St. John the Evangelist
I have had many brethren contacting me on this issue and am offering some various but excellent teachings on these emotional and hot button life topic. Ever wonder why God hates divorce? Look at the culture in our world and all of our families at this time in history….
Bob Enyart’s sermon
Mark Bullen’s sermon
What the Bible Really Teaches About, Divorce and Remarriage
google book by Mark Bullen
Divorce and Remarriage – Mark Bullen
I have been praying about a new ministry I believe the Lord is leading me to… the issue of how to share with our loved ones; family, friends, and acquaintances during the season of a death in the family. I have heard many testimonies from the saints of God concerning how horrible most lost loved ones treat us because of our faith in our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ. It is in this spirit that I believe the Lord has led me, and the saints have encouraged me. to consider a new ministry for His glory. The ministry of preaching a Gospel message to your lost family members during your funeral or another saint of God within your family or circle of friends. Many times unfortunately a family will make a decision to ‘hire’ someone from a local church or appoint someone who will speak smooth things at a funeral which just comfort the lost about themselves and their spiritual condition never warning anyone to flee the wrath to come.
I see this ministry operating in this manner:
1. You will need to contact me with your personal information, some background, the point of contact who had agreed and that will notify me of your death and request for my services at your funeral.
2. Having a power point presentation with your final witness to them, announcements, brochures, etc prepared ahead of time would be very helpful.
3. Unlike my final preach at my grandmother’s funeral, I will be wearing a formal suit.
4. I will not compromise the Gospel in any way. I will ask the listeners if they knew the deceased as a religious man or woman. I will make the points that there is only one true religion following Christ and abiding in Him. I will then make a comparison between the forgiven saint of God and the sinner who is still in rebellion to God. I will ask the listeners to compare themselves to the doctrines that Jesus taught.
5. I would like to do training on one2one witnessing with any godly family members or friends before the funeral. It would be ideal to have a reception after the funeral to give time for condolences, encouragements, and exhortations unto life in Christ.
6. I am willing to make the commitment to come to any funeral in the lower 48 states bearing half the expense of the travel and lodging. I am willing to come to any funeral in KY, TN, OH, VA, and NC at my own expense. Of course, if you are led to donate funds for part or all of the entire trip that would be helpful. But, I don’t want anyone to have the impression that I am doing this for money at all. Any trips to AK, HI or overseas must be fully funded by the family making the request.
7. If you would like my uncompromising services at your funeral or that of a loved one, please email me at jmcglone@globalmissionforchildren.org or call 270-378-4825 Thank you! I would also encourage any of the Holy Ghost filled saints to offer this ministry as well. You are welcome to use my ideas to get started. If you have some unique things you think would be edifying please let me know your thoughts. May God bless you!
Ps 116:15
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Over a year ago, I began to pray fervently in earnest about two big issues in my life. One was the Holy Spirit’s conviction that I needed to do more to support native missionaries, widows, and orphans overseas where they are in desperate poverty. I had a vision eight years ago that the Lord wanted me to care for widows and orphans but putting them together in a type of symbiotic relationship. We would have Christian widows care for the children. The children would give them beautiful purposes fulfilling God’s will for them. The widows would oversee and teach the children fulfilling their God ordained role as teachers and of being keepers at home. Sadly, the American system of foster care is sorely lacking with many motivated by the greed, instead of being motivated by love for the children. So, I have been constrained in seeing this direction coming to fruition. We considered overseas adoption, but again many times the system is corrupted by greed and is very costly per child. The Lord had put upon my heart to see this vision fulfilled overseas where the children were born and should be raised in their native culture and language. I was raised for about five years in a Christian children’s home in the ’60’s. They taught us God’s Word and raised us in a pretty good environment.
Secondly, I needed employment which would provide provision for my family as our bills have swollen to the point of financially breaking even month to month with our income vs. expenditures, though we live very frugally. Here are some additional parameters which I was bringing before the Lord concerning my job: 1. I prayed the job I would do would have such an abundance that I could give very generously in regards to the first prayer of overseas missions. 2. I was earnestly seeking good work that would not bring a shame upon the Gospel. 3. I would not have to support or work in an ungodly environment. 4. I could even share my faith as the Lord directed. 5. Flexibility of my schedule that I could take a day or two off a week to preach, and if I was desired to preach week long events like Mardi Gras I would be able to do that as well.
As I began to seek the Lord about the first prayer searching the internet I found a great ministry to support native missionaries, widows, and orphans.
I was very encouraged by the site and decided I should email the founder before proceeding with support. When I emailed him I asked are the people involved with their ministry believing or being taught the true Gospel? My poignant question struck a chord in his heart so much that he sought to find out what I meant by my question. He began to check into our ministries and he came under great conviction by the Holy Spirit in watching the doctrinal and open air preaching videos. Praise God, Jimmy humbled himself and began to believe in what God teaches concerning actual holiness, obedience to the Gospel, preaching, etc. Our correspondence and contact over the last year led to a very good online relationship. He was seeking the Lord about open air preaching and was ministering good doctrine online. In November, he asked if I could help a godly family move down to FL to join him in fellowship. The Lord immediately confirmed I should go with my son and help them with the transition down. We had a whirlwind five days together, preaching, praying, praising, seeing a young man named Joshua surrender to Christ, baptism and other great times together. It was during this short visit that I thought to ask Jimmy what he did for a living as I really didn’t know or understand how he provided for himself. I knew that he once had great riches of this world that he almost completely destroyed himself with before he was born again six years ago. Well, he explained that he had run an independent telecom consulting business and at the height of his greatest production he had 28 agents and was making six figures as the owner of that company.
Seems impressive, eh? Except the fact that he was destroying himself blowing $60K worth of cocaine up his nose, alcohol, and other physical and spiritual abuses that he was heaping upon himself. That all came crashing down six years ago when a humble Brazilian Pastor and his wife began to clean his home. He was struck by the peace, satisfaction, and joy they had though they were cleaning his toilets. He had everything this world has to offer in material goods, yet no satisfaction. Finally, he began to seek the Pastor, who ministered the truths of the Bible to him and over the course of time, he surrendered to Jesus. This video is some of his testimony with what the Lord has put upon Jimmy’s heart about his old business being renewed to life for Jesus’ purposes and glory!
Back to his explanation to me of what he was doing for a living before becoming a Christian. He told me that it was a very simple process of having agents that worked for his company go out and get telecom bills from small, medium, or large companies, and then send them to him to be analyzed. Then within three to four days he would send back a proposal, the agent would get the signature from the company for a 10-35% savings on a three year contract. This would lead to a residual income of 8% for the agent for the life of the contract. At first, I didn’t get the whole residual thing. But, in a nutshell it is work done one time which continues to pay benefits. Good examples of this are: an oil rig, writing a book or a song, or a patent on an idea or invention. Wow! I immediately thought this would be an answer for my prayers about the type of work that would meet all the parameters of my year long prayer requests! Hallelujah! Then I thought this would work great for any preacher who can follow the simple processes and begin to access residual income vs. linear income(usual 9-5 job). Then as I explained all this to Jimmy, he realized the importance of bringing his old company back to new life for redeemed purposes! That is where we are now in the process of bringing everything back to life for his old company. However, this time it would not be for destruction of the devil, but for construction for Jesus’ glory and Kingdom to come! I have seen the historical records of the company’s previous years income. He is still reaping residuals that are comfortably providing for himself over six years later, though he really has not worked during that time. Now, he and I want to see this company brought back to life for redeemed purposes. To serve our customers in a godly way, to serve the saints in training them how to earn a positive passive income, and provide greatly for those in desperate need overseas. These are our primary missions at Global Mission Telecom to be a driving resource engine for the pure, perfect, and undefiled religion that James spoke of in his epistle.
How can you help? Please pray for us that we walk all of this out according to God’s will. Help us by donating to Global Mission for Children 100% of all donations go straight to the mission field. All of our staff with Global Mission for Children are volunteers and receive no wages or benefits. As partners in the Global Mission Telecom business, Jimmy and I have committed that 50% of all of our gross profits will go directly to the GMFC ministry. We are asking a third party business accountant to oversee our books. Our records will be transparent that our financial claims will be shown to be trustworthy. Overseas, we are setting a standard for our mission stations to preach and teach all of God’s Word purely to the least of these. We have a vision that as we endeavor to do that, God will use the native missionaries, widows, and orphans to raise up an army. These that are least esteemed will go forth in power of the Holy Spirit to preach and teach the next generation in their country. They will count the cost and go forward into the battle for the souls of their countrymen. Though they have been rejected by the world, they are esteemed of God. Seek the Lord to see if this opportunity might be right for you! We are not asking you to quit your jobs. In fact, we recommend that you do this part time in the beginning. As the residual incomes begin to accumulate and you gain confidence, you will be motivated to make this your full time work. Then as your portfolio builds you will be able to take more time off for preaching and ministering to your family at home. This is not a multilevel marketing or some scheme to make money off of you. We are a registered Limited Liability Corporation LLC in the state of FL, having done business since 1992. Jimmy has decades of experience with this company to train us to overcome any obstacles or fears we may face. Whatever you decide to join us or not, please follow the Lord’s leading. We want God’s authority lifted up in all these matters. Would you please share this article across the social medias? It might just be an answer to prayers for another brother or sister, you never know. We hope this testimony encourages the dear saints of the Lord, to keep praying and seeking to do His will in every area of your life. May the Lord bless you as you seek to glorify His Son Jesus Christ, who is worthy!
Many Christians think they can bring their faith into their business to the point of refusing to serve certain groups of people they disagree with morally. There have been a flurry of lawsuits against; bakers, photographers, bed ‘n breakfasts, wedding consultants by homosexuals pleading their case they are being discriminated against. In a sense, I agree with the homosexuals that they are being discriminated against. But, many questions are begged by these scenarios: 1. “Do we have to actually participate in ceremonies, or rituals that violate our conscience as Christians? 2. “Do Christians that serve the public in general with a money making business, expect all the public to be holy as they are holy?” If not, why do they only choose to not serve the homosexual couple who is getting married? 3. What about the heterosexual couple who has been fornicating and decides it’s time to marry because they are pregnant? Do the bakery owners say, wait a minute, I can’t in good conscience serve you because you are pregnant out of wedlock, we don’t serve fornicators. 4. Are the business owners that agree with the homosexual lifestyle or actually homosexuals just as willing to serve customers who are not in agreement? 5. When did judging or discriminating against immoral practices become a crime in America? 6. Are there any limits to discrimination against discrimination? 7. Who has the moral high ground to make determinations what is right or wrong?
In this article, I would like to look at some differing perspectives and ask ourselves would we actually expect them morally or logically to ‘serve’ the customer.
The first example I’d like to give is a Gentile who desires to have smoked pulled pork served at his wedding gathering of 500 family and friends. He goes to the local Jewish Kosher meat market and attempts to place his order. The owner of the business looks at him in horror and exclaims, “Sir, we are a kosher market. Our religion forbids us to even touch swine, much less cook it and serve it to you.” The enraged customer curses the shop owner, finds a lawyer, and begins the effort to bring that business to it’s financial ruin because of it’s refusal to serve swine at his very important event. The Jewish religion for thousands of years has taught against the handling of pork, bat, ostrich, and other forms of meat which they will not even touch. How can they be forced to process something that so intrinsically goes against their faith?
The next scenario is a professing Christian woman who goes into an Islamic burka market. She would like a nice pink polka dotted bikini for her trip to Panama City Beach for spring break. When she gets into the store she notices that there are very few colors of anything and there are just no bikinis stocked anywhere. All she sees are rows and rows of very neatly ironed burkas in three differing colors. She seeks help from the woman at the counter as to why the store doesn’t stock two piece bikinis. The burka clad woman isn’t able to express her facial expression of disgust to the bikini seeker. Her religion requires her to cover even her face as an expression of her modesty toward Allah, all the adherents of her religion, and an example even to the infidel. The lady at the counter begins to explain, “We don’t sell bikinis here as we believe them to be immodest and not what god(allah) wants us to do. “Really!!! You have got to be kidding me!”, retorts the infuriated woman. She is red faced, embarrassed, and in her heart is desiring to seek vengeance against the shop owner. As the professor of Christ runs out of the store she begins to formulate her strategy. “I will get a good ‘Christian’ lawyer. We will sue the burkas off the business owners who are so judgmental and discriminatory against me!” In a country that professes to have freedom of religion, why is the Muslim woman possibly forced to stock and sell something to a customer who they are not even in the market for.
In another setting, we have an American patriot who owns a gun store where he legally trades in guns and ammunition even carrying assault rifles which can be modified to make them fully automatic which is perfectly legal under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. He has grown up in his community all of his life and is an upstanding lawful citizen of that community. Recently a group of anarchists have moved into the county doing weapons training openly and recruiting people to their cause. They approach him to sell them weapons which he understands would lead them to greater fire power. This according to their own literature will lead to the eventual overthrow of the government. Of course, he refuses to sell them the weapons and he is quickly served a subpoena to appear in civil court on charges of judging and discriminating against the group being a hateful gun shop owner who will not distribute weapons to a professed group of anti government rebels. The judge carefully considers the matter and rules in the anarchist’s favor ignoring all the warnings of the preponderance of the evidence in support of the gun shop owner.
Lastly, in the not too distant future there was a strong Christian family of nine who loved the Lord Jesus Christ and sought to serve Him in every way. The lived their lives in peace with all men as much as possible with them. They paid their taxes and obeyed all the laws of the land. They home schooled their families primarily because the Holy Bible teaches that the parents are responsible to train up the children in the way they should go. They also understood the propensity in the public school environment of all the violence, poor instructional standards, bullying, drugs, and teen sexual pressures from which they were interested in protecting their children. In the course of time, a known pedophile moves into the area. He approaches the family to provide tutelage and child care services to the couple. The mother and father are immediately alarmed by the known history of the sexual predator and politely refuse his ‘service’ citing his criminal history. He is quickly offended saying he has been reformed by the penal system which he was just released from. “Why won’t you give me a chance with your children!”, he screams running out of their home. He threatens to sue the family for personal damages discriminating and judging him which is causing him harm, preventing current and future employment.
Are businesses that serve the general public required to give services to anyone no matter what their behaviors or lifestyles? What would you do in these scenarios? These are moral dilemma’s for the business owners and parents that they should not be forced to submit their businesses or families to choose between. The problem of course is the root of it all which is sin. The homosexuals as a group decry intolerance and yet are very intolerant of true Christian worldviews which expose their sexual immorality as sin. Thus, they intolerantly pursue legal claims in order to force the owners of the businesses to do their will when they very well could go to dozens or scores of other businesses which even desire to serve that group of clientele. We as Christians must let the world know regularly that the God of the Bible condemns all sins including this most flagrant one of homosexuality.
I want to for a moment be an advocate for the homosexual views in this matter. If you desire to make a standard of not serving people because they are in homosexuality, then you must recognize that most everyone coming into your shop is in some kind of sin. To be consistent we would have to refuse service to most people. First question when a customer enters the door, “Good morning, are you in any kind of sin? We don’t serve sinners here.” In fact, most ‘Christians’ I speak with will say illogical things like, “We are all sinners, we sin everyday.” If that is the case then we couldn’t serve most ‘believers’ in America today. If we want to be consistent with the ‘Serve No Sinner’ business policy we must turn away most of our customers. I think many well meaning Christian business owners make this poorly judged mistake of discriminating against one particular group of homosexual sinners because we know it is a very serious sin.
I would like to offer what is a consistent Christians strategy to help these business owners and all true Christians who are obviously being targeted by the homosexual agenda. My suggestions are to serve the homosexuals in regards to cakes, photography, bed & breakfast, wedding planning, etc. But, at every opportunity share your faith with them, call them to repentance of their wickedness including homosexuality, faith in Christ, and be born again of the Holy Spirit. Leave Gospel tracts everywhere you go when you are serving them. Here are some of my favorites. Good Gospel Tracts Ensure that every opportunity is given as a chance to glorify Jesus.
Instead of saying,” I am sorry I can’t serve you because you are homosexual.” Say, “I am willing to serve you but to be fair to you I am a very out of the closet Christian, who shares my faith calling people to repent from sin and trust Jesus. Do you know that homosexuals as well as all other sinners will end up in a lake of fire and torment as Jesus Christ taught? Do you know that God is an equal opportunity condemner and an equal opportunity forgiver?” Make sure you record any and all interactions at least with audio that no false accusations may be made against you. If you actually make it to the ‘gay-la’ event it would be a great opportunity to open air preach to the whole lot of the homosexual supporters to include the happy couple. I know this sounds pretty radical, but to be salt and light in this wicked generation it will take some seriously radical saints of the Most High God. I doubt that your services would be desired even after the first communication/correspondence. But, even if you had to go all the way through the process, you are blameless as you have done it to glorify Jesus. I know that if Christians would just stand up for the truth of Jesus Christ and actually speak those truths, the Lord will protect and bless you. However, even if your bold faith costs you everything in this life to include your business, your customers, your friends, your family, and dare I say it, even your life, isn’t He worthy of it? The world and the devils want you to compromise your faith even to the point that you even deny Jesus Christ, Himself. Who will you serve, God or money? Would you sacrifice your business, your customers, your friends, your family, and even your life on the altar of the Father’s business? Will you seek and save that which is lost by telling them to turn from their sin and surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?
Christian man denied service by a series of pro homosexual bakeries who will not bake a pro traditional marriage cake. CAUTION: Explicit language due to hard condition of the sinner’s hearts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJaroR_qTNs
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLWvoaHMMRY]
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THE ROOT OF OSASI have learned over my twenty years of walking with the Lord that the doctrine of
Once Saved Always Saved, also known as OSAS is perhaps one of the spiritually deadliest teaching of devils in Christendom.
When I have ministered on the streets to the drunkards, drug addicts, lazy, lying, stealing, pimping, murdering sinners many of them have grown up in ‘churches’ which have taught them this onerous teaching of Once Saved, Always Saved. These sinners will say things like: a. I accepted Jesus when I was ten and I can’t do anything to lose my salvation. b. You’re a legalist because God doesn’t require us to do anything. c. I know God saved me, stop judging. When asked if Jesus came to set the captives free from sin, without exception they will then plead to, “Everyone sins, even you!” When asked if sin is a choice, they will proclaim, “We’re born this way, God knows that and forgives us anyway.” They make all manner of excuses trying to justify themselves. However, they can not answer this passage with any cogent response.
2 Pet 2:20-22
For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit, and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.
When a OSAS believer is challenged to consider other former believers they may have known in their lives. They will respond, “They were never saved in the first place.” I will ask them how that makes any sense even though they personally knew the person experienced forgiveness, experienced a new birth, and experienced good fruits meet for repentance. They will continue to insist they were never ‘saved’ in the first place. We knew of a good Holy Spirit filled open air preacher in Richmond, VA around 2006 who began to doubt his faith. Instead of exhorting him to return to the faith, his Calvinist buddies began to tell him, You must have had a false conversion. He eventually became a very aggressive atheist for the devils work. He even has a YT webpage promoting his anti Christ thinking. Why have we shot our spiritual foot off with false doctrines? What a shame that any believer would cause a man to stumble from faith and into the pit of eternal darkness! I wonder what these verses mean in this situation I have described?
James 5:19-20
Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Now, I don’t think we are ‘saved’ the way the OSAS believer thinks. I believe the Bible teaches us to seek a new birth. John 3:3-5 We must humble ourselves with broken hearts about our sin and what the Father and Son had to do to accomplish reconciliation with rebellious mankind and not compromise His Holiness. Ps 34:18 , 2 Cor 7:10 Our new life begins when we completely and unconditionally surrender to our Great God and King Jesus Christ. We are pardoned criminals that are here on earth in a period of probation. However, if we continue to seek sin, the world, and the devil’s work we will: 1. Grieve the Holy Spirit away 2. Increasingly harden our hearts as we continue to seek darkness instead of holiness 3. Many even test God so far that He will decide to reprobate us and turn us over to our vile desires that we could never be saved even though we have not physically died yet.
Here are some great videos on the probation of the believer:
Imagine a criminal going to a court before a good judge and being found guilty of assault against a defenseless 93 year old lady. The criminal puts forth a heartfelt apology to her and through tears begs the judge to give him mercy though he deserves none. The judge decides to offer that mercy and puts him on probation for five years with the condition of the original charges being added back to any future crimes. Well, sure enough the forgiven criminal did not take the judge seriously and within a few months was dragged back into court in chains before the same good judge. This time he had mugged an 86 year old man, broken his jaw, and put him into the ICU at the local hospital clinging to life. Do you think the judge was pleased to hear of the criminal’s activity? He was more furious than before that his mercy had been offered and the fool had trampled all over the former ruling. Well, all the former charges and judgments were now brought forth and adjudicated with the new charges. Plus an even stricter ruling was given than the first because the judge was tried by the criminal and found to be good to his word. Do you think God is good to what He has promised and threatened toward His sinning creatures? Do you think that God magically forgets what has gone on before you were forgiven the first time? No dear reader, God has not forgotten. He had remitted the past sin when you were born again and now you need to walk as an obedient servant instead of a rebellious criminal. Rom 3:25-27
I will often hear those holding to OSAS promote this analogy of what father rejects their children for mistakes they make.These folks make some serious category errors: 1. Our earthly fathers are nothing like our heavenly Father. Heb 12:9 2.We are not sons of God but children of the devil if we sin. 1 John 3:8-9 3. We are breaking our relationship with our heavenly Father. 4. Sin is not a mistake but a criminal activity 1 John 3:4
In conclusion, we should connect some dots so to speak from the preceding paragraphs. Firstly, ‘believers’ should never resist correction offered from God’s Word if we are found in contradiction to it. Secondly, The OSAS fruit of, “Never genuinely saved” causes doubts for both the former believers and current believers. Couldn’t people be grafted in again as God’s Word says in Rom 11:19-24? Couldn’t they return to the Lord as He admonishes in the Holy Scripture?
1 Pet 2:24-25
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
This deadly spiritual mistake is to presume that someone was not born again if they fell away from the faith. This would cause what I have coined the ‘Perpetual Insecurity’ of the believer. If you think carefully about it that is exactly what the OSAS doctrine does in a person’s heart. The former believer can not imagine returning if all of that former experience was not real. Because they have been taught they had a false conversion this only cements their spiritual condition against God. The current believer wonders if they are truly saved because they have internalized this false doctrine, secretly wondering if they are actually in the faith themselves. To compound the problem they must come up with more doctrines like sinful saint, imputed righteousness, etc. to assist understanding of the root of the false doctrine which is OSAS. For a good teaching on this CLICK HERE. These doctrines only try to hold together the fur ball that is being theologically choked upon. Why not just confess your sin IF you sin and be forgiven? Why not just seek the Lord, resist the temptations and devils and obey God in the first place? 1 Cor 10:13 Wouldn’t that be the faithful thing to do? Should we be found faithful or faithless before His Holy Throne?
Thirdly, our Great God and King is an impartial judge. He will not overlook your sin because you have washed it away with theological gymnastics. He commands all to be born again of the Holy Spirit, all to walk according to His Holy Spirit, all to abide in Him and produce good fruit, all to endure to the end. These commands make no sense in light of the ideology of Once Saved, Always Saved. Why walk, abide or endure to the end as He both commands and desires? Has God no power in your life to change the way you act, think, talk and walk?
Saints of God, let us be very careful how we deal with each other in this most Holy faith in which we partake. Glory to Jesus!
Heb 12:12-17
Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
Here is a spiritual tsunami which testifies against OSAS. Please read these verses carefully in context, thank you!
1 Samuel 10:6, 9-10; 1 Samuel 11:6; 1 Samuel 13:13-14; 1 Samuel 15:10-11, 23; 1 Samuel 31:4; 2 Chronicles 15:2; Proverbs 2:13; Isaiah 1:4; Ezekiel 3:20-21; Ezekiel 18:18-31; Ezekiel 33:12-20; Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 10 (Judas):20; Matthew 18:32-35; Matthew 24:13; Matthew 24:48-51; Matthew 25:1-13; Matthew 25:24-30; Mark 4:16-19; Mark 13:13; Luke 13:23-27; John 6:66; John 8:31; John 15:1-6; John 17:12; Acts 1:24-25; Acts 11:23; Acts 13:43; Acts 14:22; Romans 11:15-24; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 9:27; 1 Corinthians 10:5-13; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Galatians 5:4-9; Galatians 6:7-9; Philippians 1:9,10; Philippians 2:12-13; Philippians 4:1; Colossians 1:21-23; 1 Thessalonians 3:5,8; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 1:5,6; 1 Timothy 1:18-20; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 Timothy 4:16; 1 Timothy 5:11-12, 15; Timothy 1: 14-15; 2 Timothy 2:3-5, 12, 17-18; 2 Timothy 4:9-10; Hebrews 2:1, 3; Hebrews 3:6, 8-15, 18-19; Hebrews 4:1, 11, 14; Hebrews 6:1, 8, 11-12, 15; Hebrews 10:23, 26-31, 35-39; Hebrews 12:14-15, 25; James 1:13-15; James 5:19-20; 2 Peter 1:9; 2 Peter 2:20-22; 2 Peter 3:17; 1 John 3:15, Jude 20-21; Revelation 2:4-7, 10-11, 17, 25-26; Revelation 3:2-5, 10-12, 16, 19, 21; Revelation 16:15;
Judgment on Individuals
John 3:18 — unbelievers are already condemned
Acts 5:1-11 — judgment on Ananias and Sapphira…
Acts 12:23 — God’s angel smites Herod with a disease for not giving God the glory
Acts 13:10-12 — Paul strikes Elymas Bar Jesus blind for resisting the Gospel
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 — judgment on those who drink the Lord’s table unworthily
2 Thessalonians 1:5-6 — God’s “righteous judgment” on those who persecute believers
Hebrews 10:27-29 — judgment, and fiery indignation of God promised against willful sin
God’s Wrath being shown in this age
Luke 21:23 — God’s wrath to be poured out on Jerusalem in 70 AD
John 3:36 — the wrath of God is presently upon unbelievers
Romans 1:20 — the wrath of God is presently being revealed against ungodliness
Romans 13:4 — governments are God’s minister to execute wrath on evildooers
Ephesians 5:6 — God’s wrath executed upon the disobedient
Colossians 3:6 — God’s wrath executed on the disobedient
1 Thessalonians 2:16 — God’s wrath has come upon those who hinder the Gospel
The question has often been asked about our methods of biblical evangelism when we rebuke and reprove hard sinners is, “Shouldn’t we be gentle in our dealings with the lost? The question begged then becomes, “How can we be gentle and rebuke as the Scriptures obviously require us to do?” The truth is knowable if we seek it. Someone is wrong in this moral dilemma of gentleness and hardness of communication with the sinner.
2 Tim 4:2-5
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
2 Tim 2:24-26
And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
This question arises within the same letter from Paul to Timothy.
Here is the answer in simplest terms. In regards to rebuking and gentleness of our Christian witness, it is a both/and not an either or depending on the condition of the soil of the heart of the listener/s.
James 4:5-7
5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Prov 3:33-35
The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked,
But He blesses the home of the just.
Surely He scorns the scornful,
But gives grace to the humble.
35 The wise shall inherit glory,
But shame shall be the legacy of fools
1 Pet 5:4-6
4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
So, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us gives the law/rebukes/warnings of hell/etc to the proud sinners, but His grace is given to those who humble themselves during or after our witness of Christ to them. If you read the writeup for my Grandmother’s funeral preach video you would find out a lot of information about how long I have been witnessing to this group of people called my earthly family. One2one, small groups, tracts, emails, etc I have been witnessing to my family over sixteen years, My first witness to them was Aug 3, 1996 when I was born again I called everyone in my family and asked them if they knew of or had been saved by Jesus Christ.
Now I want to parallel my experiences of my witness to my family to the witnesses we give to strangers to see if there is any correlation between the two. In trying to reach my family most of them were haughty and resistant from the beginning of my testimonies to them. Only my ‘saved’ sister and my maternal grandmother were interested at all in the things I desired to say of Jesus and His great salvation offered to the world. So, over the years as I learned that when speaking of the love of Jesus demonstrated at the cross for them, they neglected and even mocked it. To this, I would tell them they were headed to hell. This of course, is very offensive to the carnal person still living in sin. I learned about ten years ago that I needed to show them the law which is written upon the conscience and that it would bear witness as I did. Well, glory hallelujah this did make some inroads with some of my family but most still hardened their hearts. But, the law is not all we need to use as our witness. We need to use: 1. Creation which points to a Creator 2. The Judgments of God which points out the horrors of dying in a sinful state. 3. Sin which everyone is guilty of to point to the need for forgiveness. 4. His Righteousness which means He won’t neglect what He has threatened and or promised against and for all of humanity. 5. His love which was demonstrated on the cross in suffering and dying for all sinners and sin. 6. His Word which is an eternal testimony of Himself to a lost and dying world. 7. His Spirit which indwells every believer as we walk according to His directions in our communications with the lost.
If you think about it, our earthly family are just family members that are closer than the rest of our family which is the human race. Why do we make special provision, excuses, or justifications for those that we know better or have more worldly experiences with, than the rest of our family? I prove that point with one Scripture which I love to cite especially when people are racist in their thinking.
Acts 17:26-31
And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
In summary, we should not treat our close family members differently than the rest of our human family in our testimony of Jesus. We should be consistent across the board not being preferential in the way we witness to them. If we are, we need to repent of this arbitrary thinking and behavior. One danger we have is to lose sight of the fact that Jesus will condemn them no matter what we say or do, if they do not repent, seek forgiveness, and become born again of the Holy Spirit. Let us comfort no sinner in sin, whether they be a stranger on the street, or the closest brother, cousin, mother or father we have many fond carnal memories with….
1 Pet 1:13-19
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
We should consider both God’s goodness and severity as well!
Rom 11:22-23
Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
Friends, let us make sure we represent Him properly to a lost world which is in rebellion to Him and His Holy authority. I had a friend of mine recently say,
A sinner asked, “Why should we fear God?” I said, “Because He is HORRIFYINGLY HOLY! He burns people! Alive! Forever!” ”
When we preach in the open air, original sin, sinful nature, and once saved always saved doctrines consistently permeate the crowd no matter where we go or to whom we preach. Sinners seek to justify themselves and others with these false doctrines in the light of holiness preaching. I came across this blogpost of a man who was a Christian born again from the age of 18. He was well studied earning several theological degrees. But, alas he did not persevere to the end, even denying His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Pet 2:1
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
http://formerfundy.blogspot.com/2010/03/original-sin-and-infant-salvation.html
He writes, “One of the difficulties within evangelical theology relates to what happens to infants when they die. Because evangelicals believe in original sin, they believe that infants are born corrupt and sinful.”
Not all evangelicals believe in original sin. Though we do know that most hold to this hideous doctrine. We don’t believe that God makes baby sinners but that they are made in His image.
1 Cor 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.
We also believe that God makes them perfect and they have not done good or evil.
Ps 139:13-15 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Babies are wonderfully made? If original sin is true, then God would be the very cause of all the lying, murders, rapes, etc in this world. Where is the sin that God puts in, or allows from Adam’s blood to corrupt the child in utero?
Rom 9:11 “for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil,…”
As Christians we must be willing to examine every doctrine or tradition we have been taught in ‘Christendom’ in light of the Holy Spirit teaching us all things from the Holy Bible.
A few rhetorical questions for the reader to ponder:
1. How could a Holy God make everyone sinners without making Himself unholy?
2. How does it make sense that God would create humans in a sinful state which He must eternally destroy on Judgment day?
3. If God stated that He tempts no man, how could he make us sinners from birth without putting a stumbling block before humanity?
4. Wouldn’t Satan desire to propagate such a doctrine that pleases mankind to justify himself in his sin and falsely accuses God throughout this age?
5. Why would Jesus tell people to, “Go and sin no more…” If He created the problem of sin in the first place?
6. Is God double minded that He in His sovereignty creates a problem He must cure with the blood of Jesus?
7. Was Jesus born a sinner? Was He not born in the flesh as we are, yet without sin? If Jesus was not born a sinner, does the Romish doctrine of immaculate conception apply here?
8. If babies are born sinners and the child dies before being born again of the Holy Spirit, do they go to eternal fire?
9. Didn’t Jesus teach that we should become like ‘children’ to enter the Kingdom of God? Why promote that idea if children are just sinners that He made to destroy?
The history of this false doctrine is clear. ‘Saint’ Augustine of Hippo, formally a Manichean gnostic originated this devilish doctrine and Calvin perfected it many centuries later. I think vast multitudes of true believers have fallen for this deception which falsely accuses God and excuses sinners.
YHWH Only Defined and Refuted originally researched in January, 2010
Our family has been interacting and dealing with a large family of YHWH only believers whom have become our dear friends yet are trying to proselytize our children by their children to this false system of belief. I felt compelled to go back to my research on this issue and develop a teaching on their beliefs, exposing the errors and giving our children some tools to deal with them properly.
There are many ‘sacred names’ sects of professing ‘Christianity’. Some of them are; Jesus Only, YHWH Only, Yeshua Only, Yehoshua Only, and (Y)Jehovah Only. I am sure there is probably more but those are the main groups I am aware of.
The Sacred Name Movement (SNM) is a movement in Christianity that seeks to conform Christianity to its Hebrew Roots in practice, belief and worship. The best known distinction of the SNM is its belief in the use of a singular proper name for the God of Israel (YHVH/Yahweh) based upon the Tetragrammaton and the use of the Hebrew name they believe is the true Hebrew name of Jesus (Yahshua). Our friends believe the Messiah’s Name is YHWH pronounced, Yahwah.
Mainstream Christians and Hebrew scholars agree that Jesus’ real name was actually Yeshua. SNM believers also generally keep many of the Old Testament laws and ceremonies such as the Torah festivals and keeping kosher food laws. However, not every ‘Sacred Name’ Group adheres to Old Testament festivals, dietary laws and other commands in totality.
C.O. Dodd is one of the founders of this movement in the late 1920’s breaking off of the SDA church. He began publishing The Faith magazine starting in 1937 to promote his views. The Movement started with the formation of the Assembly of Yahweh in Holt, Michigan, USA in the early 1930s. The leaders of this group claim that a founding member was visited by two angels who explained that The Messiah’s Name is properly Yahshua. Of course there have been a number of splits resulting in differences in doctrine and practice.
A.B. Traina was another major proponent of SNM who worked with Dodd and published many booklets and wrote articles for The Faith magazine. He was prolific in writing the misinformation that Iesous or Jesus in the Greek translates as Hail Zeus. In looking at his writings he even used Ante Nicean writings distorted to support his claims about the SNM.
The term “sacred name” is not exclusive to this movement but is a general theological term in Christianity – a translation of the Latin nomen sacrum – which Jerry our friends teacher ironically called nomina sacra, this is the plural form of the singular aforementioned. This is ironic because Jerry’s view is a singular name but uses the plural form of this concept as part of his ‘doctrine’.
Some definitions to help clarify the issue.
Vowel points – It is widely recognized by Bible scholars that vowel points were not used in the ancient Hebrew. That leaves the consonants of YHWH alone which then makes the personal Name of God unspeakable in any tongue. This was the tradition of the Hebrews who revered God’s Name so much they chose not to speak it thinking they may be using it in a blasphemous way. Where did vowel points come from then? The Jews themselves applied vowel points to make words like Adonai, etc. Translators through the centuries have applied a myriad of principles to numerous and complicated to describe here to apply different vowel points which have lead to different renderings of Names of God in the Bible. .
The ‘name’ – Gr. word onomo translated into English means ‘name’: universally of proper names the name is used for everything which the name covers, everything the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by mentioning, hearing, remembering, the name, i.e. for one’s rank, authority, interests, pleasure, command, excellences, deeds etc. persons reckoned up by name the cause or reason named.
Sacred name believers hold that verses like Matt 28:19, require you to hold to a singular, sacred name, ie YHWH, Jehovah, Yehoshua to be a true believer.
For example:
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the [YHWH] Father and of the [YHWH] Son and of the [YHWH] Holy Spirit,
Bracketed [YHWH] are obvious insertions and are for illustration only. If you were previously baptized the way Jesus instructed in this verse then according to their view you must be baptized again with the sacred name to be truly saved.
Another verse they like to use a lot Acts 4:12. Unfortunately, they ignore vs 13 which gives the context of this verse.
Acts 4:12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
So by their teachings they will insert, YHWH, Jehovah, etc ONLY concept into the text thus nullifying what God has communicated.
The conclusion of the matter rests with the proper definition of the word, onomo. We can easily see that it also means, ‘authority’ and in that context it would make sense for Jesus to instruct us to be baptized in the authority of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We would not need a personal pronoun here considering the other definitions of the word, ‘name’. Likewise, it would also make sense that there is no other authority by which we could be saved other than God himself. More on this name issue later in the teaching.
Faith or Doubt?
In the instance of the YHWH only believers we have dealt with, we find they have little understanding of hermeneutics or even the proper definitions of words from the Bible. They are not putting faith in God’s Word, but calling it corrupted causing doubt and distrust. When I first began to interact with these friends about this issue they pointed out the history of Constantine corrupting the church and the Bible. I do agree with them to a point on this issue about the visible church. But, scripture can be shown to be reliable over and again when compared to earlier manuscript copies. Also, much of the corruption the emperor brought in led to the establishment of the Roman Catholic church and authorities to rule over the people vice serving the people as our Master has commanded. They tell us that the New Testament is corrupt wherever it speaks of Jesus, Lord, or God. They contend the name YHWH should be there instead. They will not agree that the Living God of the Bible could deliver His Word intact to today that we may understand what we should believe.
Some concepts we must trust by faith and prove with evidence:
a. God has delivered His Word intact and understandable in most every language in the world.
b. The Holy Spirit teaches us all things.
c. The visible church is on a wide road to hell. This corruption and hypocrisy leads many people away from the truth of the Bible.
d. The Name of the Messiah is delivered into many hundreds of languages and God is able to communicate who that Person was and is.
Lastly, we should not trust the teachings of men that cause us to doubt or negate God’s Word. We should rightly divide the Word of God that we may be led by the Holy Spirit into all truth.
2 Tim 2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth
Some points to counter the YHWH only insertion wherever it appears in the Bible.
A. The Pharisee’s who accused Jesus would have never used the personal pronoun of YHWH while he was being plotted against or interrogated prior to his crucifixion. Matt 26:3-5 Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.
Matt 26:62-63 And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
B. The three major languages of Jesus’ time was Aramaic, Latin, and Greek . It was not ancient Hebrew as they have supposed. Probably most people read the Septuagint as scripture vs. ancient Hebrew. This would make Jesus’ scriptural references accurate vs. the slight differences we see in the ancient Hebrew.
What’s in a Name?
When I first learned of our friend’s view of scripture and the Name of Jesus, I was a bit daunted by the task ahead of me. It has forced me to study carefully as I wanted to ensure that we spoke to them from an informed knowledge of their system. Also, I wanted to ensure that we are not in error about these things either. One of the first things they quoted to me was this particular Encyclopedia article that follows.
“… according to the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, the name Ieusus (Jesus) is a combination of 2 mythical deities, IEU and SUS (ZEUS, a Greek god).” – (www.wwyd.org).
I went to the link they recommended and I tracked this down to an obvious skeptic of Christianity who wrote a book called, “Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend” by J.C.J. Metford. It is no surprise to me that those who do such unscholarly work would quote a secular biased book as a source document for their views. Incredibly, the original quotation does not even line up with the final source reference which claims that Iesous means, ‘worship Zeus’.
The`correct name” idea is refuted by the fact that three languages were
being used in Israel at the time of Christ. A form of Hebrew (Aramaic),
Greek and Latin were all being used. It was not usual for someone to
translate something into all these languages including names. For instance,
the inscription on the cross of Christ read in all three languages.
Therefore this inscription many of the Jews read, for the place where Jesus
was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and in
Greek. John 19:20
Here is the proper definition: Ἰησοῦς Iesous G2424
Jesus = “Jehovah is salvation”
1) Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind, God incarnate
2) Jesus Barabbas was the captive robber whom the Jews begged Pilate to release instead of Christ
3) Joshua was the famous captain of the Israelites, Moses’ successor (Ac. 7:45, Heb. 4:8)
4) Jesus, son of Eliezer, one of the ancestors of Christ (Lu. 3:29)
5) Jesus, surnamed Justus, a Jewish Christian, an associate with Paul in the preaching of the gospel (Col. 4:11)
Χριστός pronounced Kristos
G5547 Christ = “anointed”
1) the Messiah, the Son of God
2) anointed
I researched this idea of mythical deities names being Jesus Christ and found the website,www.askdrbrown.org which is filled with great articles on Semitic languages. Dr. Brown is a Phd in Semitic languages which includes Hebrew and Aramaic, a Jew by birth, and a follower of the Messiah. He is a worldwide recognized authority on this subject. The following is a partial excerpt from Dr. Brown’s response to the aforesaid Britannica article.
The response to this statement (which has as much support as the latest Elvis sightings) is quite simple: We know where the name Iesous came from: the Jewish Septuagint! In other words, this was not some later, pagan corruption of the Savior’s name; rather, it was the natural Greek way of rendering the Hebrew/Aramaic name Yeshua at least two centuries before His birth, and it is the form of the name found in more than 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. This is saying something! The name Iesous is also found in Greek writings outside the New Testament and dating to that same general time frame.
Although it is claimed that the Encyclopedia Britannica says that “the name Ieusus (Jesus) is a combination of 2 mythical deities, IEU and SUS (ZEUS, a Greek god)” it actually says no such thing. This is a complete fabrication, intentional or not. In short, as one Jewish believer once stated, “Jesus is as much related to Zeus as Moses is to mice.”
Unfortunately, some popular teachers continue to espouse the Jesus-Zeus connection, and many believers follow the pseudo- scholarship in these fringe, “new revelation” teachings. Not only are these teachings and practices filled with error, but they do not profit in the least. So, to every English-speaking believer I say: Do not be ashamed to use the name JESUS! That is the proper way to say his name in English—just as Michael is the correct English way to say the Hebrew name mi-kha-el and Moses is the correct English way to say the Hebrew name mo-sheh. Pray in Jesus’ name, worship in Jesus’ name, and witness in Jesus’ name. And for those who want to relate to our Messiah’s Jewishness, then refer to him by His original name Yeshua—not Yahshua and not Yahushua—remembering that the power of the name is not in its pronunciation but in the person to whom it refers, our Lord and Redeemer and King.
SOURCE- askdrbrown.org/ask-dr-brown/35-ask-dr-brown/79-what-is-the-original– hebrew-name-for-jesus-and-is-it-true-that-the-name-jesus-greek-isssous-is- really-a-pagan-corruption-of-the-name-zeus
There must be some understanding of transliteration and translation as the Bible has been translated into thousands of languages but must on occasion where there are words that do not exist from one language to the other a transliteration must be made of that word. In that case, letter by letter the corresponding word is formed into the new language making a new word in that language that did not exist before.
One example I will use is the Yehovah – Jehovah problem which sacred name believers use to point out the ‘errors’ of the Bible. In Latin Yehovah is translated as Jehovah but they will use that and say, ‘Look there was no ‘J’s in the Hebrew language so Jehovah and Jesus could not be true.’ The problem with that is of course there are J’s authorized for use in Latin and English.
Conflicts in the arguments
From the YHWH point of view the Messianic prophecies in Isaiah 7:14 and Matt 1:22-24 must be corrupted. We can see that this brings conflicts between the scriptures which must be explained away by this system of unbelief. The book of Isaiah was written approx 700 B.C. This is an awesome fulfillment of God’s Word from the OT to the NT providing evidence of our faith to believers and skeptics alike.
Is 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. [meaning God with us]
Matt 1:22-24
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
These prophecies fulfilled reveal the errors of sacred name theology.
Is 9:6
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In this passage we see a multitude of names listed and the passage actually calls it, ‘His name’. Notice that His name WILL BE…that is future tense, which they refuse to acknowledge. The defenders of this doctrine will say those are just titles, but why doesn’t the Bible say, ‘And His titles will be called…’
They will often use this passage as the bulwark for their belief, inserting YHWH into this verse.
Is 42:8
I [am] the LORD, that [is] My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
LXX Is 42:8 ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεός τοῦτό μού ἐστιν τὸ ὄνομα τὴν δόξαν μου ἑτέρῳ οὐ δώσω οὐδὲ τὰς ἀρετάς μου τοῖς γλυπτοῖς
In this passage, we see in the Hebrew transliterated Yehovah which we see has great similarity to YHWH. Sacred name proponents will insert YHWH into this text. But you can see by the Greek Septuagint written 250 B.C. the word is κύριος, which means Lord. How could the Septuagint have a name in the text 250 BC when the corruption did not happen until 325 AD according to the SNM view? That is an incredible 575 years of difference.
Exodus 3:13-15
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
In this passage God is calling Himself in the Hebrew:
H1961 hayah hayah הָיָה This is a personal pronoun defined as, always existing being.
This word also matches the definition of Jehovah or Yehovah as always existent One. So there is no problem with either the words or the definitions. This describes God perfectly and is how we should think upon Him, the great eternal existing One. Logically, we can see that though they are different languages or translations they have the same meaning, thus the same name. How can any finite creature of God name the one who is eternal? Essentially, most of these ‘names’ given in the Bible are descriptions of God. When He is named it is by His hand within the Bible not ours.
Rev 19:12-13
His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
Here we see that God has an unknown Name and another name called the Word of God. Which in the G3004 λόγος and is defined as Logos :
denoting the essential Word of God, Jesus Christ, the personal wisdom and power in union with God, his minister in creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the world’s life both physical and ethical, which for the procurement of man’s salvation put on human nature in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the second person in the Godhead, and shone forth conspicuously from His words and deeds.
We see this personal pronoun for Jesus again in John 1:1. Just these two verses should be enough to convince anyone that YHWH only is inconsistent with the Bible. The answer they will always give when faced with such evidence from the Bible is these verses were corrupted by Constantine. We have already proven is a false presumption. This of course refers to this system of doubt of God’s Word instead of faith or trust in the same.
Rev 19:16
And He has on [His] robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Here the word King is Baseloose G935 βασιλεύς and means prince, leader of the people, commander, lord of the land.
The word LORD G2962 all caps is Koorios κύριος and means
1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
a) the possessor and disposer of a thing
1) the owner; one who has control of the person, the master
2) in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor
b) is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master
c) this title is given to: God, the Messiah
It is important to realize that to properly understand God’s Word we must harmonize or understand how all the verses fit together and make sense. If our understanding contradicts the simple reading of scripture, we don’t abandon scripture, but our idea. So, the obvious deduction here must be that God has used many names throughout the history and languages of mankind. After all, God created language and He confused languages at the tower of Babel. He also gives us the intelligence to translate/transliterate between languages that we may have understanding in communication. The teaching of a particular ancient Hebrew ‘sacred’ name as the only way to pronounce and believe upon His name is false as we have shown and contradicts the Bible in many places. This causes a stumbling block for both believers and unbelievers alike. Lastly, I would say that it is not a problem if a believer desires to use the Name of YHWH. It becomes problematic and unbiblical when someone says that this is the only authorized name for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Historical Evidence, Secular and Extra-Biblical Christian
Introduction – In order to defuse the presupposition that their teacher Jerry was making about the corruption of the Bible by Constantine in 325 A.D., I thought it a good idea to bring in both secular and early believer history and writings to bear upon his assertions that YHWH only was historical and Constantine was responsible for making all of these supposed changes to the Bible. There has been so much writing about Jesus Christ of Nazareth since the beginning of His appearance that it leaves no doubt that SNM teaching is false.
Secular Evidences
A1. CORNELIUS TACITUS (55 – 120 A.D.) Tacitus was a 1st and 2nd century Roman historian who lived through the reigns of over half a dozen Roman emperors. Considered one of the greatest historians of ancient Rome, Tacitus verifies the Biblical account of Jesus’ execution at the hands of Pontius Pilate who governed Judea from 26-36 A.D. during the reign of Tiberius.
“Christus, the founder of the [Christian] name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius. But the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time, broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, by through the city of Rome also.” Annals XV, 44
A2. GAIUS SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS (69 – 130 A.D.) Suetonius was a prominent Roman historian who recorded the lives of the Roman Caesars and the historical events surrounding their reigns. He served as a court official under Hadrian and as an annalist for the Imperial House. Suetonius records the expulsion of the Christian Jews from Rome (mentioned in Acts 18:2) and confirms the Christian faith being founded by Christ.
“As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, [Claudius]expelled them from Rome.” Life of Claudius 25.4
A3. PLINY THE YOUNGER (63 – 113 A.D) Pliny the Younger admits to torturing and executing Christians who refused to deny Christ. Those who denied the charges were spared and ordered to exalt the Roman gods and curse the name of Christ. Pliny addresses his concerns to Emperor Trajan that too many citizens were being killed for their refusal to deny their faith.
“I asked them directly if they were Christians…those who persisted, I ordered away… Those who denied they were or ever had been Christians…worshiped both your image and the images of the gods and cursed Christ. They used to gather on a stated day before dawn and sing to Christ as if he were a god… All the more I believed it necessary to find out what was the truth from two servant maids, which were called deaconesses, by means of torture. Nothing more did I find than a disgusting, fanatical superstition. Therefore I stopped the examination, and hastened to consult you…on account of the number of people endangered. For many of all ages, all classes, and both sexes already are brought into danger…” Pliny’s letter to Emperor Trajan
Extra Biblical Evidence, Christian
B1. CLEMENT OF ROME (? – 98? A.D.) Clement was a bishop of Rome. He was eventually martyred in approximately 98 A.D. Some speculate Paul was referring to Clement in Philippians 4:3 but this cannot be proven. Clement was a first century apostolic author, which gives credence to his first-hand account of early Christianity. In the passage below, Clement confirms the ministry of the disciples and some of the basic tenets of early Christianity.
“The Apostles received the Gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was sent forth from God. So then Christ is from God, and the Apostles are from Christ. Both therefore came of the will of God in the appointed order. Having therefore received a charge, and being fully assured through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and confirmed in the word of God will full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they went forth with the glad tidingsthat the kingdom of God should come. So preaching everywhere in country and town, they appointed their first fruits, when they had proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons unto them that should believe.”
B2. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (? – ~100 A.D) Ignatius was a Bishop of Antioch reported to have been appointed to his position by Peter of whom he was a disciple. He is also believed to be a disciple of Paul and John. Ignatius was arrested by the Romans and executed as a martyr in the arena. Even though his testimony would ultimately lead to his death, Ignatius was adamant about the things he witnessed. He reinforces early Christian beliefs in the letters he penned while in prison. Even when execution was imminent, Ignatius refused to recant his faith.
“Jesus Christ who was of the race of David, who was the Son of Mary, who was truly born and ate and drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died in the sight of those in heaven and on earth and those under the earth. Who moreover was truly raised from the dead, His father having raised Him, who in the like fashion will so raise us also who believe in Him.” Trallians
“He is truly of the race of David according to the flesh but Son of God by the Divine will and powered, truly born of a virgin and baptized by John that all righteousness might be fulfilled by Him, truly nailed up in the flesh for our sakes under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch… That He might set up an ensign unto all ages through His resurrection.” Smyrneans, 1
“Be ye fully persuaded concerning the birth and the passion and the resurrection, which took place in the time of the governorship of Pontius Pilate. For these things were truly and certainly done by Jesus Christ our hope.” Magnesians XI
B3. QUADRATUS OF ATHENS (126 A.D.) Quadratus was an Athenian bishop and direct disciple of the Apostles. He is generally regarded as the first Christian apologist because of his defense given to Emperor Hadrian in 126 A.D. Quadratus points out the fact that a few who were healed and resurrected by Jesus lived until modern times.
“The deeds of our Savior were always before you, for they were true miracles. Those that were healed, those that were raised from the dead, who were seen, not only when healed and when raised, but were always present. They remained living a long time, not only while our Lord was on earth, but likewise when he had left the earth. So that some of them have also lived to our own times.” Eusebius IV III, 2
B4. ARISTIDES THE ATHENIAN (126 A.D.) Aristides, along with Quadratus mentioned above, presented an apology to Emperor Hadrian during his stay in Athens in 126 A.D. Aristides describes the treatment of Jesus by His own people, the Jews, and contrasts their beliefs with those of the Christians.
“When the Son of God was pleased to come upon the earth, they received him with wanton violence and betrayed him into the hands of Pilate the Roman governor. Paying no respect to his good deeds and the countless miracles he performed among them, they demanded a sentence of death by the cross… Now the Christians trace their origin from the Lord Jesus Christ… The Son of the Most High God who came down from heaven, being born of a pure [Hebrew] virgin, for the salvation of men… And he was crucified, being pierced with nails by the Jews. And after three days He came to life again and ascended into heaven. His twelve apostles, after his ascension into heaven, went forth into the provinces of the whole world proclaiming the true doctrine… They who still observe the righteousness enjoined by their preaching are called Christians.” Apology XIV-XV
B5. JUSTIN MARTYR (~100 – 165 A.D.) Justin Martyr, possibly the most well-known early Christian apologist, was an educated pagan philosopher who converted to Christianity around 130 A.D. Though he risked losing his wealth, status, and life, Justin fearlessly spread Christianity throughout Asia Minor and Rome. Refusing to recant his testimony, he was led to his death via scourging and beheading in 165 A.D. Being a thoroughly educated man, Justin weighed the evidence carefully before accepting his new faith and explains to the reader he made his decision only after careful consideration and research.
“There is a village in Judea, thirty-five stadia from Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ was born, as you can see from the tax registers under Cyrenius, your first procurator in Judea… He was born of a virgin as a man, and was named Jesus, and was crucified, and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven… After He was crucified, all His acquaintances denied Him. But once He had risen from the dead and appeared to them and explained the prophecies which foretold all these things and ascended into heaven, the apostles believed. They received the power given to them by Jesus and went into the world preaching the Gospel.”First Apology, 34, 46, 50
“At the time of His birth, Magi from Arabia came and worshipped Him, coming first to Herod, who was then sovereign in your land… When they crucified Him, driving in the nails, they pierced His hands and feet. Those who crucified Him parted His garments among themselves, each casting lots… But you did not repent after you learned that He rose from the dead. Instead, you sent men into to the world to proclaim that a godless heresy had sprung from Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, whom was crucified and that His disciples stole His body from the tomb in order to deceive men by claiming He had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven.” Dialogue with Trypho, 77 97, 107-8
Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, continue to heal, rendering helpless and driving the demons out of men, though they could not be cured by any other exorcists or those who used incantations and drugs.” Second Apology VI
Oneness Pentacostalism is a common denominator of the SNM though the names have changed to confuse the innocent.
Another good resource on this issue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2cOjz648FZ0
Sacred Name Movement refuted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PSjQWSJ_28&feature=share
