Bible Questions & Answers #2 - 2024

Greetings everyone. Welcome to Sabbath services!

Q #1—In the Ten Commandments, we are commanded not to make any graven images. Why did Moses make a serpent, symbol of Satan, and when the people looked at it, their plague was stopped?

Now, you would think that the children of Israel:

• in the presence of God
• with a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night
• after seeing all the plagues that God brought upon the Egyptians to bring them out of Egypt
• passing through the Red Sea
• speaking the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai

Then, they made the tabernacle and they were ready to go into the 'promised land' (Num. 14). They sent 12 spies out, and when they came back, 10 of them said, 'Oh, they're too big. We can't do it. We won't do it.' Joshua and Caleb said, 'No, no, God has taken away their defenses! We will win!'

Well, the children of Israel refused to do it, and God said, 'All right, after you have tempted Me these 10 times, you're not going into the promised land.'

They would have gone in there during the Feast of Tabernacles of the second year. But because of their rebellion, God says:

My sentence to you is this. As the spies were checking out the land for 40 days, everyone over 20-years-old is going to die in the wilderness, and you will wander for 40 years, a year for every day.

And they had other encounters with God!

Numbers 21:5: "And the people spoke against God and against Moses…"

Right there in the face of God, they spoke against God! How strong is carnal nature to go against God? Got to be pretty strong if you're in the presence of God to do this! Let's see what God did; Here's what they said:

"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water. And our soul hates this light bread" (v 5)—that's the manna! So, they had bread and water that came from God.

Now, they must have really been in a tithy when they said this.

Verse 6: "And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. And many people of Israel died."

The biggest lesson here is, never go against God to where you're hateful against Him, because you will pay a price! In some cases, immediately. In other cases, it'll be on down the road.

Verse 7: "And the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.' And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole….'" (vs 7-8).

This was never intended to be a symbol of Satan. Nor was it ever intended to be worshiped, as the children of Israel did later.

"'…And it shall be when everyone who is bitten looks upon it, he shall live.' And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it upon a pole. And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked upon the serpent of brass, he lived" (vs 8-9). It doesn't tell us any more than that!

We need to learn the lesson: Why God made the serpent, we're not told, except that He sent the serpents, and He alone could cause them to stop.

Since they weren't really willing to listen to God, He asked the minimum of them: Look on the serpent, and you shall live. He didn't intend it to be a sign of Satan at all!

Q #2—Murder vs Kill

Exodus 20:13: "You shall not murder." Now, the King James says, 'You shall not kill.'

That's different because God ordered the execution of those who committed serious crimes, and there was no repentance and there was no change.

• murder, life for life; stroke for stroke.
• stealing, we find they had to return
• fourfold if it were cattle
• fivefold if it were sheep

Now, think about this for a minute. Wouldn't that be a good way to stop car thievery? The ones who steal the car have got to give them four back. That would be amazing, wouldn't it? Or if you stole a Rolls Royce, then you've got to make it five.

You look at those laws in Exo. 21-23, and you will see that these are all good laws!

In the New Testament. We're told you are not to hate your brother in your heart, because that's the same as murder.

There are a good number of churches, even Churches of God… This happened with this man and wife at the church they attend, wherever that is, that even the minister is carrying a concealed weapon.

The question is, since he has it: If there is an attack on the Church, what is he going to do? You read in Revelation that the one who lives by the sword is going to die by the sword! Now then, when they come to persecute, they're going to come whether there are guns or not.

As a matter of fact, if they know there are guns in the congregation, if they're going to attack that group, they may come with more people and more weapons.

So you see, what looks good may not turn out to be good. The best protection we can have is the protection of God and His angels! We don't need to be carrying concealed weapons!

Now, some people may think, 'I need to have one.' Well, you better check out the Bible a little bit more, because Jesus said, 'When they arrest you, and they beat you on the right cheek, turn to them the left cheek also.'

It didn't say, 'Reach in your pocket and take out your concealed weapon and shoot them.'

I don't think it's a good idea to do that. It's probably, in the long run, going to bring more difficulties than it will solve. Because when the time of persecution comes, it will come and weapons won't stop it!

So, the thing we need to do is this: stay close to God; trust in Him! If you are arrested and hauled off, and you give a testimony to them, and they take you out to the guillotine and you lose your head, you have a complete assurance you'll be in the Kingdom of God with a new body and a new head!

I did not know that this was happening in any of the Churches of God until I got that e-mail.

Q #3—1-John 4

1-John 4:1: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are from God…"—or not!

• How do you test the spirits?
• What if a person is demon-possessed and in that person?

John says in 1-John 2 that there are many antichrists even now. That was before John died.

"…because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (v 1).

When there are false prophets, guess who their companion is? A demon!

Demons can come and appear to be very nice. That's why the witches say there's black witchcraft and there's white witchcraft. 'White witchcraft is good witchcraft because we do good.' We'll talk about good and evil a little bit later.

How do you test them? Well, here's one test:

Verse 2: "By this test you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God."

It was God manifested in the flesh! And that God the Father was His Father, that He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He was born as a baby, grew up, and the reason that God did this is so that no one could ever say:

God, You never knew what it was like to be human. You just made us down here and we have all of these problems, but You didn't have to face any of them.

Well, He did! He had to face all of them! So, that is the test.

Now then, I don't know if you heard, but the pope recently said that Christ and His death has failed. Now, I don't know anymore about what else he said about that, but for him, with his false Christ, that's true. What else he meant by that, I don't know.

Verse 3: "And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, which you heard was to come, and even now it is already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is He Who is in you than the one who is in the world. They are of the world; because of this, they speak of the world, and the world listens to them" (vs 3-5).

All you have to do is just check any Catholic, any Protestant, any minister, and what do they say? They may say that Jesus came in the flesh, but when they follow that up and say, 'By the grace of God the Law of God has been done away with, and you don't have to keep it.' So, you have to take it a little bit further. Let's read on.

Verse 6: "We are of God; the one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not of God does not listen to us. By this means we know the Spirit of the Truth,…"

The Truth will always speak and refer to the Word of God. Remember what Jesus said about the Word of God? Two things:

• Your Word is the Truth
• man shall live by every word of God

You take those two things, and if you come up against someone who is a false prophet, put those out there to him, and you will see that he is probably led by a false spirit.

Q #4—How do I know of a person of the world as a demon?

It depends on the demon!

• If the demon is one that is deaf and dumb, he'll be deaf and dumb.
• If the demon is one that causes people to mutilate their own bodies, that's another way to know.
• Other ones are that they come along and they appear very religious, and they like to have idols, and they like to have other things that they do, and they will not keep the commandments of God.

Always keep that in mind! We're going to see a lot of this with all of the way it is right now.

We're right in the middle of redoing this book, Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days—Which? We brought all of the updates on all of the occult movies and entertainment and everything. We have five pages in this book that we're going to replace with updates of everything that's going on in the world.

• look at the movies
• look at the violence
• look at the hatred
• look at the witchcraft
• look at the ghosts
• look at the things that they are after

The world is in a path of coming to worship Satan openly, but that can't happen until he's got a whole lot more people subverted. Sometimes you can tell immediately that a person is possessed by what they look like, by what they say, and by what they do.

Others, you can't! So, you have to give them time, and you'll know them by their fruits. What is it that they do? You will find they will be breaking the commandments of God, and they will be going against what God has said.

Now, it's amazing, isn't it? The Catholics can have the Bible in their hand. The Protestants can have the Bible in their hand. Everything that God says not to do, the Catholics do. There's not one doctrine in Catholicism that is truly Godly. Protestantism used to have a lot of the Word of God in there. One of their best preachers, Charles Stanley—he died recently—and when you go on TBN or Daystar, it's all a bunch of fluff, fluff, easy, simple things, and nothing to do except say this sweet prayer like Franklin Graham says.

That's not true Christianity! Those are false prophets/preachers. Now, that being the case, we have to ask: Do they have religious demons guiding them? We don't know, but we know by their fruits!

• Isn't that what Jesus said?
• What are their fruits?

The first fruit is they reject the Sabbath! If you reject the Sabbath, you cut yourself off from God!

Q #5—Daniel 7:27

Daniel 7:23: "Thus he [Daniel] said, 'The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be different from all the other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth, and shall trample it and break it in pieces.'" Now that's at the end! That's all the wars at the end!

Verse 24: "And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. And another shall arise after them. And he shall be different from the first, and he shall subdue three kings."

We have a chart in the back of The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version that shows how that happened. We don't know exactly how another fulfillment of this will be in the end-times, so we need to be alert to that.

Verse 25: "And he shall speak words against the Most High… [tie in Rev. 13 & 17] …and shall wear out the saints of the Most High…."

That was down through time with the persecution against the Church.

"…and think to change the set times and the laws…." (vs 25). That all ties in with what we've been talking about here!

"…And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one-half time" (v 25).

So, this is tying in with right at the end. A lot of these prophecies go from this point in ancient times to the very end in the setting up of the Kingdom of God. That's what we have here.

Verse 26: "But the judgment shall sit, and his dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and to be destroyed unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High…" (vs 26-27).

That's another way of saying the saints are the people of the Most High. It's not saying that the Kingdom will be given to people from the saints who are ruling in the Millennium, because that was your question, and that Kingdom will be given to them. No, it will always stay in Christ and those in the First Resurrection.

"…Whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom. And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him" (v 27).

I hope that answers your question, because the people of the Kingdom are the resurrected saints.

Q #6—Concerning the #10

It is first used in Genesis with Rebekah, then:

• in 1-Samuel, Nabal was struck down after ten days
• the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after ten days
• Daniel and his friends ate vegetables ten days to prove themselves
• in Nehemiah, the abundance of wines were prepared once every ten days
• Festus spent ten days in Jerusalem before going to Caesarea
• Rev. 2—we are told that there will be tribulation from the devil ten days

Ten is a number of completeness, so it is a complete span of time. It doesn't have the same kind of numerical spiritual equivalence as does #7 or #8. So, other than that, it just shows it's a complete timeframe.

Q #7—Why do people apply one day as a thousand years in Old Testament prophecy?

I think you need to quote the Scripture because it really doesn't say that. However, in 2-Peter 3 we find that a day in fulfillment is a year! We also find that times, times and half a times equals three and a half years.

The problem is that when there are numbers, they are significant to a certain point. But then the numbers don't become operable after certain things are done. Sometimes we can understand things through numbers and other times we cannot.

2 Peter 3:7: "But the present heavens and earth are being held in store by His Word, and are being reserved for fire in the day of judgment anddestruction of the ungodly."

What's going to happen when the wicked are cast into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is going to consume the whole earth and burn absolutely everything up.

It's going to get rid of the oceans, because we find in Rev. 20-22, there is no more sea. Because spirit beings will not need to see to modulate the temperature. How God is going to do it with a new heavens and new earth, we better be there to find out!

Verse 8: "Now, beloved, do not let this one fact be hidden from you: that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

Now, this is not necessarily saying that… And a lot of people take this part: They say based on this, if you take it a thousand years being a day and you take a week, that's seven thousand years. Then they deduce that God has given 6,000 years for mankind. Then the 7th thousand year period will be the setting up of the Kingdom of God.

Well, that is making a deduction out of this that is not relevant to what's being said. What it's doing it is just showing here that God's way of time is different than ours.

Verse 9: "The Lord is not delaying the promise of His coming, as some in their own minds reckon delay; rather, He is longsuffering toward us, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. However, the Day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night..." (vs 9-10).

Notice he shifts to several different things in these verses. Now, how Christ comes as a thief in the night. That's another topic, so we won't cover that right now.

Q #8—Judges 11—Should we make a vow?

Now, all of these things in the Old Testament, as Paul writes, are given for us to learn. One of the greatest lessons to learn is that human nature cannot truly serve God unless there is repentance.

Now, in the letter of the Law, God required them to serve in the letter of the Law. What He told them was the same thing that we have in the New Testament with the spirit of the Law, that they were to love God with all their heart, with all their mind, with all their soul, with all their being, and teach their children!

In the New Testament we are to do the same thing only with the addition of God's Holy Spirit, which is everything that gives us the desire, the love and the willingness to keep the commandments of God.

Judges 11:30: "And Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD…"

The question is, should we make a vow? Well, the answer is, Jesus said:

You shall not swear by heaven above. You shall not swear by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great God. You shall not swear on your own head, for you can't change one hair, white or black. Let your yes be yes.

Now, he should have never made this vow, because a vow must be kept! There's no way you can back down from it. Today we need to promise, and a promise we need to always remind ourselves that we are to keep, because Jesus said, 'Let your yes be yes and your no be no.'

Let's read on here with Jephthah; v 30: "And Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, 'If You will indeed give the children of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, surely it shall belong to the LORD, or I will offer it up instead of a burnt offering'" (vs 30-31).

The question is: Did he offer up his daughter? No, he didn't!

Verse 39: "And it came to pass at the end of two months she returned to her father…"—first one there!

Then she went on a special mission with her friends to mourn her virginity, showing that she knew she would never marry. So, this indicates that she was given to the temple as one of the temple workers, much like we find in Luke 2 about Anna, who worked at the temple day and night for a long, long time.

"…she returned to her father, who did to her his vow, which he had vowed. And she knew no man…" (v 39).

So, it doesn't say that he sacrificed her. She did not marry, but was devoted to, at that time, the tabernacle.

Q #9—Matthew 8; Who are the 'children of the kingdom'?

Matthew 8:10: "Now, when Jesus heard these words, He was amazed…"—because the centurion who asked Jesus to come and heal his son, said, 'You don't have to come. You just give the word and he's healed.'

Jesus was amazed at his faith. He said He didn't even find that faith in the children of Israel.

"…and He said to those who were following, 'Truly I say to you, nowhere in Israel have I found such great faith'" (v 10).

Now, the centurion was an Italian soldier. Perhaps he may have been a Jew in the Roman army. That's possible.

Verse 11: "But I say to you, many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven. But the children of the kingdom…" (vs 11-12).

Who are the children of the kingdom (v 12) that he's speaking about here? He shows in v 11 that all of the resurrected saints will sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Verse 12: "But the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

• Did that happen to the Jews because they rejected Jesus? Yes, indeed! They lost knowledge of Truth! As a matter of fact, they rejected Jesus.
• Did they have darkness?
• Did they have trouble?
• What was the judgment they brought upon themselves?

The Jews don't like to admit it, as I brought up before, which is this: When they we're chanting about Jesus, 'Crucify Him! Crucify Him!'

Pilate said, 'I wash my hands in innocence. What do you want done with Him? Crucify Him! Pilate didn't want to do it. But what did they say? They brought the curse upon themselves! Remember what they said? Let His blood be upon us and our children!

Now then, if there are any Jews who are listening, don't go around and shout anti-Semitism when you hate all the Christians. Understand that your ancestors brought the judgment upon all the Jews from that time forward for rejecting the true Messiah!

• that's why the temple was destroyed in 70A.D.
• that's why Masada was captured by the Romans
• that's why there was so much persecution against the Jews and scattered into every nation as the prophecy has said
• that's why true to your own words, you would be hated

So, instead of coming after people who don't treat you the way that you think they should treat you, and you blame them of anti-Semitism.

Why don't you come to God His way, and come to the true Jesus His way, and repent of your sins? That's what it should be! So, the kingdom down here in v 12 is the kingdom of the Jews at that time, meaning all the descendants of the Jews then would be in outer darkness.

"…there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (v 12).

Does that not describe what has happened to the Jews over and over and over again since the destruction of Jerusalem?

I have yet in all the programs that I watch concerning the building of the temple, that is the third temple to come, talk about the Romans did this, the armies of the Syrians did that, and today what's happening against them? I have yet to hear one Jew ever publicly admit that these things come upon them because of their sins! So, they need to:

• read the entirety of the Old Testament
• cast aside all of their traditions
• read the New Testament
• ask God for mercy and forgiveness

and He will forgive!

• accept Christ
• be baptized
• receive the Holy Spirit

then the curse will be lifted from you! Until that time, that will never happen!

Somewhere right down the road, not too far down the road, there will be a portion of the Jews who will repent. So, we'll have to wait and see. So, I hope that answers your question about the other kingdom.

(break@40:28)

I do need to make a couple of clarifications here:

Clarification #1: Yes, there were a lot of Jews who repented beginning on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. That is true. They understood that they killed Jesus. As we find, they were pricked in their hearts when Peter told them that 'you have killed the Christ.'

I also know personally one Jew—Michael Heiss—that I went to Ambassador College with, and he is converted. He's one of our elders, and I know of one or two others in addition to him.

So, when I was speaking about that, I meant generally speaking of the Jews in the world who like to point the finger of anti-Semitism when things don't go the way that they expect them to go.

Clarification #2: Last week when I mentioned that we have more literature than any other Church of God, I used the word 'we' not 'I'; the fact that we have that at this particular date follows right along with what Jesus said in John 4. Because none of what we have would be possible without everything that came before us.

Jesus said this to His own disciples who would be His apostles:

John 4:35: "Do not say that there are yet four months, and then the harvest comes. I say to you, look around. Lift up your eyes and see the fields, for they are already white to harvest."

What Jesus is saying is that what God was doing was planted before they were there.

Verse 36: "And the one who reaps receives a reward, and gathers fruit unto eternal life; so that the one who is sowing and the one who is reaping may both rejoice together."

That's talking about at the time of the resurrection. That all of us together through everybody's work down through time and history:

• we rely on the things that honest men have done to preserve the Word of God
• we rely on the Truth of God
• we rely on the Spirit of God
• we also build on the foundation of Truth

that other Churches of God—even though they may have missed some of the main points—have made was true and correct!

Verse 37: "For in this the saying is true, that one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that in which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor'" (vs 37-38).

That's exactly what we have here. But the whole aim of everything that we do is to seek:

• the Truth
• the Truth of God
• to understand it

and not be carried away with any of the things that God says not to do!

Q #10—Lazarus and the Rich Man

The Protestants read this and they think, 'Oh, this shows that people go to heaven.' Not so!

When Christ gives the parable of the rich man and Lazarus with the Pharisees and Sadducees listening in, have you ever considered the possibility that the rich man might represent Judah and Lazarus the Gentiles? Never thought of it that way, but I don't know if there's any parallel there!

With Judah losing their place and Lazarus (Gentiles) taking the place they lost? Well, that's true as I just mentioned before. There were a lot of Jews who repented during the days of the apostles. So we can't make that parallel exactly. Then he talks about the five brothers

Let's understand about Lazarus and the rich man and let's understand this. Very important for us to realize that we must know about the Sabbath, the Passover, and the Holy Days, and the sequence of the Holy Days in order to understand the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.

Luke 16:19: "Now, there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and daily indulged himself in luxury."

They really did that. I saw a special on Emperor Hadrian, and did they lord it over the slaves, it was something! They just to the best of the best of everything that there was.

Verse 20: "And there was a certain poor man named Lazarus, who was laid at his porch, full of sores. And he longed to be nourished with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table; and the dogs even came and licked his sores" (vs 20-21).

That is the statement that goes on to show what's going to happen.

Verse 22: "Now, it came to pass that the poor man died, and he was carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom…."

What does it say about death and the resurrection? Christ the Firstfruit and those who are Christ when and is coming (1-Cor. 15).

This is referring to the poor man being carried by the angels, that refers to the first resurrection because we find in Matt. 24 that God is going to send the angels to gather the elect and take them to the Sea of Glass (Rev. 15).

So, you have to have all these things in mind when you read this, otherwise you won't understand what it's saying. Even though it's written like it's in sequential events, there's a lot of space and time in between these events coming together.

"…And the rich man also died and was buried. And in the grave he lifted up his eyes and was in torment…" (vs 22-23).

Now the King James says 'in hell,' so the hardcore Baptist say, 'See, there is a hell there.' Well, the Greek is 'hades,' which means the grave!

When will the rich man lift up his eyes in the grave? You have:

• the first resurrection
• then you have the Millennium
• then you have the resurrection of those who had not sinned the unpardonable sin raised at the end of the Millennium
• then the second part of the second resurrection, you have the incorrigible wicked who are raised to be thrown into the Lake of Fire

So, all of that is other information that you have to put in here to understand the flow and the sequence of it.

"…for he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have compassion on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am suffering because of this flame'" (vs 23-24).

He was standing right on the edge of the Lake of Fire. If you're standing there, wouldn't you be in torment? Like standing right at the edge of a volcano and you look down there and there's all this molten rock, fire and heat, and smoke coming up.

So, there will be a lot of those when they're resurrected to go into the Lake of Fire. They're going to wish that they had repented, but they hadn't.

Verse 25: "Then Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you received good things to the full, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and you are suffering. And besides all these things, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed…'" (vs 25-26).

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God! You must be a spirit being, and that won't take place until the resurrection. That can't be crossed by human beings, because that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit. There's no halfway in between.

A great chasm has been fixed so that those who desire to pass from here to there, you are not able. They're not able to come back and be human beings again, nor can those from there where you are pass to us.

So the rich man was remembering what his life was; he was trying to piece it together, but he couldn't do it. So he said:

Verse 27[transcriber's correction]: "And he said, 'I beseech you then, father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers; so that he may earnestly testify to them, in order that they also may not come to this place of torment'" (vs 27-28).

This is showing that repentance and salvation is on an individual basis.

Verse 29: "Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them hear them.'"

• What do we have in the Prophets? All the prophecies of Christ!
• What did the apostles have to preach from when they started? Moses and the Prophets!

There was enough information there for you to have in your lifetime in Moses and the Prophets for you to come to understand.

Verse 30: "But he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if one from the dead would go to them, they would repent.' And he said to him, 'If they will not hear Moses and the Prophets, they would not be persuaded even if one rose from the dead'" (vs 30-31).

So, it shows that there comes a time when our minds, our actions are permanent. So, likewise with us for the first resurrection.

Q #11—What is the difference between the good on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the good that comes from God?

I have an article here. World Upside Down; response to Oct. 7 gets worse with each passing week when evil becomes good and good becomes evil!

So why can't you take the good from Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and graft it onto the Tree of Life? Think about all the good that human beings have tried to do. Let's take an example with our constitution and non-discrimination.

Remember, even the founders of the constitution said that 'the constitution that we have written will not work if the people are not religious.' That is because at that time they had the Bible and they were following the Bible as best as they could. People kept moral laws that came from the Ten Commandments. They said that 'this form of government will not work unless the people are moral.'

So, let's take the thing of non-discrimination. That is carried out to the extreme. That you can't make any decision against anyone or anything, because then you are violating the law of not discriminating. Therefore, you must accept all perverts. Therefore, you can't tell transgender people they can't work here, because you are discriminating against them. So, the intent of the good to not have discrimination was taken to the extreme and eliminated judgment of right and wrong and true good and true evil! And that happened!

Look at the social things that we have today. Started out really good. Oh, let's help people. What is it now? The whole social system is all messed up! Look at what they are taking the money that was meant to be for those in need of the citizens and now Biden is giving it to all the illegal immigrants.

'Oh, it's good to have immigrants come into the country.' What has happened with that? They can't discriminate against them even if they are terrorists! That's why you can never take the good from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and graft it on to the good, the differentiation of good and evil that God declares.

God's way, even in the physical realm of society, is the best. If you don't follow what God has given here in the physical society, and this is for the physical nation of Israel.

• Does God judge all nations? Yes, He does!
• Does God judge all people? Yes, He does!

Leviticus 18:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying."

These are the words of God straight from His mouth! You want to know what God says? Here it is written down so we have no mistake!

Verse 2: "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'I am the LORD your God.'"

You've got to start out with knowing that there is a God whether you are converted or not.

• look at what happens to every nation when they reject knowledge of God
• look at what has happened to this nation when they removed God, prayer, Bible study out of the school
• look at what has happened when they said that in order to cut back on unwanted births we need to have sex education in the schools

That's used to teach them every perversion there is! So what seemed good is evil!

God said, v 3: "As they do in the land of Egypt where you dwelt, you shall not do. And you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Neither shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall do My judgments…" (vs 3-4).

A judgment of God between good and evil, is that not what it should be? Yes!

"…and keep My ordinances, and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. And you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am the LORD" (vs 4-5).

Yes, people want law-abiding people, but there are too many who don't want to be law-abiding. Does that not destroy a society? Yes! Especially when it comes to sexual immorality!

Other gods, sexual immorality and satanism are the three things that destroy any civilization. Doesn't matter what it is, what timeframe in history you want to look at. That leads to the death of a nation. So, where are we today in America?

A lot of people think that if we can just get Trump in there, everything's going to be so good. Really? He may be able to do some good, but:

• Is he going to stop the murder of the unborn? No!
• Is he going to stop homosexuality? No!
• Is he going to stop transvestitism? No!
• Is he going to stop sex change, transgenderism? No!

Transgenderism, he may be able to do something about that, but they won't live in them!

Then He goes on and says, v 6: "None of you shall approach to any who are near of kin to him to uncover their nakedness. I am the LORD."

Uncover the nakedness means to approach to the point that you have sexual encounters and liaisons with them.

After he goes through the whole thing, he sums it up in v 28: "You shall not do these so that the land may not spew you out also when you defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you"—talking about the destruction of the nation!

Whenever you have this kind of gross sexual immorality, the nation is going down, down, down, down!

Verse 29: "For whoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls who commit them shall be cut off from among their people…. [they have no rights] …And you shall keep My ordinance, so as not to do any of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves in them. I am the LORD your God" (vs 29-30).

Leviticus 19:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them, "You shall be Holy, for I the LORD your God am Holy" (vs 1-2).

Notice another application of the fifth commandment, v 3: "You shall each man revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths…. [commandment four] …I am the LORD your God. Do not turn to idols, nor make molten gods to yourselves. I am the LORD your God" (vs 3-4).

I want you to evaluate what's happening in this nation. I was talking to a person here recently, and that individual was lamenting, 'Well, there are not many young people in the Church today.' That's true! But how many young people are there that really want to know about God when the whole world is filled with godlessness and atheism and hating God. All of the ones who are supposed to be religious, like the ones who call themselves 'Christians,' that they're not Christians, and the 'Christian church' itself is welcoming open arms to all homosexuals and the alphabet perverted people, because you've got to love them.

God said you are to execute them! Now, furthermore, there was a study done by a man called Unwin. He just did it on sexual morality or immorality. He found that free sex destroys a nation. He found that partial chastity and virginity improved a nation. He found that any nation that had absolute chastity for men and absolute virginity for women prospered, were intelligent.

Now, look at what we have today with all the sexual immorality. What do we have? Stupidity! People can't think. They don't know right from wrong, good from evil, and they're self-willed and rebellious.

Leviticus 19:29: "You shall not prostitute your daughter to cause her to be a whore…"

That's exactly what the sex education in all the schools in America teach, which then leads to abortion, which is murder; which then leads to further curses by God. But notice what happens automatically.

"…lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness" (v 29).

Does that not describe America today? Yes, it does! That's why you cannot take what people say, 'Oh, this is good,' and apply it to anything that's in the Bible.

You have to take the good that God says is here and not do the evil that God says don't do. Then you will have a vigorous and a prosperous nation. The way to eliminate crime, witchcraft, idolatry, and all the breaking of the other commandments is have the law of the land be the Ten Commandments.

'Oh, but we can't do that because that's establishing religion.' No, it's not! It's establishing the laws that God gave so you can have a good nation, a good society. But people won't do it. And he says:

Leviticus 20:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Again, you shall say to the children of Israel, "Any one of the children of Israel or of the strangers who lives in Israel, that gives any of his children to Molech…" (vs 1-2).

Moloch was to sacrifice your children to this fire-god who was a graven image and had big brass arms, and the arms would come down and there would be a big furnace down here in his belly, and they would offer the child to be burned, and the arms would come up this way and drop the child into the furnace.

"…he shall surely be put to death…." (v 2).

That's why it says, 'No murder.' It doesn't say, 'Do not kill,' because there are people who do things that are worthy of death, which if you don't execute the death penalty, the whole society becomes contaminated.

• Isn't that where we are in America?
• Isn't that where we are in the world?

That's why we're here, because God is going to give the governing of the world to the saints of the Most High, and we are going to put an end to all of these things.

"…The people of the land shall stone him with stones. And I will set My face against that man..." (vs 2-3).

God judges every nation all the time (Jer. 18). So, if He looks down and sees this going on in a nation:

Verse 3: "And I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given of his seed to Molech to defile My sanctuary and to profane My Holy name. And if the people of the land in any way hide their eyes from the man when he gives of his children to Molech and do not kill him, then I will set My face against that man and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go whoring along with him to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people" (vs 3-5).

That is where we are! That is why you can never, ever take the good from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and apply it to whatever situation you want, and it will not work out.

• that is why the Bible talks about wisdom
• that is why the Bible talks about understanding

If these things were done!

Verse 6: "And the one who turns to mediums and to familiar spirits to go a whoring after them, I will even set My face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people."

That is why we have so much trouble. Did you know there are more witches in America than there are Presbyterians? Think on that! They have now online where girls can go online and find out how to become witches.

• See what happens?
• What does that remind you of?
• What Feast did we just finish a few weeks ago? The Feast of Unleavened Bread!
• What is said of that Feast?
• What are we to learn? Leaven equals sin! A little leaven leavens the whole lump!
• Isn't that what we have today? Yes indeed!

Verse 7: "And you shall sanctify yourselves and be Holy, for I am the LORD your God. And you shall keep My statutes and do them. I am the LORD who sanctifies you" (vs 7-8).

Then it goes on again about the penalty, about adultery, about dishonoring father and mother, and all of those things. It's amazing! Truly, truly amazing what is happening!

Now, we do hope that there will be some improvement if Trump is elected, but it is still difficult living in a nation that God has set His face against, and Who has sent through Biden—God put him there because of the sins of the people—to have all of these immigrants come in. With that, it's fulfilling as we have seen that the stranger within you shall rise up very high above you!

Think of the trouble that's coming with the election, and think of the trouble that's going to come with mass deportation. It's going to be difficult. So, you better have some extra food and water and things prepared at home, because you might not be able to get out on some days to go do what you need to do.

But here we are facing it. So, what are we going to do? I'll cover this next week, because there are so many things that are coming into motion that are setting the stage for the destruction of America, and the rising of the whole world government and the whole world religion.

Q #12—Zechariah 8 about the fasts

Zechariah 8:19: "'Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth month, and the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore, love truth and peace.'"

Now what are these fasts? These are the fasts of Judaism that they developed while they were in captivity in Babylon! They carried this back with them. Now the only Feast that mentions that is a fast that God would want us to keep is the Feast of the seventh month, which is the Day of Atonement.

Q #13—Why are there not apostles today?

Well let's come to Eph. 4 and let's look at it. In order to be an apostle, you had to see and be taught by Christ! Anyone here today fit into that? No! That's why no man, not even Herbert Armstrong, can be an apostle.

Ephesians 4:11 "And He gave some asapostles…" That was first. We'll see that in just a little bit in 1 Cor. 12.

"…and some prophets, and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers" (v 11).

For everyone out there who used to be a Catholic or is still a good Catholic today, come to the New Testament and show me:

• where it says there should be a pope
• where it says there should be cardinals
• where it says that there should be a priesthood instead of a ministry
• where it says that the priest has the power to cause the bread and the wine to turn into the actual blood and flesh of Christ

Those all are satanic lies!

Now there are some Catholics out there who will rise up, think they're doing good to kill those who oppose all of these ungodly, satanic practices of Catholicism.

So, there are no apostles today because we have all the apostles' writings. No one who calls himself an apostle or is appointed as an apostle has any validity of being an actual apostle. It is true that apostle can have a secondary meaning of being a messenger, but that is very rare.

1-Corinthians 12:28: "And God Himself has placed certain ones in the Church: first, apostles; secondly, prophets…"

We have no prophets today in the same sense because we have the entire Word of God.

"…thirdly, teachers…" (v 28). Now that's what all elders and evangelists start to do: teach! Evangelists will go out and try and help new people come to the knowledge of the Truth.

"…then miracles; then gifts of healings; helps; governments; various languages. Are all apostles?…. [No!] …Are all prophets?…. [No!] …Are all teachers?…. [No!] …Do all perform miracles?…. [No!] …Do all have the gift of healing?…. [No!] …Do all speak in different languages?…. [No!] …Do all interpret? [No!]" (vs 28-30).

See, and they were all trying in Corinth to get these positions. So then, Paul goes on to say, 'I'm going to show you a better way than desiring all of these things which only God can do Himself' (v 31). So then what does he do?

1-Cor. 13—then he explains, 'Seek love.' And it's a very short chapter. So we'll go ahead and end this session by reading 1-Cor. 13. We'll look at it and see how this is for us. This is the goal that we are to reach in our behavior and in our thoughts.

1-Corinthians 13:1: "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal."

Just think of the vanity would be, 'I can speak in angels' languages.' Imagine what that would be like.

Verse 2: "If I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

Love is the most important thing. The whole purpose of what we are doing in the Church is learning to love God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, with all our being. Isn't that right? Isn't that what God wants? He will love us back! Yes, He will!

Verse 3: "And if I give away all my goods, and if I deliver up my body that I may be burned, but do not have love, I have gained nothing."

Think of all the people that do all things like that. What did they gain? Nothing!

Verse 4: "Love is patient and is kind..."

Now, we do have to act with authority in case of evil, but that's in love and in kindness for those who would be afflicted by the problems caused by that person.

"…love envies not, does not brag about itself, is not puffed up. Love does not behave disgracefully, does not seek its own things…" (vs 4-5).

We have to take care of what we need, but our whole motive of what we do is not just to satisfy the self. It is to serve others!

"…It is not easily proved, thinks no evil, does not rejoice is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the Truth" (vs 5-6).

Remember this, Truth always, the Truth. And the most important thing with the Truth is that:

• we love it
• we cherish it
• we use it
• we let the Truth of God correct us

and that we correct ourselves because we have the Spirit of God!

Verse 7: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

In other words, love will take care of everything in the long run.

Verse 8: "Love never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall cease… [because they'll be fulfilled] …whether there be languages, they shall cease… [we'll all have a pure language at the resurrection] …whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away."

A lot of the things that we think we really know, look at all the things that the important scientists and everybody think about today. All that's going to disappear, because the true knowledge of what God is and what He's created and what He's doing is going to replace all of that!

Think of all those that have different degrees in this and that and the other but don't know God. Vanish away. Here's what it is with us today:

Verse 9: "For we know in part… [that's true] …and we prophesy in part…. [yes, with the knowledge of the prophecies given in the Bible] …But when that which is Perfect has come…" (vs 9-10).

When will that come? That will come with the return of Christ and a restoration to the Kingdom of God!

"…then that which is in part shall be set aside" (v 10).

That's why when the saints are ruling under Christ, the whole world is going to be full of knowledge as the waters cover the earth. Now think about that. We're going to dispense that knowledge and we're going to be given that knowledge by God. Isn't that an amazing thing?

If you think that being a human being is amazing, we have no idea what it's going to be like:

• to be resurrected
• be a spirit being
• to have the love of God within us
• to see God
• to see Jesus Christ
• to see all the patriarchs
• to see all of the saints

 Can you imagine what it's going to be like? I'll talk about this on Pentecost! What it's going to be like on that great Sea of Glass:

• all of the faithful resurrected from the dead
• all of those who have been martyred
  • lost their heads
  • burned at the stake
    • all spirit beings
    • spirit bodies
    • spirit minds

all together!

Think what it's going to be like when we sing the wedding song of the Lamb, all of us on the Sea of Glass. That's what it's going to be. We see in part.

Verse 11: "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I reasoned as a child; but when I became a man, I set aside the things of a child."

Now, transfer this over to when we were in the flesh:

• we did the things of the flesh
• we thought of the things of the flesh
• we acted in the way the things of the flesh
• we acted with the emotions of the flesh

But when we're resurrected, all of that is set aside because we have everything new.

Verse 12: "For now we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face-to-face..."

That's what it says in Rev, 22, we will see God face-to-face.

"…now I know in part, but then I shall know exactly as I have been known. And now, these three remain: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love" (vs 12-13).

Which is the perfect way to end our discussion concerning questions and answers.

Scriptural References:

Q #1
Numbers 21:5-9
            Not quoted: Numbers 14

Q #2
            Not quoted: Exodus 20:13
                               Exodus 21-23

Q #3
1-John 4:1-6
            not quoted: 1-John 2

Q #5
Daniel 7:23-27
            Not quoted: Revelation 13; 17

Q #6
            Not quoted: Genesis, 1-Samuel, Jeremiah, Daniel, Nehemiah, Revelation 2

Q #7
2-Peter 3:7-10
            Not quoted: Revelation 21; 22

Q #8
Judges 11:30-31, 39
            Not quoted: Luke 2

Q #9
Matthew 8:10-12
            Not quoted: Acts 2

Q #10
Luke 16:19-31
            Not quoted: 1 Corinthians 15
                               Matthew 24
                               Revelation 15

Q #11
Leviticus 18:1-6, 28-30
Leviticus 19:1-3, 29
Leviticus 20: 1-8
            Not quoted: Jeremiah 18

Q #12
Zechariah 8:19

Q #13
Ephesians 4:11
1 Corinthians 12:28-30
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
            Not quoted: 1 Corinthians 12:31
                               Revelation 22

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 6/2/24

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