YOU CAN NOT JUSTIFY YOURSELF BY YOUR ACTS OR DEEDS.

Acts 24:14

But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.  (New King James Version) 

"Paul is on trial before Felix, the governor. "They" refers to the Jews. Paul says, "I confess," as he is giving testimony. He is a witness before a court, as he is on trial. "The way" is Christianity, which the Jews call a heresy.

""Believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets" is really an astounding statement in light of what has gone on in Protestantism over the past few hundred years. The very man whom they say wrote most clearly and lucidly that "the law is done away" is the one who says he believes all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets. There is absolutely nothing in the Law and the Prophets that says anything at all about the doing away with God's law! Paul did not have the same position in relation to the law as modern theologians do.

"One might think that maybe this was said before Paul wrote that the law was done away. Oh, no. The two books that contain most of what Protestants quote as their authority for doing away with the law are the books of Romans and Galatians. This instance in which Paul was on trial before Felix took place in either AD 58 or 59, most like the latter.

"In either case, the book of Romans and the book of Galatians had both already been written. Both were being circulated through the church. All those doctrinal explanations were written prior to Paul's statement before Felix, yet Paul is still saying, "I believe all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets." Obviously, the common Protestant interpretation of Romans and Galatians is incorrect.

"Certainly, salvation is by grace, but salvation in no way, of and by itself, does away with any of the law of God. Salvation is something that must be given. First of all, God's justice demands that there be a penalty for sin. Since His justice demands that the law be satisfied - that His own government be satisfied for crimes against it - He must follow through. He cannot wink at disagreements in a person's conduct against His rulership over His creation.

"Secondly, once one of His laws has been broken, there is no way it can be undone. It has to be accepted according to what was done. Consider two simple examples of this:

• If somebody is murdered, can that be undone? His life is gone. He is lying on the ground, dead. What is done is done. A person cannot resurrect him. The clock cannot be turned back. Nothing can be done to undo that act, unless there is a power mightier than we are. So the law is broken. 
• Another clear illustration might be a person's virginity. Once the virginity is taken away, or given away, it cannot be undone. The clock cannot be turned back. It is gone, never ever to be recovered.

"The same is true with any act done, even when we are not considering law. However, we are considering law here, so we have to understand that it is God who has provided a solution for the breaking of law. What He has determined is to allow the death of Jesus Christ to pay the penalty, and then, in His mercy (called "grace" in the Bible), He will freely give the sinner relief from the penalty hanging over his head. We cannot make up for what has been done in the past. It can only be covered by a perfect sacrifice and God's willingness to accept that sacrifice.

YOU NEED JESUS CHRIST TO BE SAVED!

"If one studies the New Testament, and especially the writings of Paul, it is good to examine carefully the context in which the word "law" appears. Paul uses it very broadly. In fact, he uses the word "law" 110 times. Sometimes, he uses it to indicate a single law. At other times, he uses it to indicate the Mosaic law. There are other times when he uses it to indicate the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Yet at other times it refers only to the Ten Commandments.

"A couple of interesting references are in Romans 2, where he uses "law" to indicate the will of God written in the hearts of Gentiles. Why Gentiles? Because they had not been given the law by God, yet he says they did the things contained within the law by nature. What it amounts to, in modern terminology, would be that he uses "law" in the sense of "natural law," that it is a standard that people consider to be in force without having been formally instructed by it. This became an issue, incidentally, in the confirmation of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States, because he professed to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he believed in natural law. The liberals on the Committee did not like that at all, because liberals like to be free of the constraints of natural law; they do not feel responsible then.

"Another way Paul uses the word "law" is as if God Himself were speaking. He does not use the name or title of God, but the term "law," as in Romans 3:19. At times, Paul appears to contradict himself when he uses the word "law." In one place, he says, "Yea, we establish the law," but in another, he says, "Yea, we abolish the law." He uses it in the sense of it being both necessary and unnecessary. If one is careful, he will begin to become adept at figuring out how Paul uses it.

"Paul's use of "law" appears in two general categories. If the subject of the context has to do with justification, then it is likely he will use a "no law" approach. That is both logical and right: No man can justify himself. All the lawkeeping in the world will not undo that murder or the loss of virginity. We cannot justify ourselves by what we do after we have broken a law. We cannot make up for it.

"However, if the subject is sanctification - which has to do with a person's conduct, with right living, with discipline or character building - then Paul will say the law is valuable and necessary. It must be kept.

"If we will just keep our eyes on the context, it will help us greatly to understand how Paul uses "law.""  (John W. Ritenbaugh, http://www.theberean.org/)

IS THE OLD TESTAMENT RELEVANT TODAY?

This question can be logically answered in the Word of God.  When Christ was teaching he told the people to "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39).

"The Jews considered that eternal life was revealed to them in their Scriptures, and that they had it, because they had the word of God in their hands. Jesus urged them to search those Scriptures with more diligence and attention....They did indeed search the Scriptures, but it was with a view to their own glory..." (https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/Matthew-Henry/John/John-5-39-44).

They searched but, because they were seeking "their own glory", they could not then and do not to this day see Jesus Christ as the messiah.  On the surface, that is what this scripture is referring to, the religious Jewish authorities questioning His claim to be the Messiah.

But there is a message here that goes deeper than this.  The message is for all Christians, from the apostolic period up to and including the present.  When Jesus taught He did teach what is recorded in the New Testament.  But, the New Testament had yet to be written.  The scriptures He was referring to, where Jesus always taught from, came from the Old Testament.  Jesus said that these books testify of Him.

HOW TO LIVE FOREVER!

 

THE ETERNAL PUNISMENT OF THE UNSAVED IN HELL IS NOT BIBLICAL.

Popular myth:

Hell is a Biblical doctrine that is in the Bible from the beginning to the end.

 

 

"This is not true! Two thirds of the Bible (the Old Testament) does not mention Hell at all. (“Sheol,” the Old Testament word that is sometimes translated as Hell, only means “grave” by definition, and it is where everyone in the Old Testament went when they died--good or evil, Jew or Gentile).  The other translation is a "pit". Thus the Old Testament does not contain the modern Christian concept of Hell!

"If Hell is real, why did God tell the Jews that burning their children alive in the fire to the false god Molech, (in the valley of Gehenna) was so detestable to Him? God said that such a thing “never even entered His mind” (Jer. 32:35).

"How could God say such a thing to Israel, if He has plans to burn alive a good majority of His own creation in a spiritual and eternal Gehenna of His own making?

"FACT: The King James Bible erroneously translates the word “Sheol” as Hell a total of 31 times in the Old Testament, thus setting a foundation for that doctrine in the New Testament as well as the majority of Bible translations to follow the KJV.

"Even so, most new translations have completely eliminated Hell from the Old Testament, as honest and better scholarship has demanded. The Jewish version of the Old Testament (the Tanakh) has no concept of Hell in it.

"The importance of this fact cannot be over-emphasized. If a doctrine does not appear as seed form in the books of the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, it cannot fairly be taught as a major biblical doctrine, if indeed it can be taught as biblical at all!"  (http://www.tentmaker.org/ifhellisreal.htm)

 

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The Warfare And The Terrorism We See In The World Today Will Come To An End.

King Cyrus was ruling over Babylon.  It was the third year of his reign.  The Jews were being held captive in Babylon since Jerusalem was conquered and they were taken as slaves.  One of the people taken was the prophet Daniel.  (See Daniel Chapter 10). 

The prophet Daniel was concerned over the eventual fate of the Jewish nation and was earnestly praying to God for an answer to this concern.  “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.  In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.  I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled” (Daniel 10:1-3).

Daniel had a vision from God.  He writes, “Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:  His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude….(and I)saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.” (Daniel 10:5-8).

Daniel understood the "thing" that was represented in the vision but he did not understand the full meaning of the vision because God had to send the angel Gabriel to explain the full meaning to him.  When Gabriel got to Daniel he told him, “Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days” (Daniel 10:14).

But, Satan was hard at work as usual trying to do everything he could to thwart the efforts of God and to control all humans on earth, especially God’s chosen people.  When Gabriel came to Daniel, he found it necessary to explain to him why it took so long for him to get there so he could explain the vision to Daniel.

The reason it took so long for the angel to get there was that Satan and his demons had held Gabriel hostage for three weeks.  Satan and his army of demons were so powerful in preventing Gabriel from completing his mission that God had to send Michael the Archangel to give Gabriel a hand so he could complete his mission and explain the meaning of the vision to the prophet Daniel.

The prophet Daniel in writing about this reveals to us an interesting fact about the spiritual world that we inhabit.  The Persian prince and the prince of Grecia were actually demons, part of Satan’s earthly army of fallen angels.  These warriors of Satan were in the past, and still are, given earthly kingdoms to rule.  These demons, these earthly rulers, were then, and still are sent, to carry out the will of Satan in active opposition to God and His rule over human beings.  (See Daniel 10:14-20).

This perpetual spiritual warfare between Satan and God has been going on since Satan’s original rebellion.  It still is going on today.  “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” (Ephesians 2:2).  “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

The Bible confirms the fact that this spiritual warfare will continue on earth.  There are countries today being ruled by demons, controlled by Satan.  This warfare will continue on earth until Jesus Christ’s final victory over Satan and will culminate in a physical, bloody human warfare on earth and will come to a finale end only with the coming of Jesus Christ.

“Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12).  But, Jesus will return to the earth.  “(The)…heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war” (Revelation 19:11).  Jesus will make war with Satan and “…the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, (will be) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army” (Revelation 19:19).

The human armies under the control of Satan and his demons will be defeated, but they will not be buried.  Instead, God will instruct an angel to command all the carrion eating birds of the earth to eat the flesh of the dead humans led by Satan’s Demons.  The apostle John wrote that he “…saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;  That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great” (Revelation 19:17-18).  All the dead humans that were influenced by Satan and his demons and that will be involved in this finale war against Jesus Christ will be have their finale humiliation when they will be left unburied to rot in the sun and be eaten by birds.

But, this doesn’t happen to the demonic rulers of the world which include the beast, Antichrist, and the false prophet.  In His vision, the apostle John saw that “…the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (Revelation 19:20).   Since these were fallen angels, immortal, and they cannot be killed, they will be sentenced to eternity in a lake of fire that will burn through eternity along with Satan’s other Demons, fallen angels.

This is not the end.  At this point of time Satan will not be thrown in the lake of fire, hell, but rather, God will have him bound for one thousand years to prevent him from influencing any human on earth in that time period.  The apostle John has a vision of an angel coming “…down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,” (Revelation 20:1). 

God has been using Satan since he rebelled, for the salvation of human beings since they fell from grace in the Garden of Eden.  Instead of throwing him in the lake of fire with the rest of the fallen angels, God will have him bound “And (will) cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he… (will be)…loosed… (for)…a little season” (Revelation 20:3).

Jesus Christ will return to the earth and He will defeat Satan and his army of demons.  This will end the warfare and terrorism that we see today.  But that is not God’s ultimate goal.  God wants to complete the salvation of all human beings on earth and give humans the opportunity to get back the gift of eternal life.  Eventually He will do that by using Satan one more time. 

That is why Satan is simply bound for a thousand years and at the end of that time will be loosed one more time because  “when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth… to gather them together to battle….(A)nd they…(will go)… up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints…, and the beloved city: and fire…(will come)… down from God out of heaven, and devour…them” (Revelation 20:7-10).

This time there will not even be a battle.  All humans on earth worshiping God and Jesus Christ will be protected and no one protected will die.  When Satan and his armies are ready to attack, God and Jesus Christ will simply kill all the human beings who are following Satan.  The fire that comes down from the heaven will be the wrath of God combined with the ultimate fate of every human who is disobedient, the lake of fire.

These human beings along with “…the devil that deceived them… (will be)…cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are..." (Revelation 20:9-27).  The human beings will not be tortured forever and ever because the prophet Malachi tells us that "...(T)he day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch" (Malachi 4:1).

Satan and the demons are imortal and cannot die, therefore they "...shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever”  (Revelation 20:7-9).  Since the human beings were not yet immortal, they will be simply burned up, they will eternally cease to exist.  Satan and the demons will be tormented forever and ever.

The warfare and the terrorism we see in the world today will come to an end, all terrorist led by Satan in the past, present and future will be judged at the great white throne of judgment.  “(T)he dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12).  If God does not find them “…in the book of life…” they will be “…cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 19:10-15). 

There will finally be peace on earth, eternally.