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Revelation Series #13
Assaults Against the Doctrines
Fred R. Coulter—August 15, 1992
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We're going to look at some very interesting Scriptures today, and we're going to see exactly what it is that we need to know, that we need to learn, that we need to understand. There are an awful lot of people today—I've talked to some on the phone—that are just losing out so much because they have not been grounded solidly in the basic Truths. They are in very difficult spiritual condition. Worse than Heb. 5, to where the time comes that they should be able to take strong meat, they needed someone again to give them milk.
To understand God's Word it has to be revealed by His Spirit, and that God's Spirit reveals to us. 1-Corinthians 2:10: "But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—eventhe deep things of God." Unfortunately there are many people who have been fed on such anemic, spiritual food that they need milk again, which then would be the basic foundation. But also it creates a lot of difficulty, because when a person comes to a certain point of knowledge of the Scriptures, but does not have enough knowledge of the Scriptures to really understand what the Bible is saying in some of these difficult places, then it just knocks them for a loop!
It's almost like derailing a train. You can derail a train with a very small little obstacle on the tracks. So, here in 1-Corinthians 3:1 is what Paul was saying to them: "And, I, brethren, was not able to speak to you as to those who are spiritual, but as to those who are carnal—even as to babes in Christ." Many people are that way. They're letting their carnality come along and say, 'you don't need to keep the Holy Days, and I really wonder about the Sabbath, and you don't need to observe the laws of clean and unclean meats, and just pick up all those things and run straight down the road right into oblivion. They really weren't grounded!
Verse 2:"I gave you milk to drink, and not meat…" When we get into some of these things where the 'meat' is, makes you wonder how much more there is for us to learn once we get past the 'milk' stage. I would have to say that everyone here is way past the milk stage. I'm sure that all of you here, and I hope that most of you on the mailing list, too, will be able to understand why these basic things are so very, very important.
"…for… [up to this point] …you were not yet able to receive spiritual meat; and neither are you able now, for you are still carnal. For since envy and contention and divisions are among you, are you not carnal? And are you not walking according to human ways?" (vs 2-3).
I'll just have to say something very plain here that is absolutely true. You cannot depend on Protestant doctrine to understand the New Testament! It won't happen, because everything that they do must be to justify Sunday-keeping. In order to justify Sunday-keeping, then they must knock all law-keeping in the head. That's where they get very, very confused and really out of it. So, let's approach this from just a little bit different point of view. Let's just review something here, as we did last week.
In Matthew 5:17 we have the words of Jesus where He said: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled" (vs 17-18). Then people turn around immediately and say, 'Well, it was all fulfilled and we don't have to keep the Law anymore.' That in itself is a ridiculous statement.
I want to call your attention to, if you want to follow along, and go a little bit more in depth, through Matthew 5, 6, 7, and all of these tell us how the principle of keeping the commandments of God in the spirit, and in a manner that the righteousness is greater than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
Let's look at a difficult Scripture. Here's one where people come with a preconceived notion, and, of course, having a preconceived notion is one of the things that people bring to the Bible and they read their preconceived notion into this and they come up with the wrong conclusion. This is a difficult Scripture.
Matthew 11:11: "Truly I say to you, there has not arisen among those born of women anyone greater than John the Baptist. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he." That's quiet a statement—isn't it?
Do you suppose that John the Baptist ignored the Sabbath, ignored the Holy Days. We know he didn't eat unclean meats because he ate honey and locust. If you want an austere diet, try that for a while. I think it was literally locust. Some people say it was locust bean or the bean of the locust tree. That's possible, but I think it was locust.
In Matt. 5 it talks about the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Here's how we're going to compare spiritual with spiritual. Matthew 5:19: "Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments…" He didn't name any particular one—did He? He said 'the least'—that is the one considered the least important of the commandments of God. He says, 'not one jot, not one tittle of the law shall pass until all be fulfilled.' He praises John the Baptist by saying that even the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist. And I dare say, none of us are anywhere near what John the Baptist was.
"…whoever shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so…" (v 19)—then it's a false doctrine. 'Oh, that's not important, you don't have to do that, that's not required today.' There are certain things that are required. There are certain things that the requirement is greater, because the requirement comes through Christ. So therefore, it is much more binding.
"…shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall practice… [the Greek 'poieo'] …and teach them, this one shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you, unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees…" (vs 19-20).
A very difficult Scripture to understand is Matthew 11:12: "For from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven is taken with a great struggle, and the [violent] zealous ones lay hold on it…. [take it by force] …For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John" (vs 12-13). Here's the one that all Protestants like to zero in on, that all the people say that you don't have to keep the laws of God. Basically what it gets down to is
- the Sabbath
- the Holy Days
- unclean meats
- tithing or giving
Those are four major bones of contention that people have. But those are the four major bones of contention that are going to test you whether you love God or not.
Verse 13: "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John." What is the automatic conclusion that is given in the minds of people bringing an assumption to this? They conclude that you don't have to follow the Law or the Prophetsbecause they were done away with John! That's the automatic thing that people think.
Verse 14: "'And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who was to come.' The one who has ears to hear, let him hear" (vs 13-15). Why is that verse there, right there at that point? This is telling us something that can be difficult to understand, and if you're not paying attention you're going to miss it.
We can answer Matt. 11:12 by going to Luke 16:16. This is why it's so important that you never, never, never take a single Scripture and base a doctrine on it, especially if it's not easy to understand. Chances are you can be wrong, especially if you bring an assumption to it that's not right.
Luke 16:16: "The Law and the Prophets were until John; from that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone zealously strives to enter it." Compare that with:
Matthew 11:12: "For from the days of John the Baptist until now…" That is from the beginning of John the Baptist's teaching—"…until now…"—when Jesus was preaching.
"…the Kingdom of Heaven is taken with a great struggle… [suffers violence] …and the zealous ones lay hold on it" (v 12)—and they that thrust men.
There's another way to understand this. The word force (KJV) in the Greek means sought with burning zeal. That puts an entirely different approach on it. Or makes it's way with triumphant force. Where it says the 'Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence,' let's think about that for a minute.
- Who was King of the kingdom? Jesus!
- Who was the messenger of the kingdom? John the Baptist.
- Wasn't John the Baptist just ready to be killed?
- Wasn't he arrested and hauled off?
- Yes, he was!
- Did not all of the prophets suffer martyrdom?
- Didn't Jesus say, 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you which killed the prophets'?
- Yes!
- Did not Paul suffer violence for the things that he preached?
- Yes, indeed!
That's why you have to have a burning zeal to enter into it. It's not a casual accommodation for people's 'religious' beliefs.
Let's go back and analyze the context in what is being said in Luke 16. What we really have is, in Matt. 11, that the 'Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence'—that is those representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven: Jesus, John, the ministers of the New Testament, the prophets of the Old Testament. They all suffered violence, but only those with burning zeal are going to enter into it.
Let's read the whole context here, and we're going to see who Jesus was talking to and that becomes very important. Lot's of times in studying the Bible, you need to ask: To whom is this directed?
Luke 16:13: "No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and he will love the other; or he will hold to the one and will despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
This is what's happening to a lot of people today. They don't know about serving God because somehow the minister they knew did them in; or the church that they attended got corrupt.
- Does that change the Truth of God?
- Does the Truth of God not stand in spite of any man? Yes, it does!
Jeremiah 23:19: "Behold, the tempest of the LORD has gone forth in fury, a whirling tempest. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until He has executed and until He has performed the purposes of His heart; in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly. 'I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel…'" (vs 19-22).
Here's a false prophet, a false minister. We'll take the other side of the coin: If you have Truth on this side of the coin in which a minister becomes corrupt, it doesn't change the Truth of God! If you turn the coin over to the other side you have a false prophet that God didn't send.
Notice what God says, v 22: "But if they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings."
God is saying here in this statement: Truth stands! Can a false prophet utter Truth, partly? Yes! Even if this false prophet, that God never sent in the first place, comes to himself and repents and preaches the Word of God to turn people from wickedness:
- he's got to come to his senses
- he's got to preach the counsel of the Lord
- he's got to cause the people to hear God's Words
Here are these Pharisees, and we know how they are derided in the Bible, and we know that Jesus is talking about you can't serve two masters:
Luke 16:14: "Now, the Pharisees who were also covetous, heard all these things; and they ridiculed Him. And He said to them, 'You are those who justify themselves before men…'" (vs 14-15). That's quite an interesting statement; let's think on this for a minute. What is all twisted doctrine? Is it not an occasion for doing differently than what God says?
A minister might say, 'Well, we know which day is the Sabbath, but that's not important today, we meet on the first day of the week.' Has he not justified himself in his action against God? Yes, he has! Many people know the Truth and go along with the world. I think that's exactly right, a lot of them do. So therefore, can you depend on their doctrine? Justification by works! That's what they're doing if they are keeping Sunday. Whose work is that? Their work! It's not God's work. God never said keep the first day of the week. God said keep the seventh day of the week.
So, this thing of "…justify themselves before men…" You can take that statement and you can apply it to so many things:
- it's okay to eat unclean meats because now we have refrigerators. We've heard that before
- it's okay to eat unclean meats because if you cook them done you kill all the parasites
Is that not a justification to not follow what God wants? Yes, it is! What is also true about the human mind? Deceitful! What does it do in that deceitfulness? Every way of man is right in his own eyes! and every way of a man is just in his own eyes! (Prov. 16:1-2).
So therefore, the only way—and God made it this way—a person can operate mentally, is to know that what he is doing is right. Whether it is self-righteousness to justify it himself in his mind—which people do—and they deceive themselves with it; or whether you use the Word of God as the justification for what you do. That's what He's talking about here. You can't serve two masters! That's true in anything. You can't live a lie while you believe the Truth! You can live a lie while you believe a lie, but if you're going to believe the Truth you have to livethe Truth! That's what He's saying here. No one can 'serve two masters,' and those who are serving the wrong master are justifying themselves before men!
"'…but God knows your hearts…" (v 15). God knows every heart. God can know every thought. So, while we deceive ourselves—which is easy to do because of the carnal mind—we're not deceiving God! It isn't going to happen!
"…for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination before God" (v 15)—regardless of what it is. Can be respect of persons, can be anything. 'Oh, isn't this wonderful.'
IBM and some of the others have ads saying that 'now we have the capacity to undo the Tower of Babel.' They actually have it—undo what was done at the Tower of Babel. In other words, we can re-gather the Tower of Babel; and that's highly esteemed: great reverence of men: popes, pontiffs, cardinals, ministers, evangelists, whatever it may be.
Why is that? What is esteem akin to? Let's think of that for a minute. Worship! Then if you're worshiping something it becomes your god! Which then becomes idolatry! Idols are not restricted to something that is made. Did you know that?
One of things that's very, very important to do. In studying and putting things together, I always pray and ask God to help me to think correctly; help me to ask the right questions. Sometimes we ask the wrong questions. Sometimes we miss the point altogether. Sometimes we don't think correctly. So, we have to ask God to help us think correctly.
This, obviously, didn't make Ezekiel popular with the people. The Word of God is not popular with too many people—either spoken or written: Ezekiel 14:1: "And some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts… [Didn't Jesus say 'God knows your heart'?] …and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I at all be inquired of by them?'" (vs 1-3). In other words, if people are going to come before God, should He be inquired of them if they're just going to keep their own idols, their own ways, their own thoughts, their own doctrine?
What is the greatest mental idol that a person can have? Think on that for a minute! Another way of putting it: ego! What will this ego do? That's the hardest one to get rid of when ego is told 'ego, you're wrong'—especially when ego thinks he's right! We've all experienced that. Religiously speaking, what is one of the greatest mental idols we can have? Money! Yes, money can be it. You set your heart and mind on money. Power! Yes, indeed! We're seeing that today with the political football going back and forth—everyone wants power.
How is doctrine created? It should be created by 'precept upon precept; line upon line; here a little, there a little!' But what happens when you get false doctrine. You're not doing that. Does not false doctrine become a mental idol to those who believe it. Think on that for a minute! Yes, it evolves! It grows! Evil-ution!
Verse 3: "Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces…." What could that be other than false doctrine? Think about it! Is false doctrine iniquity? Sure it is! Is false doctrine then a stumbling block to the Truth? Yes, it is!
"…Should I at all be inquired of by them? Therefore, speak to them, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD… [God's going to answer.] …"Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face…"'" (vs 3-4). What is that? That is a one to one judgment in relationship! Can't palm it off on the leader. You can't palm it off on the minister. Everyone is responsible!
"…and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him according to the multitude of his idols..." (v 4). These are idols in your mind. If it goes to the point of creating one that you make, that you fall down to it and you worship it, then you're even way out.
Verse 6: "Therefore, say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Repent and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations."'" You can read the rest of it; it gets pretty strong.
One time I did a series in the book of Ezekiel and that was blood, guts and gore! I tell you, that's one of the hardest books around. Do you see how this fits in ties in very directly?
Luke 16:15 "And He said to them, 'You are those who justify themselves before men...'"
- How do they do it? With the idols that they have in their mind! The idols of covetousness!
- Didn't it say that the Pharisees were also covetous?
Verse 14: "Now the Pharisees, who were also covetous heard all these things; and they ridiculed Him."
This is something important for us to really realize and understand: What was the leaven that Jesus told the disciples to beware of? The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees—not the leaven of bread! The leaven of bread becomes important.
Colossians 3:5: "Therefore, put to death your members… [get rid of these sins] …which are on earth… [in your own being] …—sexual immorality, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Tie it all together. If you are covetous and you build idols in your mind, that's idolatry; very clear!
This shows that Christians have things to work on and overcome and have their own problems and hang-ups. Is that why we don't lead a better Christian life, because of our problems and hang-ups? Yes, that is true! But that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be without trial. That doesn't necessarily mean that with each trial that comes along you're going to pass it perfectly and really learn something from it. Maybe you won't. Maybe you'll fail that trial and the next one that comes along then you'll learn. That was in reference to Job, because he was the one who did things that God wanted him to do, but went through tremendous trials in addition to it.
Luke 16:15—He's saying to the Pharisees: "…but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination before God. The Law and the Prophets were… [most people assume that means that they were abolished when John came] …until John…" (vs 15-16).
In other words, until John came there was no greater source of preaching and revelation than the Law and the Prophets—that's what that means. Doesn't mean it did away with it. Whenever anyone appealed to what was right, they appealed to the Law and the Prophets. What do we appeal to? Not only the Law and the Prophets, but Christ! And the requirement of the Kingdom of God!
"…from that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone zealously strives to enter it" (v 16). In other words, everyone is going to get into it with the burning desire. We'll see how important that is for doctrine. He wanted to make sure everyone understood.
Verse 17: "But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail." He wanted to make sure. Most people don't read v 17; they like to just read v 16 alone and say, 'See, we don't have to follow the Law and Prophets at all anymore, because those were only until John. If someone springs that little trick on you, just have them read v 17. Then you can ask them:
- Is heaven and earth still here? Yeah!They sure are! We're still on it!
- Has the law failed? No!
- Who has failed? People!
- Why is the law weak? Most people don't understand that!The law is the law; the law is spiritual; the law never made forced, coerced, powered anyone to do anything!
- the law states what is right and wrong
- the law states what sin is
- the law has no power to make anyone do anything
When you see the law, you have to choose to do it. What Jesus is telling us here, very clearly, is don't get to thinking that because the Law and Prophets prophesied until John that all law is done away. It is not!
If you want an interesting Bible study, do this—it will be a long project, take you a long time to do it: Go though the Book of the Law—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—and you probably would want to concentrate on Exo., Lev., Num., and Deut., because in there is contained the Law. Write down the Law in one column—put Old Testament and then go through the New Testament and put the Scripture reference where you find it in the New Testament. I'll guarantee you that you're going to find that every one of the laws in the Old Testament are still in effect because Jesus said, 'It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail.'
That is so basic, we could say that it goes without saying. But the problem is, there are so many people out there who have been inundated with so much false doctrine and have been subverted from within in their own particular church, with 'church doctrines' that, frankly, brethren, they really have lost direction. It's like having a boat without a rudder; a car without gas. You can't be a Christian without God's Holy Spirit and God's laws written in your heart, mind, soul and being. Just to make it absolutely clear. Do you see why it's important to read the verse before and after, to read it in the context to get the whole picture? Yes, indeed!
Verse 18: "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and everyone who marries a woman who is divorced from her husband commits adultery." That is the Law, that's what God said. We're not going to get into divorce and re-marriage because there are many other Scriptures in it; but there are a lot of doctrines that if you just read this, you could say, 'there should be no divorce at all, anywhere, under any circumstances.' That's why you have to put all the Bible together to know and understand it, especially in the New Testament.
Jesus said of heaven and earth, 'it's more difficult for it to pass away than for one tittle of the Law to fail. That's pretty strong! Those are the words of Jesus—right? I bet if I got up in some Sunday, Baptist Church and preached that from the pulpit, I wouldn't last. I'm sure they would have the deacons there to take me out, especially if I said, 'Now, you self-righteous bums, repent and we'll see you here next Sabbath.'
However, I did hear there was a Sunday-keeping church back in Kentucky that started keeping the Sabbath. They're going toward the Truth, while for some in the Church of God Seventh Day there's a Sunday-keeping movement within them, and they're going away from the Truth. It's crazy! Let's look and see then how we need to keep the laws of God, because that becomes very important. Our whole attitude, the whole purpose of it, the whole reason for everything that has to be. Remember what Jesus said:
John 14:15[transcriber's correction]: "If you love Me, keep My commandments—namely, My commandments." Yes, indeed! The Greek there is very strong! This is a very basic—if you want to consider this Scripture on a priority, this is triple 'A' priority—'priora.' If you have the idol of a false doctrine in your mind, you can't serve two masters!
Matthew 22:37: "And Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God…'" This is the basis for everything, brethren. I want you to understand that! Everything! Notice the emphasis that He has here:
"…with all your heart… [completely, entirely, absolutely] …and with all your soul, and with all your mind…. ['and with all of your strength' (Mark 12)] …This is the first and greatest commandment; and the second one is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (vs 37-39).
(go to the next track)
Here is the key verse. If you want to study the laws in the Old Testament you put this at the top. v 40: "On these two commandments… [loving God and loving your neighbor] …hang all the Law and the Prophets.'"
- everything that God has done
- everything that God has commanded
- everything that God has required
hangs on these two laws.
- before you begin arguing about false doctrine
- before you begin believing false doctrine
- before you have the 'wind of doctrine'
—aren't we told in the New Testament to be no more like children 'to and fro with every wind of doctrine'? Isn't that an interesting statement? Think about it for a minute. Who's the 'prince of the power of the air'? Satan! Who sends out the 'winds of doctrine'? Satan does, absolutely! You know that's why the Passover is such a confused mess, and I personally don't know of any other doctrine in the entirety of the Bible
- that has been under siege
- that has been ridiculed
- that has been changed
- that has been maligned
- that has had so much confusion surrounding it
other than the Passover. Remember, everything hangs on that.
Based on that, let's go back to 1-Tim. 4 and let's do a real quick study. If you're going to love God this way—with all your heart, mind, soul, being and strength; and you know that God is always right—we can add to this many different things:
- Your Word is Truth
- Your commandments are Truth
- Your law is true
There are some people who say, 'Well, if I don't see everything written out in the New Testament, I won't follow it.' All right, let's take you up on that then. Isn't it amazing how alive and how interesting these very basic Scriptures are, which we know and have known for years. Think of it!
1-Timothy 4:1: "Now the Spirit tells us explicitly that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the faith…" That's happening! As I've said before, everyone is wondering, 'Well, I wonder what kind of trial we're going to go through?' Brethren, we are going through it!
What will happen? "…and shall follow… [paying attention to] …deceiving… [seducing] …spirits…" (v 1). That brings every wind of doctrine! What does 'seduce' mean? Deceiving spirits! Lying spirits! Who do what? Twist and turn the Word of God!
"…and doctrines… [teachings] …of demons" (v 1). You can just put right by that the New Age movement, because that's exactly what it's doing. The New Age movement today is the 'doctrine of demons and seducing spirits.'
Verse 2: "Speaking lies in hypocrisy… [that means they know better] …their consciences having been cauterized with a hot iron"—which means that somewhere along the way they were convicted with the Truth, because God somehow showed something to them—which was the Truth—at one time, and they rejected it. I would have to say that, especially for those who are throwing away the true teachings of the Bible on a wholesale basis, that you'd better be conscience with a 'hot iron.'
Verse 3: "Forbidding to marry; andcommanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving…" There are some saying, 'forbidding to marry' and all that sort of thing today; that's especially prevalent. One of the big fights, within the Catholic Church about whether to have married priests or not.
Let's focus in on 'to abstain from meats'—that is flesh, meats.
- What is abstinence from meat? Refrain!
- What are you called if you eat no meat? Vegetarian!
- Do we not have that today?
- Vegetarianism? Yes!
- Is this a question of clean or unclean meats? No!
This is a question of to eat meat or not but also it defines which meats to eat.
Hindus are vegetarians, but they will eat a little bit of pork. This question here has nothing to do with clean and unclean, directly. It does in a sense, but it has to do with vegetarianism vs eating those meats. Here's where the clean and unclean comes in:
"…to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, even by those who know the Truth" (v 3). What is that telling us? God created certain meats to be received with thanksgiving. This also then, by exclusion, is saying there are certain meats that God did not create to be received with thanksgiving. "…even by those who know the Truth"—those who believe.
- Of the people who are vegetarians, are they sinning? Only if it gets into demon-worship!
A lot of doctrines of demons is vegetarianism, to make you weak of body and mind, to make you susceptible for it. If they have health problems, and they must eat no meat at all, because their bodies are susceptible to creating cancer, that's a whole different story. That's a health problem. It doesn't mean that God did not create those meats to be received with thanksgiving, whether they eat them or not, God still created them for that.
- Were they eating meat between creation of Adam and Noah? Yes!
Some people say no, but if God created them to be received with thanksgiving….
- Why would Abel have a flock if he wasn't eating meat?
Genesis 1:29 "And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree upon which is the fruit of a tree bearing seed—to you they shall be for food." Some people who don't understand there's a slight problem with translation say, 'it's meat.' This word does not say that vegetables are a substitute for meat; it's just food.
Verse 30: "'And to every animal of the earth and to every fowl of heaven and to all the living creatures that crawl upon the earth, every green plant isgiven for food.' And it was so."
It doesn't say that, at this particular point, to eat meat or not eat meat. He didn't say 'you shall not eat meat'—doesn't say it. Most people assume, because they bring a pre-conceived notion here, that He's instructing vegetarianism.
Abel and the flock: Genesis 4:4: "And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it…."—for an offering. When you have a firstling of an offering, you sit down and you eat it with God. That's what it was for; you would eat it.
We have no account from Gen. 4-7 of anybody sitting down eating a roast. We can only surmise that with Abel. We can deduce that he probably ate. Again, we have nothing here that says dogmatically he did. We have nothing that says dogmatically he did not. What does it say? What does it not say? But we can deduce.
Genesis 6:18: "But I will establish My covenant with you. And you shall come into the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And you shall bring into the ark two of every kind, of every living thing of all flesh, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Two of every kind shall come to you to keep them alive—of fowls after their kind, and of animals after their kind, of every crawling thing of the earth after its kind. And take for yourself all that is eaten as food, and you shall gather it for yourself; and it shall be for food, for you and for them.' Noah did so, according to all that God commanded him, so he did" (vs 18-22).
Genesis 7:1: "And the LORD said to Noah, 'You and all your house shall come into the ark; for you, I have seen righteous before Me in this generation. You shall take with you every clean animal by sevens, the male and female. And take two of the animals that are not clean, the male and female'" (vs 1-2).
Why would he take seven pair of the clean and only one pair of the unclean? Again, it doesn't tell us directly, but we can know for sure that by the fact of creation, certain animals are clean; certain animals are unclean. It cannot have to do with their behavior, because you don't have a clean behavior—cows are just as dirty as a camel and that's just as dirty as an elephant. Rabbits, in fact, by behavior are cleaner than chickens. So we're not talking about sanitary clean and unclean. We have to be talking about to eat or not eat clean or unclean. How else would we have it? We have to again, here at this point, deduce that the reason that the clean were taken in by sevens—male and female—was because they were eating them during the voyage.
We also have another problem today, and that is we have polluted 'clean' meat—polluted chicken, beef, all that sort of thing, that is true. But this is talking about clean or unclean—to eat or not eat. So therefore, an animal being clean is clean by creation, not by designation.
I would have to say, concerning the ark, just as a sidelight here: They brought sufficient food for them to make it through the trip. However, I do believe this: I believe—that when you understand the ark was three stories inside, that you had little cubby-holes for all the different animals—that for the most part most of those animals were put into a state of hibernation during the time of the Flood. That's not Scripturally proven, but if you put an animal in a dark place and it curls up to sleep—much like the bears, they hibernate. If you had to bring enough hay to feed all those animals—or grains or whatever—the thing would never float. You'd have no room for the animals. So, I would have to say there was enough food in there to keep them going, but I am convinced that most of them were in a state of hibernation. And I'm sure that God did that.
Stop and think: How did all the animals get to the ark. Did Noah and his sons go out and lasso them and bring them in? No! I'm sure that God and the angels just picked out a perfect pair—male and female—and sent them. All Noah did was stand there at the ark and tell Shem, Ham and Japeth, 'Put this one in this compartment and these up on this floor and this one down here' and so forth. I mean, it was well planned. Had to be. But it just isn't stated on all the plans for it.
The point here in v 2 is that of every clean beast, it is the beast that is clean for eating by nature of creation. So therefore, we can deduce that, yes, they did eat meat before the Flood—from the time of Adam to Noah. You cannot prove vegetarianism from it. Some people think they can, but you really can't if you're really honest.
This is a good example, brethren, on how to study the Bible. Too many times people get their own carnal thing in mind and they go running down the road with it as if it's so when they haven't proved it. There are certain things you have to say, just like we did here. From this context we can deduce, which means we can see that it has to be this way. This is very instructive for us to go through and really understand how to study it and how to put it down.
1-Timothy 4:3: "…to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, even by those who know the Truth." There's the defining thing. What are you to believe? The Word of God!
- Your Word is Truth
- Your law is Truth
- Your commandments are Truth
- you believe
- you know the Truth
- you understand the Truth
- you have knowledge of the Truth
Verse 4: "For every creature…" Here's the one they turn to; they don't read v 3 and they don't read v 5 in the way that they should, but they sure enough read v 4
"…of God designated for human consumptionis good, and nothing to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving" (v 4).
- What 'creatures' are being talked about?
- Every creature?
or
- Every creature 'which was created to be received with thanksgiving'?
Verse 4: "For every creature of God designated for human consumptionis good—which was created to be received with thanksgiving—and nothing to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving."
This gives no allowance for praying over pork, shrimp, lobster or big jungle termites; thick and juicy and gooey! Or gooey ducks, oysters, bear or lion meat. What is it that the Chinese love? Bear gall bladders!Rhinoceros horns! It's a wonder they haven't figured out something about elephant tail. Maybe they will one of these days.
Verse 5: "Because it… [refers to 'every creature'—singular] …is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer." Notice we have here: 'those who believe and know the Truth' (v 3), which is the Word of God—"…sanctified by the Word of God in prayer" Sanctified means set aside and made Holy, designated by God for a particular purpose.
I don't know how many times in my ministry I have explained this, but I tell you what, every time I go through and study and explain it, there's one thing that is true: Truth agrees with Truth; error does not agree with Truth, and Truth does not agree with error. So, when you truly get into this whole section here, then you see exactly what it's saying. It has nothing to do with the approval of eating unclean foods.
- Can people eat unclean foods and still live? Yes!
- Are they in obedience to God? No!
- Does God care what goes into your system? Yes!
He wants us to be in health and prosper.
- Why are certain foods unclean?
Certain of them, we can understand, aren't clean because of their very nature of creation—especially the shellfish; that's evident. Other animals have trichinosis in them.
We do have to be careful today with those meats which are clean because they have not been raised properly or because they've been fed too many additives, which now they say bodies today can lie in the mortuary longer because they're self-preserving from the foods that they have eaten—could be. Now, where is the only place in the Word of God that says anything whatsoever to do about clean and unclean foods, in the way of meat? Deut. 14; Lev. 11. We won't go there because we'll be too sidetracked.
That is a good example of how to study, of how to realize that it is dogmatically preached in the New Testament concerning clean and unclean meats. This cannot be any stronger. Paul is not just referring to the law as his appeal. Paul is referring to the creation that God has made, and the law is a result of the creation. Created clean or unclean, so therefore, they are inherently unclean.
Do some people die though they eat clean food? Do they die an early death? Sure they can, they may have some other problems! What does this also prove? This also proves how then we're to go into the laws of God to see how they should be kept today. Very simple!
Those people that do not follow the laws of God are against law, Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but the one who is doing the will of My Father, Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy through Your name? And did we not cast out demons through Your name? And did we not perform many works of power through Your name?' And then I will confess to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who work lawlessness" (vs 21-23)—iniquity—'anomia'—you who are lawless, against law! That becomes very important. Most false doctrines are setup to be against law! Anyone who is against the laws of God is not going to be in the Kingdom of God.
- Doesn't matter what work they have done.
- Doesn't matter if they use the name of the Lord.
- Doesn't matter if they profess Christianity.
If they are against law, they're against God! It's exactly what it is. So therefore, into that category falls so many different things.
Let's look at this from another point of view; to show you that from any place in the Bible anywhere you want to start—if you're really honest and really believe the Word of God—you'll be able to come to the knowledge of the Truth regardless from where you start; as long as you are not 'anomia'—against God, against the laws of God!
Here's what we all want, Revelation 21:7: "The one who overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son." That's what we all want. But notice there's another category:
Verse 8: "But the cowardly [fearful], and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death."
Let's analyze this verse a little bit here; let's see what also this is telling us:
The fearful/cowardly: Why does He start out with the fearful/cowardly?
- Are we not to obey God?
- Are we not to fear God?
- Are we not to be fearful of God?
Didn't Paul say, 'Let us fear, lest any promise being left that seem to come short of.' Let us worship God with fear and reverence. Is this talking about this same kind of fear? No! This word means the cowardice! This means those that don't have courage of their faith! This means not the ones who are fearful of God, but the ones who are fearful of men, and being fearful of men turn their back on God. In other words, these who are fearful are those who don't have the conviction of their belief. They are cowardice. Isn't that what Jesus told the Laodiceans. He said, 'I would that you were cold or hot'—no conviction of beliefs. This cowardiceness!
Unbelieving: which means faithless—that you don't believe God; you don't believe His Word. What is the nicest way to express that unbelief? Oh well, that's not important for Christian's today! That's unbelievable! I'll mention again about that telemarketer from Pat Robertson's that called. I did a little twist and turn on her and I said, 'When Pat Robertson starts preaching about the Sabbath then maybe you can call me for a donation.' Oh, that's not important for Christians today.
Jesus said, 'Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and have we not, in Your name cast out demons? In Your name, have we not done many wonderful works? And I will say to you, I never knew you. Depart from Me you that work lawlessness'—'anomia'—you are against God. The unbelieving! {note: John 6:29, that this is the work of God that you 'believe on Him whom He has sent.'} You're not believing. And how are you to believe? With all your heart!
Abominable: that is all those things that are detestable—not only in conduct, but also in words, mannerism; the abominable! I think into this category, you could put all modern rock music—abominable! You can put into this many of the behaviors depicted on television today.
I tell you, my wife did a wonderful thing for me. She bought me a remote control for my TV. That's good, because I can go clickity-click-click all the way through that thing. There are some things that need to be clicked off. This coming season is going to show why there is a cultural war in America—you wait and see. This coming TV season is going to be one of the most degraded that has ever been, and many of those TV shows are abominable! And those who create them are!
Murderer: Let's apply a spiritual lesson to spiritual murder. If you've ever been assaulted by spiritual murder, or a spiritual murderer, you'll understand it.
1-John 2:11: "But the one who hates his brother is in darkness, and is walking in darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes."
1-John 3:15: "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life dwelling within him."
Is that not applying the spirit of the law? Yes, it is! Do you think that that is one of the things that God is going to apply? Yes, it is, it's going to! That's why in Rev. 21:8 not only is it going to be the physical murderers, but it's also going to be the spiritual murderers.
Whoremongers: Comes from the Greek 'porneia'—which means all sexual misconduct of any kind. They want to teach all of these things under the guise of AIDS prevention, to teach every abominable, terrible and awesome, degrading homosexual act to children in schools as they distribute condoms. If those people don't repent of it, that's exactly where they're going to go, right in the Lake of Fire.
Sorcerers: That's interesting, we're thinking of witches—right? What is another brand of sorcery that most people just do not even think of? Astrology, that's part of it; drugs, that's part of it! Who bewitched the people of Samaria with sorcery, giving out that he was some 'great' one? Simon Magus! Brethren, false religion! That is sorcery! Which then means false doctrine!
Yes, it includes false psychics that have 900-numbers. Notice they don't have 800-numbers. I drove by one of these things that said, 'psychic palm reading.' And every time you drive by one of those things, they're broken-down, dilapidated, they are miserable, and yet, they go in there and people want to know, am I going to get rich; am I going to find someone to love. What's the answer? Yes! Can't believe it! Sorcery—that includes all kinds of false doctrine.
Who, brethren, was the founder of the Roman Catholic Church? Simon Magus! All of these great Protestants who say how great they are keep Sunday, which is from Rome. They keep Easter, which is from Rome. They keep Halloween, which is from Rome. They keep Christmas, which is from Rome. And where did Rome get it? Rome got it from Babylon!
Revelation 17:1—this is the "…judgment of the great whore who sits upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication" (vs 1-2). And that's all the false doctrine. That's where it's coming from. Just because Protestants have a certain amount of Truth, does that mean we let Protestants teach what are the doctrines that are in the Bible? and We should follow them? Absolutely not!
Liars: Revelation 21:8: "…sorcerers and idolaters… [we covered pretty well] …and all liars…" That includes everyone who makes, creates, originates false doctrine—right? Yes, indeed!
"…shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death."
Verse 27: "And nothing… [not one single case of] …that defiles shall ever enter into it [New Jerusalem], nor shall anyonewho practices an abomination or devises a lie…" So, you better be careful believing false doctrine; you may find yourself on the wrong side of the fence.
Revelation 22:14—let's see the comparison: "Blessed are those who keep His commandments…"—which they don't have in the NIV and the RSV. In other words, they say 'blessed are they who have washed their robes.' That is not a correct translation, but that is a variant reading, which came from the corrupt manuscript.
It should read: "Blessed are those who keep… [do, practice] ..His commandments that they may have the right to eat of the Tree of Life, and may enter by the gates into the city. But excluded… [not included in God's way] …are dogs… [that's not just puppy-dogs; that is people whose behavior is as a dog] …and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone who loves and devises a lie" (vs 14-15)—which then includes all false doctrine!
And one of the biggest false doctrines that has ever come along and is affecting a lot of people right now today: you don't have to keep the Holy Days.
- Is God going to save people who haven't kept the Holy Days?
- Do you know about them?
- Do you know you should keep them?
That is the question, because what God is going to do, God is going to do.
Remember the parable of the laborers. Came out the first ones right at daybreak, in the morning, 'Do you want to work?' Yeah! 'Well, come on out to my field and I'll pay you what's right.' Went down there the second hour, the third hour, the fourth hour, came at the eleventh hour there were still those there who hadn't labored. He says, 'You want to work?' Yeah! 'Well, go to my field and I'll pay you what's right.' They went out and worked an hour; they were lined-up first to be paid. Those that worked one hour got the same pay as the one's that went out there the first time, and they started complaining, and saying, 'Lord, we've been working in the heat of the day and why are they getting what we're getting?' What did the lord say, 'Is it not mine to do with what I determine to do with mine? Did you not agree to work for this amount?' Yes!
So, remember that every time you start challenging God and saying, 'Well, if God is going to save some people who didn't keep the Holy Days, why should I keep the Holy Days?' That's not the basis of it! Do you see? That's just the twisting of the carnal mind, because people don't want to keep the Holy Days. Now, I do. I want to keep the Holy Days.
James 4:11: "Brethren, do not talk against one another. The one who talks against a brother, and judges his brother, is speaking against the law, and is judging the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law; rather, you are a judge But there is only one Lawgiver, Who has power to save and to destroy" (vs 11-12).
When people come along and say that you don't have to keep the Sabbath, Sunday is good enough: What are they doing?
- they're judging the law
- they're not only breaking the law, but they're going one step further
- they are legislating law in the name of God
So they're sitting in the seat of God making law—right? You can apply that to the Holy Days, clean and unclean meats, anything if you are judging the law.
- Who judges the law? God does! God judges the law!
God is the One Who has to show what should an should not be done.
- Did not God judge the law of sacrifices with the sacrifice of Christ? Yes, He did!
- Did He not give a higher standard of sacrifice required for the forgiveness of sin? Yes, He did!
The Jews, on the other hand, judge God and say 'we won't accept that God.' What is the biggest problem of human nature? Ego!Because people want to be a god unto themselves and they want to end up telling God what He will and will not do, and they want to tell God which laws are right and which laws are wrong. Nonsense!
We all need to think about the time, as it says, we're all going to 'stand before the judgment seat of God'; we're all going to 'give an account' for himself.
Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter
Scriptural References:
- 1 Corinthians 2:10
- 1 Corinthians 3:1-3
- Matthew 5:17-18
- Matthew 11:11
- Matthew 5:19-20
- Matthew 11:12-15
- Luke 16:16
- Matthew 11:12
- Luke 16:13
- Jeremiah 23:19-22
- Luke 16:14-15
- Ezekiel 14:1-4, 6
- Luke 16:15, 14
- Colossians 3:5
- Luke 16:15-18
- John 14:15
- Matthew 22:37-40
- 1 Timothy 4:1-3
- Genesis 1:29-30
- Genesis 4:4
- Genesis 6:18-22
- Genesis 7:1-2
- 1 Timothy 4:3-5
- Matthew 7:21-23
- Revelation 21:7-8
- 1 John 2:11
- 1 John 3:15
- Revelation 17:1-2
- Revelation 21:8, 27
- Revelation 22:14-15
- James 4:11-12
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Hebrews 5
- Proverbs 16:1-2
- Mark 12
- Deuteronomy 14
- Leviticus 11
- John 6:29
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 4-4-10
Reformatted: bo—3/2014
