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Fred R. Coulter—January 21, 2023
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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!
Let me announce that next Sabbath is going to be most important. We're going go over something that has been in plain sight, but we have never followed through on the full explanation. When we do then that helps answer a lot of difficult things that are in the New Testament.
Q #1—Will it be possible for mothers in the Church to be able to care for and feed babies that they had lost, miscarried or died at a young age?
Undoubtedly! Don't you think that will be the best and most nourishing milk that they could possibly have?
Let me stop and just interject something here: the reason that there are a so many sicknesses and cancers, and overweight children is because of baby formula. It is so high in protein and too much for the baby to handle. A mother produces in her own body and breasts the ideal milk for her baby, that God made, that carries with it all the immunity that the mother has?
Likewise, I'll mention again: When every baby I born, it's covered with a white wax. Why? You hold your hand in a pan of hot water for half hour, and when you take it out and it looks like a prune! Well, that so that being in the water in the womb that the skin will be protected.
Plus, when the baby is born it gives protection from viruses that are in the air, which the baby has never been exposed to. So, it should never be cleaned off. Let it be slowly absorbed through the skin into the body of the baby to build its immune system. Don't you think it's important to build up the immune system of the newborn in this world where all the germs and everything are floating around like crazy? Yes! It has everything that the baby needs.
Furthermore, it's in the right position that God created for the baby to nurse in the arm of its mother. That would save a lot of trouble with childhood disease. By the way, soybean is so high in estrogen that that very well may be a cause of baby cancer.
Know this, anytime you go against God or His Laws—physical or spiritual—you have trouble! That trouble is called sin. There's spiritual sin and there's physical sin. A lot of the physical sin comes because people do not take care of themselves. They're wondering today why they have so much diabetes. Think of all cokes and soft drinks, and all the processed food.
When those who are diabetic get on a good diet, guess what happens? They lose weight and some of them can come to the point that if they really practice what they need to, they can come off of insulin altogether.
Psalm 104:14[transcriber's correction]: "He [God] causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and herbs for the service of man…"
So, anything you can do for your body where there are herbs or food—whether that be concentrated or not—those are helpful for the body. When you get sick, what is your body doing? It's expelling toxins! You need to take the things that you need to get rid of those toxins.
Q #2—Does likeness stand for character?
Likeness can stand for character, behavior or as likeness in image, either one.
Does image stand for character?
No, that means what you look like? The word for exact image in Heb. 1 referring to Christ is:
Hebrews 1:3[transcriber's correction]: "Who [Christ] being the brightness of His glory and the exact image of His [the Father] person…"
The Greek there is character!So, it can mean character. In the very image of His behavior, in the very image of what He looks like.
Q #3—When did the Church decide that it's now okay to vote?
The thing that came out in an article in WCG was Would Jesus Vote for President So-and-So? No, He wouldn't, because He's of the Father!
We have to live here! I'll tell you how I vote: there's nothing wrong with voting, but you have to do it this way: Vote for the one who will lower your taxes, and one that has some decent moral values. Obviously, you aren't going to have anyone running for office who's converted. However, remember in book of Daniel who ran the province of Babylon under the king? Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!
They were the government in Babylon under the king! The Plan of God was so important that He revealed to Daniel that image—beginning with the head of gold—was Nebuchadnezzar, and he was so important that he wrote an epistle that's in the book of Daniel.
Let's see how important, because we need to understand, and we're going to learn next week how important every single word is in the Bible! All these modern translations have a good number of errors in them. Someone wanted me to work up something with all the errors in the KJV. There are so many that I didn't do it. But in the original and with the Spirit of God, you can understand the Word of God.
We're going to learn next week how important every word of God is! So, look at this in Daniel, and I wonder how many people read this and don't realize that Nebuchadnezzar—a Gentile king of Babylon, the head of gold—wrote Dan. 4.
Daniel 4:1: "Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all people…" Think about that for a minute!
The head of gold is the start. Where does it end up? All the way down through the silver, brass, iron, iron and clay and the toes! All people!
"…nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth…" (v 1).
Those are encompassing words, so this is meant for everyone who is a leader. That is the lesson every leader needs to know, whether it's:
- religious
- political
- in a family
regardless of what it is! Do not get lifted up in vanity and think you're better than God! Or think that whatever you did was because of who you are!
That's what Nebuchadnezzar did. He got up on the balcony and he looked out over Babylon and he said, 'Oh, this Babylon that I have built!' BANG! Seven years of eating grass! Then when he came out of it, he said:
Verse 34: "And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me…"
- What was the first thing he did?
- What does a trial cause you to do? Turn to God!
- Why? Because you realize how helpless you are!
- How helpless was Nebuchadnezzar when he was out there eating grass with the cows?
- I wonder how like the bitter dandelion milk?
- What did he do?
"…and I blessed the Most High…" (v 34).
That's the One Who—in the New Testament—is called the Father.
"…and I praised and honored Him Who lives forever, for His dominion…" (v 34).
Because God rules over all, not just the earth, not just this solar system, but all the heavens!
"…for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His Kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing…" (vs 34-35).
That's quite a statement! Did he learn a lesson or not? Who knows how far that goes!
"…and He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay His hand, or say to Him, 'What are You doing?'" (v 35). Think about that!
How many people come along and have an idea, especially ministers. Look at Protestantism, Catholicism and even in the Churches of God. They come along with an idea that they think is so good, but it's not! You can't get away from it!
Verse 36: "At that time my reason returned to me. And the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. And my advisers and my lords sought me out…"
Yes, lord, yes, lord, we're here and we're so glad your well.
You can imagine all the sycophants coming!
"…and I was established in my kingdom, and surpassing greatness was added to me. Now, I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are Truth and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to abase" (vs 36-37).
- What do you suppose is going to happen to the Beast Power?
- Where does he go?
He goes into a Temple of God and says that, 'I'm God.' That's worse than what Nebuchadnezzar did! So, think about what's going to happen to the beast!
Q #4—I noticed that you left WCG in 1993.
No, it was 1979! We started Biblical Church of God, but the men that followed hated Herbert more than they loved God. They made it so unbearable that we had to leave.
Why is it that they hate Hebert W. Armstrong?
He made a lot of mistakes, but I don't hate him. I'm my resignation message I said, 'I loved him, and as a matter of fact, he ordained me,' the last day of Unleavened Bread, April 1965.
But I despise all of the egregious errors of spendthrift of money and politics and corruption that went on in Worldwide Church of God. I hope that helps answer that!
At that time, Herbert Armstrong was trying to get the Church back on track.
He was trying, but all the political ones were covering up what they were doing. What was happening was they were sending all leading ministers in Pasadena at that time to Azusa College. Do you know what Azusa College is, and still is to this day? It is a college for training Protestant ministers! All of them were the cadres who got together with Tkach to bring on Sunday-keeping.
I couldn't go back to them! There is no way! Sometimes God's judgment takes quite a while to come, but it came! One of the thing that I remember that God inspired me to say in my resignation sermon in 1979, Day of Atonement, was that:
Unless there's someone in the pulpit—that Day of Atonement 1979—in Pasadena telling everyone to 'amend your ways, or the forces will be turned loose that will tear the Church asunder.
- Did that happen? Yes!
- Why? Because there was no change!
It was impossible for Herbert Armstrong to get the Church back on track! Besides, all of those who were the subversives became the ones who were in power. All of the ministers who knew all of the sins that were going on lied to all the brethren that everything was okay.
Q #5—Just ahead as America and the Israelite nations become inert and marginalized, and the Beast Power comes with flattery, do you believe all Catholic nations in Europe will receive his blessing?
They'll have the blessing of the pope, and of him (Beast Power)! Let's look at some things in prophecy that we need to understand"
- Assyria is the Germans
You can go online to Greg White—he's in Australia—and he produced a really good book on why the Germans are the Assyrians. That's:
- Germany
- German speaking Czechoslovakia
- Austria
Those are the Assyrians! Guess who live close to that:
- France
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Denmark
- Luxemburg
- Norway
- Sweden
- Finland
If I missed any, forgive me. Those are all remnants of the 10 tribes of Israel.
So, the Assyrian is going to have control over them in that area. But what about America? America has all 12 tribes. The Jews are down in Palestine. All 12 tribes are in America!
Where did they come from? All the nations I just mentioned! If they are descendants of the 10 tribes of Israel then their descendants that came over to America—which was the 'promised land'—also, the only country in the world—except Britain for quite a while—that really produced the Bible and proclaimed the Gospel—though not correctly—to the world.
What's going to happen to America in the end-time? Look at Rev. 13—the beast has seven heads and ten horns.
- What is his dominion? Over every tribe, nation and language!
- Why? Because they give their power to the beast!
In America we are all being punished according to the curses in Deut. 28 and Lev. 26; everything!
- Do you suppose that China will be one of the seven heads? Undoubtedly!
When America does finally fall:
- Who has the most interest in America that they need to come and protect and keep? China!
- Will we be as a nation enslaved within our geographical territory run by the Chinese? Yes, indeed!
- Who do you think supplies the money for reverse mortgages? Front companies for Chinese money!
- Who is going to own the house? The Chinese!
They're buying property everywhere they can! Businesses everywhere they can. They have paid off many of the politicians in Washington, D.C. beginning with the Pres. of the United States.
That very well may happen, and all the rest of the ten tribes will be under the Assyrian according to the prophecy there. But America is probably going under one of the seven heads of the beast of Rev. 13, and that's probably going to be China.
- How much money does Germany have invested here? Virtually nothing!
- What other nation has the investments and controls of our stock market, our currency, our businesses? No other nation, only China!
Let's watch that and think on that!
Q #6—How do I overcome or bring every thought under Christ?
We have an In-Depth Study: How to Overcome the Sin Within
Q #7—In the black horse of Revelation, it says, 'A penny for wheat' in the KJV. According to the Faithful Version it says, 'silver coin,' Please explain.
The Greek is 'danarii' and a 'dinarii' was a silver coin. Silver coins can go through all nations' financial things, because all nations have some kind of coinage and much of it has to do with silver.
In America they have taken all the silver out of the dimes and quarters and half-dollars. There are still some silver dollars you can buy. Right now the premium on a silver dollar is pretty close to $30 a coin.
So, if you have some of those hold on to them, because when times really get tough you can go to the grocery manager and you can bargain, because he also wants something of value. Word to the wise!
Q #8—The sixth commandments states you shall not murder. Does God allow for self-defense killing?
That is in an area that is not strictly defined! But we know that 'he who lives by the sword will die by the sword.'
I don't know of anyone in the Church, yet, who has been attacked, because the guardian angels have been about your house, or whatever. The only case I've heard of was this: there was a woman in the Church who came home and found someone robbing her. He ran out the door and she ran after him and he killed her. She should have just said, 'Thank You, Lord, he's gone.' But she didn't! So, I'm sorry about that!
Q #9—The ninth commandment says, 'you shall bear false witness against your neighbor.' Rahab lied; how did she make it into the faith chapter of Heb. 11 under the pretense of breaking a commandment?
What supersedes anything? An oath! She promised not to reveal where they were! So, she said, 'Go out and get on the roof.' With her in the room, did she know where on the roof they were exactly? Were they two apartments down? Were they near up at the top of the roof? Did they get under the roof if it were a thatched roof? Where were they?
She could honestly say that they weren't here, in this room. She could honestly say, as a diversion—which is not lying—'Why don't you try the gate going out and see if you can catch them.'
So, that is technically not a lie! On the surface it looks like a lie.
Q #10—You say that Moses personally saw God and talked to Him face-to-face.
Exo. 33—let's see what it says. One of the rules of Bible study is read the verses before and after. We know that Jesus—the Lord God of the Old Testament—told Moses when Moses said he wanted to see Your face: No man can see My face and live! That is in the glorified form.
Exodus 33:9: "And it came to pass as Moses went into the tent, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tent, and the LORD spoke with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tent door. And all the people rose up and worshiped, each man at his tent door. And the LORD would speak to Moses face to face…" (vs 9-11).
- How does He do that?
- How does that not contradict what He said, 'You can't see My face and live'?
God can appear as a human being! That's what Jesus said in Luke 24 when He appeared to the disciples, He said, 'A spirit—a demon apparition—does not have flesh and bone like Me.' Can angels appear as human beings? Yes, it says, 'treat strangers well, for many have treated angels unknowingly!'
When God was talking with Adam and Eve, He was in the flesh and bone appearance of what He could manifest Himself. So, the answer is that God can manifest Himself in many different ways.
How did He appear to Moses at the burning bush? There was a flame! But God was invisible right behind the flame. God was there, so He told Moses to 'take off your sandals for the ground you are standing on is Holy ground.'
All Moses saw was the flame! But God was standing there invisible and spoke to him. This is something that people haven't understood.
Verse 15: "And he [Moses] said to Him [God], 'If Your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here; for how shall it be known that I and Your people have found grace in Your sight? Is it not in that You go with us? So we shall be separated, I and Your people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth'" (vs 15-16).
Verse 17: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'I will do this thing also that you have spoken, for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.' And he [Moses] said, 'I beseech You, show me Your glory.' And He [God] said, 'I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.' And He said, 'You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live'" (vs 17-20).
Verse 21: "And the LORD said, 'Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand upon a rock. And it will be, while My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. And I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back parts. But My face shall not be seen'"(vs 21-23).
So, we need to understand that God can appear in many forms.
(break@35:25)
Q #11—Does the Bible say that it's okay to eat out at a restaurant on the Holy Sabbath?
That question always comes up, especially when there is traveling involved.
If you have a long way to go, it is permissible to eat out. But if you don't have a long way to go, you don't need to eat out. With us here we don't eat out on the Sabbath, we eat here on the Sabbath. We have quite a bit of food that various ones bring in and we have a nice little chow-down here.
But a lot of people go to services and then go out to eat. Did you travel a long distance? Probably not! Then you shouldn't be eating out at a restaurant.
Q #12—If person is divorced and re-married, who is committing adultery?
That's why every divorce and re-marriage problem needs to be thoroughly investigated, and thoroughly understand the problems.
It's not that a minister will just sit down and have a short counseling service, and you make a decision of binding or not binding. You need to find out when they were married, why they were married, the circumstances of the marriage, the circumstances within the marriage after they were married. You have to find out what were their sexual activities before marriage, because that has a great deal to do with marriage.
Then you have to find out if there was fraud. Did the person lie? Did they come on pretext? If you marry to get something for yourself rather than marry the person for who they are, you're lying when the vows are: 'Do you…?' and you say, 'I do.' That's a lie!
So every one has to be handled separately.
Q #13—Should Christians celebrate/observe birthdays?
We have an article online about birthdays originating with the pagans and it was to the goddess Athena. In the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, since the days vary, there will be in the leap years where there's an extra month, everyone who is born in the 13th month cannot have a birthday every year. But when you read in the Bible about Jesus and His age (Luke 3:23) it says He was about 30. Why? Because He was probably born on the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Trumpets would come at different times according to how the Calculated Hebrew Calendar worked: whether it was a leap year with 13 months or a common year with 354-56 days.
All of those variants shows that you cannot have a definite birthday. But is it all right to acknowledge how old you are? Yes! Is it all right to acknowledge for children how old they are? Yes! But to have big celebrating parties with cakes, candles and things like this, that comes from paganism!
Q #14—Should a Christian woman have a short haircut like a man?
No, she shouldn't! As a matter of fact, there was a wife of a minister who recently left the Church and all the time she was in the Church she had short hair like a man. The Bible says in 1-Cor, 11 that long hair is given to a woman as her covering, and that it's a shame for a man to have long hair.
For a woman to have short hair like a man, especially where the elder could not control his own wife to get her to stop having short hair. Read in the Faithful Version the first part of 1-Cor. 11 and you will find the whole discussion there.
Q #15—In the Bible, is retirement—not working—an option according to the fourth commandment and John 5:17?
John 5:17: "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I work.'"
That's spiritual work! You look at the solar systems in the universe, does God stop it on the Sabbath Day?
The Jews foolishly think that if you flip a switch on the Sabbath you're causing a fire somewhere. Well, God is causing the sun—which is a giant fire—to go all the time.
In that sense of retirement for human beings, when you get old keep in as good as health as you can so you can do as much as you can. But there are times when you're older and you do not have the energy or ability because of age. So, you wouldn't be working perhaps at a job, but what would you be doing? A lot of people who retire putter around in the yard, putter around in the house and have a hobby or something like that! That's true and perfectly all right.
But to be retired doesn't mean that you go and just sit in a chair 18 hours a day before you go to bed. Besides, you can't compare John 5, the spiritual work of Jesus on the Sabbath, and the spiritual work that God is doing every day of the week, including the Sabbath.
Q #16—If a Christian has chosen to have a pension plan profit and/or a retirement plan or to purchase stocks—which is or has been investing in companies that work conducting business and have employees on the Sabbath Holy Days?
If you invest in a company you can't control what they're going to do. You are there as an investment. Should you invest in an arms company that makes bombs, torpedoes, artillery shells, tanks and guns? Probably not! I would say not.
You have to be a steward of your own money. You have ask the question: Is this a company that I should invest in? What are they doing? How are they doing it?
You have no control whether they keep the Sabbath or not. God calls all of that you do with that 'unrighteous mammon.' In other words, it is perfectly fine to make investment to increase what you are doing. That's what Matt. 25 and Luke 19 are all about: the talents and the pounds are forms of money given to the steward.
The steward is the one who takes the money from the owner and invests it for the owner's benefit. Whatever profit there is goes back to the owner and the owner pays the steward for managing his money.
We have that today with some stock investments and so forth. You need to be careful of that, like we have the XTF, that thing that just collapsed and some idiot running it. Before he quit he donated money everywhere he could get rid of the money and it was illegal for him to do it, but he did it. They arrested him and brought him back here and two people put up money for his bond, which was way high. No one can find out who posted the bail.
This world is crooked and filled with lies and deceit. If you make money, you also can lose money. You have to decide how you're going to do it.
Q #17—Is investing money in health companies' stocks and bonds who are making vaccines and so forth?
Well, they're killing a lot of people. Remember that you have to draw the line. You have to find out what is the company? Who owns it? What is being done? What are their policies? Some of them you will find are very good.
Matthew 4:8—the temptation of Christ: "After that, the devil took Him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory… [in a moment of time; kind of like a huge video screen] …and said to Him, 'All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me'" (vs 8-9).
In Luke 4 we find a little bit more added to that. Who controls the monetary system? I don't know any Church members sitting on the Board of the Federal Reserve! Do you?
It's not wrong to take money and make an increase, because that's what Matt. 25 and Luke 13 are all about, but not with massive interest.
Luke 4:5: "Then the devil led Him up into a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, 'I will give You all this authority, and the glory of them all; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I desire. Therefore, if You will worship me in my presence, all things shall be Yours'" (vs 5-7).
We find out that super-rich of the world got rich by Satan. Have you ever heard of the World Economic Forum? That's going on right now, by all of these billionaires and billion-billionaires who want to rule and control the world!
- Who does that come from?
- Where does their wealth come from?
- How much of that is funneled through various banks to transfer money from drugs and child-trafficking, and illegal activity? Don't know!
If you have any money you're going to invest you better understand what you are doing!
Same way with healthcare companies. We should be trusting God for our healing, and we should be taking care of ourselves by not putting a lot of these substances into our bodies.
Q #18—I don't remember you ever explaining John 2:19.
I think you will find the answer right at hand.
John 2:13: "Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money exchangers sitting there; and after making a scourge of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with both the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money exchangers, and overturned the tables" (vs 13-15).
You can just imagine what that was like. He came in and took the tables and up-ended them and all of their coins and money were rolling everywhere. 'Whose is whose? Where is mine? Who are you? Why are you coming and doing this thing?' That was quite a dramatic entrance into the temple!
Verse 16: "And to those who were selling the doves, He [Jesus] said, 'Take these things out of here!….'"
All of that was to be done outside the court of the temple, not in the temple!
"'…Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise.' Then His disciples remembered that it was written, 'The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up.' As a result, the Jews answered and said to Him, 'What sign do You show to us, seeing that You do these things?'" (vs 16-18).
Jesus typically did not answer their questions the way that they would think. He answers the question concerning the House of God, which should be a House of Prayer for all people. He did not answer why He overturned the tables and got rid of the money exchangers and drove them all out.
He prophesied what was going to happen, and they were the ones who were going to do it. But they didn't understand, because this was at the beginning of His ministry.
Verse 19: "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'"
That was a mystery to them. How are you going to do that?
Verse 20: "Then the Jews said, 'This temple was forty-six years in building, and You will raise it up in three days?'"
He answered the question spiritually what was going to happen to Him.
Verse 21: "But He spoke concerning the temple of His body. Therefore, when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scriptures, and the word that Jesus had spoken" (vs 21-22).
Here's another lesson to learn: When you first ask the question, you may not get the answer for quite a while. Only Jesus understood what He was saying. The disciples didn't, and obviously, the Jews and priests didn't.
When you have a question like this, you need to read on to find the answer. So, the answer is that Jesus was talking about the Temple of His Body rather than the physical temple that He was standing in.
Q #19—Is the implication that Jesus in the spirit raised His mortal body back to life?
Not necessarily! Let's see what Jesus said. We will find out that the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus didn't raise Himself from the dead. What was the last word He spoke when He was on the cross? Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit! His spirit went back to God the Father.
James 2:26: "For as the body without the spirit is dead…"
So, there was no power in that body that Jesus retained to raise Himself from the dead.
John 10:14—Jesus speaking: "I am the good Shepherd, and I know those who are Mine, and am known of those who are Mine. Just as the Father knows Me, I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring those also, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. On account of this, the Father loves Me: because I lay down My life, that I may receive it back again" (vs 14-17).
God the Father had to give Him life back again that He had given up when He died!
Likewise for us, we are raised by the power of God the Father. If Jesus would have had any power within Him—when He was dead—to raise Himself, He would not have been dead. That's why He committed His spirit to God the Father.
Romans 8:4: "In order that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit: For those who walk according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who walk according to the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit" (vs 4-5). That's called conversion!
- Has your thinking changed since you've been converted?
- Are you still being converted? Yes!
- Does your mind need to be renewed all the time with the Spirit of God? Yes!
- Doesn't the Apostle Paul say that our physical body is dying day-by-day?
- But our spirit is being renewed day-by-day (2-Cor. 4)? Yes!
That's why we have the Sabbath! We need to:
- be renewed
- be refreshed
- study the Word of God
- come into the presence of God
God is here with us in His Spirit; this is the day that He has appointed.
Verse 9: "However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin; however, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Now, if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you…" (vs 9-11).
Who raised Christ from the dead? The Father! Nowhere does it say that Jesus raised Himself.
"…He Who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you" (v 11).
1-Peter 1:20: "Who truly was foreknown before the foundation of the world…"
If you go back before the foundation of the world and before the ages of time, all of those things are there relating to what God has done and is doing.
"…but was manifested in these last times for your sakes; even for you who through Him do believe in God, Who raised Him from the dead… [that is God the Father] …and gave Him glory…" (vs 20-21).
John 17—Jesus prayed that God (the Father) would give Him back the glory that He had with Him. When? Before the world existed!
"…so that your faith and hope might be in God. Having purified your lives by obedience to the Truth unto unfeigned brotherly love through the Spirit, love one another fervently with a pure heart" (vs 21-22).
God is going to raise us from the dead. There are plenty of other Scriptures in the Bible, so do a study!
Q #20—Are there any Scriptures that speak of the specific qualifications of an apostle?
No, there is not! That question centers around who were the original apostles. Every single one was taught directly by Jesus, called directly by Him when He was living in the flesh.
- they saw Him
- they heard Him
- He taught them
Now then, Paul also saw Jesus in vision. Barnabas probably saw Jesus when he was in Jerusalem, because Barnabas came from Cyprus, a Levite. That means he came to Jerusalem quite often. Other than that, we find no other apostles.
We do not find that Paul, before he died, told Timothy, 'Make sure you get here because I'm going to ordain you as an apostle.' Nor was it with Titus.
Herbert Armstrong originally rejected being called an apostle. But when he found out that that elevated him, and gave him far more importance, he accepted it. But he was never an apostle. He never saw Jesus personally. He was never taught personally by Jesus. Armstrong's claim was, because his wife happened to be talking to a woman who was a member of Church of God Seventh-Day, and they kept the Sabbath, she convinced Loma Armstrong of the Sabbath and prodded Herbert Armstrong that she was going to keep the Sabbath.
He was going to prove her wrong. So, at that time there wasn't very much employment in America because of the depression, so he spent every day for six months in the library in Portland, and there were a lot of books in there written by ministers of the Church of God Seventh-Day. One of them was G.G. Rupert.
All of the doctrines that he found, that he embraced were the doctrines that were developed by the Church of God Seventh-Day. Armstrong attended the Church of God Seventh-Day in Eugene, Oregon.
I talked to Otis Cole whose father went to that church that Herbert Armstrong went to, and it was the Church of God Seventh-Day. But they wouldn't accept the Holy Days. So, that's how the Church of God began with Herbert Armstrong, later called Radio Church of God, after that called Worldwide Church of God.
No one today should be called an apostle. There are evangelists, pastors and teachers.
Q #21—This is from the book: Who Is Jesus? pg. 73
Let's see how important the transfiguration was. We know that Peter was a Jew. We know that John was a Jew, Paul was a Jew, and the only one who may not have been a Jew was Luke. Luke wrote under the tutelage and direction of the Apostle Paul.
Most of the Apostles came from the area of Galilee. All of Galilee and Judea were known to be Jewish countries. But to be a Jew meant that you followed the traditions of the Jews.
Jesus was of the House of Judah, the line of David. Read the genealogy in Matt. 1 and it says, 'Jesus, the son of David, the son of Abraham.' The promise of Jesus goes clear back to Abraham.
Everyone who lived in Judea and Galilee were called Jews. But Paul was a Benjaminite, he said that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. John may have been from the House of Aaron, and they had their occupation of fishermen, because the priests were not always at the temple all the time. They were there by course (2-Chron.) with everything all laid out.
We don't know the others, possibly Judas Iscariot was of the priestly line, we don't know. But they were from the other tribes of Israel, because there were a few from the ten tribes that were always mixed in with the Jews.
That happened because when the Assyrians attacked the northern ten tribes, a lot of them fled to the area of Judea when Hezekiah was king. So, there were some of the ten tribes there. But predominately those from Judah.
I don't know what the question is. I'll have to get the book and see what it is.
Q #22—David numbering Israel
It says in 2-Sam 24 that God incited David to number Israel, saying 'God number Israel and Judah.' When you come to the book of Chronicles, it says that Satan stirred David up to number.
Joab—David's chief general—I feel sorry for him because he knew every stinking, rotten thing that went on in the kingship. So, he told David that 'you don't need to it.'
The only think that I can figure out is that David wanted to do it, and it was king of like Balaam. Balaam wanted to come and curse the children of Israel, but God said not to go.
But Balaam kept saying that he wanted to go, Balak[transcriber's correction] wants me to go and he's going to pay me all this money. God said, 'Okay, you go, but you only speak what I tell you to speak.'
As a second witness against him, his own donkey stopped and he got off his donkey and the donkey spoke to him in a human voice, 'What are you beating on me for?'
So, we have this situation with David. David wanted to do it, and it turned out to be sin. He numbered them and he never got them all numbered because of what God did in destroying 70,000 of the Israelites.
How God chose the 70,000 I do not know. But they were probably those who were idolaters and those who were not following God.
But there's another lesson learned. Whenever a politician, king or leader does something terribly wrong, everybody pays the price one way or the other! That's what we have today!
Q #23—Where is our citizenship?
It's in heaven above and Christ is going to bring it!
Q #24—Concerning the 144,000
We will send you the booklet on it and there are two sets of 144,000. You will see that is explained.
That brings us up to date! We have all the questions answered. Next Sabbath is going to be eye-opening and it's going to center on where Jesus told Peter and what you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
But that is a false translation! That's how the King James reads. What does the pope say? I can bind anything! If you ever read Foxe's Book of Martyrs, the pope muse on their power: 'I can raise up kings and emperors. I can take them down, and everybody must obey what I say. Because what I bind is bound in heaven, and what I loose is loosed in heaven.'
- Is that what it means?
- What is the correct translation? It is in the Faithful Version correctly translated!
- How does that apply to the rest of the Bible?
You're going to be amazed!
Scriptural References:
Q #1:
Psalm 104:14
Q #2:
Hebrews 1:3
Q #3:
Daniel 4:1, 34-37
Q #5:
Referenced, not quoted:
- Revelation 13
- Deuteronomy 28
- Leviticus 26
Q #6:
Referenced: In-Depth Study: How To Overcome the Sin Within
Q #9:
Referenced, not quoted: Hebrews 11
Q #10:
Exodus 33:9-11, 15-23
Referenced, not quoted: Luke 24
Q #13:
Referenced, not quoted: Luke 3:23
Q #14:
Referenced, not quoted: 1 Corinthians 11
Q #15:
- John 5:17
Q #16
Referenced, not quoted:
- Matthew 25
- Luke 19
Q #17:
- Matthew 4:8-9
- Luke 4:5
Referenced, not quoted:
- Matthew 25
- Luke 13
Q #18:
- John 2:13-22
Q #19:
- James 2:26
- John 10:14-17
- Romans 8:4-5, 9-11
- 1 Peter 1:20-22
Referenced, not quoted:
- 2 Corinthians 4
- John 17
Q #21:
Referenced, not quoted:
- Matthew 1
- 2 Chronicles
Q #22:
Referenced, not quoted:
2 Samuel 24
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 2/19/23
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