mathemtically speaking, he is off&nbsp; 1 year from what is the mathematically correct number from 444 BC. I suspect a typographical error. We cannot be sure, however, because he does not extrapolate the number of days in 483 years, nor does he extrapolate whether the divisor is 365. His quote below implies, however, that he is doing the same math we presented above, and thus it should be 32 AD, not 33 AD. This is why I suspect a typographical error. Yet, on the other hand, there could also be an important factor which he considered that I cannot deduce. Regardless, whether error or correct, his number of 33 AD is still within the recognized parameters of the date for&nbsp;</span></span></span><span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus' crucifixion. Here is Dr. Constable's statement on page 176 of his mostly excellent <strong>Notes on Daniel </strong>(2020) available in PDF at this<a href="https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/daniel.pdf"> link</a>:</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Seven sevens plus sixty-two sevens equals 483 sevens or</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">years. Gabriel predicted that after 483 years, Messiah would</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">be cut off. Detailed chronological studies have been done that</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">show that Jesus Christ's death occurred then. If one calculates</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">483 years from <strong>444 B.C</strong>., one might conclude [i.e., based upon </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">solar&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">dating] that the date&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">for Messiah being cut off is A.D. 39. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">However,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">both the Jews&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">and the Babylonians observed <strong>years of </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong>360</strong>,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">rather&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">than <strong>365&nbsp;</strong></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong>days per year</strong>. If one calculates the number </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">of&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">days&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">involved in&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">the Jewish and Babylonian calendar year, </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">year&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Messiah&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">would be cut off <strong>comes out to A.D. 33</strong>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span><span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span><span>Again, I do not know for sure what explains the discrepancy. But the numbers do not lie.</span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span><span>Finally, we can now apply this prophecy to Jesus' life. Is there a match?</span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">Wikipedia says Jesus' crucifixion took place "most likely between </span><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">30</strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;"> and </span><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">33</strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;"> AD."&nbsp; ("</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_of_Jesus" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus' Crucifixion</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">," Wikipedia.)&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">Both 31 and 32 AD -- the correct calculations -- fall directly between 30 and 33 AD.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: transparent;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">How amazing!&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: transparent;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">No Prophetic Fulfillment Possible in Current State.</span></span></span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Please also note that this prophecy about an order to rebuild Jerusalem cannot be fulfilled presently by a future order to simply rebuild the Temple. It requires as a predicate that an order go out to "rebuild" the city of Jerusalem -- walls and streets -- not rebuild only the Temple. That means that this prophecy's fulfillment can not be triggered in the future unless Jerusalem itself, streets and walls, have been destroyed. Babylon did this shortly before Daniel's prophecy. Unless something like that happens again, there is no future prospect that Daniel 9's prophecy would be fulfilled merely by rebuilding the Temple at Jerusalem as long as the city itself is not in ruins.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The Second Amazing Prophecy: The Temple's Destruction.</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">While Daniel says Messiah is cut off <strong>after</strong> 62 weeks but comes (to atone) at 69 weeks, Daniel starts similarly prophesying of the Temple's destruction, but has <strong>no verse saying it happens by the 69th week</strong>. The 62 weeks thus constitutes a separate time prophecy about the Temple. Thus, here is Daniel saying the Temple destruction is <strong>after</strong> 62 weeks but he does not say it will happen by the 69th week. The 69 weeks is a separate time-line for Messiah to "come" to Jerusalem in verse 25. So unlike the Messiah prophecy of 62 and 69 weeks, the Temple prophecy is only described as happening <strong>after</strong> 62 weeks. That said, here is the Temple Destruction prophecy -- an event that fits unquestionably when Rome destroyed the Temple in 70 AD. It happens to follow the mention of the cutting off of Messiah after that same post-62 week period. Now we read:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;">And <strong>after</strong> threescore [i.e., 3x20 = 60] and two weeks shall <strong>Messiah</strong> be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">["to come" -&nbsp;</span><a href="https://theisraelbible.com/bible/daniel/chapter-9#verse-25" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">Israel Bible</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">]&nbsp;</span>shall destroy the city and the <strong>sanctuary</strong>; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (<a href="https://classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9%3A26&amp;version=KJV">Dan. 9:26</a>)&nbsp; &nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Please note the Israel Bible of Judaism says too the Messiah / Annointed One "after" 62 weeks (434 years) is cut off -- but in more unflattering terms -- translating the term so Messiah "will disappear and vanish." See this <a href="https://theisraelbible.com/bible/daniel/chapter-9#verse-25">link.</a>&nbsp; However, the key take-away from the Israel Bible is it confirms the Messiah is cut-off and the Temple destruction is sometime "after" 62 periods of 7. But there is no delimeter in this verse on exactly how much later than 434 -- understood as years.&nbsp; This means there is no delimeter of how much after 434 years the army comes to destroy Jerusalem and the sanctuary. But in verse 25 there is a delimeter on when the Messiah "comes" to Jerusalem -- 69 weeks, 483 lunar years, which is about 31-32 AD. Hence, when verse 25 and 26 are read together, the Messiah comes to Jerusalem by 31-32 AD -- 69 weeks, but the destruction of the temple is any time after 62 weeks which means can be after 31-32 AD, including 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">What an amazing prophecy with distinct time-lines that overlap and criss-cross so only after the events you can see how utterly precise they were.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Moreover, the Israel Bible more aptly has in verse 26 after the "annointed" (messiah) is cut off&nbsp; that "an army of a leader&nbsp;<strong>who is to come</strong> will destroy the city and the sanctuary...." Hence, this "army of a leader" is not only distinct from the messiah's time of being "cut off," but is also "<strong>to come</strong>" after the messiah is "cut off." That fits Jesus precisely again: Jesus is cut off after 62 x 7 -- sometime "after" 434 years, and then "an army of a leader" yet "to come" at sometime <strong>after</strong> that event arrives to form a covenant with many, put an end to the sacrifices, and destroy the Temple and Jerusalem.<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;<br /><br /></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>Digression: Jesus Does Not Destroy the Temple And Sacrifices.</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Incidentally, due to the absence of this "army of a leader who is to come" in our English Bibles -- replaced by "people of the prince" in the KJV of 9:26 to apparently make us think the "he" refers to "prince" Messiah rather than a "leader," the Seventh-Day Adventists believe it is Jesus who "confirms a covenant with many" (9:27). S<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">ee&nbsp;</span><a href="https://ssnet.org/qrtrly/eng/02b/less05.html" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">Daniel 9: The Coming of Messiah</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;hosted currently on the official&nbsp;</span><a href="https://ssnet.org/" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">Seventh-Day Adventists Bible Study &amp; Discussion</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;Website.&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">But&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">this actually refers to "the leader" of the "army" who makes the covenant. The SDA then apparently ignores that the same leader is mentioned next as responsible for destroying the city, and temple. This SDA article just cited -- <strong>Daniel 9: The Comming of Messiah</strong> -- omits mention of any actor causing the end of sacrifices, and simply notes the sacrificial system will come to an end in this period, citing verse 27. But more important is that if the "he" as "Prince" truly is the same as Messiah for making of a covenant, then "he" who destroys the city and temple is likewise Prince Messiah. A terrible implication. This proves the SDA claim Jesus is the leader who made the "covenant" cannot possibly be correct.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">This also proves one cannot apply the actions in verse 27 to Jesus when we like and ignore the actor is the same as the destroyer of Jerusalem. For the "<strong>he</strong>" in verse 27 is clearly referring to the <strong>last subject-actor</strong> -- the leader of the army that is the destroyer of Jerusalem and the Temple. One cannot skip past that, and prefer to read the prior subject actor -- the "annointed" -- is the actor making the covenant and putting an end to sacrifices, etc.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">In fact, s</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">ome Seventh-Day Adventists take it one step closer to the notion Jesus is the leader who not only makes the covenant but also is the destroyer of the city and sanctuary.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">David Lawson likewise expounds the SDA postition, and he takes it further in&nbsp;<strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why I Am A Seventh Day Adventist Christian</strong><span style="color: #494a44;">&nbsp;(2008). At page&nbsp;</span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ujvUjtAMX-UC&amp;lpg=PA142&amp;ots=raIfpPvD1v&amp;dq=adventist%2069%20seven%20ends%2027%20AD&amp;pg=PA142#v=onepage&amp;q=adventist%2069%20seven%20ends%2027%20AD&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">142</a>, Lawson&nbsp;explains it is Jesus who not only confirms "a covenant" but also is the one who "puts an end to sacrifices." (Incidentally, verse 27 says also this person puts an end to the daily "meal offering" -- not something effectuated by Jesus' atonement but true of the Romans in 70 AD.) Therefore Lawson like the SDA ignores the absurd implication of such a view if one reads the entire sentence together. For the passage reads that t</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">he same prince or "commander of the army" (as the Israel Bible translates) who makes the covenant with many, and who "causes" the sacrifices and the daily meal offerings to cease, is also responsible for destroying Jerusalem and the sanctuary. Specifically, Daniel says the leader of an army will&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">come</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;"> "to destroy the city and sanctuary...and&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">he</strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;shall confirm the&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">covenant</strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;with many for one week, and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">in the midst of the week,&nbsp;<strong>shall cause</strong>&nbsp;the sacrifice and oblation [i.e., daily&nbsp;<a href="https://theisraelbible.com/bible/daniel/chapter-9#verse-27">meal offering</a>] to cease,&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">for the overspreading of <strong>abomination</strong> he shall make it desolate." (</span><a href="https://classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9%3A26-27&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">Daniel 9:26-27 KJV</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">.)&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Neither Lawson nor the SDA expressly spell out the terrible implications. However, that means they either hold to their views despite its mismatch to the context, or they do hold Jesus is somehow responsible for Rome destroying Jerusalem and the Sanctuary. In either case, we cannot credit either position as correct.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Titus of Rome in 70 AD Fulfills The Leader of An Army's Actions.</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The only correct reading about who is the leader of the army is Titus of Rome. He fits this entire prophecy as a result of his successful siege that not only destroyed Jerusalem but also let Rome tear down the Temple for the gold on its ceilings. But like Pompey in 63 BC, Titus did not find the gold-laden Ark of the Covenant (including the Ten Commandments inside). The priests apparently each time were able to hide the Ark containing the Ten Commandments - a great prize which the Romans no doubt sought to find each time. See "<a href="https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1984/06/whatever-happened-to-the-ark">Whatever Happened to the Ark</a>," Ministry Magazine (1984).&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">How did Titus fulfill the "covenant with many" aspect during his famous "siege of Jerusalem" in 70 AD?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The whole point of siege&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">tactics -- starving one's enemy held up in a stronghold -- is greatly advantaged if you can pre-plan defections from within who would cooperate and do Rome's bidding once the siege begins. For obvious practical reasons, this has to be planned in advance of the siege to ensure success. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Now the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD begins quite normally. Three legions converged on April 23, 70 AD on the hills outside Jerusalem. The city had a natural barrier from ravines on one side. Elswhere, Jerusalem had a "massive wall" known as the "first wall." ("Siege of Jerusalem, Documentary Part 1, Invicta," YouTube at 5:48.) Then protecting a city expansion was the "second wall" and in 41 AD the "third wall" for another city expansion. (Id. at 5:59 et seq.) It was a "formidable three-layer defensive network." (Id. at 6:54.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Then Titus put three legions totaling 60,000 men to surround the city of Jerusalem. This was three days after Passover in 70 AD -- a tactically chosen date. Josephus saw through Rome's strategy, as this meant the assault was timed so almost all able men of Israel were now trapped inside with everyone else. As a result, the Jewish men who otherwise could have fought with weapons stored at their own homes, were all thereby disarmed. See "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(70_CE)">Siege of Jerusalem</a>," Wikipedia.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">However, something extraordinary happened during the siege. There is a well-known episode of a "self-destructive" act of a group inside Jerusalem working at odds with the defense of the city, which, but for that, the Romans would have to engage in this siege for many years. Using common sense, ask yourself whether Rome's agents were in the city ahead of time -- since the siege was pre-planned to coincide with the end of Passover -- and these agents were obviously bribed to engage in a self-destructive act which otherwise is completely inexplicable. Indeed, undisputed history is that there were seemingly "crazy" acts by a small group inside the city who destroyed <strong>all</strong> their food stocks that would otherwise have lasted for years for everyone present!&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.6px;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Unaware of the prophetic implication of describing this 'crazy self-destructive' group, Joseph Telushkin in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jewish Literacy</span> (N.Y.: William Morrow, 1991) explains:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">While the Romans would have won the war in any case, the Jewish civil war both hastened their victory and immensely increased the casualties. One horrendous example: In <strong>expectation</strong> of a Roman siege, Jerusalem's Jews had <strong>stockpiled a supply of dry food that could have fed the city for many years.</strong> But <strong>one</strong> of the warring Zealot <strong>factions burned the entire supply,</strong> apparently hoping that destroying this "security blanket" would compel everyone to participate in the revolt. The starvation resulting from this mad act caused suffering as great as any the Romans inflicted.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Josephus deduced likewise about a related earlier event that bribes were the only explanation why Rome did not take Jerusalem earlier. Josephus pointed to the otherwise inexplicable behavior of the Roman commander Cestius. For when Cestius was a hair's length from taking Jerusalem years earlier, Josephus says what else than bribes explains why Cestius "without having suffered any reverse and contrary to all calculation retired from the City" and let victory escape Rome. (<a href="https://erenow.net/ancient/rome-and-jerusalem-the-clash-of-ancient-civilizations/2.php">See link.</a>) Josephus said what was so incongruous was that&nbsp; people inside</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;the city walls were just at this point "offering to open the city to" Cestius, and were in panic.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Bribed agreement are a common "covenant" in war when sieges or assaults are conducted. When the same or a similar event by an invading army is prophesied in Daniel 11:30-31, it says an invading army will</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;seek out "</span><strong style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">intelligence</strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;on those who&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">forsake the holy covenant</strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">" to ensure success in taking the city.&nbsp; Hence, this prophesies of a common tactic of conquest: bribery covenants of safe passage out of a city under assault in return for protection later.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: transparent;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Thus, looking at the events of 70 AD, it involved an otherwise inexplicable defection from self-defense which enormously aided Rome. It only makes sense if these destroyers-from-within were precisely what they appear to be: defectors who are in covenant with Rome -- hired and recruited prior to the siege. Because Rome timed perfectly the events to coincide with the end of the Passover holiday gathering of all at Jerusalem, the Romans obviously pre-planned this with bribed allies who agreed to stay inside and do Rome's bidding to end the siege quickly.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC');"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Alternatively, we also know that 33% of the Roman troops were from the "region's client rulers" when the troops were first assembled near Alexandria, Egypt. See "Siege of Jerusalem, part 1, Documenary by Invicta," YouTube at&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://youtu.be/y741QbT1YEo">3:12.</a>&nbsp;The entire force was estimated as 60,000 men. Hence, about 20,000 came from the region's client rulers. The documentary states that it may speculated that "local rulers were eager to donate men to the war effort in a political bid to secure Rome's good-will." (Id., at 3:49.) Hence, this represents another "covenant with many."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC');"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Collectively, in fact, the conspirators inside and the co-ooperative region client rulers represent Titus' "covenant with many" as Daniel prophesied to achieve success over Jerusalem and the Temple.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;"></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">How the End of the Attack Resulted in Abominations.</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Next, how did Titus and his army's invasion end in abominations?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Once the troops entered the Temple, they were all uncircumcised. They obviously were all standing inside the Temple's most holy sections. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What does this imply about whether the temple was abominated?&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Ezekiel already told us --&nbsp; any uncircumcised Gentile in the Temple represents an "abomination." (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2044:9&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Ezekiel 44:9</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.)&nbsp; (Incidentally, circumicised Gentiles were welcome in the Temple.)&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Of course, Titus fulfills exactly the other two remaining prophecies in 9:26-27: destruction of Jerusalem and putting an end to sacrifices.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>How Some Ignore Daniel's Prayer Has Mercy on Exodus 20:6 Basis.</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Another interesting point about the SDA: unlike almost all other Protestant sects which ignore this prophecy at sermon time for the most part, the SDA have taught it frequently and with detailed efforts at exposition. As one would expect by their doctrine on faith alone (see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh-day_Adventist_theology#:~:text=Seventh%2Dday%20Adventists%20believe%20that,the%20divine%2Dhuman%20relationship%22.&amp;text=Adventists%20do%20not%20see%20the,through%20faith%20in%20Christ%20alone.">link</a>), they <strong>do have to explain away the prayer of Daniel</strong> as what led to the promise of Messiah. To that end, the SDA official website's exposition<strong>&nbsp;omits completely any quotation</strong> of Daniel quoting <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=KJV">Exodus 20:6.</a>&nbsp;(It says God grants "mercy" to those who "love me and obey my commandments.") So instead they then make Daniel's Prayer as supposedly all about "grace" that we have neither any obligation to do anything, nor can do anything (such as love God or obey His commandments), to receive mercy aka grace through Messiah. Their webpage says instead this about Daniel's Prayer:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;">"It is clear Daniel's hope lies not in himself or anything his people <strong>he or his people</strong> <strong>could do</strong> but only in God's love and <strong>grace</strong> for fallen beings." ("Daniel's Prayer," <a href="https://ssnet.org/qrtrly/eng/02b/less05.html">Daniel 9: The Coming of Messiah</a>&nbsp;hosted at the official website <a href="https://ssnet.org/">Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Study and Discussion.</a>)&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">This proves my first point: mainstream Protestantism cannot show you this amazing prophecy because they would have to discuss Daniel's Prayer, but to do so and keep their faith-alone doctrine, they would have to employ <strong>suppression</strong> of a key aspect of the actual prayer of Daniel about <strong>mercy</strong>, and then&nbsp;<strong>miscategorize</strong> his prayer. Thus to avoid that obvious incorrect course, mainstream Protestantism prefers just supressing our knowledge of this prophecy unless of course the explanation is that the leaders simply never closely studied the passage themselves. While that may appear unlikely, we pray for their leaders that will be their honest explanation when examined on judgment day why we generally never hear at sermon time about the most convincing proof that Jesus is the Messiah.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>Returning to the Temple Prophecy.</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 120px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So the Temple is prophesied to be destroyed after 62 x 7 years by a "leader of an army to come" after the Messiah is "cut off." The Temple's destruction by this army is not subject to the 69 week time-limit for Messiah to come because it is not mentioned in the 69 x 7 prophecy unlike the Messiah appearing also on the 69 x 7 timeline. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So was the Temple destroyed sometime "after"&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">the 62 weeks of Daniel? </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Yes. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">If we take our previous calculation that 69 x 7 years is 31-32 AD, then that means 62 x 7 is seven years less, that is 24-25 AD -- one 7 year period less.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So Daniel's 62 week prophecy about the Temple with no 69 week delimiter means the Temple would be destroyed <strong>sometime</strong> after 25 AD. It does not say how much later. But if you put two and two together, if Messiah will "come" to do Atonement by 69 sevens (31-32 AD), which for the nation means at Jerusalem, then this event of the Temple destruction would have to be sometime after the 69th week when Messiah "comes" to Jerusalem. Hence, the Temple's fall in 70 AD -- within one generation (40 years) -- after the crucifixion of Jesus -- fits not only a post-62nd week but also an implied &nbsp;post-69th week of Daniel that is implied if Messiah came by the 69th week <span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">(to Jerusalem to make atonement in context)</span>And this also fits the Israel Bible translation which says the "leader of an army to come" to destroy the temple is <strong>after</strong> the Messiah is cut off. See <a href="https://theisraelbible.com/bible/daniel/chapter-9#verse-25">Daniel 9:26 Israel Bible.</a></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Pretty amazing prophecy, don't you think?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why is Daniel 9 Never Preached? A Third Prophecy Fulfilled?</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Ever wonder why these passages are never quoted on Sunday despite it is an amazing prophecy which can only be about Jesus? Oh, yeah, <strong>it has a different gospel than Paul's!!!&nbsp;</strong>&nbsp;You cannot ignore how it begins with Daniel's prayer about "mercy" on a promise of "loving" God and "obeying" God's commandments.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So apparently our pastors believe we must ignore this passage each week. ''God forbid people should listen to the best prophecy of Jesus being the Messiah!" Why? "For that would undo our Pauline gospel, and we cannot have that!""</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Or am I wrong? Can <strong>any of you remember</strong> a single exposition on that text at sermon time ever to validate Jesus as Messiah with this precision? To evangelize and prove to newcomers that Jesus is Messiah?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">I have attended sermons for four decades in evangelical, baptist and presybeterian churches. Yet not once was there a sermon or class ever devoted to this text. I cannot remember a single time it was reviewed, studied, or even just shared by a few quotes momentarily so we would know this is a very powerful text to evangelize with.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Then please also reflect upon whether the fact you are hearing this now, and the news is spreading, actually fulfills one further prophecy of Daniel which is about the knowledge of these very same prophecies. These prophecies would be suppressed to the point they are kept secret from the public until the time of the end:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Go your way Daniel, for what <strong>I have said</strong> will remain secret until the time of the end. (<a href="https://biblehub.com/daniel/12-9.htm">Dan 12:9 NLT</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">The Jewish commentary in the Israel Bible says about this verse: </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Only in retrospect will it be possible to match up the visions with their actualization. (<a href="https://theisraelbible.com/bible/daniel/chapter-12/verse-9">Israel Bible Commentary.</a>) </span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">But it is that, and more. The prophecy will not be well-known until the time of the end. We see it is suppressed by our teachers and pastors who abhor the principle of mercy conjoined to the promise of Messiah. They would choke if they had to explain the promise of Messiah was spawned by Daniel affirming grace on the grounds of Exodus 20:6 -- a passage we all have ignored even though it is right there between the first and second of the Ten Commandments. I did not see that Exodus passage until about over a year ago. It led me to Daniel's quote, and that led me to seeing how the 'kept secret' prophecy also has been fulfilled.&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">For the several times Daniel prophesies how little known will be this prophecy until a distant time, see our page at this <a href="/component/content/article/9-bible/879-is-this-the-time-of-the-unsealing-of-the-visions-of-daniel.html">link</a>.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why A Messiah Who Atones?</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Now why can a prince-Messiah's atonement be better than the cost of animals and money for atonement for us?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Precisely because once the Messiah came to make atonement for you, and this Messiah <strong>made it 100% clear </strong>that you only may bring such an atonement offering to God's mercy seat if works worthy of repentance are done first, then there is no justifiable error any longer to misunderstand that there is any such thing as a works-free, repentance-free access to atonement. God put you and I both on notice.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">For&nbsp;<strong>you, me and everyone else cannot miss the Sermon on the Mount begins</strong>&nbsp;with the same Messiah uttering the condition that you cannot use the atonement gift -- DONOR which is poorly translated as only "gift" -- at the altar unless first you go back home and you do whatever&nbsp;it properly takes to have "reconciliation" with the one you offended, e.g., works worthy of repentance (Matt 5:21-26). See full discussion in Chapter One of Jesus' Words on Salvation free at this <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/128-chapter-1-jwos.html">link</a>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">God used a human messiah to personally deliver that message to us in simple terms. The purpose was to&nbsp;<strong>overcome all the nonsensical claims that atonement by itself is effective without works of repentance</strong>. The Messiah's teaching would overcome a common misconception which&nbsp; God had sent multiple prophets to excoriate and correct prior to Jesus doing likewise.&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jer.+7%3A20-25%3B+Mic.+6%3A6-8%3B+Joel+2%3A13%3B+Hos.14%3A1-2%2C+9%3B+Mal.+1%3A10%3B+Mal.+3%3A3-4%3B+Isaiah+27%3A9&amp;version=NIV">Jer. 7:20-25; Mic. 6:6-8,&nbsp;Joel 2:13; Hos.14:1-2; and Mal. 1:10; 3:3-4. Cf. Isaiah 27:9.</a>)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Sadly, the entire point of Jesus' atonement appears lost on several hundreds of years of Protestant-<strong>misinformed generations</strong>&nbsp;due to Luther's mistake in emphasis on faith alone found in Romans 4:3-5 and 1 Cor. 15:1-5. In turn, this wrong teaching of faith-alone influenced preachers to use translations which obscure Jesus' meaning in Matthew 5:21-26 on the works-condition to employ atonement -- the <strong>donor</strong> -- to bring your <strong>atonement gift</strong> / offering to the altar. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Finally, it appears the best prophecy about Jesus anywhere in Holy Scripture is to be ignored because <strong>we don't like the gospel that comes with Daniel's prayer</strong>&nbsp; to God. Otherwise, Daniel 9 would be quoted every week to re-confirm the unequivocal proof of Jesus' Messiahship.&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">END&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Bonus Material: </span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">The 70th 7 Of Daniel,&nbsp; Plus the 3 1/2 Days of Daniel 7&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">What about the 70th so-called "week" of Daniel? </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Here is where it gets really interesting to unlock. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">First, as already mentioned, remember that "week" was never the only correct translation throughout the entire passage. The word rendered in KJV as "weeks" can mean week but in fact the word has a meaning of simply seven of anything, whether days, weeks, years, etc., which is derived from context:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">The word 'week' also means <strong>seven</strong> (Hebrew shevua), and can mean <strong>seven of anything</strong> - days, months or years. (Tim LaHaye, Edward Hinson, <strong>The Popular Bible Commentary</strong> (Harvest House, 2007) at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1A1AF0BloekC&amp;lpg=PA246&amp;ots=E8irM6k87q&amp;dq=daniel%209%3A27%20weeks%20is%20seven%20in%20hebrew&amp;pg=PA246#v=onepage&amp;q=daniel%209:27%20weeks%20is%20seven%20in%20hebrew&amp;f=false">246.</a>) </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">In fact, the common reading by those attempting to unravel Daniel usually ignore it says "weeks" in the KJV and most translations. Instead, most realize instead that the prophecy in Daniel 9 must mean years. Why? Because when we replace weeks with <strong>years</strong>, others have sensed looking backwards that it then approximately appears the prophecies of Daniel 9 match historical fact, especially the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">But we need to do one more thing with the period of 70 times 7.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">What do we know about the number 70 x 7?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">It is a hyper large number. That is what the expression means. When Peter is told to forgive in a day up to 7 times, Peter asks "Up to 7 times?" -- taking Jesus literally. And Jesus -- to send the message it is not a definite or literal 7 -- says up to "70 times 7" -- a hyper large number. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+18%3A21-22&amp;version=KJV">Matt 18:21-22</a>.&nbsp; Jesus meant, 'let's not get technical on a fixed number; instead it is as much as is necessary.'</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">So now listen to the prophecy of the events by the 70th "week," and you will see it now means a hyper large period of time, and not a literaly definite 70 x 7 years until the final end of sin and to bring in everlasting righteousness:&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Seventy weeks</strong>&nbsp;[70 x 7] are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to <strong>finish the transgression</strong>, and to make an end of sins, and to make <strong>reconciliation for iniquity,</strong> and to <strong>bring in everlasting righteousness</strong>, and to <strong>seal up the vision</strong> and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9&amp;version=KJV">Daniel 9:24</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 120px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">These events match when all the earth is transformed into a New Jerusalem. Daniel first refers to this episode in <a href="https://classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+7&amp;version=KJV">Daniel 7:18 KJV</a>&nbsp; which in context comes after a terrible tribulation: "But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess it for ever, even for ever and ever." This revelation was given as the happy ending first before the prophecy of what amounts to world tribulations. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">This good news ending was repeated again in the middle of some terrible events at <a href="https://classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+7&amp;version=KJV">Daniel 7:22</a>. The evil ones "prevailed" for a time over the saints, "<strong>until</strong> the Ancient of Days came, and <strong>judgment was given to the saints</strong> of the most High, and the time came the saints possessed the kingdom." So ultimate good news is mixed with some bad news.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">We see from Daniel 7 a reflection that everyone prefers to know the happy ending of a story is coming when really bad news is being related. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, the 70 7s in Daniel 9 matches these other prophetic passage of the end times in the book of Daniel chapter seven. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">When will all that happen? </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">At 70 x 7 - meaning for as much time as necessary for it all to play out. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">The Last 3 1/2 Days of the 70th Week of Daniel.</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">One more important part of Daniel needs explanation.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">First, please note one thing: the predicate to that happy end is that a certain horn must "war against the saints and <strong>prevail against them.</strong>" (<a href="https://classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+7&amp;version=KJV">Daniel 7:21 KJV</a>.) That means any time period where true Christianity has nearly died out will be the predicate of fulfillment of the great news ending. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that the way to destruction is broad, but to the way of life is narrow and "few" find it. (<a href="https://biblehub.com/matthew/7-14.htm">Matt 7:14</a>.) If Christ is coming soon, we would not expect many people to be truly following Jesus. The true Christianity will be almost worn out to nothing.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Even if people thought they were following Jesus, we would expect at that point they are largely following the impostor version Jesus warned about in <a href="https://classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24%3A4-5%2C+24-27&amp;version=KJV">Matthew 24:4-5, 24-27.</a> They would accept his atonement to save them but dismiss his teachings such as His Sermon on the Mount, insisting it is intended for a prior dispensation or not to be taken seriously. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/852-modern-gospel-teaching-that-sermon-on-the-mount-is-irrelevant.html">Modern Teaching that Sermon on the Mount is Irrelevant</a>.&nbsp;<br /></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Then consider when we read in Daniel 7 about a "<strong>time, times and a dividing of a time</strong>" which means 3 1/2 (1 + 2 and 1/2). As this 3 1/2 numbers precedes the end of the 70th week of Daniel -- an indefinite plenitude of days -- it represents half that indefinite time. These 3 1/2 days of the 70th 7&nbsp; kicks off after the horn first defeats "three kings (rulers) " for a time (v. 24), and then this follows:&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">25&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">And he shall <strong>speak great words against the </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>most High</strong>, and shall <strong>wear out</strong> the saints of the </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">most High, and <strong>think to change times and laws</strong>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"> and they shall be given into his hand until a time </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">and times and the dividing of time.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">26&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">unto the end.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">27&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">And the kingdom and dominion, and the </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"> shall be given to the people of the saints of the </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"> him.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">28&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">in my heart.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 90px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong><span style="background: white;">Who Is the Horn That Puts Down 3 Rulers &amp; Changes Times &amp; Law?</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="background: white;">Are three rulers -- "pillars" -- of our true church founded</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="background: white;"> by Jesus put down, and not allowed to "impart" anything </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="background: white;">as a result to someone?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: system-ui; background: white;">2&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were <strong>of <span style="color: #ff0000;">reputation</span></strong>, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2%3A2&amp;version=KJV"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Gal. 2:2</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">.)****</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: system-ui; font-size: 18pt; color: black; background: white;">6&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">But from <strong>those who&nbsp;were reputed to be somewhat</strong>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: system-ui; font-size: 10pt; color: black; background: white;"></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">(whatsoever they were, it <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>maketh no matter to me</strong></span>: God accepteth not man&rsquo;s person)&mdash;they, I say, who were of <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">repute </span></strong></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">imparted nothing</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"> to me:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: system-ui; font-size: 18pt; color: black; background: white;">9&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">and when they perceived the grace that was given unto me,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: system-ui; font-size: 10pt; color: black; background: white;"></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>James</strong> and <strong>Cephas</strong> [i.e., Peter] and<strong> John,</strong> they who&nbsp;were reputed to be </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #ff0000;">pillars</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision; (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gal.+2%3A2%2C6%2C9&amp;version=ASV"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Gal. 2:2,6,9</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">.) </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 90px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Is the meaning of Deuteronomy 25:4 "changed" -- even </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">obliterated -- to serve&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">a self-serving purpose of applying</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"> it to the sole economic benefit of the speaker?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">For it is written in the&nbsp;</span><strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">law of Moses,</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;&ldquo;You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span><strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Is it oxen God is concerned about</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">?&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">10&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Or does He say&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">it</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>altogether</strong></span>&nbsp;for our sakes? For&nbsp;<strong>our sakes</strong>,&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>no doubt</strong></span>,&nbsp;</span><strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><span style="font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">this</span></strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;is written, that&nbsp;he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope [i.e., hope is euphemism for money in context]. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+9%3A9-10&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">1 Cor. 9:9-10 NKJV</a>.) </span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">God does not care for oxen? Is that a sound basis to overrule the passage's intended beneficiary? Had the three pillars been able to impart to this speaker Jesus' lesson that God "cares" for a sparrow when it falls to the ground, and thus so much more He "cares" for us (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+10%3A29-31&amp;version=NIV">Matt 10:29-31</a>)? Apparently not, for one would not expect such an audacious contradiction of Jesus against God's care for animal life, besides the underlying contradiction of Yahweh's meaning.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Does anyone we know also "speak words against the Most High" in the same line of authorship?</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">We read in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+7&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">Romans 7:7-11 NKJV</a>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">I would&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>not have known sin except through the law</strong></span>. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said,&nbsp;&ldquo;You shall not covet.&rdquo;[</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+7&amp;version=NKJV#fen-NKJV-28099a" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">a</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">]&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">8&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">But&nbsp;<strong>sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all&nbsp;</strong></span><strong><span style="font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">manner of evil</span></strong><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><strong>&nbsp;desire</strong>. For&nbsp;<strong>apart from the law sin&nbsp;</strong></span><strong><span style="font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">was</span></strong><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><strong>&nbsp;dead.</strong>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">9&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">I was<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>&nbsp;alive once without the law</strong></span>, but&nbsp;<strong>when the <span style="color: #ff0000;">commandment came, sin revived</span> and I died</strong>.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">10&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">And<strong>&nbsp;the commandment, which&nbsp;</strong></span><strong><span style="font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">was</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;to&nbsp;</span><span style="font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">bring</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;life, I found to&nbsp;</span><span style="font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">bring</span></strong><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><strong>&nbsp;death.</strong>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">11&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">For sin,&nbsp;<strong>taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me</strong>, and by it killed&nbsp;</span><span style="font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">me.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Does the attribution of God saying something to mislead and destroy us -- words against the Most Highh -- appear elsewhere in the same line of authorship?&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">11&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-size: 24px; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And for this cause&nbsp;<strong>God shall send them strong delusion</strong>, that they should believe a lie,</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">12&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-size: 24px; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+2%3A10-13&amp;version=KJ21" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal;">2 Thess. 2:10-13</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-size: 24px; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+2%3A10-13&amp;version=KJ21">2 Thess. 2:10-13 KJV-21st</a>)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">What can one think about this passage implies about the character of the Most High? </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">The&nbsp;<strong>Christian Intelligencer</strong>&nbsp;article "Things Hard to be Understood Illustrated" (1821) says that&nbsp; 2 Thess 2:10-13 reads that God the Father is the "sender of strong and damning delusions," and one "cannot become an accessor to deception" by "sliding off by equivocations, and say God permitted the delusions." (<strong>Christian Intelligencer</strong>&nbsp;(1821) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=jyMbAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=delusion%20believe%20a%20lie%20blasphemy&amp;pg=PA59#v=onepage&amp;q=delusion%20believe%20a%20lie%20blasphemy&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291;">59</a>.) </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">Indeed, the text says God "sends" the delusion that men should believe a damning lie. So&nbsp;<strong>Christian Intelligencer</strong>&nbsp;correctly asks:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">If they are damned for believing a lie, and believe the lie, because God sent the delusion, and sufficiently strong to produce its effects, in <strong>w</strong><strong>hat character does it present the God of truth and love</strong>?"&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=jyMbAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=delusion%20believe%20a%20lie%20blasphemy&amp;pg=PA59#v=onepage&amp;q=delusion%20believe%20a%20lie%20blasphemy&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291;">59</a>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">The author asks: "who loves the character of the deluder?"&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"><em>Id.</em><span data-mce-mark="1">, at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=jyMbAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=delusion%20believe%20a%20lie%20blasphemy&amp;pg=PA60#v=onepage&amp;q=delusion%20believe%20a%20lie%20blasphemy&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291;">60</a>. The author correctly answers: "<strong>deceivers love him</strong>&nbsp;whom they say deceives or deludes men to their eternal damnation."&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>&nbsp;Then properly the author asks:</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">"Because, if the God we adore,&nbsp;<em><strong>send</strong>&nbsp;</em>strong delusions, where, beneath these heavens, shall we look for safety?"&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=jyMbAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=delusion%20believe%20a%20lie%20blasphemy&amp;pg=PA60#v=onepage&amp;q=delusion%20believe%20a%20lie%20blasphemy&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291;">60</a>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Does someone in the same line of authorship seek to change the "times" appointed by God in the sixth commandment on the Sabbath? We read in Col.<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=col.%202:16-17&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; outline: none;">&nbsp;2:16-17</a>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>16</sup>&nbsp;Let no man therefore<em><strong>&nbsp;judge you</strong></em>&nbsp;in meat, or in </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">moon, or of&nbsp;<em><strong>the sabbath days</strong></em>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>17</sup>Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> is of Christ.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">The same line of authorship say something similar in Romans</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2014:5-6&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;14:5-6</a>:&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">"One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Does this negatively impact salvation for Gentiles?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">The promise in Isaiah 56 of salvation to Gentiles ("my</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">salvation is&nbsp;<strong>about to come</strong>",&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-1.htm" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">56:1</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">) through God's</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">suffering&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">servant in Isaiah 53 (whom was obviously</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus) was predicated on two&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">things: "</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">keep the Sabbath</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">from profaning it and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">keep his&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">hand from doing evil.</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">"</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">(Isaiah&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-2.htm" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">56:2</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">) or "who&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">keep My&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Sabbaths</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">, and choose</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">things that please Me, and</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;take hold of&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">my covenant</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">."<br /></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">(Isaiah&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/isaiah/passage.aspx?q=isaiah+56:4;isaiah+56:6" style="color: #517291; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">56:4,6</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">). </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">The word covenant means the ten commandments,</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">such as in the Ark of the Covenant, i.e., the box holding </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">the tablets of&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Ten Commandments. Yahweh clearly adds in Isaiah </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">56:7 His aim: </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">"For&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">my House, a House of Prayer, is called for all </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">peoples." (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+56%3A7&amp;version=YLT" style="color: #517291;">Isaiah 56:7</a><span style="font-size: 18pt;">.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">This passage of Isaiah 56:6-7 identically appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">of 125 BC. See&nbsp;<a href="https://airtable.com/shrL18GsJmk6lGfwD" style="color: #517291;">link</a>&nbsp;to PDF of page 363 of Abegg's DSS Bible.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">We should mention that Jesus partially quotes this passage in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+21%3A13&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291;">Matthew 21:13</a>: "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called <strong>a house of prayer</strong>,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'"&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Have spiritual robbers who are stealing God's Word from us been long in motion? If so, we were already told that the horn would prevail against us for a time, but good news is coming. It won't last forever.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">So we have solved who is the horn of Daniel 7. But who is the Anti-Christ? It is not the horn. It is someone else.&nbsp;See <a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/574-who-was-the-anti-christ-in-matthew-24.html">Hebrew Matthew Identifies Anti-Christ</a>.</p>
<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>End of Bonus Material</strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Typical Efforts to Apply Daniel 9</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Any one can see separating out the three time-lines -- 62, 69 and 70 -- and how Messiah fits on two -- makes all the difference. Without that, one can end up conflating (mixing up) the prophecy of the temple destruction as having to fit the identical time when Messiah is cut-off. Also, if one does not translate Daniel's years from lunar to solar Julian dating, then you miss the significance, and &nbsp;thus do not mention, &nbsp;the 444 BC order to rebuild Jerusalem. Also, if one does not see the 70 x 7 is not a specific year prophecy, you appear to be stretching things in the 70th period to fit what truly comes at the end of time if you say this all happened with Jesus' coming. </span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">For an example of a common approach to Daniel 9, <span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">see this 119 Ministries YouTube&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">at this&nbsp;</span><a href="https://youtu.be/h05yLlov4rg" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">link</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">. As is typical of &nbsp;many independent presentations which do better than the mainstream, it</span>&nbsp;still falls a small distance short. For example, it</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;stretches implausibly that all the events of 70 x 7 happened with Jesus. I don't think so. Neither does Constable in his <strong>Notes on Daniel</strong> (2020) think one can plausibly hold that view. Hence, the 70 7s explanation presented here --to mean 'as many years as necessary" -- explains it well, and fits Jesus' own words. It is plausible, or more so, than saying&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus fulfilled all of the events prophesied in 70 x 7.</span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: transparent; font-size: 18pt;">Email Comments</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Wow, these articles were very helpful to me. I see that salvation comes</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">from&nbsp;Yahshua's words only.&nbsp;I really appreciate it Doug, keep encouraging</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">me and sharing the word.&nbsp; (Lone B...July 1, 2020.)&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Study notes </strong>Doug Hamp in his study of the 70th week of Daniel likewise says it simply really says 70 7s. See his 6/20/2020 video at 6 minute mark at this <a href="https://youtu.be/JHHgrsoXzbg">link</a>. Interestingly the list of orders to rebuild Jerusalem afterward that Hamp mentions includes lastly the one of Nehemiah from 444 BC, and the commentator he cites &nbsp;-- Thomas Constable -- says the latter is "likely" in view in Daniel's prophecy. See Hamp video at 7:30. &nbsp;Hamp was evidently referring to Constable's 2020 ebook Notes on Daniel ay 175-76 available free at this <a href="https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/daniel.pdf">link</a>.<br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">At 7:00 he says there are 49 years (7x7) followed by 62 x 7s. Doug - a good student of the Bible -- did not see that 70x 7 needs to be spelled out, and when done so, it is obvious it means whatever time is necessary.</span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Constable Makes No Big Deal of this Prophecy Nor Relates Correctly the Gospel of Mercy Invoked in Daniel's Prayer&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Constable's 237 pages referenced above pays little attention to this amazing fulfillment of prophecy which he says was Christ's crucifixion in 33 AD. Its ony mention is the brief paragraph I quoted above. As already mentioned, it is not broken down, to allow a reader to replicate the proof for use in evangelism. It is not mentioned anywhere else in the 237 pages. There is almost an eery silence, letting this passage pass by the reader's attention as no more important than any other page among 236 other pages. It is lost in a sea of words. </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">And as I predicted, his discussion of the prayer of Daniel -- which takes up several pages, never mentions that Daniel quotes in Daniel 9:4 the gospel of mercy / grace -- in Hebrew HESED -- from the Ten Commandments -- Exodus 20:6, and instead borrows the misleading pattern of translations like the NIV.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Constable follows an old pattern of faith-alone translators like the NIV who obscure the Hebrew word Hesed's meaning in passages like Exodus 20:6. While the KJV correctly rendered it as "mercy"in Exodus 20:6 and in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9%3A4&amp;version=KJV">Daniel 9:4 </a>and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9%3A19&amp;version=KJV">9:19</a>,&nbsp; the presence of the conditions of "loving God and obeying His commandments" just is too much to stomach for more "enlightened" translators of today. So the NIV changes Hesed to "<strong>love</strong>" -- a more abstract meaning&nbsp; whenever Hesed has those two conditions (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9%3A4&amp;version=NIV">Daniel 9:4</a>), but when Daniel confesses sin, and admits as things now stand the people are unworthy (not because of any "merit of ours"), and he still asks for "mercy," this time the NIV will translate Hesed as "mercy." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9%3A18-19&amp;version=NIV">Daniel 9:18-19 viz. 19.</a>) </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Tricky, are they not? Do you see the game that is being played? Constable whom I assume follows the NIV program unwittingly, plays the cards he is given by the NIV to the letter. So card tricks invented by mistranslators continue even if the commentator is unaware.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
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<p style="background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC');"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44;">At page 168, Daniel 9:4 is never quoted; we don't know Daniel invokes God's covenant of <strong>mercy</strong> by "loving God and obeying his commandments." Instead we are told, HESED means simply &nbsp;"love" ...not mercy.</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 120px; background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC');"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44;">Daniel stressed God's transcendence and his loyal <strong>love</strong> (Heb. hesed) to Israel in his salutation. (v. 4)&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC');"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44;">That's what the NIV said it was. But Daniel truly said, and the KJV has it right:&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC');">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'); background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">And I prayed unto the&nbsp;Lord&nbsp;my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God,&nbsp;<strong>keeping the covenant and <span style="color: #ff0000;">mercy</span> to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments</strong>; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+9" style="color: #517291;">Daniel 9:4 KJV</a>)</span></p>
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<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'); background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So if you do not know that, and then in Daniel 9:19, Daniel confesses as things now stand, the people are unworthy, and now Daniel uses HESED again, and still asks forgiveness. Well, if you don't know HESED was in 9:4 on more conditions, then 9:19 sounds like faith alone, right? So the NIV switches, and translates HESED as Mercy in 9:19, as cited above. </span></p>
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<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'); background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Constable too switches on 9:19 his vocubulary in lockstep with the NIV, and he too mentions "mercy" is the meaning of the word (which perhaps he did not know was <strong>hesed</strong> which previously he said meant "love"). I trust this switch by Constable is not deliberate but simply due to trusting the NIV.</span></p>
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<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'); background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So what does Constable say? For Daniel 9:19,&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Constable on page 168 when summarizing "Daniel's Prayer of Confession:9: 4-14, tells us that Daniel begins by confessing "sin and guilt," but ends with a "plea for <strong>mercy</strong>" and restoration (vv. 15-19.) There is the word "mercy" -- which we know is HESED, in reference to vv. 15-19. But when it was spoken in verse 4, please remember Constable (hopefully unwittingly) employed the NIV's neutering tactic by telling us HESED means "love."&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Constable finishes by saying saying&nbsp;Daniel "stressed...Israel's unworthiness." (Constable, Notes on Daniel (2002) at 170.) So all these card tricks are the fruit of a cunning strategy by some unknow NIV translator, which apparently fooled Constable.&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p style="padding: 0px 0px 10px; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'); background-color: #ffffff; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">The answer is God heard both pleas for mercy -- the one invoking the covenant of mercy in return for love and obeying the commandments, and the one praying for mercy despite the people being at present not having yet merited such mercy. This is a common situation, incidentally, such as in the case of Zaccheus. This tax collector promises to return what he stole fourfold to the poor. Jesus says "this day salvation has come to this house." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+19%3A1-10&amp;version=NIV">Luke 19:1-10 NIV</a>.) So the last prayer for mercy by Daniel does not stand alone apart from the necessity to follow through with our side of the covenant of the ten commandments. And this is clear because&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Gabriel responds to both pleas, saying&nbsp; God heard Daniel's "</span><strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: #ff0000;">pleas</span> for mercy</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">" (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/daniel/9-23.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Dan. 9:23 ESV</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">). Both prayers were heard, and in response, God commanded Gabriel to tell Daniel he was "highly esteemed" and that God would send a "Messiah" who would "</span><strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">make atonement</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;for iniquity." (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/daniel/9-24.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Daniel 9: 24</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.)&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Jerome on Gal. 2:14 -- A Lie or Blasphemy By Paul Anyway You Cut It.&nbsp;</strong></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is a side-note to our book review on Gray's book: <strong>Paul as a Problem in History and Culture</strong>. See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/743-book-review-gray-paul-as-a-problem-in-history.html">link</a>.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Gray discusses only Jerome's letter to Augustine about whether both Paul and Peter were putting on a hypocritical public show and "pious" fraud at Antioch, each appearing to be in public disagreement when they supposedly were truly not. &nbsp;Thus Jerome supposedly said once to Augustine that both were equally guilty of pretense. See Gray, kindle loc. 716-19.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Gray appears to have cited this critique of Paul by Jerome so as to use an example where Jerome supposedly agreed that Apostle Peter engaged in a joint dissimulation with Paul. Gray cites this alone, thereby softening Paul's fraud if Apostle Peter is believed to have cooperated in Paul's "pious" fraud.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Jerome's explanation of Gal. 2:14 to Augustine did not speak expressly this way about Peter, leaving it unexpressed. Instead, Jerome most pointedly spoke against Paul in two ways.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For Jerome said unless we accept Paul is untruthful in Gal. 2:14 -- he is lying -- about actually condemning Peter as a hypocrite, then Jerome says Paul would be guilty of "blasphemy" to condemn Peter for dissimulation / hypocrisy. (See letter ch, 3 pt. 6.) And the solution of Origen to that dilemma (which Jerome repeated) was premised upon Paul indeed being untruthful in Gal. 2:14 that he truly condemned Peter publicly. Jerome has that premise in mind when he accepts Origen's plausible pious purpose for Paul's lying in Gal. 2:14, as explained next.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jerome relayed to Augustine that Origen suggested Gal. 2:14 was part of a scheme of Paul with Peter to pretend to disagree about something, and then allow Paul to appear to condemn Peter publicly for hypocrisy, but it did not really represent what happened between the two men. Then Gal. 2:14 simply allegedly&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">represents a boast of this event without disclosing to the Galatians that it was a pious fraud from the beginning.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jerome explains to Augustine that he put forth Origen's solution as plausible, but that Augustine is free to find another solution. I will summarize Jerome's letter on this topic but you can find it at this&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccel.orgwww.newadvent.org/fathers/1102075.htm" style="color: #517291;">link</a>, especially ch. 3 pts. 4-6.<br /></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jerome begins his letter to Augustine by making clear what he knows is at minimum true: what Paul says happened in Galatians 2:14 cannot be true&nbsp; (i.e., Paul is lying) &nbsp;Jerome explains why: Paul cannot ethically condemn Peter for a deception&nbsp; / dissimulation similar to what Paul himself had done over circumcising Timothy, and was "confessedly guilty."&nbsp; In other words, Paul would be ascending the heights of hypocrisy for condemning someone for the very same thing Paul was "confessedly guilty" as Jerome put it.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Jerome says Augustine is left with only two options:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[1] either Paul is lying in Galatians 2:14 that he condemned Peter publicly, i.e., it never happened; or</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[2] Paul is guilty of "blasphemy" for accusing Peter of dissimulation about a sin that Paul could never ethically accuse another as Paul practiced dissimulation and deception himself, proven in the book of Acts when compared to Paul's epistles.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Augustine previously replied to Jerome that his commentary is wrong for assuming Paul is lying in Galatians 2:14.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Jerome does not ever dwell on Origen's solution includes that Peter would be &nbsp;equally engaged in play-acting / dissimulation with Paul in front of the Galatians. Rather in Jerome's letter, Jerome emphasizes Paul is in the hot-seat no matter how you look at this. He is clearly lying or committing blasphemy. Take your pick, he says to Augustine, in effect. So if Augustine does not agree to Origen's solution, Jerome says Paul is a blasphemer. If Augustine will accept Origen's solution, on the other hand, then Paul might be excusable as a pious fraudster in Gal. 2:14 -- a nice term for lying to advance the "gospel."</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Here is a quote setting forth Augustine's dilemma in the words of Jerome's found at this&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.ccel.orgwww.newadvent.org/fathers/1102075.htm" style="color: #517291; font-size: 18pt;">link</a>.&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jerome is restating his Commentary on Galatians 2:14 to which Augustine objects:&nbsp;</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">4. You [Augustine] ask, in the second place, my reason for saying, in my commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccel.orgwww.newadvent.org/cathen/11567b.htm" style="color: #517291;">Paul</a>&nbsp;could&nbsp;<strong>not</strong>&nbsp;have&nbsp;<strong>rebuked</strong>&nbsp;Peter for that which he himself had done,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccel.orgwww.newadvent.org/bible/gal002.htm#verse14" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Galatians&nbsp;2:14</span></a>&nbsp;and could not have censured in another the&nbsp;<strong>dissimulation</strong>&nbsp;of which he was himself&nbsp;<strong>confessedly</strong>&nbsp;<strong>guilty</strong>; and you affirm that that rebuke of the apostle was not a man&oelig;uvre of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccel.orgwww.newadvent.org/cathen/12748a.htm" style="color: #517291;">pious</a>&nbsp;policy, but real; and you say that I ought not to teach&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccel.orgwww.newadvent.org/cathen/05781a.htm" style="color: #517291;">falsehood</a>, but that all things in Scripture are to be received literally as they stand.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><br />So in this quote, Jerome told Augustine that at minimum we know that what Paul said happened did not literally happen, and is an untruth by Paul. Otherwise, Paul would be criticizing another for a behavior that Paul is "confessedly guilty" himself.&nbsp; Later Jerome will explain it is a "blasphemy" for Paul to have truly condemned Peter, his senior.&nbsp; (</span><a href="http://www.ccel.orgwww.newadvent.org/fathers/1102075.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Link&nbsp;</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">ch. 3, pt. 6.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, one may infer Jerome believes Origen's solution does not truly work at all because it implies Peter engaged in dissimulation / hypocrisy jointly with Paul, misbehaving for a moment - refusing to eat with Gentiles - so Paul could look like he could condemn Peter as an inferior. Jerome obviously knew Peter's action was blessed in the story of Prophet Daniel who refused the King's meats, and preferred vegetables. The Paul apologist Cambridge Bible concedes how Peter's Jewish mind would justifiably not eat with Gentiles for good Biblical reasons: "we may understand the sort of offence that they ["Jewish minds"] were likely to feel from&nbsp;<strong>Daniel's</strong>&nbsp;<strong>refusal</strong>&nbsp;to eat of the food supplied by King Nebudchadnezzar ...[presumably meats sacrificed to idols as] this food and those who ate it the Jews would abhor." (Press "Comment" tab at this&nbsp;<a href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/acts/15-20.htm" style="color: #517291;">link</a>.) So if Daniel refused out of concern of likely eating meat sacrificed to idols, Peter acted properly too not eating with Galatians. Jerome as translater of Daniel to Latin had to know that was Peter's legitimate Biblical role model.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Jerome is offering what he knows is untenable that Origen claimed -- there a pious possible explanation. Instead, Jerome actually is taking a jab at Paul for dishonesty over repeating in Gal. 2:14 that the supposed play-acting in front of the Galatians was a sincere rebuke by Paul of Peter. Origen's solution has Paul and Peter not just play-acting, but Paul directly lying in Gal. 2:14 that it was seriously true. Jerome's comments let you truly take a different choice than accept this solution from Origen. That is, instead Paul did truly condemn Peter but in error on multiple grounds: (1) Peter followed Daniel's example; (2) Peter was his senior, which Jerome mentions as making Paul wrong to publicly rebuke; (3) and Paul would be guilty of blasphemy to condemn Peter due to Peter's stature in the church. Peter allowing such an attack would only prove kindness of Peter. Jerome implied Paul would always be wrong to give such an example of blasphemous evil in front of the Galatians. Origen's solution is worse because Peter would be conniving with Paul to defraud the Galatians, plus give them a bad example of Christian behavior to a superior apostle and one's elder. &nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jerome is no slouch. Origen's solution does not work.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why is Origen's solution wrong, which Jerome gave you clues to see?<br /></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Origen is trading one blasphemy (Paul's accusation that blasphemes Peter for hypocrisy for not eating with gentiles when previously he did) for another (both Paul and Peter are acting with hypocrisy / dissimulation to support Paul's alleged lie in Gal 2:14 that Paul supposedly publicly condemned Peter earlier). Hence, if Jerome truly accepts Origen's solution which impliedly accuses Peter of dissimulation too -- which in the same letter Jerome says is blasphemy when Paul claims to have done the same, then Origen's solution is more of the identical blasphemy which Origen sought to avoid by concocting the pious fraud solution. Hence, Jerome could not truly believe Peter engaged in dissimulation, or endorse that, as he ruled that out as blasphemy in the very same context. This leaves only one solution that is truly on Jerome's mind: Either Paul lied in Gal. 2:14 about an event that never happened; or Paul truly condemned Peter but for something that was no sin, Paul sinning thereby for publicly condemning a senior for what is not a sin, besides violating Jesus' command to use private confrontation first.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Comment on Gray's Choice to Bring in Origen's Solution.</span></span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even if Jerome thought Peter and Paul acted as hypocrites, as Gray reads into this letter, it would still mean Paul was a hypocrite in yet a third event. Gray possibly chose only this example evidently because when so isolated, Paul&rsquo;s hypocrisy appears to be palliated by the fact a true apostle &mdash; Peter&mdash; is suggested to have equally been pretentious. But such palliative is not present in Paul&rsquo;s honoring either the Nazarite vow or circumcising Timothy. Paul&rsquo;s obvious hypocrisy in each event belongs to Paul alone. And Gray ignores Jerome's famous remark that these are acts of hypocrisy of which Paul is "confessedly guilty." (See Jerome Letter, ch. 3, pt. 4 at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccel.orgwww.newadvent.org/fathers/1102075.htm" style="color: #517291;">link</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Gray by focusing on just merely this alleged issue has distracted our attention so we never hear Jerome&rsquo;s&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">more problematic quote about two other acts of obvious hypocrisy&nbsp;<strong>solely</strong>&nbsp;by Paul. The quote which Gray should have quoted necessarily was the more famous quote from Jerome about Paul&lsquo;s acts of pretense by doing the following: 1. taking the vow from Numbers 6 in Acts 21 and 2. circumcising Timothy.</span></span></p> </td>
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<p><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">JRE SHOW - BIG YOU TUBE INFLUENCER - ANOTHER BRAVE EXPOSURE OF PAUL&nbsp; </span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">First there was in April 2020, Justin Best, a huge YouTube influencer at Christian Truthers. Now in May 2020, the JRE show has 54.6k subscribers on YouTube, and he comes out with a Paul exposure video. But all his other videos are in general categories, like product purchase advice for things like car battery rechargers, electronics, etc. The owner of that channel thus put all his YouTube income in jeapordy by doing this video at this<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcavRdVkkFM"> link</a>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"> Even more important, I feel it may be one of the best Paul exposure videos yet. It is 21 minutes long. He simply uses quotes from the Bible which he reads. He sometimes adds a little question to make the verses have context. He highlights certain words that are the same between the two passages. The viewer can piece together the points on the screen. You cannot deny what your eyes recognize as in the Bible.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> </td>
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<td valign="top" ><p>"But if we must focus on Paul's letters to establish the Christian faith, then truly the servant has become greater than his Master." (Bercot<em>Theologians </em>(2010) at 40.)</p></td>
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<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24pt;">Why Paul Did Not Realize His Error About the </span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24pt;">'Jesus' on the Road Outside Damascus'? or</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24pt;">Paul&nbsp;</span></strong></span><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24pt;">Errs That The Return of Christ Is Not</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24pt;">Accompanied by a Universally Seen Jesus by Both </span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24pt;">Christians and non-Christians at the same time</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul never realized that he met the wrong Jesus by having a private wilderness experience with Jesus prior to Christ's return where every eye on earth would see him. [See full discussion of this point in <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">Jesus Identified Imposter Come in Wilderness Not Universally Seen</a>.]</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why? </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Because the impostor Jesus told Paul that when the true Jesus returns,&nbsp;<strong>not every eye will actually see Jesus.&nbsp; </strong>The fact Paul never knew this is that Paul describes the &nbsp;Coming of Christ as if Christians only hear a call from earth to heaven, and we remain with Jesus forever in the clouds. No one on earth sees any appearance of Jesus in the sky by which Jesus taught Christians would see and use as a key factor to know it is the true Jesus, and not an impostor. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul's delusion that Christ will not himself appear at his return to those on earth -- matching his own similar experience outside Damascus -- is clearly reflected in the latest <strong>Left Behind</strong> Movie. Nicholas Cage and his family are chronicled, but never is there any physical appearance of Jesus to everyone on earth, even Christians, for all to use to discern this is truly Jesus and not an imposter.&nbsp;See <strong>Left Behind </strong>at minutes 32-42.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why does Paul not see things as Jesus does in Matthew 24?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul tells us -- in obvious reliance upon the impostor -- that instead<strong> only the spiritually discerning</strong> will realize Christ returned and 'see' Christ in a spiritual sense when we find ourselves supposedly in heaven at the return of Jesus. Those on earth will supposedly not see Christ's appearing although they apparently will hear a trumpet and Jesus' voice. The nonbelievers will only realize many are missing, and the explanation from Paul is they did not see Jesus because&nbsp; they did not love or look forward to Jesus' return. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, supposedly true Christians will not experience seeing Jesus' universally appear above us while we are still on earth. We instead will be whisked secretly away into heaven while no one on earth will see Jesus. It is only those who look forward to Jesus' appearance who will see him once we join him in the sky. That is, we believers thus supposedly will see Jesus only when we arrive in the clouds.&nbsp; Paul never says we return to earth. Instead, he says we remain forever in heaven with our Lord.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;">&ldquo;For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the <strong>voice</strong> of an archangel and the trumpet of God.&nbsp; The dead in Christ will rise first; then we, who are left alive, will be snatched up with them on clouds to meet the Lord in the <strong>air</strong>; and so <strong>we shall always be with the Lord</strong>&rdquo; (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).</p>
<p style="padding-left: 120px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These verses from Paul, along with others mentioned below, negate that while on earth we will experience a visual-universal event of Jesus's appearance on the clouds of glory to not just us but all on earth. As mentioned, this is how the <strong>Left Behind </strong>movie depicts it as well. The world is left wondering why all these millions of people disappeared. None of the left behind got to see Jesus from east and west when Jesus came to take the "Christians" away. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is credulously explained by Herbert Lockyer in<strong>&nbsp;All the Parables of the Bible Explained&nbsp;</strong>(Zondervan: 1988) at page&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4ncUVL4h2LsC&amp;lpg=PA236&amp;dq=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&amp;pg=PA236#v=onepage&amp;q=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291;">255</a>:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"'Every eye shall see Him.' His return for His church, <strong>however</strong>, as <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">indicated by Paul</span></strong> will likewise be sudden&nbsp;<strong>but not universally discerned</strong>. He will<strong><em>&nbsp;</em>appear for those who look for Him</strong>, and who love such an appearing." &nbsp;[Alluding to&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy%204:8&amp;version=NIV">2 Tim. 4: 8</a>, love his appearing; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Thessalonians+4%3A16-17&amp;version=NIV">1 Thess. 4:16-17</a><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Thess.+4%3A17&amp;version=NIV">, 5:23</a>, come down with a shout, and rapture us into the clouds; he reports 1 Thess. 2:9&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">says we are with Jesus at His parousia, thus preceding the event, precluding us from first seeing Jesus' presence while we still are on earth's surface. See&nbsp;<span>&nbsp;</span><a href="/component/content/article/9-bible/272-authorship-of-hebrews.html">Barnabas'&nbsp;</a><span>Epistle to the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://biblehub.com/hebrews/9-28.htm">Hebrews 9:28</a><span>&nbsp;-- those who eagerly await Jesus will see him at his return, implying the lost will not see him. Barnabas was a companion of Paul in Acts. ]</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Thus, Paul -- including Barnabas' comparable view in Hebrews -- mentions when Christ next appears to Christians, we will not see Jesus until we arrive raptured into heaven. This is because those not loving the appearing of Jesus will not see Christ's return at the time Jesus supposedly raptures Christians from earth. The only apparent universal fact is that all occupants of earth might&nbsp; hear a trumpet and a "voice of an archangel"&nbsp; -- not even a voice from Jesus.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">As a result, Paul implies that we <strong>never will have an opportunity to validate</strong> this Jesus is the true Jesus if we use Jesus' standards in Matthew 24. Jesus said in that chapter that Christians can only know if such an appearance event is the true Jesus actually returning is if we are able to validate it is a universal experience seen by everyone on earth including by non-believers.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Thus, what does Paul teach on validating this is truly Jesus?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">It is no different than Paul's own inaccurate standard for the Damascus Road experience. Paul and the writer of Hebrews -- which Catholicism claimed was Paul -- says no one while on earth will see Jesus in this event. All inhabitants of earth only supposedly hear a voice and then Christians alone are raptured off earth to a place where only those who looked forward to the appearance of Jesus will now actually see Jesus. Those who did not look forward to Jesus' appearance will not see Jesus. We will thereafter be forever with the Lord in heaven, and apparently not on earth.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">It appears Paul died before the Book of Revelation showed Christians are not raptured, and instead are present when Christ puts his foot down on earth. It shows Jesus first rapturing away by a scythe the evil-doers on earth to bring to judgment. Nor did Paul appear to have the Book of Revelation concept that the New Jerusalem would come to earth as a new home for Christians. When we join Jesus in the clouds, Paul says we will "forever" be with him there. Otherwise, as a scholarly evangelical article noted, "we may add that nowhere does Paul say that Christ will come to reign on earth." ("Paul and the Parousia," <strong>The Old and New Testament Student</strong> (1892) Vol. 15 at 134.)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Hence, these Christians can be duped that the place they find themselves -- and very much are not yet dead -- is "heaven." But as they mill around, I hope they call to mind Jesus' words, so they realize that the "Christ" they think is Christ did not actually qualify to be Jesus because Paul's Christ is able to appear non-universally at his return but the true Jesus must be universally seen by everyone -- Christian and non-Christian -- so we can discern whether to trust him. The fact we are 'raptured' to somewhere is merely a sign and wonder -- something Satan as an angel of light can imitate.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>An Aside on What Can Happen in the Future.</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Incidentally, think about this scenario, and ask yourself how a Paulinist would resolve the quandry if this happens:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">What if one day all Pauline Christians are taken to a cloud-covered place on earth but it was done in a way the people could think they left earth to heaven. Then these Pauline Christians are all told they are in heaven, and forever will remain there for eternity. They are overjoyed. However, how do they know it is the true Jesus? They cannot because they did not share with everyone on earth first in what must be a universal visual experience where every eye on earth saw Jesus in the sky first. They are therefore trapped for eternity in a Pauline Nightmare because they did not have a clue themselves on the validation requirement in Matthew 24. Paul's statements above prove that <strong>Paul still had the mistaken view</strong> that private experiences with "Jesus" that the world does not experience at the return of Jesus <strong>is somehow the true Jesus</strong>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Are Paulinists on notice? They must be because Jesus never speaks of a rapture of Christians to heaven. The book of Revelation speaks only of rapture of evil-doers from earth by use of a threshing scythe. Their end is condemnation and punishment, not salvation. See our article <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/211-paul-on-rapture-v-the-bible-jesus.html">Paul's View on the Rapture Is At Odds with Jesus and the Bible.</a>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>Paul's View Mismatch Jesus, Conceded by Major Scholar.</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">N.T. Wright - a renown and worthy Christian theologian -- put it after quoting 1 Thessalonians 14:16-7 -- Paul's claim of&nbsp; a future rapture of Christians mismatches Jesus' views:&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;">What on earth (or in heaven) did Paul mean?&nbsp; It is <strong>Paul</strong> who should be credited with <strong>creating this scenario</strong>. Jesus himself, as I have argued in various books, <strong>never predicted such an event</strong>. [FN 2] (N.T. Wright, Bible Review, August 2001 reprinted at this<a href="https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/farewell-to-the-rapture/"> link</a>.)</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Wright's footnote 2 reads in part: "See my <strong>Jesus and the Victory of God</strong> (1996) ... <strong>The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions</strong> (1999)....</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Second Reason Paul Did Not Recognize an Impostor</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">At the same time as Paul misconceives how Jesus would return post-Ascension, Paul said he declined to listen to the twelve apostles. Paul preferred instead his direct revelations from the Lord Jesus whom he met during that first experience. In&nbsp;<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/1-12.htm" style="color: #517291;">Galatians 1:12</a>, Paul explained: "I did&nbsp;<strong><span style="color: #000000;">not receive it from any man</span></strong><em><strong><span style="color: #000000;">,</span></strong></em>&nbsp;nor was I taught it; rather, I received it&nbsp;<strong>by revelation from Jesus Chris</strong><strong>t</strong>." In Galatians 2:6, talking expressly of the&nbsp;<strong>twelve apostle</strong><em><strong>s</strong></em>, Paul says:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But from&nbsp;<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">those who were reputed to be somewhat</span></strong>&nbsp;(whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth not man's person)-- they, I say, who were of repute&nbsp;<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">imparted nothing to me</span></strong>: (<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/2-6.htm" style="color: #517291;">Galatians 2:6</a>&nbsp;ASV.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul thus was helpless against the Jesus of his revelation. Paul did not have the criteria of the true Jesus' words on how to test the encounter which Paul had with the "Jesus" of the wilderness. Paul refused to hear them, or ask their spiritual input on whether his experience matched the Jesus' they all knew.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-KJV-23432" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul thereby mistakenly accepted an impostor Jesus whom the true Jesus intended Paul to reject had Paul learned the warning of non-universally seen imposters claiming to be Jesus in the wilderness or private place. [See <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">Jesus' Prophecy On How to Recognize Impostor Jesuses</a>.]</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-KJV-23432" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Sadly, it is Paul's own fault for he boasted that those in repute -- the true twelve -- "imparted nothing to me." Paul preferred the "revelation from Jesus Christ" -- the Jesus of that very first encounter -- the clear impostor. Paul will have to bear the consequences of that flagrant rejection of any words from Jesus that the 12 could have shared with Paul. For Jesus told the 12 (including Matthias who was present and later replaced Judas, according to Acts ch. 1) what are the consequences to Paul for Paul's admission he refused to learn anything from the 12 about the true Jesus: &nbsp;<br /></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span id="en-KJV-23432" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">14 And whosoever shall not receive you,&nbsp;<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>nor hear your words</strong></span>, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span id="en-KJV-23433" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span id="en-KJV-23433">15&nbsp;</span>Verily I say unto you, It shall be<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><span id="en-KJV-23433">&nbsp;more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city</span></strong></span>. &nbsp;(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;">Matt 10:14-15 KJV</a>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;Excerpt from <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">Jesus' Words in Matt 24 on Paul's Experience outside Damascus</a>.</span></p> </td>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Paul Taught Gentiles' Law Obedience Puts You Under A Curse.</strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Paul's doctrine in Galatians is clear:&nbsp; Gentiles who try to obey Torah damn themselves, and are cursed. Elsewhere, we prove that this was a common Pharisee doctrine. Gentiles who read the Law would be put to death by the Pharisees. For the startling proof, see <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/810-paul-taught-pharisee-doctrine-to-condemn-gentiles-who-tried-to-follow-torah.html">Paul Taught Pharisee Doctrine Gentiles are Damned if they Try to Follow Law by Reading the Law</a>. See also&nbsp;<a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/829-what-did-jesus-mean-by-mercy-that-the-pharisees-did-not-teach.html">What Did Jesus Mean By Saying the Pharisees Did not Teach God's Mercy</a>.&nbsp; We also prove there that Jesus in Mathew 5:17-19 intended to condemn this teaching by the Pharisees.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Paul Terrorizes Galatians Who Follow the Law</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">In Galatians, Paul bemoans Galatian Christians who wish to&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">keep sabbath as provided in the Ten Commandments -- a</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">command specifically applicable to all Gentiles in community</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">with Israel.&nbsp;See&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%205:12-15&amp;version=YLT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Deut. 5:12-15</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;("sojourner within thy</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">gates");&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2025:6&amp;version=YLT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Lev. 25:6</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;("sojourner settling with thee");&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2023:12&amp;version=YLT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Exo</span></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2023:12&amp;version=YLT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">23:12</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;(sojourner).&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Paul then says "anathema" -- cursed -- are those who wish to</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">be just / justified by keeping such parts of the Law,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-style: italic; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">i.e.</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">,</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">sabbath, etc. For otherwise, Paul argues, they will have to keep</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">"all" of the Law, and not selected parts. (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+1%3A6-12&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Gal. 1:6-12</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">;&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+2%3A14-16&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Gal. 2:14-</span></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+2%3A14-16&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">16</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;(cursed if not continue in all points of law);&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+3%3A9-12&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Gal. 3:9-</span></a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+3%3A9-12&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">12</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;(under a curse,&nbsp;<strong>misquoting</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Deuteronomy</strong>, as explained at</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">this&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/topicindex/360-paul-misquotes-of-scripture.html" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">link</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">),&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+3%3A21&amp;version=DLNT" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Gal. 3:21</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">. &nbsp;<br /></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><br />(Paul thereby misrepresented the Law was all or nothing</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">for a Gentile, rather than tell Gentiles they were a</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">discreet category called sojourners in the Law which &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">had a few provisions which they had to abide by. See</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/recommendedreading/98-law-applicable-today.html" style="color: #517291;">The</a>&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/recommendedreading/98-law-applicable-today.html" style="color: #517291;">Law Applicable to Gentiles.</a>)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">As Bart Ehrman, a professor on the New Testament, explains:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">&ldquo;Paul is absolutely clear [in Galatians] that he thinks non-Jews are not to do these things [<em>i.e</em>., keep Sabbath, holidays, etc.] once they believe in Christ. In fact, in his most vitriolic letter, the one to the Galatians,&nbsp;<strong>he lays a curse on anyone who thinks that Gentiles who come to believe in Jesus should engage in such practices</strong>. (1:8-9; 2:15-16; 3:10-14.&rdquo; (Bart D. Ehrman,&nbsp;<strong>Peter, Paul &amp; Mary Magalene</strong>&nbsp;(2006) at 117.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Paul curses those Gentile Christians who obey Sabbath for a Biblically-valid reason (i.e.,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;">Exodus 20:6</a>&nbsp;- mercy to those who love YHWH and obey commandments of YHWH).</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul extends the same curse implicitly to Jews by saying that&nbsp;<strong>anyone</strong>&nbsp;who believes one is justified before God by "keeping the law" is actually lost if they did so.&nbsp; Gal. 2:15-16 ("no one" is justified by keeping the law.). Thus, implicitly Paul is saying Moses himself was a false prophet for in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+6%3A24-25&amp;version=NKJV" style="color: #517291;">Deut 6:24-25 KJV</a>&nbsp;Moses said:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"[YHWH] commanded us to observe all these statutes...Then it will be&nbsp;<strong>righteousness</strong>&nbsp;[i.e.,&nbsp;<strong>justification</strong>] for us&nbsp;<strong>if we are careful to observe all these commandments</strong>...."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Paul's views are particularly ironic that Gentiles are</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">supposedly&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">cursed by obeying Sabbath and being</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">circumcised when in very narrow circumstances the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Law</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">required circumcision (e.g.,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">for a gentile to enter the&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Temple if he chose to enter&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">which&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">was optional) so as&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">to</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">be righteous&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">and continue as&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">salvation-</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">worthy&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">in&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">God's</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">eyes.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><br />It is&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">especially noteworthy&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">that Paul&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">emphasizes&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">dissuading&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Sabbath observance among&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Gentiles by</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">laying a curse on &nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Gentiles when their attitude is to&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">keep</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">a right standing&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">with God mandated in Deut 6:24-25&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">quoted above. The&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">irony is because Paul&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">claims Gentiles</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">are&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">the focus of&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Paul's ministries. Yet Paul appears unaware of</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">verses on the promised new covenant, and the</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">conditions&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">for&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">the entry of Gentiles into it.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">The promise in Isaiah 56 of salvation to Gentiles ("my</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">salvation is&nbsp;<strong>about to come</strong>",&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-1.htm" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">56:1</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">) through God's</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">suffering&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">servant in Isaiah 53 (whom was obviously</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus) was predicated on two&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">things: "</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">keep the Sabbath</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">from profaning it and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">keep his&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">hand from doing evil.</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">"</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">(Isaiah&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/isaiah/56-2.htm" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">56:2</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">) or "who&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">keep My&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Sabbaths</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">, and choose</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">things that please Me, and</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;take hold of&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">my covenant</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">."<br /></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">(Isaiah&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/isaiah/passage.aspx?q=isaiah+56:4;isaiah+56:6" style="color: #517291; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">56:4,6</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">). The word covenant means the ten commandments,</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">such as in the Ark of the Covenant, i.e., the box holding the tablets of</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Ten Commandments. Yahweh clearly adds in Isaiah 56:7 the aim: </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">"For my House, a House of Prayer, is called for all peoples." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+56%3A7&amp;version=YLT">Isaiah </a></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+56%3A7&amp;version=YLT">56:7</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">This passage of Isaiah 56:6-7 identially appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls 125 BC. See <a href="https://airtable.com/shrL18GsJmk6lGfwD">link</a> to PDF of page 363 of Abegg's DSS Bible.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">We should mention that Jesus partially quotes this passage in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+21%3A13&amp;version=NIV">Matthew 21:13</a>: "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'"</p>
<p>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: transparent;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Paul's so-called 'gospel' thereby eviscerated one of the</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">key&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">conditions of salvation for Gentiles -- the weekly&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">time out from&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">work -- despite Paul claiming he had the</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">correct path of&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">salvation for them. Oh what man cannot</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">be led to believe! &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">In the same vein, Paul says to the Galatian Christians</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">about&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">those who obeyed God's commands as Christians</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">to stay in God's grace:&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">"You have been&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">severed from</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Christ</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">, you who are seeking to&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">be justified by Law; you</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">have&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">fallen from grace</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">." (</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-4.htm" style="color: #517291;">Gal. 5:4</a>&nbsp;</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-4.htm" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">NASB</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">.) &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">So Paul acknowledges he is talking about true Gentile</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Christians. They are severed from Christ by obeying</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Sabbath&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">rest as a condition of salvation as expressed by</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">God in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;">Exodus&nbsp;</a></span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;">20:6 KJV</a>. That verse says God grants</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">"<strong>mercy</strong>&nbsp;to those who love me and&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">o<strong>bey my</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><strong>commandments</strong>."</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Thus Paul teaches you are saved by faith alone, but&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">become&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt;">damned by obeying one of God&rsquo;s commands</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt;">in the Ten&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Commandments if motivated to satisfy the</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">requirement in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Exodus 20:6</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A6&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;"></a>&mdash; part of the Ten</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Commandments too. Paul is&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">talking about the Sabbath</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">command in context -- a command&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">that was specifically</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">extended in the Law to Gentiles aka &nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">foreigners /</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">sojourners who dwelled among the sons of Israel.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">And again on the parallel topic of circumcision (which</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">the Law&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">necessitated a Gentile have done&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">only if</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;they</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">wished to enter&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">the Temple at Jerusalem per Ezekiel 44:9</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">or wished to participate in&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">passover per Exodus 12:49),</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Paul&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">says in the same context:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">"Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">yourselves&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">be&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">circumcised,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Christ will be of no</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">value</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">&nbsp;to you at all." (</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;"><a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-2.htm" style="color: #517291;">Gal.</a>&nbsp;</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-2.htm" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">5:2 NIV</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Or as the KJV says, "Christ will&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">profit you&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">nothing.</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">" (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-2.htm" style="color: #517291;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Gal. 5:2 KJV.</span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">)&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Thus, even a Gentile Christian who wanted to be</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">circumcised&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">solely to enter the temple to avoid being</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">damned by defiling&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">the Temple's holiness standard,&nbsp; Paul</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">says would&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">actually lose their&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">salvation for such clear</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">sin-avoidance</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">. Hence, Paul warned a&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Gentile Christian</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">would be eternally separated from Christ by&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">that act of</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">obedience to a &nbsp;command &nbsp;that the Law&nbsp;</span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">said a</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Gentile&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">must follow if they wanted to enter the</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Temple at Jerusalem&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">and pray. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;">Paul's statement is clearly a ludicrous principle -- you are&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">supposedly damned for obeying a principle which the Law said&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">you must obey so as not to&nbsp; be damned. How absurd!&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;">NOTE: This was adapted from What Did Jesus Mean by Mercy that the Pharisees Did Not Teach?</span><br /></span></p>
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<td valign="top" >"In Acts...Paul is <em><strong>denied the title of Apostle</strong></em>." (Hengel &amp; Schwemer, <em>Paul between Damascus and Antioch</em> (John Knox Press, 1997) at 321.)</td>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>2 Peter 1:10: Good Works Make Sure One's Salvation</strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The Douay-Rheims alone in English makes any mention of "good works" is what "makes sure" your calling and election in 2 Peter 1:10:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Wherefore, brethren, labour the more, that&nbsp;<strong>by good works</strong>&nbsp;you may make sure your calling and election. For doing these things, you shall not sin at any time. (<strong>Douay-Rheims</strong>.) &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why is it alone in English? See the 30 English Bibles quoted of this one verse at this Bible Hub <a href="https://biblehub.com/2_peter/1-10.htm">link</a>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">We will explore here that there is only one explanation. This travesty was exposed almost 300 years ago by Daniel Whitby - a major Protestant theologian of his day. Silence and ignoring him was the response. It has worked so far.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Will it continue?&nbsp; More on that below.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>The Oldest Greek and Latin Manuscripts </strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">The oldest Codex at the time of the King James was the Codex Bezae dating to circa 400 AD. The Codex Bezae versions -- two of them -- included in the Textus Receptus used by the KJV show 2 Peter 1:10 says that "good works" make sure your salvation. Despite this being available to the King James translators, they ignored it. (They ignored other verses like Luke 3:22 for obviously biased reasons as well. See&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/topicindex/235-hebrew-matthew-baptismal-account.html" style="color: #517291;">Baptismal Account of Jesus</a>.)&nbsp; Despite this fact, only one translation in English preserves this original source for the Textus Receptus: the Douay-Rheims.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Incidentally, this is a Bible translation by Catholic sources. This means 100% of all our Protestant English Bibles omit "good works" -- at least as far as the top 30 English Protestant Bibles are concerned. Ironically, only the Catholics have a correct verse at 2 Peter 1:10.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;">Let's quote the Douay-Rheims once more:&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 14pt 54pt 7pt 60px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; text-indent: 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; background-color: #ffffff; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Wherefore, brethren, labour the more, that&nbsp;<strong>by good works</strong>&nbsp;you may make sure your calling and election. For doing these things, you shall not sin at any time. (<strong>Douay-Rheims</strong>.) &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">The Sinaiticus -- now the oldest extent New Testament &nbsp;discovered in the 1850s which dates to about 340 AD (60 years earlier than the Codex Bezae) -- likewise has "good works." So too the Latin Vulgate from 405 AD. Also the Alexandrinus from the 400s -- the earliest source of the Alexandrian tradition. (The Greek manuscripts that came later in the Byzantine tradition are sucessors to this version. So if they vary, they are considered to have strayed from this oldest edition.) </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">We read commentary linked at Biblehub.com to 2 Peter 1:10 mention the following:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 14pt 54pt 7pt 60px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; text-indent: 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; background-color: #ffffff; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Two ancient manuscripts, the Alexandrine and the Sinaitic[us] insert here, "Through your <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">good works</span>.</strong>" (Pulpit Commentary.)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 14pt 54pt 7pt 60px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; text-indent: 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; background-color: #ffffff; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"by <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>good works</strong></span>", as the Vulgate Latin version and&nbsp;<strong>two copies of Beza&rsquo;s read</strong>; or "by your good works" (Gill&rsquo;s Exposition)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 14pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; background-color: #ffffff; text-indent: 45pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Despite this overwhelming manuscript evidence, every English version but Douay-Rheims reads otherwise. The American Standard Version is typical, with "more diligence" appearing with no object of "by good works," thereby leaving hanging "these things" to point at nothing:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 14pt 54pt 7pt 60px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; text-indent: 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; background-color: #ffffff; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Wherefore, brethren, give the <strong>more diligence</strong> to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do&nbsp;<strong>these things</strong>, ye shall never stumble: (2 Peter 1:10 ASV.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why isn't the fact every oldest text to support the Greek Textus Receptus' Codex Beza, including the Sinaiticus, Vulgate, and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Alexandrinus version each has "good works" not enough to compel correction?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Even those&nbsp; who recompiled the Greek New Testament and called it the Textus Receptus using the best sources had "good works" as well. See Textus Receptus of Stephanus (1550) - 61 years prior to the KJV; as well as Scrivener (1894) - 120 years prior to all our modern Bible versions. These were each top scholarly assessments on what was the original.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why is it also not enough that the Critical Text of 1896 by Walcott Hort -- the ultimate inspiration for the Nestle-Aland line of Greek compilation editions behind the NIV -- has "good works" not enough? Yet, the NIV will not budge and did not restore "good works."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">As already mentioned, in our modern editions we see the words "by good works" ommited, leaving "these things" later in the sentence left to point at nothing congruent, such as in the NIV.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">The Latin Vulgate of 405 AD also has "good works" (bona opera) but silence everywhere else other than the Douay-Rheims. This is predictable because it is an English Bible prepared by Catholics as was the Vulgate.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">While I am a Protestant, I also can see truth. Can the well-known Protestant majority belief in faith alone be dictating an unquestionable <strong>bold deletion</strong>?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">What else other than such doctrine explains why the King James has "be diligent" stand alone, rendering incongruous and unexplained why later Peter calls that action "these things"?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">What else explains why the KJV reads that way despite supposedly being based upon the Codex Bezae within the Textus Receptus editions? Both editions of the Codex Bezae says "good works" as Gil above confessed. The KJV translators had no alternative that was from any younger and presumably a more legitimate text. Nor could the KJV translators turn to the Latin Vulgate as an excuse for it too had "good works."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">More oddly, no one even claims some later Greek manuscripts are missing "good works." It appears simply a deletion to something that offends ones ears. Our "Faith Alone" Protestant forefathers were apparently not angels. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Their obvious deletion of "by good works" is proof that their "faith alone" view is the only reason they would do such a treacherous thing. Ironically, that belief excused them from thinking sin like this could ever be damning. They all patted themselves on the back as eternally secure by faith alone. They could have bad works and based upon faith alone "knew" they were just as secure even if they removed words unquestionably present in 2 Peter 1:10. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Doctrine crushed Peter's words.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Regardless of our ancestors' bravado to delete what they acknowledged and sincerely believed was God's inerrant word at that time, we are no longer censors, are we?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">We had a recent chance post-KJV to fix this. But why was the Sinaiticus discovery in the 1800s of a text from about 340 AD not enough to compound the proof that the earliest text read "good works?" That finally we would fix the error of our Protestant over-zealous ancestors?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Oh yes, modern "faith-not works" doctrine would be impinged. Doctrine is still the blockade from truth. We are still all confident that we are promised by Paul that our security in Christ comes only by believing in the facts of Jesus' atoning death, burial and resurrection. Paul assures us we "shall" be saved if we hold those facts about Jesus's life-events "steadfastly" in "our minds." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Cor.+15%3A1-5&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 15:1-5</a>.) Hence, the fact Peter disagrees should be left a secret only a few should ever know.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Perhaps this article will finally cause reconsideration. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">How do we know for certain that it is bias to protect Paul's doctrine of faith alone that explains this? Could our present Bible scholars not know about this by some freakish fluke? Has no one reputable ever before exposed this "mistake"? Is it only the JWO website that has ever seen this?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"> A Reputable Scholar Has Been Ignored For Almost 300 Years</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">We know this apparent blockade has to be due to bias because Daniel Whitby who died in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Whitby" style="color: #517291;">1726</a>&nbsp;-- a well-respected Protestant scholar whose research was impeccable -- exposed this almost 300 years ago. The evidence has only gotten stronger since then in light of the find of the Sinaiticus Bible in 1859 -- the oldest Christian New Testament from about 340 AD.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Daniel&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Whitby" style="color: #517291;">Whitby</a>&nbsp;(1638-1726) explained in his work&nbsp;<strong>Election and Reprobation</strong>, Discourse I 3:1 (1801) at&nbsp;<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VtI9AAAAIAAJ&amp;lpg=PA17&amp;ots=Z-_YQkGp98&amp;dq=whitby%20election%20and%20reprobation&amp;pg=PA43#v=onepage&amp;q=good%20works&amp;f=false" style="color: #517291;">page 43</a>&nbsp;that there are words in 2 Peter 1:10 that we do not see in the KJV (and now the NIV et al.) but are supported by every ancient source imaginable, including the context:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">&ldquo;[Our final election] is to be made sure unto us, &lsquo;by good works,&rsquo; according to that exhortation of St. Peter, (2 Pet. 1:10) &lsquo;give diligence to make your calling and election sure,&nbsp;<strong>BY GOOD WORKS</strong>,&rsquo; as both the&nbsp;<strong>Fathers</strong>, the Syriac, the Vulgar [i.e., Vulgate], the Ethiopic, and many ancient copies read, and&nbsp;<strong>as the text requires</strong>, as the words following, being these, 'for if you do these <strong>things</strong> you shall never fall....&rdquo;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">"As the text requires" means that "good works" is necessary to precede so as to make sense of "if <strong>you do these things</strong>."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, Whitby -- a major Protestant voice in his day -- is saying the Syriac and Ethiopic Greek manuscripts and the Latin Vulgate all have&nbsp;<strong>by</strong>&nbsp;<strong>good works</strong>&nbsp;in the sentence. And 2 Peter 1:10 was quoted by the earliest Patristic writings of the so-called&nbsp;<strong>Fathers</strong>&nbsp;to include the phrase&nbsp;<strong>by good works</strong>. So what it actually says is &ldquo;give diligence to make your calling and election sure&nbsp;<strong>by good works</strong>.&rdquo; Now you can see why the KJV and NIV simply refuse to honor the text. It runs afoul of Paul's words when he says that&nbsp;<strong>security</strong>&nbsp;of one's salvation -- one's election -- comes solely by a one-time faith, and not by good works. See Ephesians 2:8-9.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Despite a major Protestant figure exposing this over 300 years ago, nothing has been done to fix an obvious deletion by our KJV translators and others of that era. This is as transparent a crime against the text as can be imagined. It was obviously due to bias. Any exposure by Darby was treated with silence. Those peddling Bibles in the distant past of Darby's day could not fix this, or they would lose sales. Time has now compounded their greed. Most Bible translators today likely have no idea about this any more, if any of them do. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Silence long pursued as a strategy of deflection will work when all voices of exposure <strong>die off</strong>.&nbsp; Faith alone advocates have played a long game of attrition -- relying upon a power once achieved can never afford to weaken to make room for truth.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">But once this article circulates, as I hope it will, it surely will reach modern Bible translators. Will they let more centuries of generations continue in ignorance? I trust not. For if they trust God as they truly claim, and put truth above greed, then their consciences should not let them do so. There must be one among so many Protestant Bibles which will break through to the other side -- to the side of truth?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">We shall see if any Bible is brave enough to do what should have been done centuries ago: fix this. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Any Protestant Bible that wishes to be noted for fixing this, please let me know, and I will post your decision right at this point: </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Bible #1 to Fix 2 Peter 1:10 -- ?????&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Bible #2 to Fix Peter 1:10 - ????&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">[First posting: 6/29/2020.&nbsp; &nbsp;Latest update 7/26/2020.]</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The Moral of the Story.</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Finally, the best way to defeat mistranslations is to defy them. Obey Peter's instructions to make your election and calling sure by good works. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Some of our spiritual Protestant ancestors over 300 years ago did not do this, committing a grievous sin towards this text. As their souls await judgment, I am pretty confident they are now cognizant how wrong they were to mislead millions -- perhaps billions -- of Protestant souls over the last 300 years on how to make their calling and election sure by good works. All the Protestant souls that could have been led to heaven by a correct translation are now tallied among all thes translators' sins. They now know Paul was wrong that they shall go to heaven for just believing in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, as they incessantly preached from <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A1-4&amp;version=NIV">1 Cor. 15:1-4 </a>for decades. For these deluded or greedy transgressors from 300 years ago, Jesus already told us what happens to them -- a torment worse than being dropped into the darkest depth of the ocean with the heaviest weight about their neck:</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background: white;">42&nbsp;</span><span style="background: white;">&ldquo;If anyone causes one of these little ones&mdash;those </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">who<strong> believe in me</strong>&mdash;to stumble,&nbsp;it would be <strong>better</strong> </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;">for them if a <strong>large millstone were hung around </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>their neck and they were thrown into the </strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="background: white;"><strong>sea</strong>.</span>&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%209:42-50&amp;version=NIV">Mark 9:42-47 NIV.</a>)&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </td>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="background: white;">KJV Adds 9 Words With Unintended Consequences</span></strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><strong><span style="background: white;">QUESTION READER SUBMITS</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">Hi Doug</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">Do you think 1 Cor 7:36 is about allowing a lustful father to marry </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">his virgin daughter (incest)? ***** Anon. (7/5/2020)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><strong>My Answer (7/5/2020.)</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">Appearances would make you think Paul is making allowance for incest.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">Here, however, I will come to Paul's defense. You will see below it was caused by the KJV's foolish insert of nine words in the English translation of verse 38. Solely by doing that does it now appear verse 36 means a father -- the KJV's subject of verse 38 - can fulfill his sexual urges with&nbsp;his own daughter.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">I will explain below that the KJV's additional nine words in verse 38 were added obviously to guard a marriage tradition of King James' England that a single man was not allowed to marry a young lady without a father's permission. These changes in verse 38 left the unintended impression that incest between a father and daughter was now 'no sin' in verse 36.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">The big take away from this is that you cannot trust the KJV as not motivated by politics and bias.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">For the KJV translators were more concerned about perpetuating a custom in England than protecting against adding to a verse materially by means of an outrageous addition of not 1, 2, or 3 words, but instead adding deliberately nine words to make appear a tradition of men was endorsed in the passage at issue!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">NIV ADDS TO VIRGIN&nbsp; --&nbsp; FIANCE ("he is engaged to")</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">First, let's read the NIV of verse 36.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: black;">36&nbsp;</span><span style="color: black;">If anyone is worried that he might not be </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="color: black;">acting honorably toward&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: black;">the virgin he is </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: black;">engaged to,</span><span style="color: black;">&nbsp;and if&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: red;">his passions&nbsp;</span><span style="color: black;">are too </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="color: black;">strong</span><span style="color: black;">[</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+7%3A36&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-28524a">a</a><span style="color: black;">]</span><span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;etc.&nbsp; ***** (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+7%3A36&amp;version=NIV"><span style="color: #222222;">1 Cor. 7:36 NIV</span></a><span style="color: #222222;">.)</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 120px;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">However, you can see "<span style="font-weight: bold;">he is engaged to</span>" is not present in Greek at Mounce's Transliterated version free online: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+7%3A36&amp;version=MOUNCE">link</a>. So the NIV did this to minimize the risk it otherwise reads as a father acting towards his own daughter.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><strong>Parthenos</strong> in Greek simply means <strong>virgin</strong>. The NIV's addition of&nbsp; the notion of a&nbsp;<strong>fiance</strong>&nbsp;(i.e., one "he is engaged to") is a possible context. But the NIV is not free to insert this without advising us in a footnote or some other manner that "he is engaged to" are four words not present in Greek. (Italicization is what the KJV did in 1611 to alert us to their word inserts.)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">Regardless, the point is the NIV's change was done only because of the necessity caused by the KJV's English "translation" adding nine words to verse 38, as we shall prove next.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">KJV ADDS NINE WORDS TO VERSE 38:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">GIVETH (2x) </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">DAUGHTER</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">IN MARRIAGE (2x2)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">OWN&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">HER</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">Now Paul speaks about a virgin again in verse 38, and to avoid the appearance of someone marrying without a father's permission -- something in 1611 that was required in England, the KJV deletes "MARRIES HIS" AND ADDS&nbsp; NINE WORDS NOT PRESENT IN GREEK !!!!!&nbsp; So the same simple word "virgin" which is in 1 Cor. 7:36 whom you can marry to satisfy sexual&nbsp;passion is called one's "daughter" in the KJV of verse 38. Uggh!!</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">You [Anon] were being very observant.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">What's going on?&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">Now if you read the KJV of verse 38, you would have to conclude looking back two verses -- to verse 36 -- that it permits incest unless you do what the NIV did and add "engaged to" to verse 36.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">However, the NIV did not need to add "engaged to" to distinguish itself from verse 38. It was&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">compelled to do so by the familiar but false KJV version of verse 38</span>&nbsp;- a tortured verse with&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">NINE</span>&nbsp;--- not one, two, three, etc., but nine -- words added!!&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">For in verse 38, &nbsp;Mounce's transliteral shows the&nbsp;correct Greek, and compared to the Greek, you will see&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">nine&nbsp;words are not in Mounce</span>. See this link to Mounce: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+7%3A38&amp;version=MOUNCE">link</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">Here is the KJV with the false words bolded:&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="color: #494a44;">&nbsp;"So then both he that&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44;">giveth&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44;">his&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44;">own</span><span style="color: #494a44;">&nbsp;virgin&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44;">daughter&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44;">in marriage&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44;">doeth well; and he that&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44;">giveth her</span><span style="color: #494a44;">&nbsp;not</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44;">&nbsp;in marriage&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44;">shall do better." (</span><a href="http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/7-38.htm">1 Cor. 7:38 KJV.</a><span style="color: #494a44;">)</span><span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">The bolded words are all completely fabricated !!!!&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">So if we go to Mounce at this <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+7%3A38&amp;version=MOUNCE">link</a>, and we simply write out the words found there --</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">verse 38 reads instead:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222; padding-left: 30px;">"So then the&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">one who marries his virgin</span>&nbsp;does well, and the one who does not marry will do even better."&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #222222;">Incidentally the KJV Bible says that whenever it is adding words not present in the Greek it italicizes&nbsp;them. But in this problem-causing verse 38, it shows italics only for&nbsp;</span><strong><span style="font-style: italic; color: #222222;">her</span></strong><span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;in two places. It otherwise omits notifying us of any of the other additions. Here is the official KJV online, italics and all. This is a good reference to know if the KJV <strong>admits</strong> it is adding words not present in Greek. See this</span>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1-Corinthians-7-38/">link</a><span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;for 1 Cor. 7:38, italics and all. Here it was duplicitous -- only italicizing 2 of the nine words it added.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">SUBJECT OF 36 AND 38 WERE THE SAME</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">So the only reason allowance of incest appears plausible in verse 36 is that the KJV changed the subject in verse 38. It went from presumably a single&nbsp; man in verse 36 having a right to marry a virgin (with whom sexual passion was acknowledged) into impliedly a father in verse 38. That obviously unintended consequence must be because otherwise, without those nine extra words, it would sound like a single man could marry a virgin <strong>without any permission from the father</strong>. So it was altered to sound like a father had to give&nbsp;permission to allow a daughter to marry.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #222222;">Obviously, these 9 words were added to uphold a&nbsp;&nbsp;marriage tradition of 1611 England. On such tradition in old England, see Monger,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #222222;">Marriage Customs of the World,&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #222222;">etc.,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=o8JlWxBYs40C&amp;lpg=PA89&amp;ots=g1Ty33CHlp&amp;dq=in%201600s%20did%20a%20suitor%20have%20to%20ask%20permission%20of%20a%20father%20for%20a%20daughter%20to%20marry&amp;pg=PA90#v=onepage&amp;q=in%201600s%20did%20a%20suitor%20have%20to%20ask%20permission%20of%20a%20father%20for%20a%20daughter%20to%20marry&amp;f=false">page 90</a><span style="color: #222222;">.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #222222;"> Quite unscrupulous translating, wouldn't you say?&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #222222;">The NIV tried to help by another false addition -- adding the concept of fiance ("engaged to") to verse 36. But without the nine words in verse 38, such a fiance addition would never need to be added to verse 36.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10.5pt; color: #494a44;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">THANK YOU VERY MUCH</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">I will say you get a high score for being observant. I hope this shows you the importance of having Mounce as a backstop to avoid weird outcomes such as this. I did not know of this passage issue before your email.&nbsp; Now I do, thanks to you. I will add it to my list of KJV mistranslations.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">I trust you will see that by using Mounce you are able to better weigh a criticism of Paul.&nbsp; We have to be fair and honest with&nbsp;Paul,&nbsp;and test even criticisms leveled at him. We must <strong>defend Paul when he is not in the wrong</strong>, and unfairly accused when all the facts are known. As you correctly said yesterday, the only important thing is the truth.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">Blessings of Christ</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">Doug</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #222222;">PS Please feel free to send any questions you have. I enjoy helping out.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>W Reply 7/5/2020:</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">My concern is that Paul emphasizes that &ldquo;he is not sinning&rdquo;. So I think he is talking about something that is considered a sin by many people but explains why it is not a sin in certain situations.****</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>My Answer:</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">I see the issue more clearly that you are having. I think Paul is saying "it is not a sin" to marry or give in marriage, although&nbsp;it is "better" not to marry. For Paul puts down marriage as a destraction for both men and women, and not a sin to marry if it is a man, but if a man marries, he should live with his wife as if he is not married with her, i.e., no relations of a marital nature.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">So I think Paul means that even though&nbsp;he puts down marriage, this does not mean it is a sin to marry. But the cure to the sin of losing focus on God, for Married men, is they must follow Paul's command not to have marital attention on your wife. For a married Christian woman under 60 who is freed from a husband, however, it is a damning sin for her to even desire to Marry. Here are these lessons -- rarely taught or exposed -- all combined in these 4 verses:</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">1.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">In&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor.%2010:27-28&amp;version=KJV"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">1 Cor. 10:27-28</span></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">, Paul advises those not married to stay that way:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44; padding-left: 60px;">"Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. &nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">Are you&nbsp;free from a wife? &nbsp;Do&nbsp;not seek marriage</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">.</span>"</p>
<p style="padding-left: 120px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">Paul adds here it is "no sin" to marry but better if you don't.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">2.&nbsp; Paul explained earlier why it is better for a man not to marry a wife:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">1 Cor. 7:32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">unmarried</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">&nbsp;careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:&nbsp;</span><span style="vertical-align: super; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">33</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">But&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">he that is married careth for the things that are of the world</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">, how he may please his </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">wife</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 120px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">3. So what&nbsp;if a man becomes married? Paul says although it is not a sin for a man to marry, there is a cure on the problem you will now "care for the things of the world" by having married against Paul's counsel that it is better not to marry. Paul in</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/niv/1_corinthians/7.htm"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">1 Cor 7:29</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">. </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">commands this solution:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">&ldquo;the time is short [so] from now on those who have&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">wives</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">&nbsp;should live as&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">though</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">&nbsp;they do&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">not</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">.&rdquo;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 90px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44;">What does this mean? It means to live with a wife as if you do not have a wife. As Paul says elsewhere in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://biblehub.com/text/1_corinthians/9-5.htm">1 Cor. 9:5</a><span style="color: #494a44;">&nbsp;KJV, he is entitled to a "</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44;">sister</span><span style="color: #494a44;">&nbsp;wife" -- implying he would treat his wife as a sister, not a true wife. The Greek is&nbsp;"</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #494a44;">adelphaen</span><span style="color: #494a44;">&nbsp;(sibling, sister) gunaika ("wife")</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">4.&nbsp; However, Paul is harder on women than man&nbsp;on whether it is ever a sin to&nbsp;marry. While it is no sin for a man to desire to marry, with the protection against caring for the world in 1 Cor. 9:5, Paul says a believing widow woman who is under 60 and desires to marry is damned.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+5%3A9-12&amp;version=KJV"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Paul in 1 Timothy 5:9-12,14 KJV</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;">&nbsp;says:&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 18pt; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">&nbsp;9&nbsp;Let not a widow be taken into the number [for charity] under threescore years old [</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">i.e.</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">, 60 years old],...&nbsp;11&nbsp;But&nbsp;the younger widows&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: red;">refuse</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry (sic: "</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: red;">desire to marry</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">"&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+5%3A9-12&amp;version=ASV"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">ASV</span></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: #494a44;">);&nbsp;12&nbsp;Having&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: 'times new roman'; color: red;">damnation, because they have cast off their first faith</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; color: red;">.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 90px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">&nbsp;I hope that helps understand Paul's words that it is "not a sin" to marry. He did not imply he was changing something that previously was prohibited such as the law against incest.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">It is not a sin for a man to marry because by withdrawing relations from the woman, you will not "care for the things of the world." But widowed believing women under 60 are flatly damned for a desire to remarry. Unlike men, they are not given an option to marry, and then have a "brother husband" with whom they have no marital relations so as to avoid "caring for the things of the world."</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Blessings</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Doug&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>Note to Readers:</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">It turns out that this "incest" question was noticed by a Chinese Christian. After further discussions, it was realized that the Chinese Christian Bible he used, and is in most common use, is the Chinese Union Version from 1919. (See "<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Union_Version">Chinese Union Bible</a>," Wikipedia) It had words in verse 38 that reflected the KJV English, not the Greek original words.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><strong>Note on Reina Valera 1909.</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Valera made his Spanish translation a couple of years prior to 1611. Assuming the 1909 version is authentic, it appears he bowed to the Calvinists running Geneva where the tradition of parental permission was also in play. Valera was a minister in that church. As reflected in the 1909 edition, Valera shows a different solution that allowed his friends to keep their new words about "giving in marriage" (twice added), etc., in verse 38 by altering verse 36. Instead of it speaking of "passions" for one's virgins, it says "do what you desire" - apparently "passion is replaced by "do what you desire."</p>
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<td valign="top" ><p>It is misleading to build a thelogical system on certain texts in Paul's epistles without first taking into account the Hebrew Bible and the Synoptic accounts of the Gospel as it came from the lips of Jesus. (Minister, A. Buzzard, 1998)</p></td>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal; background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: #222222;">Jesus Christ&rsquo;s definition of faith </span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal; background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: #222222;">vs. Paul&rsquo;s definition of faith&nbsp; by Joe P, Contributor</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal; background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014%3A12&amp;version=NIV">John 14:12</a> shows Jesus Christ's definition of faith which requires works and how the false apostle Paul's concept of faith completely contradicts Jesus Christ's definition of faith.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014%3A12&amp;version=NIV"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">John </span></a><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014%3A12&amp;version=NIV">14:12</a><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"> - "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black;">As you know, what Jesus Christ said fits perfectly well with what is taught in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A+21-27&amp;version=NIV">Matthew 7 verses 21 to 27</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+6%3A46-49&amp;version=NIV">Luke 6 verses 46 to 49</a>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black;">Paul&rsquo;s concept of faith is quite the opposite. Paul&rsquo;s concept of faith is faith without works.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+4%3A1-5&amp;version=NIV">Romans 4 verse 1 to 5</a> &ndash; &ldquo;What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter?&nbsp;If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about&mdash;but not before God.&nbsp;What does Scripture say? &ldquo;Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.&rdquo;&nbsp; Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.&nbsp;However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul disregards the fact that Abraham&rsquo;s righteousness also came as a result of his works and not just by his faith.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+26%3A+4-5&amp;version=NIV">Genesis 26 verses 4 to 5</a> &ndash; &ldquo;<span style="background: white;">I will make your descendants&nbsp;as numerous as the stars in the sky&nbsp;and will give them all these lands,&nbsp;and through your offspring&nbsp;all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham <strong>obeyed</strong> me&nbsp;and did everything I required of him, <strong>keeping my commands, my decrees&nbsp;and my instructions</strong>.&rdquo;</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This blessing came to Isaac and his descendants because Abraham obeyed God and did everything God required of him, "keeping my commands, my decrees&nbsp;and my instructions."</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God rewards a man according to his works and not just by faith (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+34%3A11%2C+Matthew+16%3A27%2C+Revelation+22%3A12&amp;version=NIV">Job 34:11, Matthew 16 verse 27, Revelation 22 verse 12</a>).</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Let&rsquo;s look at what Paul says.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+3%3A27&amp;version=NIV">Romans 3 verse 27</a> &ndash; &ldquo;Where, then, is boasting?&nbsp;It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Faith in God doesn&rsquo;t mean that a person will keep the commandments in Law of Moses. This can be seen in the life of King David. King David had faith in God. But he didn&rsquo;t apply his faith in his works when he committed adultery with Uriah&rsquo;s wife; when he deceived and murdered Uriah, and then stole Uriah&rsquo;s wife (2 Samuel <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Samuel+11&amp;version=NIV">11</a> to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Samuel+12&amp;version=NIV">12</a>). So the Law requires both faith and works. Not just faith.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">That is why we read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+2%3A26&amp;version=NIV">James 2 verse 26.</a></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+2%3A26&amp;version=NIV">James 2 verse 26</a> &ndash; &ldquo;As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.&rdquo;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; color: black; background: white; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">By Contributor Joe P. (7/24/2020)</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal; background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: #222222;"></span></strong></span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong> Four Major Sins in Acts 23:1-5?</strong></span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Does Paul ever lie?</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We have Paul's own admission of a deliberate lie in Romans&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/romans/3-7.htm" style="color: #517291;">3:7</a>&nbsp;and the use of guile (deception) in&nbsp;<span data-mce-mark="1"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20corinthians%2012:16&amp;version=ASV" style="color: #517291;">2 Cor. 12:16</a>&nbsp;</span>to advance his gospel.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, beyond Paul making an admission of lying or deceit for such purposes, do we ever find Paul lying&nbsp;<strong>in court</strong>&nbsp;which means he bore "false witness" as prohibited in the Law?&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This is clearly bad fruit, if proven, because Jesus says a "false witness" is contrary to the way to "eternal life." (Matt&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2015:18-19&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; outline: none;">15:18-19</a>&nbsp;- Jesus' answer how to have eternal life includes Jesus saying obey the commandments, listing among them not to bear "false witness.")<br /></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Why Does It Matter If Paul Lies In Court?</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul says we should trust his words as based upon revelation from the "Lord" (presumably Jesus) to Paul. See for example&nbsp;1 Cor. 11:23 as explained in Tuck's Commentary&nbsp;<a href="https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/tuck/st_paul%27s_claim_to_direct_revelation.htm" style="color: #517291;">here</a>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, Paul never actually quotes any revelation from "Jesus" to&nbsp;<strong>support any teaching</strong>&nbsp;Paul is delivering. So Paul says we should trust his teachings anyway as inspired from the "Lord" despite missing a key component to deliver such a "message." You must quote Jesus. </span></p>
<p><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">Why is that crucial? </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">Because Yahweh invested Jesus with a unique authority that by-passed the normal requirement that a prophet had to quote YHWH to be accepted. Without quoting YHWH one could not be a prophet. However, YHWH spoke over Jesus'&nbsp; head in front of multiple witnesses "Listen to Him!" and "This is my beloved son who pleases me greatly." See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+9%3A7&amp;version=NIV">Mark 9:7</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+17%3A5&amp;version=NIV">Matt 17:5</a>. See also <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+3%3A22&amp;version=NIV">Luke 3:22</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+3%3A16&amp;version=NIV">Matt 3:16</a>.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;"><br /></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">Yahweh did so to invoke remembrance of Deut 18:15-19 where YHWH said He will send "The Prophet" whose every word would be from YHWH, andYHWH then says this is why we must "listen to him." Peter had heard that voice from heaven "Listen to Him." Thus, in Peter's&nbsp; second major sermon, Peter quotes&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Deut 18:15-19 in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+3%3A22-23&amp;version=NIV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; color: #517291;">Acts 3:22-23</a>. <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">&nbsp;Peter leads 5,000 to believe Jesus is "The Prophet," insisting that we must "obey him" or be "destroyed" from among God's people for disobeying "The Prophet." </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">For more detail on the unique status of Jesus' words over those who cannot or will not quote YHWH as a source, se</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #494a44;">e our article <a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/recommendedreading/532-the-jesus-words-only-principle-explained.html">Jesus' Words Only Principle Proven from Deut 18:15-19</a>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul asks us to accept he has revelations from "the Lord" without quoting Jesus or Yahweh in his epistles to support any of Paul's teachings. Paul clearly explains why he does not do so -- he was ordered not to repeat the "Lord's" words heard in a revelation in the "third heaven."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">For when Paul says he is teaching based upon "revelation" from the "Lord," Paul says he received them when taken up to the "third heaven." Paul then explains why we should not to be surprised Paul does not quote Jesus for his teachings. Paul was "not permitted" to "tell"about them per&nbsp; 2 Cor. 12:4 in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+corinthians+12%3A4&amp;version=NIV">NIV</a>, or was advised that it was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+corinthians+12%3A4&amp;version=ASV">"unlawful to"</a> repeat them in the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+corinthians+12%3A4&amp;version=ASV">ASV</a> -- what he heard said in that third heaven. &nbsp;This prohibition explains why Paul never quotes a revelation from Jesus for any of Paul's teachings in his epistles. (For more on the question about when Paul ever quotes Jesus in his epistles, see NOTE after END for this article.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As a result of these claims by Paul that his teachings are based upon private "revelations" which he is "not permitted" to repeat, Paul is&nbsp;<strong>claiming to be a prophet</strong>&nbsp;of the "Lord" but in only that&nbsp;<strong>highly constrained sense</strong>. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">If there is any doubt Paul is claiming to be a prophet, let's remember most of Christianity today takes all Paul's words at face value as if Jesus revealed them to him despite Paul never quoting Jesus for any of Paul's teachings. These passages cited above about revelations "unlawful" to repeat are the major proofs offered that we must accept Paul as a prophet.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, we have a duty from Jesus to test Paul's fruits because Paul like any other would-be prophet of things heard in "heaven" -- even if not quoted -- must be tested by "fruits" as Jesus instructed in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+7%3A15-16&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291;">Matthew 7:15-16</a>. There Jesus says "beware the false prophets" whom you can recognize by "<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">their fruits</span></strong>."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Bearing "false witness" is a bad fruit. See&nbsp;Matt&nbsp;<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2015:18-19&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291; outline: none;">15:18-19</a>&nbsp;where Jesus says the way to eternal life includes not bearing a "false witness."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Does Paul Bear False Witness Not Once, But Twice in Court?</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Paul in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+23%3A1&amp;version=NIV">Acts 23:1</a>&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+23%3A1&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291;"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">is testifying in front of the Sanhedrin Court. The High Priest is present. After cursing the High Priest, Paul in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+23%3A4-5&amp;version=NIV">Acts 23:4-5</a>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">acknowledges he was subject to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+22%3A28&amp;version=KJV">Exodus 22:28</a>&nbsp;--</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">&nbsp;&ldquo;you shall not...</span><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #ff0000;">curse</span>&nbsp;</strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">a ruler of your people.&rdquo; Paul had cursed the High Priest by saying &ldquo;God will smite you.&rdquo;&nbsp;<span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;(</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+23%3A3&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Acts 23:3</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Paul also vulgarly reviled the High Priest by calling him a &ldquo;urinal wall&rdquo; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+23%3A3&amp;version=KJV">Acts 23:3</a>)&nbsp; It is typically translated as "whited wall" - causing us to miss how actually vulgar was Paul's insult.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">As to the proper translation, even as mainstream a source as you can find admits it. The Bible Study.org website shamelessly explains in "<a href="https://www.biblestudy.org/question/did-paul-place-a-curse-on-high-priest.html">Who did Paul curse</a>" in Acts 23 that Paul's reference to a whited wall meant a "designated area where the public could urinate." It explains "the Hebrew word koniao [adopted in Greek] translated as <strong>whitened</strong> [in Acts 23:3] <strong>actually refers</strong> to spreading lime dust which is still used <strong>in outdoor toilets</strong>." Bible Study.org concludes Paul is thus "referring to <strong>someone</strong> as a <strong>wall upon which the public could urinate.....</strong>" </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">But it was not just "someone" but rather was the High Priest. Such is the way Paul's misdeeds are softened so subtly by "explanations."</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thereafter, the interchange went like this according to Luke who was&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">present: </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Those standing near Paul said: "How dare you insult the High Priest?" Paul replied: "Brothers <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">I did not realize he was the High Priest</span></strong>, for it is written 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2023%3A4-5&amp;version=NIV">Acts 23:4-5 NIV.</a>)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul's reviling and cursing of the High Priest was because the High Priest ordered Paul slapped because he thought Paul lied when Paul said he has &ldquo;lived in all good conscience&nbsp;before God till this day." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+23%3A1&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291;">Acts 23:1</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So had Paul lived without deliberate sin up to that "day" -- the meaning of saying that he lived "in all good conscience to that day"?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">No, and by Paul's own admission, for elsewhere Paul admits:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&ldquo;I was formerly&nbsp;<strong>a blasphemer</strong>&nbsp;and a persecutor and&nbsp;<strong>a violent aggressor</strong>.&rdquo; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Tim.+1%3A13&amp;version=NASB">1 Tim. 1:13 NASB</a>.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">One of those "violent aggressions" by Paul was against people whom he participated in unlawfully executing without a proper trial. This is in Acts 8 at the stoning of Stephen. In a hearing before a Governor at Caesarea, Paul testifies in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+22%3A20&amp;version=NASB">Acts 22:20</a>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">that he gave "consent" to the murder of Stephen, and held the garments of those physicaly murdering Stephen.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another prior violent agression of Paul which the High Priest likely knew personally about was Paul's pre-Damascus Road violent attack on James the Just&nbsp; - the Bishop of Jerusalem and brother of Jesus. Paul in response to James's preaching from the Temple pinnacle had rushed up to the pinnacle and threw James&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/component/content/article/1-jwo/724-did-paul-murder-james-the-brother-of-jesus.html" style="color: #517291;">down from the temple </a>pinnacle, seriously injuring him. James never had a proper trial, as the Law mandates.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul cannot claim ignorance that executions or attempted executions without a proper trial are unlawful. Illicit deliberate killing is murder.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">And what about Paul having been a blasphemer? </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">First, you may wonder how Paul can believe he was a "blasphemer" - guilty of the unpardonable sin, yet be saved? It was because Paul believed grace meant "you could be justified of&nbsp;</span><strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">all things</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">&nbsp;you could&nbsp;</span><strong style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">not be justified by the Law</strong><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">" (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A39&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; color: #517291;">Acts 13:39</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.)&nbsp;Only blasphemy was the sin which could never be justified under the Law, making it the unpardonable sin, as Jesus taught. See&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A39&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; color: #517291;">Paul Contradicts Jesus that Blasphemy was Pardonable</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">. Thus, Paul came to think just accepting Jesus' atonement, burial and resurrection wiped this clean. See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Cor.+15%3A1-4+&amp;version=KJV">1 Cor. 15:1-4 </a>("steadfastly holding in mind" the "death" and "burial" and "resurrection" of Christ shall "save you.") Hence, Paul shamelessly claims he was "justified" of a sin that the Law said you could never be justified over.&nbsp; But it would be a lie to say that he had "lived in all good conscience" in his entire life up to that point.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There is even a second obvious lie by Paul in Acts 23, but one which Luke could not detect. Paul said he was not guilty of violating Exodus 22:28 because he did not know the High Priest was talking. However, the High Priest in a courtroom setting is known</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(a) by His distinctive dress that he was commanded to wear outside at all times by a command in the Bible (see&nbsp;<a href="http://st-takla.org/bible/dictionary/en/h/high-priest.html" style="color: #517291;">link</a>) and</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(b) by his seating position.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One of the most obvious distinctions is the High Priest's dress included a band of gold on his forehead with the words written in Hebrew "Holiness to the Lord" and which he "shall <strong>wear always</strong>." (<a href="http://www.redeemerofisrael.org/2014/02/the-crown-of-jewish-high-priest.html#:~:text=February%2019%2C%202014-,The%20Crown%20of%20the%20High%20Priest,28%3A36%2D38)." style="color: #517291;">Exodus 28:36-38 KJV</a>.) The High Priest could thus never leave his home without putting this extremely distinctive head-dress on his forehead. For a picture, see this&nbsp;<a href="http://www.redeemerofisrael.org/2014/02/the-crown-of-jewish-high-priest.html#:~:text=February%2019%2C%202014-,The%20Crown%20of%20the%20High%20Priest,28%3A36%2D38)." style="color: #517291;">link.</a></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul's testimony before the Sanhedrin Court that he did not knowingly curse the High Priest is necessarily false. For Paul told Luke that prior to this Courtroom scene that he went to the "High Priest" for letters to arrest Christians (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9%3A1-2&amp;version=KJV" style="color: #517291;">Acts 9:1-2 KJV</a>). Also in Court another time, Paul likewise testified in&nbsp;<a href="https://biblehub.com/acts/26-10.htm" style="color: #517291;">Acts 26:10&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;(ISV, Weymouth) that&nbsp;the "High Priests" engaged Paul for his persecutions of Christians. So how how could Paul be directly hired by the High Priest (Acts 9:12), and by his succesors (Acts 26:10) but not recognize the uniquely singular head dress of the High Priest which Paul could recognize solely by reading Exodus 28:36-38?</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alternatively, if you believe Paul is constantly inspired, then Paul knew by the Holy Spirit it was the High Priest, and then lied about it. So either Paul is not always inspired yet clearly knowingly lied, or Paul was inspired at all times, and lied to the High Priest anyway not only that Paul had never knowingly sinned to this point in his life, but also that Paul did not recognize this was the High Priest before reviling and cursing the High Priest.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Either way, the episode discredits Paul as a voice for Christians to listen to. Jesus tells us that those who wish us to accept themselves as prophets (as Paul does), we know to reject if their fruit is evil. See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207%3A15-20&amp;version=NKJV">Matthew 7:15-21</a>. Lying in Court -- bearing false witness -- is obviously evil fruit.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Conclusion: Two Big Lies and Two Other Major Sins of Paul in Acts 23</span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, there are two lies by Paul in Acts 23. His court testimony:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[1] he never had deliberately sinned before: and </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 60px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[2] Paul did not know it was the High Priest speaking. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These lies were especially egregious as bearing a false witness in court as Paul was speaking to the Sanhedrin court in obvious testimony.&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Furthermore, lest we forget, the second consequence of proving Paul lied&nbsp; is this means Paul knowingly violated Exodus 22:28 by cursing the High Priest. Another major sin, as Paul admits a knowing violation of that law was a major sin. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, Paul also knowingly violated Exodus 22:28 by "speaking evil" of the High Priest as a urinal wall. Paul construed the meaning of Exodus 22:28 in Acts 23:4-5 as prohibiting "speaking evil" of someone. Something so vulgar is certainly evil. Another major sin.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, there are actually four major sins in one passage including two lies in court testimony. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These were all extremely bad and vulgar fruit of a disgusting quality for those among us who believe the Holy Spirit can never talk this way from a truly born-again believer.&nbsp; </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then why did Luke record them? </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Because ironically, Luke as a Gentile would never be the wiser, for the lies of Paul could only be known had Luke known of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.redeemerofisrael.org/2014/02/the-crown-of-jewish-high-priest.html#:~:text=February%2019%2C%202014-,The%20Crown%20of%20the%20High%20Priest,28%3A36%2D38)." style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; color: #517291;">Exodus 28:36-38 KJV</a>&nbsp;that Paul had to know from his time as a student of Gamaliel and his personal encounters with the High Priest that only the High Priest wore this gold band on his forehead "Holiness to the Lord." Luke obviously did not know that gold band on the High Priest was unique. Thus, Luke gullibly reported the truth of what he heard in Court, assuming Paul would never bear false witness in Court.&nbsp;<br /><br /></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">END&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">NOTE ON PAUL's ONE QUOTE OF THE LORD FROM A PRIVATE MESSAGE ONLY FOR PAUL in 2 Cor. 12&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul gives one exception right after his "third-heaven" account that said he was not permitted to repeat the words revealed in the third heaven.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This exception does not reflect a teaching for us but only was a private message for Paul. For Paul quotes the "Lord" only once in his epistles&nbsp;&nbsp;talking to Paul&nbsp;when the "Lord" told him he would leave Paul subject to an "Angel of Satan" for his own good -- to teach Paul to be humble, and thus the Lord" said he would leave Paul subject to the stinger in his flesh from this "Angel of Satan" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+12%3A7&amp;version=MOUNCE" style="color: #517291;">2 Cor 12:7</a>&nbsp;Mounce "angelos Satanas"). Paul's Lord says this is because the "grace" given Paul to that point was enough. See&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+12%3A7-9&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291;">2 Cor. 12:7-9 NIV</a>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Most Paulinists are repulsed by this passage in 2 Cor. 12, and claim it cannot mean what it implies -- that the true Lord Jesus left Paul under the dominion of Satan. See discussion in our article:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/recommendedreading/721-paul-never-served-the-role-of-a-messenger-of-jesus.html" style="color: #517291;">Was Paul A True Messenger of Jesus'&nbsp; Words?</a>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Related Cross-References. </span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/427-did-paul-ever-deliberately-lie.html">Paul's Further Lies in Same Sanhedrin Testimony That He was On Trial over Belief in Resurrecton - Acts 26:6-8</a>.&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><strong><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Comments on This Article. </span></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span id="en-WEB-27845" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(I promised to post non-hateful comments even if I do not agree with them. Thus, what is posted below are varied and different takes on the same subject matter.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Professor Barrie Wilson</strong> (author of <strong>How Jesus Became a Christian</strong>, and the newly released I<strong>n Search Of Messiah</strong>). (August 4, 2020)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Hi Doug,</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">&nbsp;You can take your analysis further.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">&nbsp;1. We can test the account of Paul in the Book of Acts versus what Paul</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">says in his genuine letters. That establishes that Acts' Paul is not Paul's</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Paul. It's interesting that Acts is the one book of the Bible we can</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">fact-check. That analysis shows that the Book of Acts cannot be relied</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">on&nbsp;for accurate information about Paul. It is a mythologized Paul.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">&nbsp;2. Then, once we have the base -- Paul's 7 genuine letters -- the analysis</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">can proceed further, to show that Paul's positions are at variance from</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">those who knew the historical Jesus. He never had the benefit of a 3 year</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">mentoring process as did the original disciples. And Paul had the</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">temerity&nbsp;to call them agents of Satan. So who lies?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">&nbsp;3. There are more mythologized Pauls -- e.g. the Paul in the Pastoral</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Epistles. The Paul in Acts of Thecla. People in the 2nd century CE</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">wanted&nbsp;a&nbsp;heroic Paul and they created one.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">&nbsp;I think the more that people come to see how different Paul is from</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Jesus,&nbsp;the more the teachings of the latter stand out. On my website</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: black;">(</span><a href="http://www.barriewilson.com/">www.barriewilson.com</a><span style="color: black;">) I have a section called Early</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Christianity--Explorations. This <strong>probes in detail Paul vs Jesus</strong>. It's</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">message is in <strong>keeping with yours.</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">&nbsp;Meanwhile I have a new book that's being released this week in the</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">USA&nbsp;and&nbsp;Canada. I've attached some information about it. I'm sure</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">you'd&nbsp;agree&nbsp;with&nbsp;much of it (not all, I imagine) and especially</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">the last chapter.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">****</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">All the best and thanks for contacting me.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">&nbsp;Barrie&nbsp; (August 4, 2020)&nbsp;</p><iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=wwwjesuswords-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B07ZHNNQRJ&asins=B07ZHNNQRJ&linkId=c52e3df3049d944f92610e1e7824816b&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe> </td>
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<p><strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">Reviews by Clergy of the Jesus' Words Only Principle.</span></strong></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">I just wanted to say hello and thank you for all of the&nbsp;research and publication on the subject of Paul&rsquo;s&nbsp;apostasy. My wife and I started to reject Pauline&nbsp;doctrine several months ago, when <strong>I was preparing&nbsp;a sermon and noticed that Jesus' words and Paul's&nbsp;words didn't match up</strong>. I had probably noticed it&nbsp;before, but growing up in church I became preconditioned to reconcile Paul&rsquo;s lies. At a time when we were starting to wondering if this was something that God had revealed or we were reading too much into, your website has encouraged us in our stance. Thank you for everything you are doing.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">(James 6/9/2020, pastor, emphasis added.)&nbsp;</p>
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<p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;">YHWH has ambushed me.&nbsp; I am a <strong>full-time prison chaplain</strong> endorsed by a non-denominational group.&nbsp; I am a former Seventh-day Adventist Pastor (13 years).&nbsp; I read a lot on Hebrew Roots.&nbsp; I have two MA's from trips to seminary. Now, I run into your work (just ordered both books on Amazon).&nbsp; I have never been comfortable with Paul.&nbsp; I have a hard time reconciling his ideas...[W]ho in today's world believes someone that shows up at church and says that God has chosen them to lead?&nbsp; We usually show those folks the door.&nbsp; I am sure Peter and James felt that same way.&hellip; Anyway, I thank you&hellip;.I can't worship in these cookie-cutter feel-good shops posing as churches. &nbsp;(M. July 29, 2017)</span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-size: 24px; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Dear Brother Douglas.&nbsp;Praise and Glory to Yah!!!&nbsp;We are now aware of the wrong words of the man who calls himself an apostle of Jesus (Paul). He is just a mere person, speaking evil to the chosen people of Yah. He speaks against the Torah and the doing away of Yah's commandments. You helped me greatly to understand this Paul. I have helped our orphans and members to understand the truth. Christians must decide whether&nbsp;Paul is to be called an apostle or not. I have now the full idea about Paul's evil words and poor teachings in all his so-called letters. I came to disqualify all his letters. This man is from the Devil. I classify him as the False prophet without fear.</span><span style="color: #494a44; font-size: 24px; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">How can a man be against Yah's Chosen generation, Against the Torah and Yah's commandments -- even the Shabbat, and people still call him an apostle!!!???? (Brother Pius, Kenya, <strong>formerly pastor</strong> until gave up the title to be just a brother)(Aug 6, 2015)</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Dear Doug. Your books are very clear. I read them and I find you are true. I agree with you. (<strong>Pastor</strong> N. from Rwanda E. Africa (May 20, 2010).</span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">With this knowledge I hope that all may see the light! &nbsp;(<strong>Pastor</strong> M. May 9, 2010.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Your book on Paul was given to me by a friend that I just recently met and it has been instrumental in our being able to reach others with this very important message. &nbsp;<strong>Having been a Baptist missionary and a pastor for a number of years,</strong> I don't have to tell you what my mindset was for most of my life. However, a few years ago I began having problems with what I was seeing in the Bible and what I was preaching so I left the church and started searching....It is difficult to find fellowship with like minded believers but there are a few of us and we enjoy studying and midrashing the Scriptures together Again I thank you for your incredible work and your taking time to respond. &nbsp;May Yah richly bless you as you continue your invaluable work. (John 11/20/2008)</span></p>
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<td valign="top" >"Second century Christians...continued to recognize that the teachings of Jesus--not Paul--were the central tenets of Christianity." (Bercot, <em>Theologians </em>(2010) at 51.)</td>
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<h1>Email Exchange On Law Applicable Today</h1>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Wheeler M. email May 26, 2010:</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I have recently found your site and am reading through it with great interest. If I may, I'd like to ask a question. In your view that the law of Moses is still binding for the Christian, does this include the ceremonial law? The food laws? Many thanks in advance for your consideration of these questions.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">My Response</span></strong></span></h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hi Wheeler,</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Is Law Binding Today?</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Based upon&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A17-19&amp;version=YLT">Matthew 5:17-19,</a>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus is saying the Law will continue until heaven and earth pass away. Jesus likewise says in Luke that the Law and Prophets were "proclaimed until John," and now the "kingdom of God" is proclaimed. (Luke 16:16.) Then Jesus explains this does not mean the Law has passed away or fallen away. (When humans change presidents or kings, the pre-existing laws are not done away with either.) Jesus explains in the next verse, saying that it is easier for "heaven and earth to pass away" than for one small dot which forms a letter, like the dot in our letter i (called in Hebrew a "tittle") to "fall" from the Law. Jesus necessarily means that even though we preach the kingdom of God, it is based upon centuries of foundation of preaching of the Law and prophets, from which not a single provision will pass away while the heavens and earth still stand.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">What Laws Apply to Gentiles?</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A very narrow set of commands apply to Gentiles living in the tribes of Israel. By spiritual analogy, it is the same for Gentiles in whom the kingdom of God lives today.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The principle of reading the Law by a Gentile is simple: if the Law says it applies to a foreigner/sojourner, it applies to Gentiles. A sojourner was an uncircumcised member of the nations. Otherwise, it applies only to Israelites, <em>e.g.</em>, circumcision in Lev. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2012&amp;version=KJV">12:1-3</a>&nbsp;applies only to "sons of Israel." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Sometimes a command only to "sons of Israel" extends the same duty to Gentiles in&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">an exception which thereby broadens the duty to also be upon Gentiles in the gates ("sojourners"). For example, on circumcision, while this law was only upon "sons of Israel" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus+12%3A1-3&amp;version=ASV">Lev. 12:1-3</a>), it had two exceptions where a sojourner (Gentile) living in community in Israel had to be circumcised.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> First, if a sojourner (Gentile) wishes to participate in the Passover feast at someone's home -- which is voluntary, then the Gentile must be circumcised. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+12%3A48&amp;version=KJV">Exodus 12:48</a>.) Also later, Ezekiel added prophetically that a Ge</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">ntile who wished to enter the Temple had to be circumcised. </span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel+44%3A9&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Ezekiel 44:9</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000000; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 21px;">Hence, figuring out the duty of a Gentile living in the kingdom under the Law is fairly easy and obvious to determine.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000000; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 21px;">Below, I provide you encyclopedia summaries of the laws in the Torah that apply to Gentiles. As you will come to realize, many people exaggerate what applies, apparently from self-interest, or to appear more 'strict,' etc. But the Law is the Law. We must put aside the filters of our own and read it as it reads -- neither adding to it or subtracting from it.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 21px;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Gentiles Promised Tribal Inheritance without Circumcision</span></strong> &nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 21px;">Before we get into the laws applicable to Gentiles, it is important to know the prophet Ezekiel made clear that if a sojourner lived in the kingdom of Israel,<strong> they became a co-inheritor within the tribe they chose to dwell</strong>. Yet, they remained in the legal category of sojourners, and were never "sons of Israel" thereafter. There was no requirement of circumcision, yet they were entitled to an "inheritance" in the kingdom equal to a son of Israel, meaning the land they lived on could pass to their children. By analogy to us Gentiles today, we jointly share in the kingdom of God by a similar principle. Here is the passage in Ezekiel:&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 21px;"><span id="en-ASV-21701" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">21&nbsp;</span>So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.&nbsp;</span><span id="en-ASV-21702" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">22&nbsp;</span>And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who shall beget children among you; and they shall be unto you as the home-born among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.&nbsp;</span><span id="en-ASV-21703" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">23&nbsp;</span>And it shall come to pass, that <em><strong>in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith</strong></em> the Lord Jehovah [sic: Yahweh]. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+47:21-23">Ezek 47:21-23 ASV.</a></span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What About the One Law Verse: Its Meaning</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A Gentile can voluntarily comply with a Law only applicable to "sons of Israel" such as the command to be circumcised. But if the Gentile attempts to do so, then he / she must comply with that particular Law's prescriptions. In that sense, and only in that sense, is there one Law applicable to Sons of Israel and sojourners (gentiles). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is evident in Numbers 15:13-15 which says if a "stranger" or one "living permanently" with Sons of Israel "wishes to offer a food offering...<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">he shall do as you do</span></strong>." After saying this, it says "For there is <em><strong>one statute for you and the stranger who sojourns with you</strong></em>...." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here, the sojourner had the right <em><strong>not to comply with the offering statute at all.</strong></em> However, once the duty was assumed to offer a food offering, then the sojourner must do so in the same manner as the "son of Israel." Hence, unless a law binds a sojourner, <em>i.e</em>., it is directed at the sojourner, it is optional. But once assumed, the Gentile must comply with its terms.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The sojourner-directed laws represent a very small set of commands -- largely the 10 commandments - which applies to Gentiles. (More can be found between Lev. 17-26 known as the Code of Righteousness.) See heading below: LAW FOR SOJOURNERS.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luther in <em>Antinomian Theses</em> and Bonhoeffer in<em> Cost of Discipleship</em> reduced it more-or-less simply to the 10 commandments. However, I think that is too narrow. Many of Jesus' moral statements were paraphrases of the Lev. 17-26 section. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">All four commands James declared in Acts 15:9 for Gentiles to follow come from prescriptions that each time the law expressly applies to both "sons of Israel" and sojurners ("ger"): Lev. 17:3-9 (not eat meat sacrificed to idols - bring instead to Temple for sacrifice); Lev. 18:6-26 (sexual immorality), viz. 18:26; Lev. 17:15-16 (do not eat animal killed by strangulation); Lev. 17:10-14 (abstain from eating meat with blood in it, viz. 17:11. See Bryan T. Huie <a href="http://www.herealittletherealittle.net/index.cfm?page_name=Acts-Chapter-15">What Was the Objective of the Jerusalem Council</a>?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Tyndale is also consistent with how I interpret the scope of the Law on Gentiles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, when Jesus said the "greatest" in the kingdom teach the Law (in Matt. 5:17-19), He meant largely these provisions.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As a result, none of the ceremonial laws or clean-unclean laws apply to foreigners/sojourners unless expressly stated to apply to foreigners/sojourners, of which are few. (I keep the food laws as health laws, and not laws of right/wrong. Jesus said the food that goes in you does not make you a sinner. Hence "clean" "unclean" in the Law signified a health issue, not a moral one.&nbsp; Eating idol meat was in Deuteronomy / Exodus / Leviticus -- in different texts from food laws of "clean / unclean" (health) &nbsp;-- and eating idol meat was a moral wrong. Not much concern today about that.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Also, in my opinion, any of the temple laws are in suspense due to the destruction of the temple.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I also believe Jesus' sacrifice as God's Lamb fulills satisfactorily the blood to be shed as an atonement sacrifice. This does not mean the Law of atonement is done away with. Very much the opposite is true. Instead, we must call on Jesus' sacrifice as our atonement today. When doing so, we are calling on a Law that only appears in the Mosaic Law. It did not exist in the Abrahamic Covenant. Thus, under the Mosaic Law, we Gentiles always have had a right to call on the Atonement principle. (See Numbers 22:18 discussed below.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The only difference today is we recognize that Isaiah 53 prophesied that a servant-man would come as God's lamb and pay that atonement price. Thus no bulls, goats or lambs would be needed any more even if the Temple still stood. Instead, the blood of God's lamb is our atonement. Hence, the rule of atonement still applies to favor Gentiles if they so wish to appropriate it. It was a privilege for Gentiles under the Law to do so, yet, under Numbers 22:18, the Gentile who sought atonement had to satisfy the same conditions for atonement that sons of Israel had to satisfy -- repentance and works worthy of repentance. See below.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Did this help?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Doug</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; background-color: transparent;"><span>James Gave Us Starter Rules, Trusting Weekly Readings from the Law to Fill In Our Knowledge</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The bishop of Jerusalem, James, in Acts 15:19 gave us the starter 4 rules from the Law given Moses to follow as Gentiles. For example, James told us not to eat meat with blood in it. This is in the Noahide Commands and the Mosaic Torah Law. Yet, Christians routinely violate this command by eating meat without the three-pressings out of blood to render meat clean of blood. It now turns out that science shows it is the heme iron in meat that renders it toxic to humans. The heme iron activates oxidative damage that can explain the statistical correlation between cancer, heart disease, etc. and eating meat with the blood in it. See our article <a href="/component/content/article/18-the-law-given-moses/699-bible-study-on-eating-meat-with-the-blood-in-it.html">Eating Meat with the Blood In It</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">James in Acts 15:19 in his decision on the four rules then implies in verse 21 that we Gentiles will progress in obedience to the Torah as we attend on Sabbath the synagogue where a portion of the Law is read weekly. For James adds in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+15&amp;version=WEB">Acts 15:21</a> "For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, <em><strong>being read in the synagogues every Sabbath</strong></em>.&rdquo;&nbsp; </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As Todd Derstine explains what this means: "At the conclusion of the first Apostolic Conference in Acts 15, James said that the new Gentile converts to the Way would be able to grow in righteousness by having Moses read to them in the synagogues every Sabbath day." Bryan Huie also reads this verse in context, and understands it similarly:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 30px;">What does the concluding statement by James mean?&nbsp; This declaration has been widely misunderstood by scholars because of a prevailing antinomian bias in interpretation.&nbsp; However, if we keep in mind that James is explaining here the&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">reason</span>&nbsp;for his decision not to require circumcision of adult Gentile males, as well as the reason for the four commands he did bind upon the Gentiles, this verse begins to make sense.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 30px;"><span>James <strong>expected</strong> that after being accepted into the congregation of Israel by obeying these four minimal requirements, the Gentiles would <strong>attend synagogue services on the Sabbath and LEARN the Law of Moses</strong>.&nbsp; If one was truly converted, with this familiarization would come OBEDIENCE.&nbsp; (Huie, <a href="http://www.herealittletherealittle.net/index.cfm?page_name=Acts-Chapter-15">supra</a>.) </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span>And following the logic that James only applied four commands for immediate obedience in Acts 15:19, which each specified in the Law were applicable to sojourners, that meant circumcision would not apply unless the Law specifically mentioned a sojourner must obey it. Since Lev. 12:1-3 imposes circumicsion on only "Sons of Israel," it did not apply to Gentiles. However, because there were two exceptions elsewhere -- for observance of Passover in a home, if a Gentile chose to participate, or for entry into the Temple, the sojourner controlled whether ever he had to be circumcised simply by not celebrating passover or by not entering the Temple. See Exodus 12:48 (circumcision to participate in Passover); Ezekiel 44:9 (Gentile entering Temple must be circumcised).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I interpret Acts 15 similar to Derstine &amp; Huie. In context, James intended not to burden Gentiles with a long list of commands right at the beginning. James offered a time to learn them by weekly Sabbath readings of the Law. Our conscience would improve as time went on...God knowing whether we seek to obey or not during that time of growing. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, some read the decision by James - the bishop of Jerusalem and not an apostle -- as saying Gentiles need obey only four laws from the Law. If true, this makes Jesus' endorsement of the ten commandments and principles found in Leviticus' Code of Righteousness as <strong>legitimately cast aside by a non-apostle</strong> - James. That cannot be James' point. But this conclusion is wrong in context anyway -- as James immediately follows mention of these four rules by saying "For the Law" has been "preached" in weekly sabbath from old times, implying that such practice will surely continue and the knowledge of the Law can gradually be learned. This fits what Luke mentions elsewhere in Acts, such as that Gentiles were attending synagogue services on Sabbath at that time and "hearing the word of the Lord" that way. See <a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/13-44.htm">Acts 13:44-45</a>. And certainly Gentiles who accepted Christ would continue to do this because they were following Christ's example, as we are told to do, in Luke's Gospel that Jesus' "custom" was to "go to synagogue on the Sabbath." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/13-44.htm">Luke 4:16</a>.) Gentiles were at the same time told by Peter that "Christ left you an example," and you should "follow in His steps." (1 Peter 2:21). John likewise said "one who says he abides in Him should walk even as he walked." (1 John 2:6.) Hence, Luke who wrote Acts presumably understood James meant the very same thing: that Gentiles would learn the Law gradually by following Jesus' example of attending regular synagogue services on Sabbath where the Law is read each week.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When one reads the argument against this by Michael Morrison in <a href="https://www.gci.org/bible/act15">Christians and the Law of Moses: A Study of Acts 15</a>, one readily can see&nbsp;the weakness of any counter-argument. He says Acts 15:21 follows the four rules supposedly telling the Gentiles they need no longer follow such practice of Sabbath attendance and any further hearing of the Law. Morrison strangely says:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 60px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 14pt;">Instead, it will be enough to give them four rules, which they will find easy to comply with. <strong>Why give them these rules?</strong> Notice the reason that James gives: &ldquo;For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath&rdquo; (v. 21).</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 60px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 14pt;">James was <strong>not encouraging Gentile Christians to attend the synagogues</strong>. He was <strong>not saying they should listen to the laws of Moses</strong>. No, but <strong>because those laws were commonly preached, the apostles should tell the Gentiles four rules</strong>. Then they would not think that Christianity is more difficult than it is.</span></div>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;However, this argument is reading this backwards, as if James is giving four immediate rules as a means to allow Gentiles to avoid ever needing to attend a Sabbath service to learn more. Instead, it is obviously the other way around. James is giving them the four rules because he explains the "law of Moses has been preached ...and read in the synagogues every Sabbath." The connection is obvious: no more than four laws from the Law need be put on a new Gentile at this time -- the issue in Acts 15:2 on what are the essential laws for salvation -- because the Gentiles will learn gradually the laws that apply to them. Circumcision was not one of them, as the Law imposes that only on "sons of Israel" in Lev. 12:1-3.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To help foster the mistake that Morrison falls into, a <strong>deliberate</strong> <strong>fabrication</strong> was added to Acts 15:24 in the 10th century that had the apostles say 'we gave no command to obey the law to Gentiles.' This ended up in many English Bibles, as the KJV translators relied upon a corrupted 10th Century text. However, the ASV of 1901 and the NIV removed the fraud. See this <a href="/component/content/article/1-jwo/750-deliberate-fabrication-in-acts-1524-by-10th-century.html">link</a>. (That link also explains Acts 15:5, and 21:25 were modified at the same time to make it appear James and Peter were addressing whether any of the Law applied to Gentiles.)</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, God holds us accountable like a child who is growing in conscience. God in fact affirms we can know nothing or little of the Law given Moses yet obey the same principles of God by conscience. For example,&nbsp;Jesus extolled Job ... a Gentile man 500 years prior to the Law. God said to Satan about this Gentile man that &ldquo;there is none like him in the earth, a<strong> perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and turneth away from evil</strong>: and he still holdeth fast his integrity....&rdquo; (Job 2:3.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Likewise Apostle Peter realizes in Cornelius, a Gentile, that those who "fear" God and &ldquo;<strong>do righteousness</strong>&rdquo; are &ldquo;<strong>acceptable to God</strong>&rdquo; whether Gentile or Jew. (Acts 10:35.) This must have been obedience to principles known without the Law as Cornelius was a Gentile.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">But, as James indicated, God intends our conscience to grow, impelled by our Love of God and our regular reading from or hearing the Law and the Master's words.</span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Law for Sojourners Today</strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The Law given Noah to not eat meat with the blood in it (Genesis 9) is de facto universal on all mankind, whether Jew or Gentile. This command precedes the Law given Moses, and thus whatever one thinks about the Mosaic law, there is still this one command. Interestingly, all meats, including chicken and beef, are routinely sold today with the blood undrained fully. Only a Kosher market will sell fully drained meats. Is it any wonder that we are learning that a predominant cause of deadly health diseases, e.g., cancer, cardiac problems, etc., stem from eating animal meat -- which by default are sold with the blood in it?&nbsp; See our article <a href="/component/content/article/18-the-law-given-moses/699-bible-study-on-eating-meat-with-the-blood-in-it.html">Do Gentiles Have To Avoid Eating Meat with the Blood in It?</a>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">But is it correct as many think that such laws can change? We know supposedly how to make meat safe, and we can leave the blood in the meat at no risk to our health. While breaking this law is breaking a law to protect our health, and does not mean we have broken a moral law that would render us a sinner, it is still a Law of God -- for our health, and we should not presume we know better than God.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">For what does God say?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Law of God given to Moses is perfect and unchanging. Ps. 19:7; James 1:25. It is "<strong>eternal for all generations</strong>" -- a statement repeated 11 times:&nbsp;Ex. 27:21; 30:21; Lev. 6:18; 7:36; 10:9; 17:7; 23:14, 21, 41; 24:3; Num. 10:8.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Charles Ryrie, the famous Paulinist evangelical scholar, contradicts this and insists "the Law was<strong> never given to Gentiles</strong>, and was <strong>expressly done away</strong> for the Christian." (Charles Ryrie, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=wCjXQwAACAAJ&amp;dq=ryrie+balancing+the+christian+life&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=u8diTYGLIpK0sAOBsLzpBw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CD0Q6AEwAA">Balancing the Christian Life</a> (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969) at 88, quoted in Mathison: 88.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Charles Mathison, a Reformed Christian, correctly responds -- albeit from within his Reformed world-view -- that Ryrie errs:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But that claim cannot be substantiated Biblically. Throughout Scripture there is only one ultimate standard to which God holds not only the Jews<strong> but also the "stranger" among them</strong> (Lev. 24:22), "the nations" (Ps. 9:4-5), "the world" (<em>id.</em>, vv. 7-8), that is the Gentiles....God is the universal king over "all the earth," and not only Israel. (Ps. 47: 2, 7-9)...In many passages, Scripture teaches that non-Israelites have the same moral standards as Israelites and are punished for breaking them (<em>e.g.</em>, Lev. 18:24-27; 2 Kings 17:24-41; Ps. 119:118-19; Prov. 14:34; 16:12; 17:15; Isa. 10:1; 24:5-6; Dan. 4:24-25; Amos 1:3, 6,9,11,13; 2:1,4,6.) (Keith Mathison, <em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=UZ4LAAAACAAJ&amp;dq=mathison+dispensationalism+rightly+dividing&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=6MliTbqqHonSsAPzwMHaCA&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA">Dispensationalism: Rightly Dividing the People of God?</a></em> (P&amp;R Publishing: 1995) at 88.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Mathison is correct that there is one Law, and the Gentile was subject to the commands therein, often referenced by the name 'strangers' or 'foreigners' or,'sojourner.'</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As Blaine Robinson, M.A. explains in the <a href="http://www.blainerobison.com/hebroots/twelve-tribes.htm">Twelve Tribes of Israel</a>&nbsp;(2010) a Gentile who was a citizen of Israel's community was known as a sojourner, and not an Israelite:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal; font-family: Verdana;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">No Gentile was ever called an Israelite (<em>cf.</em> Acts 4:10; 9:15; Rom 11:25) .... Gentiles that &ldquo;sojourned&rdquo; with Israel were treated as citizens of the commonwealth, as long as they obeyed the laws of God. (</span></span><span data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">See Ex 12:19, 43-49; 20:10; 23:12; Lev 16:29; 17:8-15; 18:26; 20:2; 22:10, 18-19; 24:16, 22; Num 9:14; 15:14-16, 26-30; 19:10; Deut 5:14; 16:11, 14; 31:12.)&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">This status meant that they had the same justice rights as native-born Israelites. Gentiles could also share in the Passover meal as long as the males were circumcised (Ex 12:48).</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">How do we know when the Law extends to the sojourners? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Some misinterpret the following verse to believe there is no distinction, and thus all commands in the Torah apply to Gentiles as well who live in community with Israel:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you. (Numbers 15:16)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">While it is true there is one Law (Torah) which is the same for an Israelite and Gentile -- that means the One BOOK of Torah. The Numbers verse does not mean every law in the Torah applies to both the Israelite and Gentile-sojourner in Israel. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We know that is a wrong reading because the Law differentiates frequently between each, thus evincing it is incorrect to interpret the "one Law" verse in Numbers as meaning the scope of the Law is identical. The most glaring difference is the law of circumcision which the Law says solely applies to "sons of Israel" (Lev. 12:1-3) but not to sojourners (Gentiles) unless they wish to participate in Passover. (Exodus 12:48.) (Later, Ezekiel also added that a Gentile who wished to enter the Temple had to be circumcised. Ezekiel 44:9.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The excellent ministry First Fruits of Zion recently explained the Numbers passage is limited by context. After quoting Numbers 15:16, it explains:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This seems simple enough. According to these verses, there is one law for both Jews and Gentiles. Therefore, Gentile believers should keep the whole Torah.<br /> <br /> But wait. It&rsquo;s not that clear.<br /> <br /> First of all, the context deals<strong> not with the application of Torah as a whole, but specifically with the sacrifices</strong>. In other words, if an alien wanted to offer a sacrifice in the Temple <strong>he needed to follow the same Torah guidelines as the Israelite</strong>. [See Lev. 22:18.] The passage is not saying that all the laws of Torah apply equally to Jews and Gentiles. ("One Law and the Gentiles,"&nbsp;<em>The Weekly E-drash&nbsp;</em>(First Fruits of Zion, June 10, 2014).</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, when we read Leviticus 22:18, we see that "sojourners" (Gentiles) are now added so that when they too bring offerings -- although not mandatory on them -- they must follow the same legal standards. Thus, those standards are introduced by this verse:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">18&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&ldquo;Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them,</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">,</span>&nbsp;... (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus+22%3A18&amp;version=ESV">Lev. 22:18</a>, ESV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The scholar Jan Joosten reviewed the Holiness Code (Lev.&nbsp; chapters 17-26), and found the sacrifices are not obligatory on the Gentiles in Israel -- the sojourners, but the Law provided if they wanted to participate in atonement, they had to abide by the same legal standard as applied to "sons of Israel" as their obligation. Jan Joosten explains in <strong>People and Land in the Holiness Code: An Exegetical Study of the Ideational Framework of the Law in Leviticus 17-26,</strong> Volume 67 (Brill 1996)&nbsp;at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=bv0x1WyNp8IC&amp;lpg=PA68&amp;ots=FWTnZV-mE8&amp;dq=sojourners%20bring%20sacrifice%20at%20temple&amp;pg=PA68#v=onepage&amp;q=sojourners%20bring%20sacrifice%20at%20temple&amp;f=false">page 68</a>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Here [in Lev. 22:18], as in [Lev.] 17:8, the <em>ger</em> [sojourner / Gentile] is seen to bring sacrifices which could lead one to think of a proselyte. However, the <strong>priestly laws nowhere limit the bringing of sacrifices exclusively to the Israelites</strong>. [FN. Cf. the sacrifice brought by the foreigner in 22:25, and Numbers 15:14 where both gerim and 'whoever else is living among you' are <strong>permitted to bring sacrifices</strong>.] Also note that the present law does not require that the&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>ger</em> offer sacrifices to YHWH, but merely regulates for that eventuality. The picture which is emerging is of an alien residing among the Israelites in their land to whom the possibility of sacrificing at the Israelite shrine is open. Should he wish to bring sacrifice, then his sacrifice must meet all the usual requirements.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">With that correct understanding, let's examine carefully what Laws in the one Law squarely apply to Gentiles. Whenever they apply equally, they are construed identically, as&nbsp;<em>First Fruits of Zion</em> makes clear.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Five Categories of Law Applicable to Gentiles</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In my opinion, there are five types of Laws in the Original Testament that apply to sojourning Gentiles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First, under the Law, certain commands were open-ended, applicable to all. I put the Ten Commandments here.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, some applied only to the sons of Israel, such as the circumcision command. See Lev. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2012&amp;version=KJV">12:1-3</a> ("sons of Israel"). Only if an uncircumcised Gentile wished to enter the Temple / sanctuary, he had to be circumcised. Ezek. 44:9. Or if he wished to share in the Passover meal. Ex. 12:48.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Third, some commands were extended to both Israel and sojourners equally (such as the moral commands between Leviticus chapters 17 and 26 and others sprinkled elsewhere in Leviticus). Some of the food laws are within this category too, <em>e.g.</em>, not to eat animals killed by other animals. Lev. <a href="http://bible.cc/leviticus/17-15.htm">17:15</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Fourth, some commands applied equally only depending upon special circumstances (<em>e.g.</em>, if a sojourner wanted to participate in Passover seder, they had to be circumcised (Ex. 12:48), or if the sojourner wanted an atonement for their sin, they were subject to the same conditions as an Israelite (Lev. 22:18 <em>et seq</em>.).)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally, since the temple has been destroyed, Jews cannot accomplish the legal technicalities for an offering for sin. Thus, neither could Gentiles if they wanted to do so. However, as believers that Isaiah 53 prophesied of a Messiah Servant, Jesus, who would atone for both Israelites and Gentiles, we would extend the principle of Lev. 22:18 to the moral conditions one must satisfy to acquire Jesus' atonement. We would say the conditions on atonement equally apply now to both Israelite and Gentile who accept Yahshua Jesus as Messiah (=Prince, King, Ruler). Jesus explained the conditional moral principles in <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A22-26&amp;version=ASV" style="color: #517291; outline: none; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">Matt 5:22-26</a>&nbsp;(be reconciled / appease the one you offended before bringing your sacrifice to the altar.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">These moral conditions of atonement - which were simplified by John the Baptist and Jesus as "works worthy of repentance" -- were previously stated in&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jer. 7:20-25; Mic. 6:6-8,&nbsp;</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Atonementhtml.html#pgfId=478171" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Joel 2:13, Hos.14:1-2;&nbsp;</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Atonementhtml.html#pgfId=478194" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">and Mal. 1:10,</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Atonementhtml.html#pgfId=478214" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;3:3-4. Cf. Isaiah 27:9. The pro</span>phets clarified atonement could not be used as some form of magic or divination of a power over God that would insist God somehow made an unconditional promise of atonement for those who had <strong>not</strong> turned from sin but who had invoked the legal right of atonement for sin. Jesus reconfirmed these prophetic clarifications on the moral conditions of the right to atonement in Matthew 5:22-26. This is discussed in detail in <a href="/books/jesuswordssalvation/128-chapter-1-jwos.html">chapter one</a> of my book&nbsp;<em>Jesus' Words on Salvation.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Finally, some of the Law was extended <strong>solely</strong> to non-Israelite sojourners, <em>e.g.</em>, eating animals that died naturally which Israelites were prohibited from eating. Deut. 14:21.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For more detailed information, see below: "Encyclopedia References to Law Applicable to Gentiles Under the Torah."</span></p>
<hr />
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">So What Laws Apply to Gentiles In The Torah?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The Ten Commandments appear open-ended and have universal application to Israel and Sojourners living in community with Israel. But others argue the Ten Commandments (Decalogue) are not open-ended, implied from Exodus 20:2 which says "I...brought you out of the Land of Egypt." </span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">However, this is a claim caused by ignorance. A stream of Gentiles <strong>ger</strong> accompanied the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt -- going with them through the waters held back by God to let the entire mass exodus get to the promised land.&nbsp; Exodus 12:38, 48. This was likely in part due to the fact that two of the tribes were of mixed-Gentile heritage -- Manasseh and Ephraim -- who derived from an Egyptian mother Asenath who married Joseph, and were given Tribe status through Joseph. See "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asenath">Asenath</a>," Wikipedia.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The numbers of Gentiles welcome into the tribes of Israel were increased during the conquest of Canaan. Joshua 9:3.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Even if we took seriously that the Commandments did not mean the sojourners as well, still this point is largely irrelevant. You can find specific mention of most of the Ten Commandments imposed on sojourners: blasphemy -- using God's name in vain / insultingly (Lev. 24:16; Num 15:30); murder (Lev. 24:17); Sabbath-breaking (Deut. 5:12-15; Lev. 25:6; Exo 23:12); adultery (Lev. 20:2, 10), etc.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Moreover, even if the Decalogue / Ten Commandments as a whole does not apply, Bonhoeffer says Jesus extended the Decalogue to all in the New Covenant when He spoke to the young rich man. (Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-26.) See Bonhoeffer,&nbsp;<em>Cost of Discipleship</em> (1937) at 72-84.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And as explained above, we who invoke Jesus' atonement pursuant to Leviticus 22:18 <em>et seq.</em>, must satisfy the same moral conditions that applied to Israelites: leave your gift at the altar, and go be reconciled to the one whom you offended - either God or man, or both. Jesus and John the Baptist also refered to this as "works worthy of repentance."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To find more commands applicable to Gentiles, I suggest one start by reading Leviticus chapter 17 to the end of Leviticus chapter 26-- known as the HOLINESS CODE. In doing so, highlight any command you think applies to sojourners or is open ended. I call this the MORAL SECTION of the Law. Jesus regularly quoted from this moral section in His sermons.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God Promises Salvation to Sojourners Who Obey Sabbath and Cling to The Covenant</span></strong></span></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In Isaiah 56:1-7, we read about the salvation terms for the "son of the stranger" (<em>i.e.</em>, the non-Jew who joins with the Jews):</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>1</sup>Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>2</sup>Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>3</sup><strong>Neither</strong> let the <strong>son of the stranger</strong>, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, <strong>saying</strong>, The LORD hath<strong> utterly separated me from his people:</strong> neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>4</sup>For thus saith the LORD unto the<strong> eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me</strong>, and take hold of my covenant;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>5</sup>Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls<strong> a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters</strong>: I will give them an<strong> everlasting name, that shall not be cut off</strong>.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>6</sup>Also the <strong>sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant</strong>;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>7</sup>Even them will<strong> I bring to my holy mountain</strong>, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. (Isaiah <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%2056:1-7&amp;version=KJV">56:1-7</a> KJV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This passage makes crystal clear that laying hold of the covenant and doing things pleasing to God, including taking our Sabbath rest, are the conditions of salvation for Gentiles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The inclusion of Gentiles was in the Law itself.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Deuteronomy 32:43 -</strong> Rejoice, O ye nations,&nbsp;<strong>with his people</strong>: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And in the Prophets, Jeremiah <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jer.%203:17&amp;version=YLT">3:17</a> reads:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh; and<strong><em> all the nations shall be gathered unto it</em></strong>, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Command To Rest The Land</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What about the command to rest the land from sowing every seven years?</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/leviticus/25-4.htm">Lev. 25:4</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The land was not to be sown from the last harvest of the 6th year of a cycle. The vines were not to be cut back to allow new growth. The land itself would still grow food / grapes, etc. The law continues, and specifically allows Israelites and "sojourners" to gather the natural growth of the field in year 7. The point was to stop making the land have to work to produce food.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Does this apply to a sojourner who owns land? The command is over the land, and not to whoever owns it. This would appear to be a principle applicable to Gentiles who own land. This principle turns out to be good husbandry of the land. It allows the nutrients to rebuild as the little worms work the soil. See "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_rotation">Crop Rotation</a>,"&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>Wikipedia</em>.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This command to rest the land, incidentally, is a moral one. Apparently with the Babylonian captivity in view, God prophesied in Leviticus that if the Israelites did not give the land rest, God would send them into captivity long enough to make up for the overdue rest which the Land deserved.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #592902; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 21px;" data-mce-mark="1">&ldquo;I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you.&nbsp; Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.&nbsp; Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.&nbsp; All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the Sabbaths you lived in it.&rdquo; &nbsp;</span><em style="color: #592902; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">(Leviticus 26:33&ndash;35)</em></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If the Babylonian captivity fulfilled this prophesied punishment, this means that the 50 years in Babylon made up for 50 cycles without any Sabbath annual rest.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If this implies it is a moral command, as I suggest due to the serious punishment attached to its violation, this would be a command that a Gentile follower of Jesus should follow if they own land that requires tilling to create new crops. Furthermore, now we scientifically know we should be glad to do so anyway.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #3366ff;">What About Passover?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Passover dinner, which precedes the feast of unleavened bread, is optional for the Sojourner. However, if he "will keep it," then the Sojourner has to be circumcised. (Exo 12:48; Nu 9:14.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Passover was an honor for a non-Jew sojourner to celebrate. If he chose to do so, he must be circumcised.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What About Tithing?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tithing clearly does not apply to Gentiles, but only to sons of Israel. Gentiles, whether poor or not, were one of the several beneficiaries of the tithe paid by Sons of Israel, along with widows, orphans, and Levite priests. See our article on <a href="/component/content/article/18-the-law-given-moses/562-whether-gentile-christians-have-to-tithe.html">Whether Gentiles Are Subject to the Law of Tithing</a>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #333399;">The Didache Instructions</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #000000;"></span><br /></span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Didache of about 100 AD -- considered the oldest surviving manual of Christianity -- addressed what Law applied to Gentiles from the Torah. It claimed it was written by the 12 Apostles. Rather than make any careful distinction, as we did above, it said to<em><strong> do your best to keep all of it</strong></em>. The Temple was gone, so this may be a prudent general instruction, measured by historical Christianity. The ministry First Fruits of Zion explains this historical background in the article I previously quoted. It explains that it is likely that most Gentile Christians early on tried to keep as much of the Torah as possible:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in 12pt 30px; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The <em>Didache</em> is allegedly a collection of apostolic instructions for Gentile believers. When discussing the question of how much Torah a Gentile is obligated to keep, the <em>Didache</em> recommends keeping all of it, but leaves the matter up to an individual&rsquo;s capacity:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in 15pt 60px; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If you are able to bear all the yoke of the Lord [i.e., Torah], you will be perfect; but if you are not able, do as much as you are able to do. (<em>Didache</em> 6:2)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in 12pt 30px; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The <em>Didache</em> agrees with Numbers 15:15&ndash;16. There is not supposed to be a different Torah for Gentile believers. The Gentile believers are not supposed to have a different type of worship or religion. There is only one Torah for God&rsquo;s people. The only question left open is to what extent the Gentile believer is obligated. Most of the laws of the Torah apply equally to Jewish and Gentile disciples of Yeshua. </span><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> On the other hand, Gentile believers <em><strong>are not obligated to keep all of the ceremonial laws as the Jewish believers such as circumcision and other distinct markers of Jewish identity like the calendar, the holy days, the dietary laws, and so forth</strong></em>. Despite that, the Bible does not create alternative Gentile versions of these institutions.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> In the days of the apostles, the Gentile believers kept most of those things along with the Jewish believers as part of their participation in their shared religion.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, according to FFOZ, the Law given Moses does not extend to Gentiles the duties to keep circumcision, the calendar, the holy days, the dietary laws, etc. As we saw above, it did extend Sabbath and some food prohibitions on Gentiles (which even James repeated in Acts), so this is an overstatement by FFOZ. Yet, perhaps it is wise to follow the rule of the Didache: keep as much of it as you can feasibly apply to your life. If you don't wear 4 cornered clothes, you don't need to wear philacteries, so don't worry about that command, for example. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 16.5pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #3366ff;">What about Other Feast Days Than Passover? </span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A young man who is a Christian and keeps Sabbath has a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1AFbfVqtQ">You Tube video</a> that reviews whether feast days are mandatory for a Christian to observe. He argues they no longer apply. I disagree as to Passover. He points out that Lev. 23:27 says the feast days are to be holy convocations to make an offering by fire. He contends that without sacrifices, they would cease to be feast days. He says Deut 16:2 says the passover is necessarily a sacrifice. However, I see it has a second function that continues -- a remembrance of God's provisions when Israel was in bondage in Egypt. He relies upon Paul to say that circumcision was abolished, and no longer necessary. (See 4:20 mark.) While I don't agree with his conclusion entirely, he may have a point about any holiday that is only about sacrifice, since they are suspended at the Temple. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-top: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I do believe that the Day of Atonement still applies to sojourners / foreigners in the midst of Israel, and hence must observe it. See <a href="/component/content/article/18-the-law-given-moses/891-day-of-atonement-what-it-means-to-gentile-christians.html">The Day of Atonement - What it Means to Gentiles.</a></span></p>
<h2><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #333399;"></span></strong></h2>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #333399;">Supplemental Comments</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>Blessings of God After A Meal</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are certain laws that are wise to follow. &nbsp;For example, the Law apparently commands a blessing after one has eaten and is satisfied. See&nbsp;Deuteronomy <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%208:10&amp;version=NIV">8:10</a>.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When you have eaten and are satisfied, <strong><em>praise the LORD your God</em></strong> <strong><em>for the good land</em></strong> he has given you.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It apparently is a&nbsp;safeguard against ungratefulness and idolatry. Cf. 8:12; 31:20. There is no command to bless God prior to a meal. But neither is there a prohibition from doing so.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>What Of Levitical Interpretations of the Law?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Levites had a special authority under the Law to provide binding interpretations of the Law (not to extend it or nullify it):</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in&nbsp;those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: And thou&nbsp;shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall&nbsp;choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform&nbsp;thee<strong><em>: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee</em></strong>, and according&nbsp;to the judgment which they shall tell thee, <strong><em>thou shalt do</em></strong>: thou shalt not decline from&nbsp;the sentence which they shall shew thee, [to] the right hand, nor [to] the left. And the&nbsp;man that will do presumptuously,<strong><em> and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth&nbsp;to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall&nbsp;die</em></strong>: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel." Deuteronomy 17:9-12.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What do we do now that there are no more Levites to turn to? In my opinion, God took them away so our High Priest Jesus / Yahshua would be the one whose words interpreting the Law would be paramount. We would not sway to the left or right, but "listen to Him," as Yah spoke twice from heaven about Jesus / Yahshua -- once at His baptism and second at His transfiguration.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Encyclopedia References to Law Applicable to Gentiles Under Torah</span></strong></span></h2>
<h4><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=6OJvO2jMCr8C&amp;pg=PA562&amp;lpg=PA562&amp;dq=Certain+rights+were+conceded+to+them&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Fuo3Dkw-xy&amp;sig=du5LhrkRXBWD7vETc3Xs7nKmDA4&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=u6tzUO2fNaXKyQHa1IGoAw&amp;ved=0CE8Q6AEwBg">The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia </a>reads in its article "Sojourners":</span></h4>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"The Mosaic legislation was quite <strong><em>open to receive outsiders into the covenant community</em></strong> (hence the LXX rendering of&nbsp;ger proselytos). Certain rights were conceded to them, including sabbatical rest (Ex. 20:10; 23:12; Dt. 5:14), a fair trial (1:16), access to the cities of refuge (Nu. 35:15; Josh. 20:9), and participation in the Feasts of Booths and Weeks (Dt. 16:11, 14). Their sustenance was to be guaranteed by provision for gleaning (along with other needy groups, Lev. 19:10; 23:22), by the triennial tithe (Dt. 26:11f) and by the produce of the land during the Sabbatical Year (Lev. 25:6f). Indeed, the juxtaposition of ger with "native of the land" (e.g., Ex. 12:19, 48), "your countrymen" (lit "your brother"), "sons of Israel," and similar expressions clearly indicates that<strong><em> sojourners were to be treated for the most part just like ordinary Israelites.</em></strong> Their&nbsp;privileges and responsibilities thus included observing the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29), the Passover (Ex. 12:49; Nu. 9:14), Unleavened Bread (Ex. 12:19); sacrificial procedures (Lev. 17:8; 22:18; Nu. 15:14&ndash;16);&nbsp;atonement for unintentional and defiant sin (15:26&ndash;31); purification rites after eating unclean meat (Lev. 17:15; Nu. 19:10), sacrifices to Molech (Lev. 20:2); blaspheming the name of the Lord (24:16), sexual and moral purity (18:26),lex talionis (24:20&ndash;22). Lev. 19:33f summarized the idealized position of the&nbsp;ger's [Heb. native born] position was so secure that his prosperity could conceivably exceed that of the native Israelites, and the latter could become servants for the former (Lev. 25:47&ndash;55). Covenantal infidelity would bring these conditions as a curse upon Israel (Dt. 28:43)..... Whereas Lev. 17:15 forbids the native and the&nbsp;ger to eat animals that have died a natural death, Dt. 14:21 suggests that such animals could be given to the&nbsp;ger or sold to foreigners for consumption.... At an early period Israel probably adhered to these ideals (Dt. 29:10f [MT 9f]; cf. also 31:12, which included the <em><strong>sojourners in the assembly of those gathered for instruction in the Torah and the fear of the Lord).</strong></em> The <em><strong>ger&icirc;m were also present at the covenant renewal ceremony</strong></em> conducted at Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim (Josh. 8:33). ...&nbsp;Second-class treatment of sojourners may, however, be documented from later history. The&nbsp;g&ecirc;r&icirc;m noted separately in David&rsquo;s census (2 Ch. 2:17 [MT 16]) became the basis of Solomon&rsquo;s work crews, some of which consisted entirely of sojourners (cf. 1 Ch. 22:2). Nevertheless, in&nbsp;Ezekiel&rsquo;s vision of the restored community (47:22), the identification of the&nbsp;g&ecirc;r&icirc;m with native Israelites is almost complete, even to receiving an inheritance of land in the midst of the tribe in which they resided. [<em>ISBE</em> (Editor Geoffrey Bromiley)(1995) Vol. 4 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=6OJvO2jMCr8C&amp;lpg=PA562&amp;ots=Fuo3Dkw-xy&amp;dq=Certain%20rights%20were%20conceded%20to%20them&amp;pg=PA562#v=onepage&amp;q=Certain%20rights%20were%20conceded%20to%20them&amp;f=false">562</a>, with some bracketed corrections.]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Alien," <em>Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible </em><em>reads:</em></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Foreigners or sojourners had certain rights but also certain limitations while in Israel. They could <strong><em>offer sacrifices </em></strong>(Lv 17:8; 22:18) but <em><strong>could not enter the sanctuary unless circumcised </strong></em>(Ez 44:9). They were allowed to participate in the three great Jewish festivals (Dt 16:11, 14) but <em><strong>could not eat the Passover meal unless circumcised</strong></em> (Ex 12:43, 48)....They were <em><strong>not to work on the sabbath</strong></em> and the Day of Atonement (Ex 20:10; 23:12; Lv 16:29; Dt 5:14) and could be stoned for reviling or blaspheming God&rsquo;s name (Lv 24:16; Nm 15:30). Foreigners <strong><em>were forbidden to eat blood</em></strong> (Lv 17:10, 12) but could eat animals that had died a natural death (Dt 14:21). Israel&rsquo;s code of <em><strong>sexual morality also applied to the foreigner</strong></em> (Lv 18:26).&nbsp;There were prohibitions against Israelite intermarriage with foreigners, but it was nevertheless a common occurrence (Gn 34:14; Ex 34:12, 16; Dt 7:3, 4; Jos 23:12). ...<em><strong>Civil rights were provided for foreigners by the Law of Moses</strong></em> (Ex 12:49; Lv 24:22), and they came under the <em><strong>same legal processes and penalties</strong></em> (Lv 20:2; 24:16, 22; Dt 1:16). They were to be treated politely (Ex 22:21; 23:9), loved as those under the love of God (Lv 19:34; Dt 10:18, 19), and <em><strong>treated generously if poor and receive the fruits of the harvest</strong></em> (Lv 19:10; 23:22; Dt 24:19&ndash;22).&nbsp;They could receive asylum in times of trouble (Nm 35:15; Jos 20:9). <em><strong>Foreign servants were to receive treatment equal to Hebrew servants</strong></em> (Dt 24:14). A foreigner could not take part in tribal deliberations or become a king (17:15). The prophet Ezekiel looked forward to the messianic age when the foreigner would share all the blessings of the land with God&rsquo;s own people (Ez 47:22, 23) in Israel.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">'Anyone' Commands</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are other commands applicable to "<em><strong>anyone</strong></em>" and I would say this word means they apply to both Israelites and Sojourning-Gentiles living in their community. For example, there is a command to return what you stole, whether entrusted to you or by robbery, plus pay 1/5 (20%) more. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%206&amp;version=NIV">Leviticus 6:1-8 NIV</a>. This begins saying "Yahweh told Moses, If <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">anyone</span></strong> sins and is unfaithful to Yahweh by deceiving...." Then there are later additions to this principle to tie into it. In Numbers 5:8, it teaches if when you repent, and now you must restore the goods or items stolen, but there is no one any longer to whom to give, you give the restitution to Yahweh - implying you donate it to the Temple "alms" box for the poor. Since there is no longer any such box at most Christian churches, I would say you still must find a way to route this money to the poor.</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Identifiable Moral Commands In A Mixed Context</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Sometimes there are passages clearly directed to the Sons of Israel that contain commands that would seem to have a moral component having nothing to do with only the Sons of Israel. For example, Exodus 23 is a long list of commands, and clearly it is only to the Sons of Israel, as it describes what they are to do when they come into the land that has Gentiles which evidently is only a command to Israelites. Among the moral commands is one against taking bribes, and I would not construe its presence in this context as intended to limit it to Israelite judges:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Do not accept a bribe [<em>i.e.</em>, payment to allow a wrong to be done / ignored],</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2023&amp;version=NIV">Exodus 23:8</a> NIV.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So if I am a Gentile and serve as a Judge, can I as a Christian accept a bribe? The answer is clear that this command comes with an&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>identifier</em> of the rationale -- a universal rationale. It says a "bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent." Hence, this is a moral command, and not merely a command which could have a non-universal application just to Israelites. Hence, I would follow it, and obviously accept its moral imperative from Yahweh to me as a judge.</span></span></p>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Email on July 20, 2012</span></strong></span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">D writes me:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You may recall I told you we were having a Bible Study in our home conducted by a Messianic Jew.... and at one time we had 20 people attending. Slowly, one by one, they stopped coming. In retrospect, I believe there was too much Jewish tradition that was not explained. At least, that was the case for me.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example, wearing a&nbsp;shawl or a scull cap when praying. I understand all Jews follow this tradition. At present, I'm not sure, as a gentile, exactly what I should and should not be doing. One thing that turned me off regarding the Messianic movement was when I saw on the Internet<em><strong> a bunch of Jew wannabees wearing a scull cap along with a long beard.</strong></em> HOWEVER, I'm simply seeking truth. If I discover I need to be wearing certain things while praying, I will do so, to be obedient to our heavenly Father.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What is <em><strong>your understanding or belief regarding what you wear while praying?</strong></em> For example, at sundown on Friday night, while praying in the Sabbath.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I'm currently studying the feasts mentioned in the Torah. There seems to be a lot of blessings we are missing by not celebrating these dates. What are your thoughts on this subject? Have you written anything on this subject?</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">My Reply to D on July 21, 2012</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To answer how to know what laws apply, I start first with Yashua's words - Yahweh appointed him in Deuteronomy 18 as "the prophet" -- the obedience to whose words would be "required." This is a universal principle for Jew and Gentile stated in the Law.</span></p>
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<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Next, I read the Law as having often distinct commands to Israel versus "sojourners" or "foreigners" (not Israelites) who lived in Israel. The latter are now known as Gentiles. If they live in community with Israel, <em><strong>some but not all commands applicable to Israel applies to the Gentiles by the strict reading of the Law itself.</strong></em> So Leviticus 12:1-3 says Israelites must be circumcised, but the Law has no blanket command to Gentiles to do so. It implicitly says they don't have to be circumcised in all cases to live in community with Israel because elsewhere it says if the Gentile (sojourner / foreigner) wishes to celebrate Passover (no compulsion to do so), they must be circumcised. Exodus 12:19. I believe these kind of distinctions in the Law are why James in Acts 15 did not impose circumcision on Gentiles who came to Christ -- apparently &nbsp;strictly reading Leviticus 12:1-3 which narrows its application to the "sons of Israel."</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, the issue about a prayer shawl must turn on the text of the command, if any, found in the Law, and then whether it also applies to Gentiles.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">WIkipedia on the Tallit&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallit" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.<wbr />org/wiki/Tallit</a> has this to say:</span></div>
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<blockquote style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The&nbsp;<strong>Bible does not command wearing of a unique prayer shawl or tallit</strong>. Instead, it presumes that people wore a garment of some type to cover themselves and instructs them to add fringes (tzitzit) to the 4 corners of these (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Numbers" target="_blank" title="Book of Numbers">Numbers</a> 15:38, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuteronomy" target="_blank" title="Deuteronomy">Deuteronomy</a> </span><wbr /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">22:12). These passages do not specify tying particular types or numbers of knots in the fringes. Nor do they specify a gender division between men and women, or between native Israelite/Hebrew people and those assimilated by them. The exact customs regarding the tying of the tzitzit and the format of the tallit are post-Biblical and rabbinical and can vary between various Jewish communities.</span></span></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, there is no command to pray with a shawl. (Paul taught a woman must have a head covering, but even Paul had no command that a man use a prayer shawl.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, the fringes command only applies if you are wearing a 4 cornered garment, but there is <em><strong>no command to wear a four cornered garment (like a poncho).</strong></em> Thus, it is largely anachronistic -- meaning clothing practices of today rarely involve where one puts on a four cornered poncho. It can happen. But I don't concern myself about it because I do not wear such clothes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">By the way, the command about not cutting one's beard in a certain way is not a command to have a beard. It is a command not in effect to have a Fu Manchu shaped beard. I have a page on that if you need it. It is in JWO. Hence, having a beard, even for a Jew, is not required.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, a lot of traditions are just that ... traditions.... or <strong><em>hedges around the Law</em></strong> -- <em><strong>exaggerated readings to prevent any possible theoretical violation</strong></em>. Jesus / Yashua told us<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> not to live with such excessive unnecessary burdens not in the Law itself</span></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Perhaps the people attending at your home faded away when non-Biblical traditions were being suggested while the true Law was being denied validity by the Pauline rabbi you mentioned.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I personally celebrate Passover because it was an option for a circumcised Gentile under the Law to do so (Exodus 12:19), and I love its meaning. I don't understand the other high holy days as applicable to Gentiles. Booths clearly is for Jews. The Day of Atonement critically depends upon the Temple, but I celebrate it anyway in a spiritualized sense.</span></p>
<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The key is to not let Pauline thinking contaminate us where the "letter of the Law kills" and "incites" sin in us. See Roman's 7:7-11. &nbsp;That is blasphemy. Instead, the Law is good for us, frees us, settles us, guides us, comforts us, teaches us, and ultimately helps us admire and love God for His goodness and mercy.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">That's my take on things....Shabbat Shalom D.</span></div>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">God Set Jews Apart As Light of Law to Gentiles</span></strong></span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; color: #000000;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">God chose the lineage of Jews / Israel to show off a people who were priests who kept God's covenant, and as God's treasure / riches, this would teach non-Israelites to see "you are called by the name of Yahweh" and fear the Israelites.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; color: #000000; margin-left: 30px;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><big>Exodus 19:5-6&mdash;<small>&nbsp;</small></big><strong><big><small><br /></small></big></strong><big><small>5 Now therefore,&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;" data-mce-mark="1">if you will truly obey My voice, by keeping My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people</span>; for all the earth&nbsp;<em>is</em>&nbsp;Mine.&nbsp;<br />6 And you shall be&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;" data-mce-mark="1">to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation</span>...</small></big></span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; color: #000000; margin-left: 30px;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><small><big><big>Deuteronomy 28:9-10&mdash;</big></big><strong><big>&nbsp;<br /></big></strong><big>9 Yahweh will&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">establish you as His Holy People</span>&nbsp;unto Himself, as&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">He promised you on oath, if you will keep the Laws of Yahweh your Father, and walk in all His ways</span>.&nbsp;<br />10&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Then all the people on the earth will see that you are called by the Name of Yahweh</span>, and they will fear you.</big></small></span></p>
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<p style="color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><big><span style="color: black;">I Peter 2:9&mdash;</span></big><span style="color: black;"></span><br style="color: black;" /><span style="color: black;">But you&nbsp;</span><em style="color: black;">are&nbsp;</em><span style="color: black;">a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you would show forth the praises of Him Who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Email on Why Did James Appear To Give Gentiles A Short List of Commands? 11/26/2015</strong></span></p>
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<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: black; font-size: 18pt;">....I do have one more question though...one that has been causing me a great deal of confusion over the past month or so. Why in Acts 15 and Acts 21 does James and Peter say that all the Gentiles need to do is refrain from eating blood, things strangled, things sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality. Certainly there is more commands that we must follow as Gentiles. I am very confused by this..Can you you shed some light on this issue?</span></p>
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<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: black; font-size: 18pt;">Blessings,</span></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: black; font-size: 18pt;">Joey</span></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">My Response on 11/26/2015</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #1f497d;">Hi Joseph</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #1f497d;">Yes, right after this in Acts 15 verse 21 James implied &ndash; due to the Greek present tense in verse 19 versus the import of verse 21 -- that the gentiles start with these few principles in vv 19-20, because they will continue to learn from the weekly readings &ndash; readings of the Law, as v 21 implies &nbsp;Here is the key passage &ndash; and the last verse is the key:</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="text"><strong><sup><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">19&nbsp;</span></sup></strong></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">&ldquo;Therefore my judgment is that we don&rsquo;t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"></span></span><span class="text"><strong><sup><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">20&nbsp;</span></sup></strong></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"></span></span><span class="text"><strong><sup><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">21&nbsp;</span></sup></strong></span><span class="text"><strong><span style="color: red; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath</span></strong></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">.&rdquo; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+15&amp;version=WEB">Acts 15:19-21</a>.)</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span class="text" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">So James is not excepting anything from the law applicable to Gentiles. He is simply giving them a starter set of principles, and if they attend weekly readings from Moses, they will pick up the rest.</span></span></p>
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<p><span class="text" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Does that help?</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="text" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Doug</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: #1f497d;">&nbsp; v</span></span></p>
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