CHAPTERS 15 - 16- 17 - 18 - 19

CHAPTER 15

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER

“Having begun by the Spirit, are you now brought to maturity by the flesh?”

Having begun?  Begun what?  Living out of the Spirit and not the flesh; what is this thing of the flesh?  Conscience?; is there some link to this thing of the flesh and conscience?  Those without the written law, as the Jewish people were given, had the conscience that convicted them; convicting them to return to God, from their being cut off from God from their very birth, accusing them and then excusing it.  Law or conscience wasn't a thing to keep, but was always intended to be a tool used of God to lead mankind back to the true source of living this experience.  Law or conscience would prove to be a mirror reflecting the evil that we had been born into; a system created of mankind totally independent from God, expressed in this fashion, “man in the name of man, by the power of man to the glory of man.”  They have called it secular humanism; yet the scriptures revealed this long before men gave it a name.  God called it “the flesh.”

Conscious knowledge; looking at it from this idea of gathered knowledge, it can go into two directions, secular or religious.   Having begun; having begun this gathering of knowledge, either party, independent from God creates what is written, “the evil conscience.” (Heb. 10:22 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an EVIL CONSCIENCE, and our bodies washed with pure water.) 

 Let us draw near with a TRUE HEART; the human heart is the store house of our gathering of knowledge.  It is what we gather, be it human laws, cultures, creeds, ideas opinions, traditions handed down to us from our forefathers, secular or religious, which if violated, creates guilt, which causes us to run from authority or God, forever excusing what we have come to believe is either right or wrong (whether it is correct or not).  In some cultures, to eat certain things or entertain certain behaviors would cause guilt, whereas in another culture it would not.  That’s what I meant by “whether it is correct or not.”  Now in “all cultures” there are certain matters that “all” would agree.  For example, there isn't a culture where being a coward is applauded.  Another example might be, though appearing different, another example might be having one wife where others allow more than one wife; yet in both, you can’t just have any wife other than those you have legally married.  Guilt would be the result of you having more than one wife in one society, whereas in the other, just grabbing another’s wife to place into you harem would result in guilt being considered evil.  So not all creeds are right, but each produce what God desired, guilt to draw an individual back to Him alone, for the relief from all guilt.  It wouldn't be a matter of a law, but only a tool that would accomplish and end.  And “no” I am not saying that the end justifies the means.  That’s a completely different matter, one of justifying behavior.  We aren't here trying to justify behavior, rather we are revealing how behavior came about and where it should all lead – back to God rather than men and their formed ideas and opinion totally cut off from God. 

You can see what I mean when you see God definitely telling His people to have one wife; different from those around them in that day and its culture.  Yet we see over and over again His people violating this, marrying more than one wife.  You don’t see God judging them in this violation and might ask why?  It goes back to what I have said; though God clearly did say what He had said, there being allowed only one wife, its INTENT wasn't focusing on a physical, fleshly matter, of having one wife but was intended to reveal the rebellious heart of mankind whether he had one wife or many.  But cultures violated their own law by either taking on more than one wife, or grabbing the wife of another man.  Yet see this also, there was a very thin line when it came down to adultery which was punished.  In both cultures you find this punishment.  The question is why?  In each case it became a matter of a direct violation of conscience and the possibility of getting a whole generation to sear that conscience to the place where a valuable tool used of God to gain back a people was in jeopardy.  When punishment was dealt out, it re-installed this conscience all the more; yet they found in dealing out this punishment, it “increased” this thing of adultery all the more. What happened?  Paul the Apostle reveals it in this manner, “the strength of sin is the law.”   What was discovered is what God had always intended, “by the law (or conscience) no man would be justified before God.”  This clearly revealed that the real problem was something deeper.  The word justified is our clue.  Justified from what?  Well, the answer would be “an injustice.”  What was the injustice?  An injustice of being condemned for something one never did.  Let me see if I can get you to see where I am going with this.  Jesus, when dealing with a woman caught in the act of adultery, clearly drives what I am sharing with you home.  The Jewish law said that anyone caught in adultery must be stoned to death.  Yet in the Roman culture it was a legal profession condoned by the Government.  If Jesus, who was asked to judge the situation, if Jesus had said to the Jewish leaders, “Stone her,” they would have done so, then called the Roman authorities to have him arrested for ordering her murdering.  Yet if he would have said let her go, they would have stirred the Jewish crowd present on the scene, getting them to judge him for violating the law of Moses.  Now here is where what I’ve said up to this point comes in.  Jesus, under his breath, consults the Father on the matter; and the Father tells him what to do and say (something He always did).  He says to them, “You without sin, cast the first stone.”  Well, from the least to the greatest they drop the stones and walked away.  What did they see that day?  You hear it in what Jesus said; “You without SIN”…He wasn't focusing on the sin of adultery but that which produced this particular sin, the SIN NATURE we are all born with from the fall of Adam.  He was not justifying adultery but was using this violation of law to drive home a point that “ALL” in that crowd that day saw for the first time in their lives.  “Oh man that judges another, you are condemning yourself, you do the same thing.” What?  They might have argued, “I haven’t committed the act of adultery!”  Really; are you sure?  It gets even pass “just looking at a woman” as Jesus had said one time to their religious leaders and their thinking that just because they hadn't performed the physical act of adultery they were exempted.  Something deeper was revealed that day.  Some have called it “true moral guilt.”  A guilt that reaches beyond getting caught in an act; that reaches to our all being cut off from God from birth.  When guilt is really understood, it places one under the wrath of God with no end in sight, no remedy.   An injustice is also seen, it being laid on all humanity via the fall of our original parents, Adam and Eve.   The only One who ever offered true justice, thus the ending of guilt, was the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God coming for the real purpose of relieving humanity from the curse placed on them via the act of Adam’s fall.  If HE sets you free, you would be free indeed; from this cursed nature embedded in all of us, no longer under the wrath of God. (“there is no more condemnation to those in Christ”).   That is what that crowd saw that day, and is what “having begun” in our opening text was saying.  Having begun with the relief from the curse of Adam’s fall and injustice, now are you returning to old unsuccessful methods to correct mankind’s true condition?  Turning to the “flesh,” meaning the opinions and ideas of mankind to solve any problem via any culture, creed, law or conscience knowledge created independent from God that “never” will remedy the flesh and the guilt from that flesh.

Gal. 2:16 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by  the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no FLESH be justified.”

Gal. 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the FLESH?

Phil. 3:3 “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the FLESH.”

Rom. 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no FLESH be justified in His sight; for by the Law is the KNOWLEDGE OF SIN (nature).”

Now I want to use a text from the book of Colossians to bring this point home.  You can get various translations of this verse, yet each beats around the bush and just doesn’t get to the point that Paul was striving to reveal.  I want to give you a personal paraphrase of this verse in light of all that has been said in this article:

Col. 2:20-23 “In view of all that I have written in this article, you have seen how we come to realize that we have to die to any human effort of what is called the flesh, to solve our dilemma.  We have to die to all that the flesh has taught us; all the opinions, cultures, creeds, laws and conscious knowledge gathered independent from God, whether from God or human conscience, simply because we have misunderstood the real purpose of it all.  All the ideas that say, “touch not, taste not, handle not, which are only things that are temporal and distract us from seeing the real problem.  We have seen how things appear to differ in different cultures yet behind these teachings of men there is something God uses to draw mankind back to Himself.  Each of them appear to give wisdom on how we should live this life;  yet because they have been “self-imposed”, interpreted by men apart from God and what He had originally intended in their giving or allowance, will never be a remedy against the real problem.”

Taking our Hebrews text further; Heb. 10:22 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an EVIL CONSCIENCE, and our bodies washed with pure water.

“Full assurance of faith; this is brought out in Paul’s comment to the Church of Galatia, reading from the Living Bible:

Gal. 2:17-19 “But what if we trust Christ to save us and then find that we are wrong, and that we cannot be saved without being circumcised and obeying all the Jewish laws?  Wouldn’t we need to say that FAITH in Christ has ruined us?  God forbid that anyone should dare to think such things about our Lord.  Rather, we are sinners if we start rebuilding the old systems I have been destroying, of trying to be saved by keeping Jewish laws; for it was through reading the Scriptures that I came to realize that I could NEVER find God’s favor by trying and failing to obey the laws.  I came to realize that acceptance with God comes by believing in Christ.”

Here is the verse found in Galatians 3:3 mentioned above, reading it from the Living Bible:

Gal. 3:3 “Then have you gone completely crazy? For if trying to obey the Jewish Laws NEVER gave you spiritual life in the first place, why do you think that trying to obey them now will make you stronger Christians?”

To see the men of the world trying  to be good by keeping laws and rules is understandable; yet to see so many in the Church thinking that their performance gets them in God’s favor, is the REAL SIN.  This is brought out in a text found in the book of Hebrews; yet get twisted to mean something other then what God had intended it to me.  Let me show what I mean.

Hebrews 10: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the KNOWLEDGE of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins.”  

Many give you the impress that if at any time you willfully commit a sin, you are no longer under God graces; that sin could be, to their ideas, smoking, drinking, swearing, and a host of sins according to each church you go to or society that you visit.  This text in Hebrews was NOT saying this at all.  Read it the way it should be read, which has been developed throughout this whole article:

“For if you go back to the old system of trying and failing, hoping to gain God’s favor; especially after you have claimed to have come to Jesus Christ for salvation, there would remain no other sacrifice you could make to gain God’s favor, other than the one you just trod under your feet, that of the sacrifice of the Son of God for you.”

Reading the whole book of Hebrews and seeing this text in its context expresses what I just said.  Paul was writing to religious people (Jewish in this case) who were thinking of turning back to an old system to gain God’s favor; which had been proven to have not gained His favor.  He says that he didn't want to believe this of them; he had seen them suffer much for a decision in the past to turn to Jesus Christ for salvation from the fallen nature of Adam.  Now they were allowing persecution to get them to recant there confession of faith.  We can get the same pressures today from various denominations and cults and the world around us, attempting to get us to either “run” with them, like the world; or in a religious setting get us to follow their opinions and ideas which the Bible clearly reveals is a lie, this thing of self-effort, self-righteousness to please God.  Now you hear this everyday and it makes you want to say as Paul said, “God forbid that anyone should think of our Lord in this manner.  You want to ask them the question he asked, “Let me ask you one question, if you can save yourself by using laws and rules, WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE FOR YOU!!!!  His death and dying for you would be without meaning and thus would not profit you one bit!!!

As I type this I see that it has turned into an eight page article.  There is so much more that could be said to this matter; and I am sure I will write more to TYING ALL THINGS TOGETHER.  So let me end this for now with an example for you to ponder:

With what I am about to share, I am not condoning, justifying, nor am I judging.  I want you to understand something in light of what I just wrote.  So hear this; If you smoke, drink, swear, or do any of a list of “sins” one could come up with, the real issue isn't these things.  I presently willfully smoke cigarettes; there would be those in a religious setting who would condemn me to hell for doing this, or see me as a carnal Christian or even think I might not be “saved.”  As far as the world, I know how the world feels about it today, revealing it by their established laws against it.  I in the past would seek to defend or attack this issue in the usual ways that you see done.  I no longer join the secular or religious world in the attacks or justifications of such issues; it isn't the real issue!!

Paul said this, “Who are you to judge another man’s servant; He is able to cause him to stand or fall.  Let each be persuading in his own mind.”  I lay claim to being a servant of God my Father thus you will have to take it up with Him someday, if you think to judge me for what I feel He has allowed me to do.  If at any point I am wrong in my decisions, that is between God and myself; you clearly do not want to be caught judging me “before the time”.  We all know one day we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (Romans chapter 14…read it).

I said this to clarify what I said about Hebrew 10 and willful sinning and its real meaning.  Now if I were to yield to religious pressure to gain acceptance, thus not smoke in my case, and start thinking as they might think, that now I am accepted by God because I no longer smoked….”THEN I WOULD BE SINNING”…clearly what that text was saying.  I would have turned from what I know to be the truth, back to an old lie that will really send many good people (non-smokers) to hell.  Now understand; one day I may just quit smoking, but it won’t be for acceptance, it will be between God and me.   Ponder this!!

CHAPTER 16

HE WHO HAD BEGUN A GOOD WORK

“Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ.”   Phil. 1:6

“Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, working out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.  Phil. 2:12-13

Notice what is being said; our confidence isn’t in our working but in His working, what He, God, had accomplished through PROMISE, a promise of doing something we could not do for ourselves.  When we understand this, that because of what God accomplished through His Son, Jesus Christ, we were placed as full grown mature sons of God, it is then that the peace we all so desire comes; a peace that passes all our understanding as we, and others, observe about us, that which is only according to a limited view according to the flesh of what God “WILL” accomplish via a process which will be completed at the judgment seat of Christ (read Romans 14).  We know we have not arrived yet to this full mature understanding of just what God had done for us; the total preservation of our Spirit, soul and body (I Thess. 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Faithful is He that called you, who also will do it.”).   Notice it says that HE WILL DO IT; our part in this working out is to allow Him to do what He had begun.  You can see in this the fear and trembling; something Paul the Apostle expressed in Galatians 2:17-19 expressed in the Living Bible, “But what if we trust Christ to save us and then find that we are wrong and that we cannot be saved without being circumcised and obeying all the Jewish laws? (Self efforts)  Wouldn't we need to say that faith in Christ had ruined us? GOD FORBID THAT ANYONE should dare to think such things about our Lord.  Rather, WE ARE SINNERS “if” we start rebuilding the old system I have been destroying, of trying to be saved by keeping Jewish laws (Self effort); for it was through reading the Scriptures that I came to realize that I could NEVER FIND GOD’S FAVOR by trying – and failing – to obey the laws.  I came to realize that acceptance with God comes by believing in Christ.”

We have so abuse this word “sinner” that its true meaning has been lost.  In what has been said above, it is reestablished in its true meaning of our acting independent of what only God and He along could have ever done to bring us into His favor; to reject this and seek another means of gaining His favor is SINNING! 

Paul, at one point in his experience of reading and studying the Old Testament, thought that by keeping all the laws and rule in that book he would gain God’s favor.  Later on he discovers that the only real purpose of those Old Testament books were to reveal how “out of favor” he was.  You have many today that are attempting to keep what Paul clearly says he had TORN DOWN.  Read all of his letters you will see over and over again his struggle to get those he was called to minister to too see this FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST which in truth was finished before the foundation of the world; be it the secular world or the religious world; God saw the problem humanity would encounter, solved it Himself, and now has revealed this Mystery.  It is no longer a mystery to you the reader of this article; you have this truth before you, the question is, “What will you do with it?

CHAPTER 17

SALVATION’S PROMISE

Here is just one promise to remember when you find those teachers seeking to throw you under the “laws” again: (Read it very slowly, and then read it about three times)

"By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:39).

We see and are reminded that it is “BY HIM,” and all those that believe this, that He and He alone did it all for us; something the very Law of Moses could not have ever done.  The Law of Moses was never given with the idea of justifying us; for there to be Justification, there had to be and “injustice” committed. The law only revealed the problem in Geneses via the fall of Adam.  You would think a person would ask at this point, “What was the injustice dealt out to us?”  Here is the injustice – that you were born under the wrath of God for what another did before you were ever born.  To hear that God had JUSTIFIED US, you would think that the world would have no problem admitting this truth.  Yet you will find that you can’t get them past the fact of the injustice dealt to them through Adam & Eve long enough to say in the next breath that God had solved this injustice before it was even given by the very fact of “Christ slain before the foundations of the world.”  If you knew, that whatever problem existed between God and yourself, that HE had already solved it, wouldn’t you want to hear not only the problem that existed but also the solution?  If there ever was something that the Devil didn’t want you to know, it is this!  He’d love keeping you hung up in guilt and forever “trying” to gain God’s favor without ever knowing why you were ever out of God’s favor in the first place; keeping you thinking that it is some particular behavior, when in truth it had nothing to do with anything you have ever done, but had to do with what another did to cut humanity off from God. 

Now if you reject this, you do have a problem; the problem of finding a way to gain God’s favor.  But this will remain a problem for you simply because you do not understand that the real problem is beyond your correction.  For you to correct it, you would have to be BORN AGAIN.  How does one enter again into the womb of his mother a second time? A question asked once by a religious Jewish leader who definitely didn’t know of this problem which I speak of.  With this you can better understand what Jesus was saying in the follow text found in Matt. 7:22-23 -

“Many will say to me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have “we” not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?”  And I will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Note this; all that they did in the so-called name of the Lord was motivated by this human effort to gain God’s favor not knowing the real problem.

CHAPTER 18

THE VESSELS OF GOD’S WRATH VERSES THE VESSELS OF HIS MERCY

This controversy of the vessels of wrath and the vessels of mercy isn’t the problem most make it, if it is understood that we “all” were born under the wrath of God because of the injustice served to us all by the fall of humanity through Adam & Eve.  I have had individuals who mistakenly thought they could never be saved because they were called to be a vessel of wrath.  Crazy thinking; no, not only could they be a vessel of wrath, but all of us, UNLESS, we see that this injustice served to us was corrected before the foundations of this world, Christ was slain before the foundations of this world, thus JUSTIFYING us, covering this sin nature in us, that “sin that so easily besets us,” placing us in a position as “if we were never born through the loins of this first fallen couple.”  What follows will explain this.

Reading Romans 3:22 we see what many aren't seeing.  “What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, ENDURED with much long suffering THE VESSELS OF WRATH fitted to destruction; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on THE VESSELS OF MERCY, when He afore prepared unto glory, EVEN US, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?  As He said also in Osee, “I will call them my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.  And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, “You are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the Living God.   Esaias (Isaiah) also cried concerning Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a REMNANT shall be saved.  For He will FINISH the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.  And as Esaisa (Isaiah) said before, “Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed; we had been as Sodom, and been like unto Gomorrha.”

What was Paul seeing?  Let’s take this one step at a time.  “What if God, willing to show His wrath…”  I have given this message to all that I meet, that if you were born on this planet, you have a problem.  I then connect this to the original fall of Adam and Eve; revealing how our being born through the loins of this couple,  places us ALL in this fall, thus are cut off from God, going on to say that because of this, WE ARE UNDER THE WRATH OF GOD.   In this opening statement by Paul, we see that God is WILLING, or wants all to see our present dilemma; our being born under the wrath of God.  Going on we read, “…and to make His power known.”  The question would be, “Power of what?”  One might think that God like to show off, flex His muscles; this isn’t what this is saying.   He wants to reveal the power of what He had intended before the foundations of the world, His giving of MERCY – holding back what we would deserve, His wrath, simply because we would be unjustly born into this fall of humanity.   I go on to reveal how God corrected this injustice before it even occurred, through Christ slain before the foundations of the world, replacing this injustice with justification.   (Devil hated this!)  God’s being long suffering, in other words putting up with what is going on in this world, is to reveal this to as many as are willing to hear it.  Those that don’t want to hear this, and chose to remain under His wrath, will be used of God to get those who might want to receive His mercy, grace and unconditional love.  These so-called vessels of wrath, are just that, those that have set their life style as a block to those who might receive what God is trying to get this world to see, that we all were under His wrath.  I have no complaint with God and his use of this evil to win as many as possible.  “They refused to accept the free offer of God’s acceptance simply because they refuse to face the fact that they were born on this planet under the wrath of God.”  God’s will is that none perish, these vessels of His wrath seek to disrupt this, not receiving it themselves, don’t want others to get it; yet God is able to work all that these vessels of wrath say or do, God is able to work it to His good, using it to manifest His power to do this THROUGH ENDURANCE.  We, the vessel of mercy, endure for the same reason, this conflict that these vessels of wrath throw at us, in hope to save as many as possible.

God is using these vessels of wrath, unaware to them, to bring the vessels of mercy to the realization of His power, power that these vessels of His mercy use to put up with these vessels of God’s wrath;  vessels of wrath that like to stir you up, using their fleshly fallen nature to get your fallen nature activated, causing you to express wrath along with them.  No wonder Jesus said, “Father forgive them they don’t know what they are doing…those that day were some of these vessels of wrath.  They had rejected God love through His son, thus this situation brought out the truth, their wrathful nature.  I see this at this moment, My God!  Where have we been in our understanding of these matters?  How far off we have been in understanding this one fact of vessels of God’s wrath.   At any moment, because of our very nature, we could fall back into being this vessel of His wrath, when we should be His vessels of Mercy.  We forget, or maybe we never understood this fact, that we stand in His Mercy, His holding back what we definitely deserved.  No wonder we are warned to not judge, not at all.  Who do we think we are?  We should come to understand in a deeper fashion this thing of being a vessel of His mercy.  The deeper we see this the less we would judge. 

God uses these vessels of wrath, think about it.  King of Babylon, not saved, thus born under the wrath of God, tended toward wrath, his base nature which he was totally unaware of, God used this wrath of this king to disciple His people.  Instruments of wrath put to God’s use and purpose to correct those considered vessel of His mercy.    You might think, “But God is punishing them, how can you say that these are vessels of His mercy, when you defined mercy as God holding back what they deserved?  Isn’t He giving them what they deserve by punishing them”   Glad you asked.  I had the very same question and will give you the answer I got.  This idea of MERCY applies to eternal salvation;  nothing we could have ever done to gain this, or be disciplined enough to earn it.  God’s use of these vessels of wrath to correct His people was then to bring them to an IMAGE He had originally intended before this fall mentioned.  They were blocking the process, and God uses this King to start the process once again in their experiences of this captivity.

God is using these vessels of wrath around you to bring you to His desire, you may not like this, and cry that God remove them out of your life, yet without them, you would never see His powers manifested.  Think; if you were, in your condition of being fallen, if you were dropped into a perfect setting, what would there be in this perfect setting to reveal to you what you needed correcting?  What tool would God use to reveal this to you, because in a perfect setting all the tools there, would also be perfect?  We, as the vessels of His mercy, are in the best setting with the best tools to do this revealing.  Vessels of destruction destroying a fallen nature in a vessel of His mercy, who know where they were born and from whom, thus desire to rid themselves of this fallen nature.  This same Romans chapter goes on to say that there are in a house hold vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor.  You, as a vessel of mercy, are being brought to being a vessel of His honor, using the vessel of dishonor.  Example.  You use  a brillo pad to clean up a pot, that ends up shining.  After you use the brillo pad, you throw it away; it served its purpose.  Of course this illustration breaks down because the brillo pad didn’t choose to be a brillo pad, it just was.   In our case, we ALL are given the free will to chose…do you want to be a brillo pad, or the shiny pot?   If you think it is your task to go around cleaning up people’s lives by judging them, you have just chosen to be a brillo pad?  Think about that?   God might just use what you are doing, then THROW YOU AWAY.

We are “ALL” vessels of His wrath, the only difference is that I have found out that I was, and those who don’t or refuse to see this, still are; yet once again “ALL” have the opportunity to be His vessels of MERCY.  We were all born with a free will to chose, you weren’t born to be under His wrath, He solved this before the foundations of this world.  What’s our excuse; what is our fear of facing this fact of being born though Adam under God’s wrath, yet through a NEW BIRTH can have it APPEAR that you were never born though Adam.  That’s what I mean two sentence ago (“you weren’t born to be under His wrath”)….thought this is a fact, our being born under His wrath, this has been CHANGED by a decision of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, before being born on this planet.  Our seeing this and accepting this CHANGES THINGS FOREVER – our not seeing this also changes things forever, where you go, and it won’t be to this Loving God of Unconditional love.

CHAPTER 19

BORN IN A PIG PEN

I have expressed in other writings, “If you were born on this planet, you have a problem.”  Let me come at this in a different way.  If you were born on this planet, you were born in a pig pen.  Jesus had known the condition of all humanity and did not put too much truth in what others said to him.  It’s said that He knew the hearts of men.  He also warned us to not cast our pearls to dogs or swine; yet you see Him share many of the pearls of God’s wisdom to those around Him, yet shrouded in parables intentionally done to hide from the wise and prudent, those who thought they understood the matter of God and the Kingdom.  Only to His disciples did He reveal their hidden meanings.  Today, this revealing is done at the selection of the Holy Spirit, revealing Spirit given truths, with Spirit given living words.  Let me at this point do just that.

We have all heard the expression, “You can’t put lip stick on a pig and expect him not to return to its pig pen.”  There is a lot of lip stick being used to day to do just this.  How so, you might ask?  I have addressed this matter of casting pearls to pigs and swine at greater length in other writings, so here I will briefly restate that writing.

The symbol of a dog, was that it was a unclean animals, that did not have a split hoof, nor did it chew the cud; whereas, a pig, does have a split hoof, yet also does not chew the cud as a clean animal, like a cow does.  When we say, “On thy word do I meditate, day and night,” the word meditate is translated chew the cud.  A cow, to produce milk, chews the grasses it eats, swallows it, then several times belches it up to chew the cud, passing it on to several stomachs until it becomes the liquid we drink called milk.  (Makes you think.)  With the written word of God, if we chew the cud, meditate on it over and over, we would not be classed as this parable symbol says, a pig or dog.  Now because an individual attends church and occasionally reads the Bible, does not mean that he or she meditates on this word.  You see this, when they can’t even express what little they have read, even after attending church 5 to 10 years.  A new babe in Christ, who is said to desire the sincere MILK OF THE WORD, cannot get even the milk of the word from these let alone the meat of the word.  We can expect a new babe in Christ to desire the basic milk of the word, until such time they grow teeth to digest the meat of the word.  Yet here you have a Christian, 5 to 10 years attending church who hasn’t taken the time to meditate on the word, chew the cud, to even assist a new babe in Christ.  Why is this?

Let me now return to the theme of this article, of our being born in a pig pen.  To NOT KNOW this will guarantee you will either be classed as a dog or a pig in eyes of the written word.  A dog, a symbol of an individual that has never picked up a Bible to even read it let alone meditate on it; whereas a pig would give the appearance of have a separated life (split hoof) by his or her going to church and occasionally quoting well known verses like John 3:16, or hanging pictures on the walls of their homes of Jesus or the praying hands etc.   Yet when asked to explain what they have quoted, or hung on their walls, would be very shallow in their ideas of it all.  This expresses something of this idea of a pig with lip stick.  The Bible calls it “lip service;” this gives this a whole different meaning. 

I can endure a dog because in truth, they are true to nature, the sin nature of a fallen individual born through Adam, thus born on this planet and in this pig pen, and are closer to the truth than a pig with lip stick, trying to hold down this truth with some performance to hide this fact. 

As I have said, I have dealt with this in greater length in other writings; writings I will be adding to my videos on Youtube.  So, a warning to dogs and swine (none of you I sent this e-mail to)….the pig pen is about to be exposed, and the true dogs.  Remember, Jesus did this when he heard the self-righteous Jews calling the Gentiles, “Gentile dogs.”  It was then He exposed them as the pigs they were for calling the Gentiles dogs.…”the thieves and the prostitutes will enter the Kingdom before you.”  They were the pigs of their day, wearing lip stick.  Today, a new trend is happening…they are kissing the pigs…catch my drift?