Restoring Original Christianity—For Today

Fred R. Coulter—December 5, 2009

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This past two weeks in updating the church website, CBCG.org, it occurred that we need to also tie this in with The Holy Bible in Its Original Order.

[Transcript breaks at 00:51 of audio] | [Transcript resumes at 4:15]

So concerning the Bible, and concerning what we have been able to do, I worked up this new homepage for the website. We may make certain additions to it. As a matter of fact, I've already made an addition to it in the third paragraph. So when they come onto the home page they will see this in banners: Christian Biblical Church of God Restoring Original Christianity for Today. Because that's what our job is. I have read this, so they will hear my voice, too. Let's just go through this and then we will analyze the various Scriptures behind all of what is written here:

Welcome to the Home Page of the Christian Biblical Church of God website. We are dedicated to Restoring Original Christianity—for today—the true, original Gospel as revealed and taught by Jesus Christ and His personally chosen Apostles; and preserved in the God-breathed New Testament. Therefore, we are Scripturalists. We believe and practice the Word of God, as inspired and preserved in the Holy Bible—Old and New Testaments. We strictly follow the Bible and recapture the true biblical meaning of the Word of God by comparing scripture with scripture to prove all things.

We do not accept, teach, or practice, any traditions of men regardless of their claims—whether from Judaism, Catholicism, Orthodox or Protestantism. The founding battle cry of original Protestantism, sola scriptura, meaning "the Scriptures and Scriptures Only," has long been forgotten and ignored by the Protestants; and rejected by the Catholics. As a result, all Orthodox Christendom has gone astray and is now merely practicing "Christianized" pagan traditions, teachings and philosophies of men.

The subversion of the Church of God by false ministers with false teachings was gaining prominence in the time leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. In his urgent epistle, the apostle Jude, the brother of Jesus, sounded the alarm of this insidious apostasy gaining power when he wrote: "Beloved, when personally exerting all my diligence to write to you concerning the common salvation, I was compelled to write to you, exhorting you to ferventlyfight for the faith, which once for all time has been delivered to the saints. For certain men have stealthily crept in, those who long ago have been written about, condemning them to thisjudgment. They are ungodly men, who are perverting the grace of our God, turning it into licentiousness, and are personally denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 3-4).

The mission of the Christian Biblical Church of God is to faithfully undertake RESTORING ORIGINAL CHRISTIANITY—for today, and authentic worship of God in spirit and in truth. Our website, CBCG.ORG, offers both visual and audio studies in a wide range of biblical subjects to help you come to a full understanding of the fundamental teachings of the Bible and the true Original Apostolic Christianity founded by Jesus Christ.

This site is designed to help you progress from basic biblical teachings to more advanced detailed studies. We have in-depth verse-by-verse studies of nearly all books of the New Testament. All topics are networked so that you may enter at any level of study and move with ease from one topic to another.
Please direct any comments or questions concerning this website to our Webmaster at the address below.

Let's come to the Bible. Let's come back here to the appendices. As I mentioned before, all of these appendices and the commentaries are designed to help people come to the original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and His chosen apostles. Let's come to Appendix M, pg. 1,288 in the second edition, and this is how we titled it. We're going to have to redo our beliefs booklet, the booklet that we send out. We had it entitled, Beliefs of the Christian Biblical Church of God, but it should be entitled—and I think with the booklet we are going to incorporate—Restoring Original Christianity for Today.

Here's what we have in Appendix M: Beliefs and Doctrines of the New Testament Church, The True Teachings and Doctrines of Jesus Christ and His Apostles as Revealed in the Holy Bible. Everything that you find in here recaptures what is actually in the Scriptures. So if you don't have the tapes, I don't know if we have this digitized or not but we're pretty close to getting it all digitized so you can get it on a CD. If you're online, you can download them for your study. Go through all the teachings on a regular study; because every Church of God, regardless of the corporate name, should come to all the true original teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles.

Let's come to Acts 1. Now you've heard me mention this before, but let's just go ahead and review it again, because the original Christianity by the apostles' teachings of Jesus and that's why it's the fourth division of the Bible. Christ ties together with the fulfillment of His prophecy. As I mentioned in a couple of sermons here recently—just imagine this: All of the prophecies leading up to the ministry of Jesus Christ and everything else from there going out focused on the three and a half year ministry of Jesus Christ. Everything! Then go back and look at the prophecies concerning John the Baptist. How long was his ministry? Maybe six to nine months at the most and he was called the greatest prophet, yet he did no miracles. So think about that. Think about the impact of the short period of time of Jesus' ministry, which tells you that the world cannot tolerate God around very long.

They even tried plotting to kill Him from the beginning—remember that? The account there is in Luke 4. He came into the synagogue on the Sabbath and read from Isa. 61 and then He said, 'Today these words are fulfilled in your ear.' They said, 'Who is this?' What did they do after He brought to their attention that they continuously rebelled against God and that Elijah was sent to a widow and a leper, Naaman the general of Syria, was the only one that was healed from leprosy, not the chosen people of God. So what happened? They all got on their knees and repented and said, 'Oh, Lord, bless us.' No! They said, 'Let's get this guy and throw Him off the cliff.' The world cannot handle God in their presence, even in the flesh.

So that's why He chose the apostles. He chose them for a specific reason and let's see what He says here concerning it. Acts 1:6: "So then, when they were assembled together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?'" Wanting to know when the Kingdom of God was going to be here. Now here's His answer. Remember, just after that He told Peter how he was going to die. So Peter knew that he was going to die before Jesus' return. Then Peter turned to the Lord and said, 'Lord, what's going to happen to him?' pointing to John. He said, 'What's it to you? If I desire that he remain until I come again, what's it to you?' So then everyone said, 'Oh, Christ is going to return before John dies.' Which also set up a great disappointment when he died—right? Think of this! We'll look at a smaller parallel of that.

How many people had their hearts and minds set on that Herbert Armstrong would live until the return of Christ? What happened when he died? Almost an identical repeat of what happened to the Church when John died—right? Scattered, infiltrated, changed doctrines. But notice what Jesus said He wanted to happen. Let's continue on, v 7: "And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has placed in His own authority; but you yourselves shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria… [And here is the ongoing phrase that continues to this very day.] …and unto the ends of the earth'" (vs 7-8).

Now only Jesus understood what that statement meant, because He told them—remember there in Matt. 28, 'All power in heaven and earth has been given to Me. Therefore, you go and you teach all nations everything I have commanded you.' Now that's why we have the three Gospels, very important to understand. And someone will say, 'Well, what about the fourth Gospel of John?' Many people miss this, because the Bible says—in what? 'In the mouth of two or three witnesses everything shall be established'—correct? So someone says, 'Well, the book of John was just written by one man, whereas you have Matthew, Mark, and Luke, so we'll accept those three witnesses, but we can't accept John.' Well, they didn't read very carefully this verse.

John 21:24: "This is the disciple who testifies concerning these things and who wrote these things and we know… [Who is 'we'? The ones working with John to canonize the New Testament. So John is verified by additional witnesses—correct? Yes!] …and we know that his testimony is true." So therefore, you have the Gospel of John by the testimony of at least two more. Who could that be? Maybe Andrew, the brother of Peter; maybe Philip, another one of the apostles; maybe Mark, who was the one who helped Paul finalize his epistles and helped Peter finalize his. Remember, he was about sixteen when he fled at night after they arrested Jesus and he fled away naked. That was Mark. So it could have been those three, and whoever else of the apostles were still living.

When it says here in Acts 1, 'unto the ends of the earth,' how is that going to be done since they all died? Through the Word of God; through the preserved New Testament and Bible. That's why Jesus said in Matt. 24, 'And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world,' and in Mark it is, 'published in all the world'—'and then the end shall come.' Let's look at it this way: Instead of fulfilling Scriptures to the minimum, let's understand God always fulfills them to the maximum, so there's no doubt.

That's why Paul said when he was brought before Festus, 'This thing, O king, was not done in a corner.' It was well known. That's what Peter told Cornelius, too. Well known. So here we are in the end of the age and what do we preach and what do we teach? Not the traditions of men. Now you listen very, very carefully to the news and the argument about Christmas, which when you really, really think about Christmas and the Christmas tree, that's a celebration of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You think on that for a while and you'll understand it.

So we teach the Word of God. God was faithful to preserve the Word of God. Paul told Timothy that 'you've known the Holy writings from a child, which are able through faith and Christ Jesus to make you wise unto salvation.' Then he said, 'All Scripture is God breathed.' Since we have Restoring the Original Bible and orders coming in and different comments being made, one man said, 'Well, how do we know the Bible is true?' So I answered him back, 'If you believe there is a God who is all powerful, don't you think that He has the ability to cause forty men—that's all—forty men who wrote the Bible. Don't you think He has the power to control forty men to make them write what He wants written?' I haven't heard back from him yet, but we'll find out.

Let's read what Jesus told the apostles. John 15:16: "'You yourselves did not choose Me, but I have personally chosen you… [Now let's analyze this just a little bit from the Greek. You yourselves comes from a middle-voice verb which means: you, being the subject are also the object of the verb. You yourself. So what he's saying, it didn't originate because you had any great desire.] …but I have personally chosen you… [This is also a Greek middle-voice verb. So Christ did it for the benefit of preaching the Gospel, but He did it personally. So when the object of the middle-voice verb is not the subject, then it means the subject is doing this personally to someone else, in a very particular way.] …and ordained you, that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain…'" How long? Until Christ returns and it goes to the ends of the earth.

So the apostles are still bearing fruit through their inspired God-breathed writings as well as Moses and all the prophets and Christ. Let's see something else here in John 5, concerning Moses. I'm soon going to do some programs, some of the half-hour Bible answers on this, because there are a lot of people—oh, I got a nasty, nasty email. 'You're a heretic. Who do you think you're are doing this, putting out this Bible, and preaching these things?' So I wrote back and I said, 'Thank you for your Christian love.' I said, 'Since you're challenging me, I will challenge you. Who are you? I'm sending you an attachment entitled, Rome's Challenge to the Protestants. So if you think I'm a heretic, you better read that because you are the one who's going against God, not me. If I go against your traditions, I'm not a heretic, but if you go, by your traditions, against God, namely Sunday keeping, you are a heretic.' So when I get emails like that, I'm not going to stand by and just chuck them away and say oh hum.

So I got another one back from her. She was still hot under the collar and so I said, 'Well, have you read Rome's Challenge? If you haven't, why don't you just join the Catholics?' You know who joined the Catholics recently don't you? Tony Blair, yes! Guess what the pope invited back into the fold? The Anglican Church which they have sought to destroy ever since Henry VIII kicked them out. Now they have it. Same way with Moses.

John 5:33: "You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the Truth. Now I do not receive witness from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining light, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works that the Father gave Me to complete, the very works that I am doing, themselves bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, Who sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice nor seen His form at any time. And you do not have His Word dwelling in you…" (vs 33-38). Now that's pretty strong—isn't it? What did they have dwelling in them? The traditions.

Our editor, Phil Neal, is writing a book entitled The Law of Judaism is Not The Law of Moses. It's not going to be an attack against Judaism, it's just going to explain the facts from their own writings, what they believe and their traditions in relationship to the Word of God. Then we're also going to point out that in today's world, there are many Jews who believe in Jesus Christ, and in the end-time God is going to deal with the nation that is called Israel today, which should be called Judah, in a very powerful way. So it's going to be like Fox News says of their news: 'fair and balanced.' It will not be a condemnation, like so many people have today. 'These Jews did this and they did that and they did the other thing. They're responsible for this and responsible for that and responsible for the other thing.' Well, what does that prove? That only stirs up strife and hatred, but if you bring forth and show the Truth in a way that's going to put it in a light that will give you understanding of the Word of God, that's what needs to be. He's about three-quarters done with it.

Verse 39: "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life; and they are the ones that testify of Me. But you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life…. [Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me.'] …I do not receive glory from men; But I have known you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves…. [Now that's a pretty strong statement—isn't it? Yes, indeed!] …I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; but if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How are you able to believe, you who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" (vs 39-44).

That's the mistake that so many people make. If they're teachers or preachers, they get all caught up in themselves and how great they are. They become like celebrities and sooner or later it catches up with them, just like it has with so many politicians and now with Tiger Woods. As someone mentioned in today's world if you think you can keep a secret, you understand nothing. What did Jesus say? 'That which is spoken will be shouted from the housetops.'

So whoever's teaching and preaching, never get caught up in yourself, because you're nothing. If you can't be a tool to serve God and you get all caught up in what you are and what you think you are, then you become chaff. That's the way I view the things that we do. What I'm able to do fine. If I'm able to do it and get it done and other people help me and we produce something like we have with the Bible and the other books, fine. But what is that for? That is to create tools to help others. There's no personal glory in it. The only glory that we need to look for—all of us—is where? At the resurrection. Not now, because this life in the flesh is sinful and deceitful, even though we're converted. We're still growing and overcoming—right? Yes!

Now notice here, v 45 becomes a very key verse in understanding how God views the Scriptures. Come over here to John 6:63. Here is how God views His Word, because you go back to Isa. 55 and it says, 'My word goes out and will not come back to Me empty, but it will produce what I desire.'

Here's why, John 6:63: "It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life." That becomes very important to understand. In other words: every word of God is living, because it's inspired by the Spirit of God Who is eternal.

So notice what He says. Come back here to John 5:45: "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you… [present tense] …even Moses, in whom you have hope…. [If you're a died-in-the-wool Protestant and you have hostility to what I'm saying, will you believe the words of Jesus or will you believe the minister that stands in the pulpit and says, 'All the things of Moses have been done away.'] (Here's what Jesus said): …But if you believed Moses, you would have believed Me; for he wrote about Me…. [So we have present-tense verb—one who accuses you, even Moses, in whom you have hope.] …But if you believed Moses, you would have believed Me; for he wrote about Me'" (vs 45-46). Where? Gen. 3, 15, 22, 49 and Deut. 18. Then if you add on the prophets to that and the prophets still speak—correct, don't they? Yes!

So this is how God is using His Word and having preached, having published more than a million Bibles a year right now. Why is it the best selling book in the history of the world? Because God intended it to be, so it would go out to all people as the living Word of God. Now we have a small part in it in what we're doing here and we're happy to do so. But we realize that this was all done way before we were ever born. So we need to keep things all in perspective—don't we?

Come over here to John 4:34: "Jesus said to them… [after the disciples asked them, 'Well, did someone bring Him something to eat?'] …'My meat ]food] is to do the will of Him Who sent Me, and to finish His work.'" Now there are two finishes to the work of Christ:

• John 17, He said, 'Father, I've finished the work you gave me to do.' That's the preaching of the gospel, the teaching of the apostles, getting ready to form the New Testament Church. He completed that with His death.
• After being resurrected He continued on the work of God and is going to finish that phase of it when the resurrection takes place and Christ and the saints return to the earth.

Then He's going to finish the work during the Millennium. Then He's going to finish the work during the Great White Throne Judgment and then He will say to the Father, Rev. 21, 'It is done. I'm Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.'

"'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' (v 35). That's what we're seeing today. Just think, there are probably millions of people searching and looking for the Truth and the answers, and they don't know where to go. We now have opportunities through the Internet that we can reach every area of the world. Many other people can do it, too. I hope and pray every Church of God would do it. My prayer would be as many of the SDAs, especially those who keep the Holy Days, will also do it. If there are any Protestants who repent and embrace the Sabbath and the Holy Days and really understand about the Spirit of God, and so forth, that they would do it. Let there be a multitude of people doing it, because there are billions of people out there. Whatever our part is, let God bless us as well in that.

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. 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 36-38). That's a continuous, ongoing generational thing—is it not? Yes, it is!

The result of this Bible is because of all of the honest scholars and those who preserve the Word of God down through history. We wouldn't even have a ghost of a chance of even trying to do it unless God had already prepared the way and paved the way—right? Yes!

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As I mentioned, the last sentence there, we strictly follow the Bible and recapture the true Biblical meaning of the Word of God by comparing Scripture with Scripture to prove all things. Just put in your notes there Isa. 28 and 1-Thess. 5:21. We're not going to turn there, just put in your notes.

Let's come to Mark 7. Let's see what happens with every tradition and this ends up being one of the greatest sins against God that men can do: Replace the Word of God with the teachings of men and have traditions. Now what do we have today? We have traditions from Judaism, Catholicism, and even so much so that the Catholics say, 'We could preach the Gospel without the Bible.' Well, how can you teach the Gospel of God without the Bible or the Gospel of Jesus Christ without the Bible? This goes all the way back to Cain. Cain brought an offering that he thought God should accept, because he brought it. What happened? He didn't bring it according to the instructions of God—did he?—like Abel did. So God told him that 'if you do well, you'll be accepted'; and doing well is doing what God commanded. And if you do not well, 'sin lies at the door.'

Jude speaks of the way of Cain. The way of Cain is substituting the teachings of God with the teachings of men. They may intersperse a lot of these things by using Scripture, by using God, by using Jesus Christ, but it all gets back—you take Catholicism and you take it back, back, back, back, back, what do you come to? Tradition and the authority of the pope replacing Christ and the Word of God.

Now this is nothing new because the Jews did this as Christ noted in Mark 7 and here's what happens. Now in this room we're meeting in today we've got in the back corner a Christmas tree. Everyone thinks Christmas is of God and anyone against that is against God and notice how they express it with the current battle over Christmas in schools and in capital buildings, and so forth. What do they say? Traditional values! They don't say the Word of God, because if they said the Word of God, someone's going to say, 'Haven't you ever read in Jer. 10 about the Christmas tree?' All the traditions of men are always done in the name of God to give them authority when Christ never sent them. Or in the case of the Jews here in Mark 7, God never sent them.

So let's pick it up here in Mark 7:3. As you know, it was a problem over washing hands. "For the Pharisees and all the Jews, holding fast to the tradition of the elders, do not eat unless they wash their hands thoroughly. Even when coming from the market, they do not eat unless they first wash themselves. And there are many other things that they have received to observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and brass utensils and tables. For this reason, the Pharisees and the scribes questioned Him, saying, 'Why don't Your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?'' (vs 3-5). It had nothing to do with clean or unclean meat.

The NIV is absolutely a blatant mistranslation where it concludes at the end of this that, 'thus He declared all meats clean.' Not true! I just saw the other night where a man ended up with lung flukes, a parasite in the lung. And guess where they traced it back to? Eating raw crayfish. Down South, catching crayfish, first thing they do is eat one raw. He liked to died! In watching that, you can see in on the History Channel, The Monsters Inside You. That's rather gruesome.

Verse 6: "And He answered and said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men"'" (vs 6-7). Isn't that something?

Any tradition you have that you bring, which replaces any part of the Word of God, is vain worship of God. Now you can apply that to all of the holidays of the world. It's vain! They don't want to come to the Passover and Unleavened Bread, because that's something you have to come to recognize from God to you, as Christ is your Savior. And that you are responsible with the help of God's Spirit to get sin out of your life by loving God, keeping His commandments, and receiving His Spirit. Oh, no, they don't want that, but they're sure going to put a fight up to keep Christmas tree in a school or in a state house or in a city hall. But it's a tradition of men. And they worship God in vain, because here's what happens:

"'For leaving the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots and cups; and you practice many other things like this.'…. [Same way with Christmas and Easter and New Years, and all the holidays of the world.] …Then He said to them, 'Full well do you reject the commandment of God, so that you may observe your own tradition'" (vs 8-9). And you can apply that to anything.

So while people like to stand up and condemn the traditions of the Jews, very few people stand up and condemn the traditions of the Catholics and the Orthodox and the Protestants. So guess what? What should we do? We should say it loud and clear—right? Let's think about Christmas. What do they say about it? They have lots of nice songs. I bet every one of you can still remember all of the Christmas songs—right? Yes! They played one there in the hotel where I was staying and it was The Happiest Time of the Year. I got to thinking: The happiest time of the year, yes, let's welcome Satan into our home. Yes, let's have a tree to the memory of the downfall of Adam and Eve. Let's celebrate that. And, 'Oh, it's so beautiful. Oh, it's so gorgeous and everything is so fine and it's all for the kiddies.' Why do you have to lie to your children, yet you teach them not to lie? All the way through, see. So those things need to be brought out loud and clear for them.

Let's come to 2-Peter 2. This is what happened, once you have traditions and the teachings of men. This is why we need to read the Old Testament so we understand what happened back in the Old Testament. Remember the confrontation that Jeremiah had with some of the false prophets? What did he tell one of them, I think it was Hananiah, the false prophet who said, 'Oh, you won't go into Babylon. All the things that Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon they're coming back and the temple's going to really be set up in good shape. We're going to have peace not war.' What did Jeremiah tell him? 'You're a false prophet and you're going to die.' He died that year! Now I don't think we should be so bold as to do that yet, but it shows what God thinks about false prophets.

What happens? People, when they hear something that looks good, that sounds good, that pleases the flesh, that gives them license to sin, that gives them excuses to practice the things that satisfy the flesh and the lust of the flesh, and appeals to their deceitfulness, they embrace it. Isn't that true? Isn't that how the election was won by Obama? Now they're paying the price. They say, 'Oh, no!' And they're wondering, 'Is it too late?' We'll have to wait and see. They need to go another step backwards. They need to go to the clergy and ask them, 'Why did you preach lies to us?' Here's the warning.

2-Peter 2:1: "But there were also false prophets among the people, as indeed there will be false teachers among you, who will stealthily introduce destructive heresies, personally denying the Lord who bought them, and bringing swift destruction upon themselves." Isn't that interesting? Who are the heretics? Those who believe in the Word of God and the Sabbath and the Holy Days or those who believe in Sunday and Halloween and Christmas and Easter, and so forth? Yet, they have the gall to stand up and say, 'You're Judaizing. You're a heretic!' They're the heretic. That's what Peter said, 'destructive heresies.'

How are they destructive? They keep people from God. That's the most destructive thing that can happen in a persons life,

• to keep you from God
• to keep you from having the knowledge of God
• the Truth of God
• the blessings of God

—right? So here's what will happen. "And many people will follow as authoritative their destructive ways; and because of them, the way of the Truth will be blasphemed" (v 2).

I tell you the next email I get from some irate Catholic or Protestant, I'm going to work up what I call a boiler-plate reply. I'm going to work it up and I'm going to send it to them. I'm going to tell them,

• You are judging me by your standards, but God is going to judge you by His standards and here is His judgment right here.
• You were the ones who changed the Sabbath to Sunday.
• You were the ones who changed the Passover to the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Eucharist.
• You were the ones who claim that Jesus was resurrected on Sunday.
• You were the ones who say that it's okay to observe the satanic feast of Halloween.'

Now notice how they do it. "Also, through insatiable greed they will with enticing messages exploit you for gain…. [Have you been merchandized in a church before? What happened? Yes!] …for whom the judgment of old is in full force… [and it's God's determination when He will execute it. It's already pronounced—isn't it? Yes, in the Word of God!] …and their destruction is ever watching" (v 3). So this is why we don't do that.

Now let's continue on here Jude 4. We can also apply this politically as well as religiously. You can look at this in the governments of the world, and in the religions of the world. And especially today in Washington, D.C., who are these czars? and Who is Barrak Hussein Obama? Nobody really knows.

Jude 4: "For certain men have stealthily crept in, those who long ago have been written about, condemning them to this judgment. They are ungodly men, who are perverting the grace of our God, turning it into licentiousness, and are personally denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ…. [Now these are perhaps the strongest words in the New Testament.] …But I myself want to remind you though you once understood this, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, the second time destroyed those who did not believe" (vs 4-5).

So if you don't know about the book of Exodus and what happened and the book of Numbers when they refused to go into the land, God didn't want them wandering in the wilderness for forty years. God wanted to bring them into the land. He said, 'Go in.' So they sent in forty spies. Ten came back and said, 'Oh, boo hoo, we can't do it.' Caleb and Joshua said, 'Yes, we can.' And you know the rest of the story. They didn't believe God, so He destroyed them. It took forty years, but it happened.

Now notice, if you think men were in trouble: "And the angels who did not keep their own original domain, but deserted their habitation, He is holding in eternal bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (v 6). What's the first thing start out the Last Great Day? The judgment of Satan the devil and the demons—is it not? Before the second resurrection takes place? Yes, because those people in the second resurrection have already lived one life under Satan the devil. Why do they deserve a second life under Satan? That's why he's going to be cast into the lake of fire and bound. That's why he was bound at the beginning of the Millennium, because God is going to show that Satan is the author of sin, the author of rebellion, the author of confusion, and He is going to bring His salvation all during the Millennium without him around.

Now notice to make the point very clear: "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah—and the cities surrounding them, in the same manner as them—having given themselves over to sexual debaucheries, and having gone after different flesh, are themselves exhibited as a perpetual example of undergoing the punishment of eternal fire" (v 7).

How many have seen what Ron Wyatt, who is in SDA. He discovered two things which I think are correct. He boasts about finding the Ark of the Covenant, which I believe in incorrect, and he has the wrong place for the crossing of the Red Sea. However, he did find the right location where the [Noah's] ark undoubtedly landed. And he also showed that down near the Dead Sea where Sodom and Gomorrah actually was, and on the floor of that valley in the location where he found the remains of Sodom and Gomorrah, cities burned to a crisp; buildings that are still there as you look in the rock. In that area you can pick up off the ground many different sizes of pure sulfur balls. He showed how if you take one of these sulfur balls, put it on a teaspoon and light it, it will melt through in just a few minutes. So that's probably where Sodom and Gomorrah were. So it's a perpetual witness. A perpetual example that these kinds of things God is going to judge for and it's coming.

Now v 8: "In the same way also, these dreamers of filthy dreams are defiling the flesh, and are declaring as invalid the lordship of God… [Is that not what they are doing today? I don't know if you saw it on the news lately, but there's more and more coming out, atheists are coming out of the closet. We need to talk about them, too, because what they are doing is this right here.] …declaring as invalid the lordship of God, and are blaspheming the Divine powers."

So this is a tremendous and powerful epistle—isn't it? Just condensed into this one epistle, the premier rebellions against God and what God has done. Verse 9: "But Michael the archangel, when he was personally taking issue with the devil, disputing about the body of Moses… [That's interesting—isn't it? Don't you just imagine what would have happened if God allowed the devil to have the body of Moses? He could preserve it in honey, take it to Rome and say, 'Ah, ha, we have the true religion. Here's the body of Moses.'] (So Michael) …did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment against him, but said, 'The Lord Himself rebuke you!' As for these, whatever things they do not understand, they blaspheme; but whatever things they understand by instinct, as irrational brute beasts, they are corrupting themselves in these things. Woe to them! For they have walked in the way of Cain; and for gain, they have wholly given themselves up to Balaam's delusion, and have perished in the rebellion of Korah" (vs 9-11).

That's combining an awful lot in one verse—isn't it? Yes, indeed! That's why we need to be restoring original Christianity. So then it talks about what's going to happen to them, their final judgment, etc.

Let's come down to paragraph, paragraph four:

The mission of the Christian Biblical Church of God is to faithfully undertake restoring original Christianity for today and the true authentic worship of God in Spirit and in Truth.

Now let's come back here to John 4, and what is that? Where is the true worship of God? Where does that begin? In your home, on your knees, between you and God, a personal relationship.

He's talking to the woman at the well in Samaria. John 4:19: "The woman said to Him, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet…. [when He said to her, 'You've had five husbands.' So she proceeded to say] …Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, but you say that the place where it is obligatory to worship is in Jerusalem.' Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You do not know what you worship" (vs 19-22).

Even though they claimed to worship the Father. And isn't that the way it is with so many people today who claim they are worshiping God? That's the way it is with a lot of people. They think they're worshiping God, but they don't know what they're worshiping. They even pray to our Father in heaven, and God, in His mercy, will help them if their prayer is really sincere, but that doesn't mean that that constitutes the whole of true worship of God. God is no respecter of persons.

If a person, in sincerity from what they know, pray to God, He will answer that prayer. But that does not necessarily mean salvation is included in that prayer, because God is interested in helping people to come to Him if they follow up on that answered prayer, and say, 'Oh, God answered my prayer, I wonder where I can find God.' Then they're on the right step; but if not, it'll be just like the thousands and thousands that Jesus healed. Where were they? By time you got through the death and resurrection of Christ and Christ being with the disciples for forty days, then right after He ascended into heaven they went into Jerusalem to Solomon's Porch and how many were there? 120—that's all! But God, through Christ, healed thousands and thousands. So it's the same way, but they don't know what they're worshiping because they don't know God.

"'You do not know what you worship. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews…. [That meaning coming through Christ.] …But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is indeed seeking those who worship Him in this manner. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth'" (vs 22-24). That's what we also have to restore.

How do you pray? How do you worship God? How do you study? It's not, you come to mass and you go through the rosary and you go to a little closet over there, a little cubby hole, and you lie about your sins to the priest because you never really tell him the truth. I've asked every Catholic who went to confession. 'Did you really, really, really tell the priest every detail?' No! But part of real repentance is you come to God in a quiet, private place on your knees and you pray to God, and you confess your sins to Him directly because He knows. That's part of the true worship of God.

Coming together on the Sabbath, God wants us to come together so that we are taught from His Word. That on the Sabbath not only do we worship God with the prayers that we have, but we worship God in the proper study of the Word of God, learning of the Word of God, keeping the Sabbath day Holy, and serving Him. We worship Him in our way of life: how we live; what we do. Worship is not just restricted to prayer or to meditation or to study. That's the foundation then which gives us the ability to live the way of God. That's what God wants that we will be the kind of Christians that people will look at us and know that we are of God.

Let's come to Isaiah 66 and here's the attitude that we need to have. Many men have started out to do great works for God. Like someone told me, 'Well, there's another one of the two witnesses out there someplace and saying he's one of the two witnesses.' We've heard that before—haven't we? When God wants to raise up the two witnesses, He's going to do it—is He not? If you can't substitute your way as a way of worshiping and serving God, what makes any man think that he can come to God and say, 'I'm one of the two witnesses.' Wouldn't it be something if God sent an angel down and said, 'Who are you?'

Now here's what God wants. "Thus says the LORD, 'The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then, is the house that you build for Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all these things My hand has made, and these things came to be,' says the LORD…. [So even the greatest work anyone could do on this earth in building buildings, and all of this sort of thing, what are they using? They're using everything that Godcreated. But what is a greater honor than that? Solomon built the temple and look what happened to him? That's why I gave a sermon one time, when anyone builds a temple for God, they get themselves in trouble—don't they? Then and even now—isn't that true? Yes! What is greater than that? Verse 2 again:] …For all these things My hand has made, and these things came to be,' says the LORD. 'But to this one I will look, to him who is of a poor and contrite spirit and who trembles at My Word'" (vs 1-2). That's what God wants:

• a loving heart
• loving attitude
• yielding to God

Not a temple, not great works, not elaborate things, but loving and serving God. So when you come full scale all around, what is the ultimate in restoring original Christianity for today? To love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength. To love your neighbor as yourself, to love the brethren as Christ has loved you, and to love your enemy. That's how to restore it.

So that's what we will endeavor to do on Church at Home and our website for Christian Biblical Church of God.

Scriptural References:

• Acts 1:6-8
• John 21:24
• John 15:16
• John 5:33-44
• John 6:63
• John 5:45-46
• John 4:34-38
• Mark 7:3-9
• 2-Peter 2:1-3
• Jude 4-11
• John 4:19-24
• Isaiah 66:1-2

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Luke 4
• Isaiah 61
• Matthew 28
• Matthew 24
• Isaiah 55
• Genesis 3, 15, 22, 49
• Deuteronomy 18
• John 17
• Revelation 21
• Isaiah 28
• 1-Thessalonians 5:21
• Jeremiah 10

Also referenced:

Booklet: Beliefs of the Christian Biblical Church of God

Article: Rome's Challenge to the Protestants

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 12-17-09
Formatted: bo—12-20-09