author@ptgbook.org

What is the fate of billions who have lived and died without ever having the chance to become Christian? Are they lost forever? If a loved one has died not being in the faith, is he or she lost? Not necessarily. He or she may yet have an opportunity in a resurrection.

Most traditional mainstream churches and ministers do not understand. They know that the Holy Spirit was given to the Church on the day of Pentecost, and they may know that the day of Pentecost in the New Testament is the same day as the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament. They may know that the Feast of Weeks represents the early spring harvest, a smaller harvest than the great fall harvest. But few understand the connection between the Holy Spirit and the early spring harvest.

God gave seven annual holy days and festivals to illustrate and help explain His plan for the salvation of mankind. Pentecost is one of those days. Pentecost and the other holy days help explain a number of mysteries that have puzzled Christians, such as why God allows suffering and injustice in this world, why so few are saved in this life, and what is the fate of the billions who have lived and died without ever hearing the name of Jesus Christ and the true gospel and, because of circumstances of birth over which they had no control, never had the chance to become Christians.

Pentecost in the New Testament is the same day known as the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament. The Feast of Weeks represents the small early spring harvest, not the large fall harvest. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit was given to the Church on that same day. There is a direct connection between the Church in this age and the early spring harvest in Israel. That connection is that the Church, that is, those who are called to salvation is this age, is NOT the main harvest of souls in God's plan. God is only saving a few now, the first fruits. The main harvest when all mankind will have the opportunity to be saved will come later. Every human who has ever lived will have the opportunity to accept Christ and be saved.

The plan of God as illustrated by Pentecost and the other holy days explains the fate of the billions who are alive today and have lived throughout history who never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus Christ or to hear the true gospel due to circumstances of birth not of their own control. Is there any way to be saved other than through acceptance of Jesus Christ? And if not, does that mean that the billions who never heard of Christ are doomed to be damned for eternity because of when and where they were born? And if that is the case, and God allows it, how can He be all good and all powerful? If He is good, He would want everyone to have the opportunity to hear the true gospel so they could be saved. And if He is all powerful, He would be able to make sure that occurred. There is an answer.

God's plan also explains why God allows so much suffering and injustice in this world. If God is love, He would want to prevent suffering and bring happiness to mankind, and if he is all-powerful He would be able to do it.

The links below give the answers to these and other questions, from the Bible. God, who is far wiser than man, has a plan to give every human being ever born a chance for salvation through Jesus Christ, and God is allowing suffering during this time period for a great purpose that will work good for all eternity.

For more details and proof from the Bible, see my website The True Gospel and the Ezekiel Warning, Chapter 2, section on Pentecost. See also the section on The Last Great Day in the same chapter for information about a general resurrection of mankind in which all who never had a real chance for salvation in this life, including many whose minds Satan has blinded to the truth, will have their first real chance to be saved.

Bible Prophecy About the United States and Great Britain

Sunday, September 26, 2010 6:40:07 AM

Most modern nations are not mentioned by name in the Bible, but the ancestors of modern nations are, and we can identify prophecies about us by knowing who are ancestors are in the Bible.

The English-speaking nations are primarily descended from Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Prophecies in the Bible have predicted our rise to power and prosperity in the last 200 years, but they also predict that we will soon be punished by God for our sins with drought, famine, disease, war, and captivity. We will be defeated by enemy nations in war, and before it is over, about 90% or more of our people will be dead and the rest will go through a lot of agony.

Details and proof are in my website
The United States and the World in Bible Prophecy
at
http://www.ptgbook.org/united-states-in-prophecy.htm

The best way to contact me is to email me at author@ptgbook.org rather than sending me a private message thru Opera.

Why I Left the Catholic Church - Part 2

Friday, April 30, 2010 11:47:34 PM

In one of my previous posts I explained the particular event that caused me to leave the Catholic Church. But there is a broader issue involved, and I will talk about that here.

Everyone must choose sometime in their life what they will believe in matters of religion. Some look at the injustice in the world, or they look to science, and they conclude there is no God. Some are agnostics. Most of those who believe in God believe and practice the traditions and doctrines they were raised in, but not all. Thus you have Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Anglicans, Lutherans, and a wide variety of other Protestants, all believing a few things in common, but also believing many things that are different.

Many churches claim to derive their teachings from the Bible, and many church members look to the Bible for their beliefs. But churches also have their traditions and bodies of doctrine passed on from generation to generation, and they also have bodies of writings of the past and present leaders of those churches. And these traditions and writings teach things concerning the same doctrinal subjects that the Bible talks about, things like heaven and hell, the soul, the commandments and how to obey them, the nature of God, the role of Jesus Christ, prophecy, and many instructions on how we are to live our lives. And almost all of these churches acknowledge the Bible as God's inspired word.

Yet, even though these churches and their members acknowledge the Bible as God's word, each church teaches something different in its own traditions and body of writings. Yet they all acknowledge the same Bible as God's word.

Do these groups teach the same things as the Bible or not? If they teach the same doctrines that the Bible teaches, all acknowledging the same Bible, why do they teach things different from each other. If A = B, and A = C, then B = C.

Obviously, these various churches do not all agree with the Bible or they would agree with each other. Yet few or none of these groups are open about disagreeing with the Bible. Few or none say, "we think the Bible is wrong about many things."

So how do churches and their members disagree with the Bible without admitting to themselves or to others that they disagree with God's inspired Word?

They claim that the Bible needs to be "interpreted." In other words, the Bible means what their traditions and their ministers in their church say that it means, not what the Bible actually says.

Yet they never say that their own literature and traditions need to be "interpreted." Their own teachings and the writings of their own ministers are clear enough to them. It is only the Bible that needs to be interpreted.

In fact, there are some things in the Bible that are hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16), but most of the Bible is clear and easy to understand, and the things that are hard to understand by themselves can be correctly understood by those scriptures that are easy to understand. Clear scriptures interpret difficult ones.

Some church members, particularly some in the Catholic and Orthodox churches, rely on their church traditions as a matter of faith. They are very deeply committed to believing that there is no conflict between the Bible and their traditions. No matter how wrong their traditional doctrines might be as shown in the Bible, they cannot acknowledge, even to themselves, that there is a conflict. They are committed to believing that their church is right, in fact infallible, in matters of doctrine, and the only way they can keep that commitment and yet also claim to believe that the Bible is inspired by God and is true is to twist the clear meaning of scripture to fit their traditions. Thus, anything in the Bible can be interpreted by their traditions to mean whatever their traditions say it means. That is the only way they can claim to believe that the Bible is God's word yet hold to their traditions that are opposite to the Bible's teachings.

And you cannot reason with these people from the Bible. You cannot show them where their church is wrong on a particular doctrine by showing them what the Bible teaches because they can never admit, even to themselves, that the Bible teaches anything different than what their church teaches. So they will somehow find a way to twist scripture to fit their traditions. They have to do this because for them, their faith is at stake. The problem is, their faith is in their church and their traditions, not God. But they do not realize that because they cannot admit it to themselves, or their faith collapses. In effect, they deceive themselves, and a deceived person does not know he is deceived (Jeremiah 17:9). They imagine that God agrees with their church and that God doesn't mean what He says in the Bible, but inspired the Bible to be written in such a way that everything needs to be interpreted by a church.

But the Bible is clear that no church is infallible. There are many false churches (2 Corinthians 11:13-15), and even the true Church makes mistakes in doctrine (Revelation 2:13-15). Traditions are not a substitute for or an interpreter of God's word (Matthew 15:3-14, Mark 7:6-13).

It all comes down to who has authority over your beliefs.

As I relate in my website, many years ago I was able to prove from fulfilled prophecy that the Bible is inspired by God. And shortly after that I made a decision to believe God, to believe what he says. I saw that the Bible carries the authority of the Creator God, and we are to tremble at His word (Isaiah 66:1-2). I had to make a choice to believe God or to believe churches made up of men, any church. I chose to believe God, and to follow the Bible, not the traditions of any church that claims the authority to be able to interpret the Bible to fit its own tradtions.

Some of you also will have to face that question sooner or later and make your own choice about this, one way or another.

Can You Make an Idol out of the Bible?

Friday, April 16, 2010 6:02:55 PM

Every so often I hear or read a religious teacher saying that some people make an idol out of the Bible. Sometimes this is said in the context of a discussion about what the Bible teaches about one thing or another.

God teaches in the Bible that we are not to worship idols or false gods. We must only worship the true God.

Many things can become an idol. In its most direct sense, an idol can be a false pagan god or goddess, perhaps represented by an image of what the worshiper thinks the pagan god or goddess looks like. But an idol can be anything one places before the true God. One can make an idol out of one's money, car, house, job, or anything a person can make more important in his life than God.

Can the Bible be an idol? In other words, can a person make the Bible more important in his life than God Himself?

The Bible claims to be God speaking, that is, the word of God (Isaiah 46:9, 2 Timothy 3:16, John 10:35, Isaiah 66:1, Luke 4:4, Isaiah 40:8, Hebrews 4:12). Jesus said in John 10:35 that scripture cannot be broken. It other words, the Bible is infallible, or as theologians might say, "innerrant," without error. The Bible is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16), and God cannot lie (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18). I personally have proved that the Bible is inspired by God, and I explain that proof in chapter one of my book (see chapter one on the United States in prophecy).

One teacher put it this way. The Bible, in a sense, is the Word of God in print, and Jesus Christ is the Word of God in person. Jesus is called, "the Word of God" (Revelation 19:13, John 1:1-5, 14). So the Bible and Jesus Christ are both the "Word of God," one the Word of God in print and the other the Word of God in person. The same word. Both are the same expression of God's perfect character and will.

Can one make an idol out of the Bible? That would be like saying that one can make an idol of out what God says. How can you make an idol out of God's word? The people who say this do not explain.

In the Bible, the term "idol" is never used to represent the true God. God is not an idol. The term "idol" refers to that which we may worship or give priority to IN PLACE OF the true God, or in competition with the true God. God is never an idol, and His communication to us, the infallible expression of His character and will, cannot be an idol. You cannot make an idol out of the Bible.

But often times, those who say that a person can make an idol out of the Bible really do not know God through the Bible. They do not believe that the Bible is God's inspired word, or they do not believe what God says in the Bible. They do not stand in awe of God's word and tremble at its authority (Isaiah 66:2).

Where do they get their concept of God? From their church, from their traditions, from their ministers, and from their own opinions. And all of these are fallible and subject to error and falsehood. And it is their concept of God, which itself is usually a mixture of truth and error, that they really worship and show loyalty to. And in fact, they often make an idol out of their concept of God, worshipping their false concept of God in place of the true God who reveals Himself through the Bible. In effect, they are really making an idol out of their church and its ministry and traditions, or out of their personal opinions. And sometimes, a person can choose faith in his opinions thinking that his opinions are inspired by the Holy Spirit when they are not. The true test of our opinions is the Bible. The Holy Spirit will not lead us to believe things in contradiction to the Bible (Isaiah 8:19-20).

Can a person make an idol out of their opinions? Yes. We must always put our opinions in second place to what God says in the Bible. It is not wrong to have opinions, provided we allow God to correct our opinions through the Bible and provided we are willing to change our opinions when the Bible shows us they are wrong.

Can a person make an idol out of the traditions he was raised in? Yes. That is what the Pharisees did when they followed their religious traditions and upbringing more than scripture (Matthew 15:1-9). Notice that Jesus said that those who teach the commandments of men as doctrine worship God IN VAIN.

Can a person make an idol out of a church? Yes. Many people make idols out of false churches and the false traditions and doctrines of those churches.

Can a person make an idol out of his church if his church is actually the TRUE church? If one believes his church more than the Bible, yes, because the Bible shows that even ministers in the true church can make mistakes in doctrine (Revelation 2:12-16).

Can a person make an idol out of a minister and his teachings, or a group of ministers, or the ministry as a whole? Yes.

Can a person make an idol out of the Bible, the very word of God Himself? No.

A person who claims you can make an idol out of the Bible is giving a clue that suggests he does not believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible word of God, or he does not really believe what God says in the Bible.

The Origins of Easter

Sunday, April 4, 2010 4:01:20 AM

This weekend millions of members of mainstream Christian churches will be celebrating Easter. This holiday is intended by those who keep it to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Millions have decorated or will decorate Easter eggs by dipping hard-boiled eggs into dyed water, and later they will hide those eggs for children to find. Easter eggs are part of the tradition of Easter, as is the symbol of the Easter Bunny (chocolate rabbits are a favorite Easter treat in many homes and they sell well in the stores at this time of year).

Why eggs and rabbits?

Eggs and rabbits are fertility symbols in some pagan religions. Eggs and rabbits have nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you study the origins of Easter, you find that it did not originate with Jesus Christ and the original apostles. It was not a part of the traditions of the first century Church of God. The original Church observed Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, the Day of Trumpets, Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day, all holy days and festivals commanded by God (Leviticus 23:1-44), not Christmas or Easter. Easter and similar days came later, after the main body of those who called themselves Christian had left the original faith. The true Church, which throughout the centuries has been small (Luke 12:32, Matthew 7:13-14), never kept Easter or Christmas. They obeyed God's commands to not borrow customs from pagan religions or use those customs to worship God (Deuteronomy 12:32).

But as the main body of those who called themselves Christian moved farther and farther from the original doctrines and practices of the true Church after the first century, they began to adopt the symbols and practices of the pagan religions and cultures of the people they wanted to attract into Christianity. It was reasoned that it would be easier to get new members into the church if pagans were allowed to keep their practices and traditions. So the church adapted pagan customs into their church by using them to celebrate events in the life of Christ or the church, thus Christmas and Easter. They kept the customs, but changed the meaning, contrary to God's command in Deuteronomy 12:29-32.

And just as the mainstream church disobeyed God in the matter of using pagan customs to worship Him, they also corrupted the doctrines of the church more and more, until the mainstream church had little in common with the original Christianity of the first century apostles and Jesus Christ.

Today, the truth of God, His doctrines, and His commands are preserved, not in the teachings and the traditions of the large, mainstream, traditional churches, but in the Bible. That is why, if you read the Bible, you will find so many things that don't make sense if you try to fit them into the traditional teachings of mainstream Christianity. The Bible doesn't fit with traditional church doctrine because traditional church doctrine does not come from the Bible, or from God, or from Christ, or from the original first-century true Church. You can prove that yourself if you are willing to examine these matters with an open mind and believe what God says in the Bible.

I explain why the keeping of traditional religious days like Christmas and Easter is wrong in my website. Here is a link:

http://www.ptgbook.org/chapter2.htm#a11

Here is a link to a section that explains the New Testament meaning of the annual Holy Days of God:

http://www.ptgbook.org/chapter2.htm#a03

Here is a link to chapter three which shows proof in the Bible that the seventh-day Sabbath and the annual holy days and festivals given by God in the Old Testament should kept by the Church today:

http://www.ptgbook.org/chapter3.htm

Why Science Cannot Prove Evolution, EVEN IF EVOLUTION WERE TRUE!

Sunday, March 21, 2010 7:04:37 AM

Science can never prove that evolution happened, even if evolution did happen.

I am not saying that evolution happened. I am certain that it did not. But even if it did, science cannot prove it no matter how much evidence science accumulates.

Why?

The scientific method, which the tradition and culture of science requires scientists to follow in their work as scientists, does not ALLOW science to prove that evolution happened.

In order to rationally prove any matter of controversy or any question upon which people might disagree, you have to look at both sides without bias. That is basic. That is how it is in a court of law when someone is accused of a crime. The judge and jury hear both sides. You cannot prove something by only looking at one side.

The two sides in the evolution vs. creation controversy are, obviously, evolution and creation. To prove one or the other, you have to look at both propositions without bias. You have to consider the arguments and plausibility of both viewpoints, without prejudice.

Science cannot do that. The scientific method forbids it.

The scientific method, as it is practiced, does not allow the consideration of supernatural causes. Therefore scientists, in their work as scientists, are forced to restrict their explanations for evidence, whether it be fossil evidence, DNA evidence, or any other kind of physical evidence, to physical causes only. They are not allowed to consider supernatural causes, creation by God, or even intelligent design. Science is the study of the natural world, of physical processes. It does not consider the possibility of supernatural causes. It does not consider the possibility of God's creation or intervention in the universe.

This means that science is not equipped and is not willing to consider the possibility of creation by God even long enough to rule it out according to the evidence.

Let me put it another way. There may be two explanations for certain evidence, and to determine which one is the true one, you have to determine which of the two are consistent with the known evidence. Suppose the issue is, what caused the dinosaurs to become extinct. One scientist may look at the evidence and say, "volcano." Another scientist may look at the evidence and say, "astroid." Who is right? How do you find out? You can tell by seeing which explanation is consistent with all the known evidence. If neither is consistent with the evidence, then both explanations are wrong, and if both are consistent with the evidence, then you still do not know which one is right. But if one is consistent with the evidence and the other is not, the one that is consistent with the evidence is the one that is most likely right. Scientists have no trouble using this process to eliminate wrong explanations and to find right ones when it comes to controversies between two or more possible physical causes.

But when one of the two explanations is that God did this thing or that thing, the process breaks down. Science refuses to consider the possibility that God intervened to create the universe, or life, or the design of the species. Explanations involving God's creative work might be more consistent with the evidence than evolution, but science refuses to consider them.

This is the bias of science and of evolutionists that does not allow science to rationally prove whether evolution occurred or not. It is a bias evolutionists have adopted in support of their anti-religious faith, a faith that there is no God. Evolution is a faith in the sense that it is a chosen belief system not based on physical evidence.

And as I point out in my article, The Creation of Species, it is a faith evolutionists try to impose on public school children enrolled in tax-supported schools.

Evolutionists like to say that evolution is a "fact," but they have no right to say that if they cannot prove it, and they cannot prove it.

Evolution is not a fact. It is a faith. It is atheist's explanation for the existence of species that is consistent with the atheist's faith that there is no God.

And I believe that in most cases the reason atheists have adopted that faith is that they feel uncomfortable with the idea that there is a God who has the authority to tell them how to live their lives and will judge them for their behavior.

The proof of God's existence is overwhelming, as I point out in my website, The True Gospel and the Ezekiel Warning.

I don't have to be a mind reader to know...

Monday, March 15, 2010 7:28:17 PM

I once posted in an Opera forum a statement to the effect that millions of church members who trust their church to interpret the Bible for them and believe that the Bible says whatever their church says that it says do not have a trust-based or faith-based relationship with God. Their faith and trust is in man, not God.

I was challenged in that statement by someone who asked me how I could know what transpires in the heart of another person.

My answer is this.

When God says something plainly in the Bible, and a church member does not believe it even when it is shown to him, I do not have to be a mind reader to know that he does not believe what God says. If he does not believe God, he does not have a faith-based relationship with God. It is that simple.

Abraham is a model of faith, and he showed his faith by believing what God told him (Galatians 3:6-9, James 2:23, Genesis 15:4-6, Isaiah 51:1-2).

How do I know if a man disbelieves God? By the things that he says. If God says one thing, and the man openly disagrees with what God says, I do not have to read that person's mind to know that he disagrees with God. He just told me.

There may be some subjects in the Bible that are not clear, but there are also some subjects that are very clear when you get all the scriptures relating to that subject and let the clear scriptures interpret the difficult ones. The Bible shows clearly that God commands that we rest on the seventh-day Sabbath, and that command is still in force today. The Bible shows clearly that we should not use images of Christ or God as an aid in worshipping God. The Bible shows clearly that the church can make mistakes and be wrong in doctrine. The Bible is God speaking. You either believe Him or not.

Of course some church members may not have read the scriptures on these subjects. If their faith is in God, when they read the Bible, they will believe what God says. This is a process that can take time, so I am not saying that every individual who is a member of a church that has wrong practices and doctrines does not have faith in God. But when that person comes face-to-face with plain Bible teaching on a multitude of subjects, yet chooses to believe his church rather than God, that choice is evidence that he either never had faith in God or he has chosen to fall away from his faith in God. His faith is in the traditions of his church. He imagines that God and his church are in agreement. But he doesn't know the true God.

God's Secret Plan

Sunday, February 28, 2010 7:39:29 AM

There is a mystery about life that few people understand, among the religious and non-religious alike.

Atheists believe there is no God. Religious church-goers believe God is trying to save this world now. But atheists cannot explain the design of the universe without a Designer, and they cannot explain the human mind and human consciousness without a Creator. And traditional Protestant church members cannot explain how a just and merciful God can condemn billions of human beings to suffer forever in hellfire because of circumstances of birth beyond their control - circumstances that did not allow them to know Jesus Christ and have their sins forgiven in this life. Catholic and Orthodox church members cannot explain the glaring differences between the teachings of their churches and the teaching of the Bible. And no mainstream Christian church can explain why an all-good and all-powerful God allows so much evil in this world and why so few in this life are able to become true Christians. If there is a contest between good and evil, between God and Satan for the souls of men, in this life it appears that Satan is winning.

But there is no such contest. God certainly exists and is all-good and all-powerful. God has total power over Satan. Nothing happens in this life that God does not allow for His purpose. Yet there are great evils in this world, including the evil that so few have the opportunity to be converted to true Christianity and obtain forgiveness of sins.

What is the answer?

God intends to give mankind eternal life in His kingdom, where everyone can work together forever in managing and developing this vast universe in an atmosphere of teamwork and family love, experiencing the joy of creative accomplishment forever. But there is a way of life that produces happiness and there is a way that produces misery, and God gives every person free moral agency to choose which way to live. Those who choose the way of love, of truth, of outgoing concern for others, of loving, believing, and obeying God, will be given eternal life as God's sons and daughters in the kingdom of God and will receive power beyond our imagination. Those who chose Satan's way of enmity towards God, disbelief and disobedience towards God, and hostile competition towards neighbor, will be destroyed forever in a lake of fire, burned up, put out of their misery for eternity, and for all eternity will never be allowed make themselves and others miserable with their evil ways. They will cease to exist forever.

God is accomplishing this plan in stages.

At this present time, God is allowing Satan to teach and rule mankind in His evil ways, and God is allowing the majority of mankind to follow Satan's way of life. God is allowing mankind to write a lesson in human suffering and death that Satan's way of life is not the way to happiness. It is like an experiment God is performing for the benefit of mankind. God knows the outcome, but mankind does not. It is a demonstration of the results of Satan's ways.

But when Christ returns, almost certainly in the lifetimes of most people reading this, Satan will be banished and Christ will rule the earth, teaching and ruling mankind in God's way of life, teaching all people to believe and obey God's laws. The result will be peace and happiness all over the earth. The human race will be able to compare the history of mankind during the time when man followed Satan's way of life with the history of mankind when man obeyed God, and man will be able to learn the lesson that God's way is best. Nevertheless, every individual will still have free moral agency, and those who reject God's way will not receive eternal life.

What is the role of God's Church today in this age of Satan's rule?

God allows Satan to deceive nearly all of mankind into following his wrong ways. And most religion on this earth is false religion. Satan uses many lies and false systems of belief to confuse and deceive mankind.

But God selects a few whom He calls and works with, and God opens the minds of those few to His truth (John 6:44). He helps them understand the Bible. God's Church in the Bible is described as a "little flock" (Luke 12:32, Matthew 7:13-14), not a large, mainstream church. Those who accept God's calling are to be converted and live a lifetime of learning and practicing God's way of life. Those who do so and remain faithful to the end will be in the first resurrection when Christ returns and will be granted eternal life and will rule the earth with Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13, 1 Corinthians 15:50, Revelation 20:4-6).

What about the rest of mankind? What about the billions who have lived and died without ever having the opportunity to know Christ and have their sins forgiven?

They will be judged for what they do in this life when they come up in a general resurrection of the dead after the thousand year millenial rule of Christ (Revelation 20:11). But they will have an opportunity at that time to learn about Christ and have their sins forgiven and receive God's Holy Spirit. They can be converted and enter into God's kingdom, IF they repent (Ezekiel 37:1-14). But they will have an advantage in that they can compare the history of mankind under Satan's rule with the history of mankind under Christ's rule, and it will be easy for most to see that God's way of life is best. They will be encouraged to make the right choice.

How is one to learn and practice the truth in this age?

You must learn to believe and obey what God says in the Bible. You can prove that the Bible is God's inspired Word by fulfilled prophecy, as I have proved it. Once you prove that, you can make a choice whether to believe God or to believe the traditions of mankind (Matthew 15:1-9). If you choose to believe what God Himself says in the Bible more than the traditions of your church, the traditions you were raised in, the teachings of your minister, and your own opinions, God will surely test you. He may reveal surprising truth to you from the Bible, one doctrine at a time. Every time you believe and strive to obey what God says, He will open your understanding to learn a little more (Psalm 111:10). But if you turn away from believing God and choose the traditions of men, the understanding stops. God will allow you to be deceived by Satan and you won't even know it. And God will hold you responsible for your rejection of Him.

This is how God is working with mankind and with Christians. God has a Church, but it is not a large, mainstream church. God is not working through mainstream Christianity. The majority of mankind, both religious and non-religious, is deceived by Satan. God is not trying to save the world now, but is allowing mankind to learn the results of Satan's wrong way of life. God will offer all of mankind salvation at a later time, including those who have died. But right now, in this age, God is only working with a few.

Some large denominations say that only their church can interpret the Bible correctly. That is false reasoning. There are parts of the Bible that are clear when you get all the scriptures on a subject together, and you can let clear scriptures interpret difficult ones. The Bible is full of examples where inspired men of God have made mistakes, and no church is infallible in its teachings and traditions. Even churches that are part of God's true church in Revelation chaptes 2 and 3 have taught false doctrine. There is also an inconsistancy for a church to say that the Bible cannot be understood without interpretation if it expects its own teachings to be understood by its members without interpretation. A Catholic might ask me, "how do you know your interpretation of the Bible is correct?" I might reply, "how do you know that your interpretation of the Catholic Church's teaching is correct?" The answer in both cases is that some things do not need interpretation, and that is as true of the Bible as any other book. But the "interpretation" question is often just an excuse for disbelieving what God says.

Are there many interpretations of the Bible? Yes, but that is because so few people are willing to believe what God says. The majority of religious people mentally twist scriptures to fit what they already believe or what they want to believe. But there are not many interpretations for the few who are willing to believe and accept at face value what the Bible says, letting clear scriptures explain the difficult ones.

It is important to God that His children not only obey Him, but also BELIEVE Him (Romans 4:3, James 2:23, Genesis 15:2-6, Genesis 15:1-2). Believing God is an important element of faith, and faith is one of the weightier matters of the law (Matthew 23:23) and a requirement for salvation (2 Corinthians 1:24, Ephesians 2:8). It is a serious and dangerous sin to disbelieve what God says in the Bible (Romans 11:19-22, Hebrews 3:7-12, 18-19, 4:1-3).

Some people trust their church more than God's word because they have a history of their church that they can trace to ancient times. They feel that an unbroken chain of descent from the first century to the present time guarentees that their church is the true church. But there was a falling away from the truth that began even in the first century (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, 3 John 9-10). Even a church that can trace its descent to the first century can be a false church. The majority of mankind is deceived by Satan, even in matters of religion (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). The true Church of God has always been small compared with the other churches (Luke 12:32, Matthew 7:13-14), and historical records of its existence are scant.

What's ahead for the immediate future?

God is working a plan to teach mankind lessons, and part of that lesson is the suffering that results from Satan's way. Another lesson is that God punishes for sin, and the sins of our western nations in particular and the whole world have been increasing as this age of Satan's rule nears its end. God is going to punish our nations and the whole world for our sins, and the lessons will be painful. But the lessons we will learn will be for our long term good. God also gives warnings in the Bible, and those who are willing to heed the warnings, turn from their sins, and believe and obey God have a chance to be spared the suffering that is coming (Matthew 24:21, Luke 21:34-36, Ezekiel 3:16-21, Ezekiel 33:1-20).

All this is what the Bible teaches, and I can show how you can prove that God exists and that the Bible is inspired by God. I can also show you from the Bible what God's plan of salvation is. My website at http://www.ptgbook.org/truegospelandezekielwarning.htm gives all the proofs and supporting scriptures from the Bible for what I have written in this brief summary.

Why I Left the Catholic Church

Friday, February 19, 2010 7:31:10 PM

About forty years ago, when I was about 19 years old, I was challenged to prove my religious beliefs. I was raised Catholic, and up till then I had accepted Catholic doctrine, but now I began to study the Bible to see if what I was taught was consistant with what the Bible said. I was taught by the Catholic Church that the Bible was indeed inspired by God, but that only the Catholic Church could interpret it. At this point in my life, I wanted to know if this was true, if the Catholic Church really believed and followed the Bible, or if the teaching that only the Catholic Church could interpret the Bible was an excuse for not believing and not following it.

I found the answer in the Ten Commandments, and the answer was so plain, it needed no interpretation.

Some Christians do not know this, but Catholics number the Ten Commandments differently than most Protestants in the United States. Catholics will tell you that "You shall not commit adultery" is the sixth commandment while most Protestants will tell you that it is the seventh commandment. This may seem trivial, but the reason for the difference and the cause of the difference are far from trivial.

The Ten Commandments are listed in the Bible in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. Some commandments are short and some are long. Although there are slight differences in the wording, the commandments are the same and they are listed in the same order in both places. But in neither list are they numbered, "one," "two," "three," etc. So it is not possible to tell from numbering where one commandment ends and the next one begins. You have to tell from the logic of the way they are worded. In most cases, there is agreement.

If they are not numbered, how can we know if there are ten? Could there be nine, or eleven?

Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:13 specifically say that there are ten commandments.

The difference in numbering between Protestants and Catholics starts with the first commandment and ends with the last.

In Exodus 20, verses 2 and 3 say, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me." Verses 4 through 6 say, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Catholics count all of verses 2 through 6 as one commandment against worshipping false gods. Most Protestants count verses 2 through 3 as the first commandment against worshipping false gods but verses 4 through 6 as a separate commandment against using images in worship. So Catholics count verses 2 through 6 as the first commandment while Protestants count verses 2 through 3 as the first commandment and 4 through 6 as the second commandment. So by the time you get to the commandment not to take God's name in vain (verse 7), the numbering is one different. Protestants count the commandment against taking God's name in vain as the third commandment, the Sabbath as the fourth commandment, etc. while Catholics count the commandment against taking God's name in vain as the second commandment, the Sabbath as the third commandment, etc.

Yet both Catholics and Protestants agree that there are ten commandments.

How is this possible? How can they be one off in their numbering of the commandments, with Protestants counting two commandments in Exodus 20:2-6 while Catholics count one, and yet both end up with ten commandments?

The answer is at the end of the Ten Commandments. Catholics count verse 17 as two commandments, the ninth commandment being "you shall not covet your neighbor's wife" and the tenth commandment being "you shall not covet your neighbor's goods," while Protestants count verse 17 as one commandment against coveting, the tenth commandment. That is how both groups end up with ten even though they number the commandments differently.

That is also why Catholics use images in worship, such as images of Jesus Christ, while most Protestants do not. Because Catholics believe that Exodus 20:4-6 is part of the first commandment against worshipping false gods, they believe the prohibition against using images only applies to images of false gods, not the true God. Those who believe verses 4 through 6 are a separate commandment generally believe that the prohibition against images includes even images of the true God.

Who is right? That is, what does the actual wording of the Ten Commandments in the Bible show?

You can compare Exodus 20 with Deuteronomy 5, and in Deuteronomy 5:21 the prohibition against coveting names "wife" before other property such as "house," "field," "male servant," etc. So conceivably, one could logically say that Deuteronomy 5:21 could be two commandments with one being a command against coveting your neighbor's wife and the other against coveting your neighbor's goods. The commandment against coveting your neighbor's wife would then be the ninth commandment and the commandment against coveting your neighbor's property would be the tenth commandment.

But you cannot do that with Exodus 20:17: "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s." Notice that "wife" is listed AFTER "house" but before "male servant." There is no way you can separate this verse into two commandments, the ninth commandment against coveting "your neighbor's wife" and the tenth commandment against coveting "your neighbor's goods" because "wife" is listed in the middle of "goods." Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21 must be ONE commandment against coveting.

This is confirmed by Paul who wrote about the command against coveting as one commandment that can be summarized as "You shall not covet" - see Romans 7:7 and Romans 13:9.

And this means that Exodus 20:2-3 and Exodus 20:4-6 are TWO commandments, not one. They are not both talking about worshipping false gods. Only the first commandment, Exodus 20:2-3, is a commandment against worshipping false gods. The second commandment, Exodus 20:4-6 is a commandment against using images to worship even the true God.

There are other scriptures that show that it is wrong to use images in the worship of God, and I cover this subject in my website The True Gospel and the Ezekiel Warning. Here is a link to the section that covers that subject in detail: Using Images in Worship.

When I researched this, I learned that it would be wrong to use images of Jesus Christ as an aid to worship as I had been taught to do by the Catholic Church, and I did not do so after I learned this. But I learned soemthing more important than even this. I learned that I could not put my trust in that church, or any other church for that matter, to "interpret" the Bible for me.

It is not possible to logically interpret Exodus 20:17 as two commandments, yet that is exactly what the Catholic Church does.

As I studied the Bible, I found many other discrepancies between the teaching of the Bible and Catholic doctrine. I also found that the Bible interprets itself for those who are willing to trust and believe what God says. I learned to let clear scriptures interpret unclear ones. I also learned an important principle, that God helps us to understand the Bible as we choose to believe what God says. I cover this lesson in my blog post dated June 11, 2009, entitled Whose Interpretation of the Bible?

God tests our faith in Him just as He tested Abraham (Romans 4:3, James 2:21-23, Genesis 15:2-6, Romans 4:16-22, Genesis 22:1-18). When we study the Bible, we may find something that seems different from what we were taught by our church growing up. We have to make a choice. Do we believe God or do we believe our traditions? Who do we trust more, God or our ministers? If we believe our traditions, we become like the Pharisees who chose their traditions over the word of God (Matthew 15:1-9), and like them, we become blinded to the truth (Matthew 15:12-14). We have made our choice. From that point on, we will interpret everything we read in the Bible according to our traditions, our opinions, or the teachings of our ministers, even if it means twisting the scriptures, and we will probably not even realize what we are doing. But if we choose to believe God, then we pass a test, and when God sees we are willing to believe Him, He will open our minds to understand more of the Bible, one point at a time (1 Corinthians 2:10-16, John 14:26). Then, each time God tests us with a point of doctrine, if we believe what God says in the Bible, God will help us understand more, one point at a time.

But if at some point we stop believing God, the understanding stops also, and we can even lose the knowledge we have and become blinded by Satan with the rest of the world (2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Romans 11:19-22, Hebrews 3:7-19, Hebrews 6:4-8).

It is a serious thing to choose to believe man more than God.

What is a Christian?

Friday, February 19, 2010 7:00:23 PM

A Christian is one who has the gift of God's Holy Spirit dwelling in him or her. "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). To have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us means we are converted. If we have God's Spirit dwelling in us, the Holy Spirit will help us to understand spiritual knowledge (1 Corinthians 2:10-12), empower us (2 Timothy 1:6-7), and remind us of God's teachings and the words of Jesus Christ (John 14:26). If we live a life of overcoming (Revelation 3:12, Revelation 21:7) and endure to the end (Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:13, Mark 13:13), at the time of the return of Christ we will be resurrected to immortality if we are dead or changed if we are alive, and we will fully have eternal life with Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). We will be raised to immortality by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us (Romans 8:11).

The Holy Spirit is invisible, and although the fruits of the Holy Spirit can be visible over time, only God can judge with certainty if a person is truly converted. We may have opinions about whether this person or that person has the Spirit of God dwelling in him or her, but God KNOWS to whom He has given His Spirit. It is God alone who knows definitely who a true Christian is.

In another sense, a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. This is often how the term "Christian" is used by both those who claim to be Christians and by non-Christians. Those who claim allegience to the teachings of Jesus Christ are considered by society to be "Christians." That is the meaning of the word in the context of most conversation about religion that people have.

So if we claim to be Christians, we better strive to believe and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

What did Jesus Christ teach?

Jesus taught that we should live by every word of the Bible, and that includes the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. "But He answered and said, 'It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God' " (Matthew 4:4). "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Jesus taught that not one jot or tittle will pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-20). Jesus taught that scripture cannot be broken (John 10:34-36). Jesus also taught that one should not place religious traditions above the word of God (Matthew 15:3-9).

Scripture is called the word of God (John 10:34-36, Matthew 4:4) and it is evident that the scriptures are the word of God because they are inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16). Yet Jesus Christ is also called the Word of God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1, 14). "He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God" (Revelation 19:13). So both the Bible and Jesus Christ are called the Word of God. In a sense, as one writer put it, the Bible is the Word of God in print and Jesus Christ is the Word of God in person, the same Word.

If we are to live up to our claim to be "Christian," we must be followers of the Bible above tradition, above churches, above the ministry, and above our opinions. If we place the traditions of our church over the teachings of the Bible, we are not truly following Jesus Christ as we claim we are when we call ourselves "Christian." If that is the case, then the words of Christ apply, "But why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).

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