In the Septuagint there are no less than sixteen Hebrew words used for the Greek meno. The
principal ones are: (1) yasab, meaning to live in, to dwell, to sit down; (2) amad, meaning to stand; (3)
qum, meaning to rise; and (4) lin, meaning to lodge, tarry, dwell, spend the night. A few Septuagint
examples will suffice: "let the maiden remain with us" (Genesis 24:55); "behold, the plague remains
[stands or is checked] before him" (Leviticus 13:5); "but the counsel of the Lord remains [stands or
rises up] forever" (Proverbs 19:21). Other Old Testament usages are "to stand fast in battle" or "to
abide by a conviction."
In the New Testament the verb is used both transitively and intransitively. The transitive usage means
to await, be in store for, withstand or endure (cf. Jeremiah 10:10; Malachi 3:2; Acts 20:23; Hebrews
13:14). The intransitive sense is to continue in a place or state in which one now is, to reside, to last,
especially in the face of trial (cf. Luke 8:27; Acts 27:31; John 15:5; 1 Corinthuians 3:14). The word is
used in composition with at least nine prepositions in the New Testament.
In the First Epistle of John the author speaks of this vital union with Christ by the words "in Him
remaining" (2:5). This expression is similar to Paul's thought en Christo einai. By the end of the first
century, with the second coming so long delayed, this vital relationship of "abiding in Christ" needed to
be interpreted in terms of long duration rather than tarrying for a short time. So today, this abiding is the
pulse beat of the believer." Robert Unmack, Professor of New Testament, Central Baptist Theological
Seminary, Kansas City, Kansas.
Non-Statutory Habeas Corpus
presented by John Joseph
(Footnotes are located at the end of this article)
Below is a sample non-statutory habeas corpus solely for the use of Christ's church. Alter as needed to
suit the particular parties, Brothers held in restraint of their Liberty in Christ, dates, times, etc. You,
solely, are responsible for the use of this declaration and discussion. This must be altered to suit your
particular circumstances. Do not use the footnotes. They are strictly for your edification and to show
you the Scriptural references used to make this Non-Statutory habeas corpus possible. Do not use this
particular action if you are unsure of the acts of the person for whom you will do this particular action. In
other words, do not use this action if you know the person is guilty by the Judgment of God against the
act(s) complained of. The Warrant in Law for doing this habeas corpus is the following:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.{1}
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow
them, and quite break down their images.{2}
But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their
groves, and burn their graven images with fire.{3}
Direct your answer to:
<Your Christian Name>: Surname [optional], suae potestate esse,
[(or if Married, in Coverture) <Your Husband's Christian Name>: Surname [optional], suae potestate esse, et Uxor]
[(or if Unmarried, in Coverture)<Your Father's Christian Name>: Surname [optional], suae potestate esse,
or<Your next of male kin's Christian Name>: Surname [optional], suae potestate esse,]
in general delivery
<Your Post Office>
<Your Town>, <Your state>
county court,
<Your county>, <Your state>
<Your Christian Name>, suae potestate esse,
Demandant,
against
<Agent's Name>
<Agency Name, if applicable>
Defendant.
-
|
) Case Number:__________________
( Part One:
) Non-Statutory habeas corpus:
(
) Dated: The sixth day of the second
( month in the year of Our Sovereign
) Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ,
( Nineteen Hundred and ninety-nine:
|
By <Your Christian Name>, suae potestate esse:
Greetings and Salutations from our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ{4}, and my Self, His
anointed Ministerial Officer, solely by the Grace of God from, in and through Jesus, the Christ, by His
Direction, Will and commands, precepts{5}, judgments{6}, ordinances{7}, statutes{8}, and testimonies set
forth in His Writ, and under Lawful Warrant of the same:
In the Matter of the forceful taking of our Brother sans Lawful Warrant in Law established by our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus.
Be it Known and Remembered by All to Whom these Presents come and do Concern that:
Declaration:
At or around the twenty-second hour on or about the twenty-fifth day of the second month in the
nineteen hundred ninety-ninth Year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, some
men of the CITY OF POLICE DEPARTMENT forcefully took our Brother , one of several anointed
ministers of our Sovereign Lord Christ Jesus, in the execution of our King's Law, sans Lawful Warrant in
Law originating in and from our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, vesting or authorizing
them with any such Authority to do the same. Said acts are against the Peace, Dignity and Majesty of our
Great King and His church, and thereby jeopardize the longevity and life of this state, for the Law of God
and the law of the land are one and both favour and preserve the common good of the land{9}, le ley de
Dieu et ley de terre sont tout un, et l'un et l'autre preferre et favour le common et publique bien del terre
so that those who do not preserve the law of the land then justly incur the ineffaceable brand of infamy{10},
legem terrae amittentes perpetuam infamiae notam inde merito incurrunt, for it is written, Salvation is far
from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes{11}:
Discussion:
Firstly, it is written, The first and great commandment in the Law is Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God
is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment{12}; and, And the second is like this,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself{13}: there is none other commandment greater than these and
upon these two hang all the Law, so that these are the only duties of all men every where and at all times,
all religions and traditions of men not with standing, for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee
shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God{14}; and again it is written, Wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father{15}, so that whatever
is not done in faithfulness to and Love of and for Christ Jesus is an offense against Him for it is written,
for whatsoever is not of faith is sin{16}, and it is written, sin is the transgression of the Law{17}, and it is
written, the wages of sin is death, codes, rules and regulations of STATE OF or CITY OF not with
standing in Law, because it is written, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send
receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me{18}, and again it is written Verily I say
unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto
me{19} and there is no presumption in Law that any man is ever forgetful of his eternal welfare, and mere
moral restraint is not sufficient in Law to arrest, detain, or keep a Brother of ours in custody; and,
Secondly, it is written, our brother{20} and our neighbor is he who does the will of God our
Father{21}--not the will of a group of men in assembly creating a new god and form of worship of it--in fullness of faith to and through the saving Atonement
of God's Judgment upon all men without the Body of Christ, by Christ Jesus for all Judgment hath been committed to the Son by the
Father{22} philosophy, reason and traditions of men related thereto not with standing{23}; and all Power in
Heaven and in Earth has been committed to the Son{24}, assumptions, presumptions, and usurpations of
authority and power by men not with standing{25}, thereby leaving no Lawful Power to Judge or Dispense
Law to any man or group of men in assembly not evidencing any Delegation of Authority originating in
Him and whosoever does not love his neighbor and his brother offends our Sovereign King and His Law
for love is the fulfilling of the Law{26}; and,
Thirdly, because Christ Jesus overcame the world and all things of the world{27}, and His church
sanctified by and in Him{28}, abide{29}, live, move, have their being{30} in and sojourn with Him{31}, Who
is the Way, the Truth and the Life{32}, all that is outside of Him is criminal in esse and are lies and death
because it is written, Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him{33}
and men are not to add codes, rules and regulations unto His words, lest He reprove them, and they be
found a liar making lies{34} and casting stumblingblocks before the blind contrary to Law, for it is written,
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the
LORD{35}; so that where no man can do any act unless it be Lawful, and where there is no Lawful
authority to create, there is no Lawful act that follows such creations and there is no Lawful command to
obey them, for it is written, my son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not{36}; and, it is said elsewhere
that mere statement and restatement of a doctrine--the mere repetition of the cantilena of the
lawyers--cannot make it law, unless it can be traced to some competent authority, that said competent
authority is solely in Christ Jesus our Sovereign Lord and Saviour for the precepts of our Saviour have a
weight which gives them a decided superiority over every thing else, codes, rules and regulations of the
STATE OF and CITY OF not with standing; and,
Fourthly, it is written, God, our Father, suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for
their sakes; saying Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm{37}, so that any person, or
assembly of persons, who purports to act in Law shall lay, evidence, and prove lineage of their Office to
the Tree of Life in and of Christ Jesus, for without such lineage there is no Warrant of Authority in Law,
and the acts committed are un-Lawful{38}, codified religion or morality of men not with standing in Law,
for it is written, And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was
against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it{39}; and,
Fifthly, there is no Law commanding the living to join themselves with and to the dead, for it is
written, He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days; and, Whosoever toucheth
the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and
that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall
be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him{40} so that because the corporation known as THE STATE OF
and THE CITY OF and their numerous facades, masquerades, and disguises, have no soul{41} they
are dead in Law, for physical life is not related to a life in Law, for it is written, she that liveth in pleasure
is dead while she liveth{42}; our Brother having never joined himself to the dead, or those things dead, in
Law, accusations, assumptions, conjectures, opinions, presumptions, speculations and suppositions of men
not with standing; but, the men who have joined themselves to these dead in Law entities have made
themselves unclean and dead having cast the Law of God behind them by hating His instruction, and
having not been cleansed by the Cleansing and Living Waters of Separation flowing from and through
Christ Jesus, and their purported witness of any alleged act is dead and nugatory for it is written, the dead
know not any thing{43}, and it is written To the Law and the Testimony, if they speak not according to
this Word, it is because there is no light in them{44}, for Christ Jesus is the Light of the World{45} and is
the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth{46}, codes, rules and regulations not with
standing; and they are insane{47}, loving death more than life, for it is written, they that hate me love
death{48}; and they know not what is righteous and evil having rebelled against our Lawgiver, for it is
written, unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest
take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee{49}; so
that they are in a miserable condition, being given over to a reprobate mind for it is written, And even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those
things which are not convenient{50}; heeding the lies of fables, philosophy, vain words, and
commandments of men, for it is written, Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put
darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them
that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight; Which justify the wicked for reward, and
take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!{51} that turn from the Truth in Christ Jesus{52}
for well did Christ Jesus prophesy to us, They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh,
that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service{53} And these things will they do unto
you, because they have not known the Father, nor me{54}, because they are the children of
disobedience{55}; and,
Sixthly, any men who purportedly make or work for such an entity dead in Law evidence the fact that
they are like the thing they make or trust in for it is written, Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is
now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are
silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they
see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they
handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make
them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them{56} and so they are the natural man who
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God{57}, who are under the Judgment of God{58} by Christ Jesus
our Sovereign Lord, being His enemy for it is written, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is
the enemy of God{59} and again it is written, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him{60}; and when the enemy
of God in Christ Jesus, then he is the enemy of His church and state; and any one under a judgment lacks
Lawful Authority to create any law that binds those living in Christ Jesus to them, for it is written, God is
a God of the living, not of the dead{61}; and,
Seventhly, there is no separation of ecclesiastical and civil jurisdictions any where in this state, for it is
written, And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of
this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites; for Christ's church is above all and is
to direct all those who are of the seed of the bondwoman to Christ Jesus our Sovereign Lord and Saviour,
and the foundation of all Law is Christ Jesus for it is written, Except the LORD build the house, they
labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain{62} and For
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ{63}, all codes, rules and
regulations of the STATE OF and CITY OF not with standing in Law; and again it is written, Now
therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household
of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the
Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit{64}, so that
ignorance of the Law is no excuse for it is written, For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead;
so that they are without excuse{65} and again it is written, For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily{66} so that God's Law is general Law and not private statute made by the vain
imaginations and babblings of men after the rudiments of the world{67} and that turn from the Truth in
Christ Jesus{68}, so that the lex non scripta constituting the lex et consuetudo regni is the lex fori and
governs all in this court because it is written, After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their
inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people{69} and,
again it is written, The law of his God is in his heart{70} not in codes, rules, and regulations of the
STATE OF or CITY OF ; and,
Eighthly, all things created by the natural man cannot be trespassed against because they have no soul,
for it is written, God is a God of the living, not of the dead; and because they have no soul cannot be made
in the Image and Likeness of God our Father; and they can possess no Right inherited through Christ
Jesus our Sovereign Lord and Saviour; and cannot evidence any lineage traceable to the Tree of Life, for it
is written, They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver
and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off{71}; so that it is safe not to obey him
who has no right{72}, jus non habenti tute non paretur; and,
Ninthly, all men are counseled never to touch the unclean thing nor to serve other gods, i.e., STATE
OF or CITY OF , for it is written, After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye
not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye
walk in their ordinances{73}; and it is written, adjudged and decreed, If thy brother, the son of thy mother,
or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee
secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from
the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor
hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal
him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards
the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to
thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of
bondage{74}, and again it is written, no man can serve two masters{75} so that Christ's church and our
Brother remain in Truth sojourning in and with Him, for it is written, Therefore shall ye keep mine
ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you,
and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God{76}; and,
Wherefore all acts done by any man under the assumption, presumption, pretence, or usurpation of
Authority in Christ's church by any man, or men in assembly, being dead in Law are without Authority in
and of Law and our Brother , who is not in the custody of the reeve of this shire, must be discharged
from the unlawful custody of the dead in Law COUNTY OF SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, for no
process having Authority and Warrant in Law ever issued to Lawfully arrest, forcefully take into, or hold
in, custody; or, take charge of or over him; and,
Therefore, we pray that our Brother be set at Liberty in Christ Jesus to sojourn among us; judgment
in accordance with the Law of God in and of Christ Jesus our Sovereign Lord and Saviour; and all
presumed violations of Law negated and abated.
By the Authority and Power conditionally vested in us solely the Grace of God by, in and through our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, in accordance with the mandates, precepts, judgments,
statutes and ordinances of His Holy Writ, solely under His Direction and by His Will, do we make this
declaration to this court for the our Brother to be set at Liberty in Christ to sojourn among us, for it is
written, whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the
members rejoice with it Now we are the body of Christ, and members in particular.{77}
<*Finish up in the same manner as the Abatements>
<Once this has been moved upon, and the Brother returned to Liberty in Christ among the Brethren, he
may then move against those who forcibly took him into their custody, with an action in Trespass. If you
pollute this process with codes, rules and regulations, you waive, in Law, any action subsequent to
this habeas corpus.>
Endnotes
{1}Ephesians 6:12.
{2}Exodus 23:24.
{3}Deuteronomy 7:5.
{4}Colossians 3:17.
{5}Psalm 119:4, 15, 27, 40, 45, 56, 63, 69, 78, 87, 93, 94, 100, 104, 110, 128, 134, 141, 159, 168, 173; Daniel 9:5.
{6}Leviticus 18:4; Ps:149:9; 1 Kings 2:3.
{7}Leviticus 18:4, 30; Leviticus 22:9;
{8}Leviticus 18:5, 26; 19:19, 37; 20:8, 22; 25:18; Deut:4:1, 5-6, 40; 6:17, 24; 7:11; 10:12-13; 11:1, 32; 12:1; 16:12; 17:19; 26:16-17; 27:10; Psalm 19:8; 105:45; 119:8, 12, 16, 23, 26, 33, 48; 54, 64, 68, 71, 80, 83, 112, 117, 118.
{9} Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2142.
{10}Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2142.
{11}Psalm 119:155.
{12}Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:30 quoting Deuteronomy 6:5.
{13}Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31 quoting Leviticus 19:18.
{14}Romans 14:11.
{15}Philippians 2:9-11.
{16}Romans 14:23.
{17}1 John 3:4.
{18}John 13:20.
{19}Matthew 25:40.
{20}Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35.
{21}Luke 10:33-37.
{22}John 5:22.
{23}Matthew 15:7-9; Mark 7:6 & 7.
{24}Matthew 28:18.
{25}Genesis 3.
{26}Romans 13:10. See also 1 John 2:9, 11; 3:15; 4:20.
{27}John 16:33.
{28}John 14:6 & 17:19.
{29}John 14:16 & 15:4-10.
{30}Acts 17:28.
{31}Leviticus 25:23.
{32}John 14:6.
{33}Proverbs 30:5.
{34}Proverbs 30:6.
{35}Leviticus 19:14.
{36}Proverbs 1:10.
{37}Psalm 105:14-15.
{38}Genesis 3:22-24.
{39}Colossians 2:13-15.
{40}Numbers 19:11-13.
{41}10 Rep. 32 b.
{42}1 Timothy 5:6.
{43}Ecclesiastes 9:5.
{44}Isaiah 8:20.
{45}John 9:5; 12:46.
{46}Romans 10:4.
{47}MORAL INSANITY. A term sometimes employed to denote such mental disease as destroys the ability to distinguish between right and wrong as to a particular act, and sometimes to denote a mere perversion of the moral sense. It is also used as synonymous with irresistible impulse.--Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing Law Dictionary (1948), p. 541.
MORAL INSANITY. In medical jurisprudence. A morbid perversion of the moral feelings, affections, inclinations, temper,
habits, and moral disposition, without any notable lesion of the intellect or knowing and reasoning faculties and particularly without
any maniacal hallucination. Prichard, art. Insanity, in Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine.
A disorder which affects the feelings and affections, or what are termed the moral powers in contradistinction to those of the understanding of the intellect. 3 Witth. & B. 269.
For a discussion on this subject and its legal relations, see INSANITY; MANIA.--Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), p. 2246.
MORAL INSANITY. Also moral imbecility n.: PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY.--Webster's Third New International Dictionary
(1981), p. 1469.
PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY. 1. A disorder of behaviour toward other individuals or toward society in which reality is usu. clearly perceived except for an individual's social responsibilities or moral obligations, which is often manifested hedonistically (as by criminal acts, drug addiction, sexual perversion, or activity leading to immediate personal gratification esp. when
it is believed that punishment can be avoided), by passive indifference (as by shiftlessness, untrustworthiness, or vagabondism), or in
contrast by fanatical pseudosocial zealousness, and which is usu. a more or less permanent way of life refractory to treatment and hence
often considered a constitutional disorder. 2. An individual having a psychopathic personality.--Webster's Third New
International Dictionary (1981), p. 1833.
{48}Proverbs 8:36. Note also the punishment in Genesis concerning eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
{49}Psalm 50:16-17. See also Romans 2:17-25.
{50}Romans 1:28.
{51}Isaiah 5:20-23.
{52}Titus 1:14.
{53}They will think this is the case because they will have confused morality and morals with the Word of God. Note too, the definition
of moral actions:
MORAL ACTIONS. Actions only in which men have knowledge to guide them and a will to choose for themselves. Ruth. Inst. Nat. L. lib. 1, c. 1.--Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), p. 2246. This is self-will, which is evil, guided by pure reason; and not the Knowledge of God. This is and was the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden..
{54}John 16:2-3.
{55}Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6.
{56}Psalm 115:2-8; Psalm 135:15-18.
{57}1 Corinthians 2:14.
{58}John 8:21-24.
{59}James 4:4.
{60}John 3:36.
{61}Jeremiah 10:10; Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:27; Luke 20:38.
{62}Psalm 127:1.
{63}1 Corinthians 3:11.
{64}Ephesians 2:19-22.
{65}Romans 1:20.
{66}Colossians 2:9.
{67}Colossians 2:8.
{68}Titus 1:14.
{69}Jeremiah 31:33.
{70}Psalm 37:31.
{71}Hosea 8:4.
{72}Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2141.
{73}Leviticus 18:3.
{74}Deuteronomy 13:6-10.
{75}Matthew 6:24.
{76}Leviticus 18:30.
{77}1 Corinthians 12:26-27.
The Power of Words:
Justification, Condemnation, and Confirmation
written solely by the Grace of God in
Christ Jesus our Sovereign Lord and Saviour
by John Joseph, a mere bondservant in and of Christ Jesus
While reading Scripture during this past week it suddenly was laid upon my heart by our Lord that we
have never really explained, in detail, the power of words during our sojourn in and with Christ Jesus. I
was soon overwhelmed with the breadth and depth with which Scripture covers this most important
subject. Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus was more aware of the power of words than any one of
His or our day, and we in and of His Body must be just as keen on our use of words as He is in Scripture,
and in His sojourn in and with us.
We have been led to believe that words in our day and age have been re-defined, mutilated, and
stripped of their original substance. But upon closer examination, we find the opposite is true. What has
been done is that we have adopted the ways of the world, and have adopted its words to describe in a
euphonious way the unclean things. A recent example is the word "party." It is a noun and not a verb.
Today's younger generation uses the word as a verb. Instead of saying, "Let's have a party" they say "Let's
party." Nouns have substance, verbs do not--they are action words. The same is true of the word
"christian." It is not a noun, but an adjective, used derogatorily to describe someone in terms of the world.
The substance is not in that word, but in the heart of the man it is attempting to describe and which it and
its pagan user cannot see. Another is the word "nice." It is derived from the Latin nescire, to know not, or
in current language, stupid and foolish. This is what makes etymology of words so important. Yet not one
in ten would know this, or if they did, they know it as merely an idle curiosity, and do not discern the
power of the word itself. Last, the words christian civil government. That is an oxymoron--civil
government is never of Christ, but of men--they are His rod of correction to chastise us when we depart
from Him, in thought, word, or deed, for Christ said;
"those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man." Matthew
15:18.
And it is written;
"The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." Proverbs 16:4.
"Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that
it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou has forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the
Lord God of hosts." Jeremiah 2:19.
"Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for
his work; and I have created the waster to destroy." Isaiah 54:16.
"Our lusts are cords. Fiery trials are sent to burn and consume them." Augustus Toplady, Complete Works
(1794, reprinted by Sprinkle Publications), p. 584.
and Brother Paul warned us that:
"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." 1 Corinthians 15:13.
Therefore, words have a tremendous impact on us in doing the things we do and the way we perceive
things around us. Because of this evolution in language, God has given us His Word which changes not in
more than one form: In Christ, in His Spirit, in Scripture, and in His Creation. It is to these we look for
witness of the things we do and say. These Witnesses never have and never will change their Testimony.
Other than grammatical classification, we have Law words, legal words, and terms of art. We will look
at the last one first:
"TERM. A word or phrase; an expression; particularly one which possesses a fixed and known meaning in
some science, art, or profession." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 &1968), p. 1639.
Note carefully the last part of the above definition. If you speak the terms known in some peculiar
science, art or profession, then you are one in that profession, art, or science; and bear that profession's,
art's, or science's mark, witnessed by diplomas, degrees, certificates, awards, adnauseam. Therefore, you
must be regulated by such codes, rules, and regulations which constitute the morality or ethics of that art,
profession, science because they are not in and of Christ Jesus. Note carefully one of the several Titles of
Christ is Tree of Life (see Revelation 2:7)--not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, where you
find ethics and morality. The mark or seal will be expounded upon later.
Let us now look at the first two. On first examination law and legal seem to be the same thing. But
when examined more thoroughly, we find something else:
"LAWFUL. The principal distinction between the terms 'lawful' and 'legal' is that the former [*Lawful]
contemplates the substance of law, the latter [*legal] the form of law. To say of an act that it is 'lawful' implies that it is authorized, sanctioned, or at any rate not forbidden, by law. To say that it is 'legal' implies that it is done
or performed in accordance with the forms and usages of law, or in a technical manner. In this sense 'illegal'
approaches the meaning of 'invalid.' For example, a contract or will, executed without the required formalities,
might be said to be invalid or illegal, but could not be described as unlawful. Further, the word 'lawful' more
clearly implies an ethical content than does 'legal.' The latter goes no further than to denote compliance, with
positive, technical, or formal rules; while the former usually imports a moral substance or ethical permissibility.
A further distinction is that the word 'legal' is used as the synonym of 'constructive,' which 'lawful' is not. Thus
'legal fraud' is fraud implied or inferred by law, or made out by construction. 'Lawful fraud' would be a
contradiction in terms. Again, 'legal' is used as the antithesis of 'equitable.' Thus, we speak of 'legal assets,' or
'legal estate,' etc., but not of 'lawful assets,' or 'lawful estate.' But there are some connections in which the two
words are used as exact equivalents. Thus, a 'lawful' writ, warrant, or process is the same as a 'legal' writ,
warrant, or process." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 & 1968), p. 1032.
What then would make a Law word and what a legal word? The Giver of the Law will determine this.
If the Giver of the Law is God Himself, as in the cases of Moses, the Prophets, and the Christ then the
words in and of that Law are Substance because they have their origin in Him Who spoke all Substance in
to being and Who sustains and maintains that Substance. If the giver is man, and man really can never
create law but only image of law, then the law has no substance but is an image or vapor of law. This is
further distinguished in the difference between character and reputation:
"CHARACTER. Character consists of the qualities which constitute the individual, while reputation is the sum
of opinions entertained concerning him. The former is interior; the latter external. The one is the substance;
the other the shadow [*fiction]. Character is what a person is [*Who is the Author or author of the person].
Reputation is what people say of him. But not with standing this distinction which is every where agreed upon,
the two words are sometimes used, even by judges, as synonymous." Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing Law
Dictionary (1948), p. 138.
This will become more apparent when we look at "the doctrine of the seal" later in this short
explanation. To draw further distinctions, we will look at our example in and of Christ and the words He
used and the manner in which He used them.
We will start with the characteristics of His words, compare them with the words of the world, and then
see why this is so important to His church and state. In the Gospel recorded by Brother Mark, He says:
"Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." Mark 13:31.
He laid on the heart of Brother David the following:
"Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever." Psalm
119:160.
This is our first clue in regard to the power of His words. They have the same characteristic of God's
Word: they are forever, and from everlasting. Nothing about them is for nought. All things we know by
our senses and our spirit will pass away, but His Word never passes, for without His Word nothing is
created or sustained:
"All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made." John 1:3.
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Hebrews 13:8.
"Scire leges, non hoc est verba earum tenere, sed vim et potestatem --To know the laws, is not to observe their
mere words, but their force and power." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2162.
"Lex est ab aeterno --The law is from everlasting." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2143.
When He speaks, His Word is power and accomplishes that which He sent it to do--His Word is not a
failure, it is not empty, nor is it vain:
"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:11.
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:with
righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the
earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked." Isaiah 11:1 & 4.
"And they were astonished at his doctrine: for His word was with power." Luke 4:32.
"And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he
taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Matthew 7:28-29.
"The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled His word that he had commanded in the days
of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set
up the horn of thine adversaries." Lamentations 2:17.
This leads us to the next characteristic: His Words are life both to the spirit in man He planted by His
Power, and all things on the earth He sustains:
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and
they are life.Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."
John 6:63 & 68.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24.
"There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health." Proverbs 12:18.
"And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said
unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away." Matthew
21:19.
The mercenaries sent by the Pharisees testified that His Word is power:
"The officers answered, Never man spake like this man." John 7:46.
They therefore testified that Christ Jesus is Truly King of kings:
"Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?" Ecclesiastes 8:4.
[Note also Christ's answer to the Pharisees recorded in Matthew 21:23-27 and Mark 11:27-33.]
Only He knows what Life and Power are, not men proud of their own philosophy, diplomas,
certificates, letters, awards, ad nauseam:
"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of
that Light. That was the True Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John 1:4, 8-9.
"The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly." Proverbs 20:27.
He testified to us that the word He spoke was the Word of God, our Father:
"He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which
sent me." John 14:24.
...not the word of reason, speculation, or philosophy pleasing to men or himself:
"And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth." John 8:50.
"He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is
true, and no unrighteousness is in him." John 7:18.
...which the pharisees of His day did, and continue to do:
that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." Luke 16:15.
The words He used were and are pure, without leaven of morality, morals, philosophy, speculation,
opinion, or belief:
"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him." Proverbs 30:5.24
"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which
built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Matthew
7:24-27.
"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." Psalm 12:6.
Brother Spurgeon's comments on the Psalm are on point here for all of us:
"Verse 6. What a contrast between the vain words of man, and the pure words of Jehovah. Man's words are yea
and nay, but the Lord's promises are yea and amen. For Truth, certainty, holiness, faithfulness, the words of the
Lord are pure as well-refined silver. In the original there is an allusion to the most severely-putrefying process
known to the ancients, through which silver was passed when the greatest possible purity was desired; the dross
was all consumed, and only the bright and precious metal remained; so clear and free from all alloy of error or
unfaithfulness is the book of the words of the Lord. The Bible has passed through the furnace of persecution,
literary criticism, philosophical doubt, and scientific discovery, and has lost nothing but those human
interpretations which clung to it as alloy to precious ore. The experience of saints has tried it in every conceivable
manner, but not a single doctrine or promise has been consumed in the most excessive heat. What God's words
are, the words of His children should be. If we would be Godlike in conversation, we must watch our
language, and maintain the strictest purity of integrity and holiness in all our communications." Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, Treasury of David, vol. I, p. 143.
Thereby confirming,
"For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."
John 3:34.
"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." John
20:21.
For us then, to be truly sent by God in Christ Jesus, we must speak His Word in fullness of faith in and
to Him, and not the word of the world. He testified to us:
"If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the
root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." Luke 17:6.
Without fulness of faith in and to Him it is not possible to do the work of Him Who called us out of the
world, sanctified us in Truth, and sent us into the world to bear witness of Him. Again He says,
"And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing
shall be impossible unto you." Matthew 17:20.
It is then incumbent upon us to know Who that Word is and the Power of and behind those words.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1.
Christ then is the Word, and the Word is God, the words He spoke are the words of God our Father,
"Who doeth the works"--Who is the Power in the word I, Christ Jesus, speak. We know His Testimony is
True:
"the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works." John 14:10.
"And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your
judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When
a strong man [*Satan--the ungodly State personified] armed keepeth his palace [*image of venue and
jurisdiction], his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he [*in the Office of Christ] shall come upon him,
and overcome him [*see John 16:33], he taketh from him all his armour [*purported law shielding a separate
private jurisdiction] wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils [*ill gotten gain]." Luke 11:19-22. See also
Proverbs 15:27.
Christ Jesus encouraged us to,
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:48.
This is not just in deed, but in power and a part of both is speaking words of His Power, for,
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for
without me ye can do nothing." John 15:5.
It is not possible to be grafted into the Living Tree of Life and the dead tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil--morality-- at the same time, and bring forth fruit meet for each:
"Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." Matthew 7:17-18.
"Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree
is known by his fruit." Matthew 12:33.
Let us not betray ourselves and our sojourn in and with Christ to the world, by taking on its words of
death:
"The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath." Proverbs 15:24.
"And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world."
John 8:23.
Note carefully Christ is saying that the morality of men and their commerce are of death and from hell.
For our Warrant is written thus,
"Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him." Proverbs 26:4.
How do we know who the fool is? It is written,
"To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them." Isaiah 8:20.
We should also note in what different modes Satan will attempt to entrap us, for they are the same
modes he used to trap Christ in Matthew 4:
"There are three kinds of straits wherein Satan aims to entrap the believer: nice questions [*"What is your
name?"], obscure Scriptures, and dark providences [*"If you don'tit'll be tougher on you."]." William Gurnall,
quoted in Augustus Toplady, Complete Works (1794, reprinted by Sprinkle Publs. 1987), p. 597. [*Insertions
added]
Likewise, when we speak the words of God, and we are not heard, we know that the hearer of them has
not the Truth in him, but another spirit, i.e. Satan, the Destroyer, Abaddon or Apollyon:
"He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." John 8:47.
"We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the
spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." 1 John 4:6.
"He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth
him that sent me." Luke 10:16.
"If a skilful man hear a wise word, he will commend it, and add unto it: but as soon as one of no understanding
heareth it, it displeaseth him, and he casteth it behind him." Ecclesiasticus 21:15. See also 1 Corinthians 2:14.
Therefore God declares against the wicked,
"But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my
covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a
thief [*merchant, banker, mercenary, politician, etc.], then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker
with adulterers [*those who have mixed My Word with moral philosophy]. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy
tongue frameth deceit [*morality of codes, rules, and regulations]. Thou sittest [*in self-righteous judgment] and
speakest against [*accuse] thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son [*for money]." Psalm 50:16-17.
The words we speak must have the corroboration of the Spirit of God or they are vain and empty
because they are without His Power:
"The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. Jesus answered
and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither
I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh [*self-righteous moral
philosophy]; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that
sent me. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself,
and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me." Matthew 8:13-18.
"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; " Romans 1:20.
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of
myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake." John 14:10-11.
Do not ever make the foolish mistake that you can "christianize" any image, fiction, or lie for none of
these are in or of Christ. Job made this observation:
"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one." Job 14:4.
It is also written,
"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said
unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." John 6:28-29.
"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Proverbs 30:5-6.
"Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" Proverbs 20:9.
"All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits." Proverbs 16:2.
Simply said--do not believe mere men or the images of men; do not try to conjure up your own images
of "christianity," or what salvation in Christ should be; but believe Him and on Him Whom God has sent.
This is because man is limited by the Word of God; God is not bound by man. This is why philosophy and
its vain words are deceit, and those who use them are deceiving themselves and others, leading them to
the same destruction that awaits those who join them:
"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool,
that he may be wise." 1 Corinthians 3:18.
"For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." Galatians 6:3.
Never answer morality with morality, but with Law, because it is written,
"There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." Job 34:22.
"He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair, believe him
not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be
shewed before the whole congregation." Proverbs 26:24-26.
"For wisdom is a loving spirit; and will not acquit a blasphemer of his words: for God is witness of his reins,
and a true beholder of his heart, and a hearer of his words." Wisdom of Solomon 1:6.
This tells you how to answer all law enforcement service providers. Answer all with the words of
Christ, always and continually avoiding the general issue in Law:
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
Matthew 7:15.
"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as
doves." Matthew 10:16.
"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are
evil." Ephesians 5:15-16.
"Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace,
seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." Colossians 4:5-6.
"Beware that thou be not deceived, and brought down in thy jollity. If thou be invited of a mighty man [*sheriff
employee, policeman, agent, ad nauseam], withdraw thyself [*avoid], and so much the more will he invite thee.
Press thou not upon him, lest thou be put back; stand not far off, lest thou be forgotten. Affect not to be made
equal unto him in talk, and believe not his many words: for with much communication will he tempt thee, and
smiling upon thee will get out thy secrets: But cruelly will he lay up thy words, and will not spare to to do thee
hurt, and to put thee in prison. Observe, and take good heed, for thou walkest in peril of thy overthrowing: when
thou hearest these things, awake in thy sleep. Love the Lord all thy life, and call upon Him for salvation."
Ecclesiasticus 13:8-14.
"And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words." Mark
12:13.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Galatians 6:7.
"If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this
man's religion is vain." James 1:26.
For we are called to,
"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine." 2 Timothy 4:2.
And the words we use are evidence of whether we speak in and of Truth in Christ, or a lie in and of the
Liar.
Without His Power, there can be no judgment executed, for:
"The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment." Psalm 37:30.
To be continued next month.
History of the Law Merchant
Written by Helen West Bradlee
Commentaries by John Joseph and Randy Lee
The following "History of the Law Merchant" was written in Boston in 1929 by Helen West Bradley
who was a member of the SUFFOLK BAR. All comments by John Joseph and Randy Lee are in italics and
designated as such. There are three footnotes at the end of the article.
THE LAW MERCHANT or
LEX MERCATORIA
Common Law
The expression "Common Law" has several meanings. First it is used to distinguish law as practiced
in the common law courts from equity. Second, it is used to distinguish the so-called unwritten law, that
is, traditional law, law which from custom has become the law of the land, from the statute law or law
declared by parliament. Third, it is used to distinguish this law which is the law of England, from the civil
law which is the law of those countries who have founded their system upon Roman Law.
There is also another distinction. In examining the reports o of the 17th century, hardly any commercial
cases will be found. For example, under charter parties and bills of lading, there are very few cases
concerning merchants and ships despite the fact that these matters have always been productive of
litigation, the reason being that the common law did not govern these types of cases; they were left to be
governed by the law merchant, a branch of the law of nations. Commercial matters were dealt with by
special courts in and under a special law which was at that time a well established law and largely based
on mercantile customs.
The Law Merchant
The history of the law merchant or Lex Mercatoria is therefore really the history of private
international law which grew in great degree out of the transactions between different nations. And at one
time, without doubt, it was the law of England simply because it was the law of other nations.
Its Origin
The exact place and time of its origin is uncertain. Many writers have stated that it began in Italy in the
central part of the Middle Ages. But investigation of early documents show that it goes back much further.
For instance, to the time when the Arabs{1} dominated the Mediterranean. But they invented little and
many of the terms which they used came from the Romans, Greeks and Phoenicians, who for many
hundreds of years monopolized the sea commerce.
Comments: The cities of Tyre and Sidon which figure prominently in Bible Prophecy were Phoenician
cities. The latter, Tyre, was a large commercial seaport of Phoenicia.
Magnitude of Trade of Arabs
The magnitude of the trade of the Arabs between the time of Mohammed and the Crusades was great.
They made voyages to China and to India where they established colonies. This trade was temporarily
interrupted by the Chinese insurrection of 875 A.D., but the intermediate commerce was not disturbed and
trade with Indo China, East Persia and India continued. By land there was a great deal of traffic with
Persia, India, Bokhara and Samarkand. Until the 11th century both their caravans and vessels carried
their merchandise along the North Coast of Africa while traders from Arabic Spain and Sicily trafficked
to Egypt and the intervening ports.
At the time of the Crusades, the Arabs had an immensely heavy trade. This is attested by the fact that in
1191 during the Third Crusade, Richard, Coeur De Lion, captured one of Saladin's caravans, rashly
traveling west of the Jordon and became possessed of "very rich spoil of spices, gold, silver, silks, robes,
arms of every kind, together with 4700 camels, besides asses and mules without number." This reciprocal
trade was almost entirely between those of the same religion. When the Arab fleets went elsewhere, they
sailed not for trade, but for rapine and conquest. But the intercourse between the Christians and the
Saracens of South Italy and Sicily was not always hostile. Frederic II was especially friendly to the latter,
and there were many treaties of peace and commerce between Aragon and El Mogreb.
It was into this rich eastern trade that the Italians and others came to share; the first Genoese fleet
bringing supplies arriving in 1198, followed by the Pisans and Venetians and the men of Amalfi. Each
nation seemed to have had its viscount with consuls in several cities for the purpose of self government
and protection, observing their own laws and customs. Whether before this time they had adopted the sea
law of the East or not, it is clear that it soon became part of the law of the Western Mediterranean.
Venice, as the chief distributing mart of the Middle Ages, became in the 14th century the southern
terminus of a great land trade route.
First Treatise on Merchant Law
in England - 1622
The first work on merchant law in England was written by Gerard Malynes published in 1622, entitled
Consultudo Vel Lex Mercatoria or The Ancient Law Merchant. In his preface to this work, he stated that
he had entitled it Lex Mercatoria instead of Jus Mercatorum because it is customary law provided by the
authority of all kingdoms and Commonweals, and not a law established by the sovereignty of any prince.
Blackstone stated that the affairs of commerce were regulated by a law of their own called the Law
Merchant or Lex Mercatoria "which all nations agree in and take notice of and it is particularly held to be
part of the law of England which justifies the causes of merchants and the general rules which obtain in
all commercial countries." Still later, Lord Mansfield stated that "Mercantile law is not the law of a
particular country but the law of all nations".
On What Law Merchant is Based
The Lex Mercatoria would seem to be in part based on Roman law, in part maritime custom, in part the
law of the Medieval European fairs, and to a great extent upon the last.
Comments: We see from the above, that Babylonian confusion reigns in the commercial world under the
lex mercatoria. The merging of Roman law (the State is your god), maritime law (international trade is
your saviour) and the pagan fair (the shopping mall is your playground).
Contents of the Lex Mercatoria
There is some obscurity as to what constituted the substance of the Lex Mercatoria, but it is definitely
defined as the law administered as between merchants and the consular or commercial courts, some of it
being substantive law and some rules of evidence and procedure.
Comments: Defined above are the activities of today's courts. Nothing more, nothing less.
Distinctive Elements in Law Merchant
In every land during the 12th and following centuries, the towns began to record their laws and
customs, which everywhere contain legal rules for commerce that differ from the common law of the land.
In most of the Italian cities, commercial law is to be found mainly in the Statutes of the Merchant Guilds.
These once confirmed, tacitly or expressly, had all the authority of State law, binding on all who traded
within the city. As heads of the Guild, the consules mercatorum administered the law, but the city
magistrates were under a strict obligation to which they had to swear on entering upon their office, to aid
if necessary, the Guild Consuls with all the powers of the State in securing the execution of their judicial
sentences.
Comments: Again, the above defines today's courts, and the development of State jurisdiction, regulation,
etc. In this "the law of the land" is what is defined and mandated by these merchant courts.
Effect of the Law Merchant on
Common & Statute Law
Many of the rules of the Law Merchant were directed to evade inconvenient rules of the common law.
For example, one of the first rules of the common law is that a man cannot give what he himself has not.
Hence, a man who has no title to goods cannot give title. Consequently, when you buy a thing, if you are
to be sure that you have title to it, you must inquire into the title of that thing back to its remote
possessors, to make sure that no one in the chain of title stole it or obtained it by fraud. Whereas, the
merchant said that commercial business "cannot be carried on if we have to inquire into the title of
everybody who comes to us with documents of title."
Lord Justice Bowen in Sanders v. McKlean, 11 Q.B.D., page 343, said, "The practice of merchants is
not based on the supposition of possible fraud. The object of mercantile usage is to prevent the risk of
insolvency, not of fraud; and anyone who attempts to follow and understand the Law Merchant will soon
find himself lost, if he begins by assuming that merchants conduct their business on the basis of
attempting to insure themselves against fraudulent dealing. The contra is the case. Credit, not distrust, is
the basis of commercial dealings. Mercantile genius consists principally in knowing whom to trust and
with whom to deal...".
The Law Merchant dealt with many choses in action, and it would have been very inconvenient, for
example, when a man took a bill of exchange, if he were not able to sue on it in his own name or would
have to inquire into the title of all previous endorsers.
Comments: Above and below clearly shows that a "title deed" is nothing more than a 'bill of exchange,"
representitive of, but never touching, the substance of the land.
Hence, the Law Merchant established certain documents or choses in action which were transferable by
delivery and endorsement, or by delivery, so that the holder could sue in his own name and which passed
good title to the transferee who took them in good faith, notwithstanding the transferor had no title. They
could be sued on by the holder in his own name and were not affected by previous lack of title. This
instrument was the original negotiable instrument. Hence, the law of negotiable instruments, with a few
exceptions, is founded entirely upon the customs of merchants.
Comments: The law of negotiable instruments is today contained in the Uniform Commercial Code, the
modern code of the modern merchant, which are not modern, because it is written, "There is nothing new
under the sun."
The Fairs of the Middle Ages
A fair was an imposing assemblage occurring as rule once a year, attended by merchants who traveled
from far distant countries, bringing wares from perhaps even more distant countries. It would be
conducted for a consecutive period of several weeks, would cover a large space of ground on which would
be erected temporary buildings and streets for the booths, etc., the sale of things in the different streets
being carried on in the different booths and offered every conceivable commodity which could be made
and sold. To regulate the currency and secure the country against the loss of specie, as well as to prevent
importation of spurious or debased coin, the officer of the King's Exchange examined into the mercantile
transactions of the foreign traders.
Consuls and Consulados
It is impossible to fix with certainty the origin of the institution of consuls, but it certainly goes back to
the ancient Greeks, since the proxenia of ancient Greeks corresponds to the modern consular system. The
proxenoi, like the consul, supplied information to the government that appointed them, and also furnished
advice and assistance to the citizens who were subjects of that government while residing temporarily in
the territory of another country. The more modern institution of consuls is probably more of Italian
growth. The duties of these consuls at first was merely to attending the traveling merchants to the fairs,
represent them generally in all matters connected with the fairs, with jurisdiction to settle all fair disputes
which might arise between members of the same nationality.
Hanseatic League 1241 - 1269
This was a combination of merchants which provided rules and regulations for their conduct and which
was to protect them when the law did not protect or recognize the rights of the traders. It was a merchant
guild formed in Germany in 1241 to protect the merchants. It came to control all the trade of Northern
Europe and included eighty-five leading cities, among which was London. At its height it had
considerable power; it maintained an army and a navy, guarded roads from city to city, kept a fortress and
a storehouse in each city, waged war, enforced the merchant's laws at the various fairs. Its last general
assembly is said to have been held about 1669.
Comments: A very analogous situation exists in the way that the Constitution for the United States is
employed to protect its "interests" here and abroad. Things on paper, "the United States," are dead, and
the lie is that somehow a dead body can protect those underneath it from the Law that killed the body and
declares it dead.
Fairs in England
It is probable the Romans that introduced fairs into England as they did into so many other places.
Alfred directed alien merchants to come only to the four fairs of London, York, Bristol and Winchester
and to their remaining at each fair not more than 40 days. Athelred II proclaimed peace for ships of
merchants, even though they be enemies, coming with goods into any port. Henry II granted to the
citizens of London freedom from lestage, a due for leave to sell at fairs and from other tolls.
Comments: During the Viet Nam war, U.S. pilots were routinely sent to attack inland targets at great
personal risk to themselves, while at the same time being forbidden to attack the merchant ships of
several nations that were offloading war materials in Hai Phong harbor.
Bills of Exchange
The earliest form of negotiable instrument was the Bill of Exchange. Blackstone (2 Com. 467) says in
regard to their origin, "This method (bills of exchange) is said to have been brought into general use by
the Jews and Lombards{2} when banished for their usury and their vices, in order to more easily draw
their finances out of France and England into those countries in which they had chosen to reside." But the
invention of it was earlier, for the Jews were banished from England in 1290, and in 1236 the use of paper
credit was introduced into the Mogul Empire in China. Daniels, in his work on Negotiable Instruments
states that, "There is reason to believe that bills of exchange were known in England as early as 1307 at
least since in that year King Edward I ordered certain money collected in England for the Pope and it was
to be remitted to him not by way of coin or bullion, but by way of exchange." The Jewish Encyclopedia
suggests a much more probable origin of bills of exchange, viz: "The practice seems to have begun among
the Arab traders of the Levant in the 8th century and from them passed to the Italian traders who followed
the Crusades."
Obviously, it was impossible for caravan commerce to be carried on after the age of barter (sic) had
passed, without some form of documentary credits, the distances to be traveled and the dangers traveled
and the dangers of the routes making bills of some sort imperative. The relics which have come down to
us, however, are few since every great commercial center of the east has been thoroughly destroyed more
than once. But there are some instances of certain forms of bills of exchange at very early dates.
Five tablets{3} were some time ago dug up in one of the ancient Assyrian capitals, the first of which
expresses a certain simple obligation by debtor to creditor, which was duly signed and witnessed and
payable with interest; the second in which was an obligation payable at short maturity with a penalty
clause; third was an obligation secured by a credit on a third person, who was to pay in case the debtor did
not; fourth, reciting that signer had delegated to third person the right to recover the debt; and fifth, was a
fully developed bill of exchange drawn up by one person at one place on another at another place and
containing the name of the payee, date when payment was to be made, the bill being signed and
witnessed. These clay documents were evidently issued before the use of coins. There are other examples
extant of Babylonian letters of credit or bills of exchange in other tablets dating from 677 to 179 B.C.
Comments: Habakkuk 2:6, "Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb
against him, and say, 'Woe to him that increases that which is not his! How long!' And to him that loads
himself with thick clay!" The terms "thick clay" are the english rendering of a Hebrew word that refers to
mortgage pledges. The "law" that appears to govern negotiable instruments is as malleable as fresh
clay--an image shaped by its makers upon the dictates of the situation--desires fulfilled upon payment of
bribe.
Second Instrument to be made Negotiable
The Promissory Note was the next document which obtained the feature of negotiability. The first case
in which a promissory note was recognized by the courts of England as negotiable instruments was that of
Sheldon v. Hently, 2 Showers 160, decided in 1680, in which case the court held a promissory note to be a
negotiable instrument expressly stating "... it was the custom of merchants that made them good."
Comment: Faith in man, not God in Christ Jesus, is the gospel of misery in commerce.
Bank Notes become Negotiable
The next instruments to become negotiable were the promissory notes payable on demand issued by
bankers, that is, bank notes. To this again, the custom of merchants very speedily gave negotiability, and
in the leading case of Miller v. Race, Lord Mansfield decided that bank notes also were negotiable
instruments, holding that it was necessary for the purposes of commerce that their currency be established
and secured. Next, the banks besides issuing their promissory notes payable on demand, accepted and
honored bills of exchange drawn on them by their customers payable on demand, that is, the check came
into existence, and the practice of merchants made it negotiable.
Conclusion
The influence of the fairs on the public law and their influence on the relationship of international law
was great. The term fair was practically equivalent to the term peace. The reaction against the principals
of primitive hostility was working under the influence of commercial needs. Thanks to the progress of the
peace of the fairs and their safe conducts, the communications of foreigner with foreigner became more
certain; international relations multiplied; transactions were surrounded by guarantees, and the idea of
good faith and of the loyalty which should preside over commerce were more and more developed. Means
of transport were perfected. Men, hitherto thrown back upon themselves in a family group came into
contact with each other; original mistrust was weakening. Little by little the last vestiges of primitive
hostility disappeared. They are the first places where the exchanges for value were able to develop; the law
of supply and demand, the law of the balance of trade, find there their first application. It was at the fairs
and markets that money ceased to be mere objects of consumption, and became capital. Due to them,
traffic was regularized and submitted to the great law of competition.
Comment: Building precept upon precept, line upon line, and moving inch by inch into the territory of
God through ignorance shows that battle lines are drawn and moved as the battle rages. The place where
God drew the line has never changed. The fools believe it does not exist because for them God is their
solar plexus. But there is a great separation between the solar plexus and the Spirit of God. Such is
evident from the accounts in Scripture. That line of separation is a great gulf which cannot be bridged,
although man has been pressing to enter the Kingdom without permission in and of Christ Jesus our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour. The battle external is also internal to every man in this temporal world.
Whom will you serve?
End Notes
{1} Hebrew "arab' (aw-rab) a primitive root. to pledge. exchange. mortgage engage occupy. undertake for
give pledges. Be/become surety. take on pledge give on pledge.
{2} Lombards - A name given to the merchants of Italy, numbers of whom during the 12th and 13th
centuries were established as merchants and bankers in the principle cities of Europe. (Lombard Street,
London). Black's Law Dictionary 5th edition.
{3} There are now thousands of such tablets in existence.
In the Nurture and Admonition of Our Lord
or
Under the Fear and Adoration of the State
written solely by the Grace of God in Christ Jesus
our Sovereign Lord and Saviour by
John Joseph, His mere bondservant
In the past, we had often discussed writing a series of articles on the sad state of schools in general and
public schools in particular; but nothing was forthcoming until now. Recent events both in Littleton,
Colorado and Conyers, Georgia have prompted the writing of this first of several articles. This article is
not the first to be written on the subject, and it won't be the last. But what it has to offer is the way to
relieve you and yours of the burdens imposed upon you by the "benevolent moral teachers" and "virtue
gurus" who plague us with their "answers" to the questions of the day, i.e. solving the "gun problem" in
schools. First, there is no gun problem in schools; Second, there never was a "gun problem" in schools;
and Third, there never will be a "gun problem" in schools. The problem is and always will be the heart of
man at any age, either sex, of any race or color. Scripture bears this out time and time again; and we will
point out some of them in this instant article.
The Apocrypha is quoted in this article, not for authority, but for historical fact. The Apocrypha was
printed in the original Authorized King James Bible, and was removed during the 1820's. If you doubt
this then get a copy from Thomas Nelson Publishers, number 301.
All interpolations in brackets designated with [*] are our additions.
If you are a school-teacher or other administrative employee you may not agree with any thing said
here, but the record speaks otherwise. Will you try then to impeach a record of evil to cover
unrighteousness, and thereby become evil yourself? Think about this before you act, for it is written:
"For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD
abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all
his thoughts." Psalm 10:3.
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his
deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." John 3:19-21.
All problems begin in the hearts of men and are manifested after the thoughts have been meditated
upon by the perpetrators of the acts:
"O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day." Psalm 119:97.
If we take the above passage of Scripture and put in the place of "thy law" the name of the heinous act
about to be committed, what will be result?
"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:" Proverbs 23:7.
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All
these evil things come from within, and defile the man." Mark 7:21-23.
Thus, there is and never has been any "gun problem" in schools. The problem is elsewhere, and we
will see it pointed out in this instant article to arrive at our solution.
We must then arrive at a solution to the above problem, using nothing of the world, but their own
admissions and confessions of their ineptitude and falsehoods. The only solution in Truth is the Word of
God in Christ Jesus our Sovereign Lord and Saviour. Thus, we must distinguish between the ways of the
world and the Word of God to arrive at the solution. To help us do this we must also distinguish the
serving sojourner in Christ from the human being because we must look to those things that distinguish
them not only spiritually, but also temporally. A good example of the difference is our current subject,
schools:
"And he [*Brother Paul] went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months,
disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened,
and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated
the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus." Acts 19:8-9.
The above is the only passage of Scripture that uses the word "school." Note who is the
head--TYRANNUS. From the Latin this is a despot or tyrant purporting to be sovereign:
"TYRANNUS. I, m.= turannosz. I. Gen. A monarch, ruler, sovereign. king: Virg.; Hor. II. Esp. A
cruel or severe ruler; a despot, tyrant: Cic. Hence, Fr. tyran." White, Latin-English and English-Latin
Dictionary (1872), p. 625.
Notice too, that Brother Paul separated those who believed from those whose hearts were hardened
against Christ. This latter point is covered as we progress through this article.The former is confessed and
admitted from the mouth of those who run these secular religious institutions--the false prophet of
Revelation:
"The American public school is a secular school, and not merely a non-sectarian school--even if
a distinction could be drawn between the two. The Catholic Church, and probably most of the
Protestant churches as well, undoubtedly do not approve of its secularity. Yet secular it is, in
curriculum, method, and spirit. There are exceptions, of course. In many rural schools in the deep
South or 'Bible belt' some sessions are indistinguishable from those in Baptist Sunday schools. These
are not merely not secular--they are obviously sectarian. In the North vestigial remains such as a
lifeless reading of a few verses from the Bible--can be found. But basically the American public
school is a secular school." Pfeffer, Church State and Freedom (1953), p. 288. [Editor's Note: Pfeffer
was one of several lead attorneys to argue for the removal of the Bible from public schools in the
Abingdon School District v. Schempp case (available from the Christian Liberty Library).]
But the removal of the Bible from something condemned in Scripture we have seen and shall see, is not
the problem. Later, we shall see that even the so-called "christian schools" are secular. Confirmation of
the reign of TYRANNUS today in schools is seen from the following:
"Public schools are synonymous with taxation; they represent taxation, and the sooner the 'common
people' understand this democratic-republican doctrine [*false religion] the better for the State, the
better for property, the better for mankind, the better for the nation." John Swett, California State
Superintendent of Public Instruction, in The California Teacher, 1866.
In the above quotation note carefully the words "common people," "doctrine," "State," "property,"
"mankind," and "nation"in the above statement. The first term is used derogatorily, and is exposed by
Scripture:
"Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all
things unto this day." 1 Corinthians 4:13.
The second word tells you that the whole of the statement is a religious and military statement:
"DOCTRINE. Fundamental principles by which the military forces or elements thereof guide their
[*moral] actions [*education of future human resources] in support of national [*commercial]
objectives. It is authoritative but requires judgment in application. See also COMBINED
DOCTRINE, JOINT DOCTRINE, MULTI-SERVICE DOCTRINE." Dictionary of Military
Terms (DoD pub. 1-02, Greenhill Publishing, 1995), p. 126. [*Exposes nationalism, one of the central
tenets of FASCISM.
"MORAL ACTIONS. Actions only in which men have knowledge to guide them and a will to
choose for themselves. Ruth. Inst. Nat. L. lib. 1, c. 1." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), p. 2246.
Moral actions then are self-willed or willful actions, that are in their nature un-Lawful, perverse, and evil:
"WILLFUL. Proceeding from a conscious motion of the will; voluntary [*which implies discretion.]
Nashville C. & St. L. Ry. Co. v. Commonwealth, 160 Ky. 50, 169 S.W. 611, 513.
"Intractable; having a headstrong disposition to act by the rule of contradiction [*against Law].
Bersch v. Morris & Co., 106 Kan. 800, 189 P. 934, 935, 9 A.L.R. 1374. Obstinate; perverse. Lynch v.
Commonwealth, 131 Va. 762, 109 S.E. 427, 428; Jones v. State, 7 Ala.App. 180, 62 So. 306, 307.
"Intending the result which actually comes to pass; designed; intentional; not accidental or
involuntary. Garrett v. Commonwealth, 215 Ky. 484, 285 S.W. 203, 204; State v. Muzzy, 87 Vt. 267,
88 A. 895, 896; Rosevill Trust Co. v. American Surety Co. of New York, 91 N.J.Law 588, 102 A. 182;
State v. Lehman, 131 Minn. 427, 155 N.W. 399, Ann.Cas.1917D, 615.
-------------------------
"A 'willful' act may be described as one done intentionally, knowingly, and purposely, without
justifiable excuse, as distinguished from an act done carelessly, thoughtlessly, heedlessly, or
inadvertently. Lobdell Car Wheel Co. v. Subielski, 125 A. 462, 464, 2 W.W.Harr.(Del.) 462.
"A willful differs from a negligent act. The one is positive and the other negative. Sturm v. Atlantic
Mut. Ins. Co., 38 N.Y.Super.Ct. 317; Thayer v. Denver & R. G. R. Co., 21 N.M. 330, 154 P. 691, 694.
Simple negligence arises merely from heedlessness, and consists simply of facts of nonfeasance, and is
therefore incompatible with willfulness, which comprises acts of aggressive wrong. Stauffer v.
Schlegel, 74 Ind.App. 431, 129 N.E. 44, 46; and presuppposes a conscious purpoe to injure; In re
Cunningham, D.C.N.Y., 253 F. 663, 665; Ft. Wayne & Wabash Valley Traction Co. v. Justus, 180
Ind. 464, 115 N.E. 585, 587; Brittain v. Southern Ry. Co., 167 N.C. 642, 83 S.E. 702, 703.
"'Willfulness' implies an act intentionally and designedly; 'wantonness' implies action without
regard to the rights of others, a conscious failure to observe care, a conscious invasion of the rights of
others, a willful, unrestrained action; and 'recklessness' a disregard of consequences, an indifference
whether a wrong or injury is done or not, and an indifference to natural and probable consequences.
Jensen v. Denver & R. G. Co., 44 Utah 100, 138 P. 1185, 1188. Se, also, Evans v. Illinois Central R.
Co., 289 Mo. 493, 233 S.W. 397, 399; Cover v. Hershey Transit Co., 290 Pa. 551, 139 A. 266, 268;
Feore v. Trammel, 212 Ala. 325, 102 So. 529, 533; Crosman v. Southern Pac. Co., 44 Nev. 286, 194
P. 839, 843.
"Conscious; knowing; done with stubborn purpose, but not with malice. Bundy v. State, 206 N.W.
21, 22, 114 Neb. 121; American Surety Co. of New York v. Sullivan, C.C.A.N.Y., 7 F.2d 605, [*1774]
606; Helme v. Great Western Milling Co., 43 Cal.App. 416, 185 P. 510, 512; Gray v. Alabama Fuel &
Iron Co., 216 Ala. 416, 113 So. 35, 39.
"Premeditated; malicious; done with evil intent, or with a bad motive or purpose, or with
indifference to the natural consequences; unlawful; without legal justification. State v. Vanderveer,
115 Wash. 184, 196 P. 650; State v. Johnson, 194 N.C. 378, 139 S.E. 697, 698; Boyce v. Greeley
Square Hotel Co., 228 N.Y. 106, 126 N.E. 647, 649; State v. Palmer, 94 Vt. 278, 110 A. 436, 437."
Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1957 & 1968), pp. 1773-1774.
Let us look closer at this and see how far this "knowledge" extends into our present subject:
"As a legal norm, compulsory schooling carried the State into the control of individual lives.
Henry Bolander, a San Francisco educator who became the new State Superintendent the year
compulsory attendance law was passed (1874), explained its rationale: if one admits that 'education
forms the only secure foundation and bulwark of a republican form of government,' that 'universality
of education becomes thus of vital importance to the State,' and that the State must 'provide all the
facilities necessary to enable every child to acquire at least a common school education,' then 'we re
forced to the conclusion that it is not only a privilege, but the duty of the State, to compel every parent
to bestow upon his children at least the education which the State places within his reach.' Under this
reasoning the State must not only provide the means of education but also force parents to send their
children to school." Tyack, James, Benavot, Law and the Shaping of Public Education 1785-1954
(1987), p. 96.
Therefore, compelling those possessing legal personality to come hear perversity, evil and lawlessness
preached is what the State does to keep itself "alive" in the hearts of men. This will be amplified as we
continue.
Referring back to John Swett's statement, we see what the heathen calls "taxes" is their religious
worship of the dead thing that has no breath of Life in it from God--the State, its districts, and its
derivative nation, "established" by constitutions; and "improved" upon shortly before, during, and after
Lincoln v. All States, of which the result is the purported "law"--the lie of the Emancipation Proclamation
of 1862 and 1863--shrouded and bound together by the Fourteenth Amendment, the FASCES (See
Randy Lee's article on page three). Through these artifices, men dead to Christ and void of the Truth,
wisdom and understanding of God seek to be worshiped as God in the hearts of men. This is the
abomination that makes desolate written about in Daniel:
"And arms [*2428--temporal power to compel] shall stand on his part [*side], and they shall
pollute the sanctuary [*4720] of strength [*the hearts of men where God alone rules--see 1
Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16], and shall take away the daily sacrifice [*8548--the
daily sojourn in Christ--see Luke 9:23 & Matthew 16:24], and they shall place the abomination
[*8251--morality or moralism of the State--Genesis 2:9 & 17] that maketh desolate [*8374--waste
and eventually brings death]." Daniel 11:31.
2428. CHAYIL. From 2342; probably a force, whether of men, means or other resources; an army,
wealth, virtue, valor, strength: -able, activity, (+) army, band of men (soldiers), company, (great)
forces, goods, host, might, power, riches, strength, strong, substance, train, (+)valiant(-ly), valour,
virtuous(-ly), war, worthy(-ily)." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
"4720. MIQDASH. Or miqqdash (Exod. 15:17) {mik-ked-awsh'}; from 6942; a consecrated thing or
place, especially, a palace, sanctuary (whether of Jehovah or of idols) or asylum:--chapel, hallowed
part, holy place, sanctuary." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
"8548. TAMIYD. From an unused root meaning to stretch; properly, continuance (as indefinite
extension); but used only (attributively as adjective) constant (or adverbially, constantly); ellipt. the
regular (daily) sacrifice:--alway(-s), continual (employ- ment, -ly), daily, ([n-]) ever(-more),
perpetual." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
"8251. SHIQQUWTS. Or shiqquts {shik-koots'}; from 8262; disgusting, i.e. filthy; especially
idolatrous or (concretely) an idol:--abominable filth (idol, -ation), detestable (thing)." Strong's
Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
"8374. TA'AB. A primitive root [probably identical with 8373 through the idea of puffing
disdainfully at; compare 340]; to loathe (morally):--abhor." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
Christ then refers to this when he says:
"He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth [*makes
desolate, or wastes]." Luke 11:23.
"4650. SKORPIZO. Apparently from the same as 4651 (through the idea of penetrating); to
dissipate, i.e. (figuratively) put to flight, waste, be liberal:--disperse abroad, scatter (abroad)."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
And condemns their doctrine when He said:
"And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your
hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." Luke
16:15.
"MORALITY. 1. Knowledge of moral science. Late M.E. only. 2. pl. Moral qualities or
endowments. Late M.E. 3. Moral discourse or [*1281] instruction; a moral exhortation. Now chiefly in
disparaging sense, moralizing. Late M.E. b. Moral sense or interpretation (see MORAL a.); also, the
moral (of a fable, etc.) -1623. 4. A literary or artistic production inculcating a moral lesson; a
moralizing commentary; a moral allegory -1649. b. Hist. Name for the species of drama (popular in
the 16th c.) In which some moral or spiritual lesson was inculcated, and in which the chief characters
were personifications of abstract qualities 1765. 5. Moral science 1449. b. pl. Points of ethics, moral
principles or rules 1605. c. A particular system of morals 1680. d. Ethical aspect (of a question)
1869. 6. The quality or fact of being moral 1592. 7. Moral conduct usu. good moral conduct 1609. b. A
mock title ro one who assumes airs of virtue 1672." Oxford's Universal Dictionary (1955), pp. 1280-1281.
We know this is true, for it is written:
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men.The same came for a witness, to bear witness
of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear
witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
John 1:4 & 7-9.
"The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly." Proverbs
20:27.
"MORALISM. An egotistic [*self-righteous] pose of concern [*deceit] for goodness adopted in
general by natures evil at heart." Dictionary of Business and Scientific Terms (1968), p. 270.
"MORAL ACTIONS. Actions only in which men have knowledge to guide them and a will to choose
for themselves [*self-will]. Ruth. Inst. Nat. L. lib. 1, c. 1." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), p. 2246.
See also Genesis 2:7; Job 32:8; 1 Corinthians 2:11; 2 Corinthians 4:2-6; Romans 1:19-21; Luke 17:21.
So that because they do not speak according to His Law and Testimony, there is no light in them, for they
are like the thing they worship and trust in:
"To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no
light in them." Isaiah 8:20.
"Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's
sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: He
hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They
have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not:
noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they
walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every
one that trusteth in them." Psalm 115:1-8. See also Psalm 135:14-18.
"For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his
thoughts." Psalm 10:3.
And, in their schools, they teach others to be like them--dead to Christ:
"For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against
me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death." Proverbs 8:35-36.
This is the school of TYRANNUS --imposed religious military doctrine of evil in its morals to
promote the image of and give life to the beast in the hearts of men, and the heathen confesses and
admits this. Swett goes on to say:
"Where would the nation have been today but for public schools? Who fought in our battles in the
last war [*Lincoln's War], but the men who were drilled into patriots [*pagans] in public schools
supported by taxation?The public schools are the educators of the working men and women of the
nation [*promotion of commerce and communism], and they are the producers of all of the wealth
which is protected by [*moral] law. The schools mold the characters of the men [*mars the Seal of the
Holy Spirit] whose will, expressed through the ballot box, makes and unmakes constitutions, and
breathes life into the laws [*the image of the beast]." John Swett, California State Superintendent of
Public Instruction, in The California Teacher, 1866.
See also Torcaso v. Watkins and Abingdon School District v. Schempp. This is nothing new. The same
was done in Babylon:
"Nebuchadnezzar had established a college in the city for the training of both native princes and
those whom he might capture in war. This college was one of the best and highest in the land. Its
curriculum was 'right up-to-date,' and just a few jumps ahead of the other average institutions of the
empire. The curriculum specialized in some things, among which was training for the interpretation of
dreams and visions.
"In 1931 Dr. Langdon laid bare this college, its library, its curriculum, and all its details. These
details are so minute as to give us a description of the kind of uniform each young man must wear, for
among the books of the library of the college there was found the 'Rules and Regulations' of the
institution. As in the modern military schools, a copy of the 'Rules and Regulations' was placed in the
hands of each prince, and he had to commit the regulations to memory." Kinnaman, Diggers for Facts
(19__), pp. 134-139.
It is this darkness, a putting out of the candle of the Lord, they pass on to the succeeding generations,
which over time, like an infection, festers until it explodes. Who is the murderer now? It is written:
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8:44.
They therefore seek to destroy His Kingdom; and set up the kingdom of their father the devil, in the
hearts of men, thereby stealing God's Inheritance from Him, the most heinous crime of crimen laese
majestitis:
"behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:21.
"So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD
filled the house. And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. And
He said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will
dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no
more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom [*see Psalm 4:2], nor by the carcases
[*things that have no souls or breath of Life from God and therefore are dead in Law--persons and
corporations] of their kings in their high places [*places of reverence and esteem in the hearts of
men--see Luke 16:15]. In their setting of their threshold [*boundary of jurisdiction and venue] by my
thresholds [*usurpation of jurisdictional limits], and their post [*statutes, codes, rules, and
regulations] by my posts [*presuming them to be of equal weight and value with My Word--Matthew
15:9; Mark 7:7, 9-13 ], and the wall [*of separation--see Isaiah 55:8-9; John 8:23; Psalm 4:3;
Proverbs 15:24; 2 Timothy 2:9; 2 Peter 2:9-10; Nahum 1:7] between Me and them, they have even
defiled my holy name by their abominations [*incorporated or State licensed public worship under
them] that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. Now let them put
away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from Me, and I will dwell in the midst of
them for ever." Ezekiel 43:5-9.
"Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves,
and them that were entering in ye hindered [*by your morality]." Luke 11:52.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell [*Gehenna] than
yourselves." Matthew 23:15.
"And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with
thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the
laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. And
thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of
Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers,
uncircumcised in heart [*I know them not--see also Hosea 8:4], and uncircumcised in flesh [*you
know them not], to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat
and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. And ye have not
kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary [*the heart
of My people] for yourselves [*make profit from my tithes and offerings]. Thus saith the Lord GOD;
No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary [*the
hearts of the people in whom I dwell--Christ's church--see 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19; 2
Corinthians 6:16], of any stranger that is among the children of Israel." Ezekiel 44:5-9.
To be continued next month.
The Power of Words:
Justification, Condemnation, and Confirmation
Part Two
(continued from Issue the Thirty-nineth)
written solely by the Grace of God in
Christ Jesus our Sovereign Lord and Saviour
by John Joseph, a mere bondservant in and of Christ Jesus
The words we use are evidence of whether we speak in and of Truth in Christ, or a lie in and of the
Liar.
Without His Power, there can be no judgment executed, for:
"The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment." Psalm 37:30.
Brother Spurgeon remarks,
"Verse 30. 'The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom'-- Where the whole Psalm is dedicated to a
description of the different fates of the just and the wicked, it was meet to give a test by which they could be
known. A man's tongue is no ill index of his character. The mouth betrays the heart. Good men, as a rule, speak that which is to the edifying, sound speech, religious conversation, consistent with the divine illumination which they have received. Righteousness is wisdom in action, hence all men are practically wise
men, and well may the speech be wise. 'His tongue talketh of judgment.' His advocates justice, gives an honest
verdict on things and men, and he foretells that God's Judgments will come upon the wicked, as in the former
days. His talk is neither foolish nor ribald, neither vapid nor profane. Our conversation is of far more consequence
than some men imagine." Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Treasury of David, vol. I, p. 177.
Without speaking the words of His Power, we are not separate from the world, but evidence and
confirm that we are one of the many ignorant and condemned fools of the world. The seal, mark or
character on our hearts is of the world. It is not possible for two conflicting seals to be true on one
document:
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24. See also Luke 16:13.
"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" 2 Corinthians
6:15.
The seal we bear is either of Christ and we speak the words of that Seal, which is of Life and Power in,
of and from Him:
"Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." 2 Corinthians 1:21-22.
"That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that
holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of His glory." Ephesians 1:12-14.
"But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into
heaven? (*that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (*that is, to bring up
Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is,
the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed." Romans 10:6-10.
....or, we will bear the seal of the world and we will speak the words of that seal, which is of morality,
death, lies, &c:
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for
he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8:44.
"Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly. A wicked messenger falleth into
mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health. Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he
that regardeth reproof shall be honoured." Proverbs 13:16-18.
"A prudent man concealeth knowledge [*speaks in parables, metaphors, analogies]: but the heart of fools
proclaimeth foolishness." Proverbs 12:23.
"The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious: but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. The beginning
of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous and madness. A fool also is full of
words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?" Ecclesiastes 10:12-14.
"He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction." Proverbs
13:3.
"In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them." Proverbs 14:3.
For which all ashamed of Christ and His Words shall He be ashamed and shall condemn them:
"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of
him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
Mark 8:38.
"For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He
shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels." Luke 9:26.
"But He shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity." Luke
13:27.
The words we use evidence to the world with whom we abide, live, move and have our being, and
Whose Law we execute, in Whose Name and by Whose Authority:
"ABIDE. To abide means to obey; to comply with; to perform; to execute; to conform to; as to abide the
judgment or order of the court. See Jackson v. State of Kansas, 30 Kan. 88, 1 Pac.Rep. 317." Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing Dictionary (1948), p. 3.
"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?Wherefore by their
fruits ye shall know them." Matthew 7:16 & 20.
"Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." Proverbs 20:11.
"IDENTIFY. To ascertain or prove to be the same, agnoscere (to perceive an object to be the same as one we
have been acquainted with before): suum esse declarare, dicere, or confirmare (to say that it is one's own
property; as in 'to identify stolen goods'). To make or consider the same, aliquid alicui rei in aequo ponere or par
facere: exaequare (to equalize; absolutely, or aliquid cum aliqua re): discrimen tollere or removere (to remove
all distinction, with genitive, rerum, &c.): negare quidquam interesse (aliquid ab aliqua re)." Riddle, English-Latin Lexicon (1849), p. 388.
Note also John 15:7. The giving of a "name," "birth date," and "address," are all identifiers of crafty
men that confirm one to be the property of the Babylonian system which created and uses those identifiers
to mark its property. There are other words that should be avoided, but these are the major ones. Reading
the four accounts of the trial of the Christ are important for any one sojourning in the Office of Christ.
They must be known and understood in Law, not in philosophy or the pathetic wisdom of the world.
This is why in the patridiot or "law" reform movements (How do you reform a system that has no Law,
i.e. anomian--lawless? or, if it has Law, How is it possible to reform that Law which is perfect in
Christ?), with their multitude of words, huge briefs, long and loud speeches, etc., you will find they are
vain and for nought:
"The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious: but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. The beginning
of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous and madness. A fool also is full of
words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?" Ecclesiastes 10:12-14.
"For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words."
Ecclesiastes 5:3.
"He that useth many words shall be abhorred; and he that taketh to himself authority therein shall be hated."
Ecclesiasticus 20:8.
Even though they seem to be the right things to do or to say:
"There is a way which seemeth [*image] right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25. [*Insertion added].
Obviously, the doctrine of the seal is an important doctrine in Law, and we will expound on it here at
this time, for the Seal or mark determines the Law that is spoken. For this we will go to two sources: a
dictionary of etymology and a short dissertation by our Brother Benjamin Keach.
First from the dictionary of etymology:
"CHARACTER, distinctive mark xiv; graphic symbol xv; sum of mental and moral qualities xvii; personage,
personality xviii. ME. caracter--(O)F. caractere--(mostly late) L. character--Gr. kharakter instrument for
marking, impress, distinctive nature, f. khardssein(:-kharakj-) sharpen, furrow, scratch, engrave, prob. F. base
meaning 'scratch.' So cha:racteri-stic xvii. --F. caracteristique --late Gr. kharakteristikos; characterical and -istical were earlier. char-acterize. xvi. --F. Or medL. --late Gr." Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
(1966), p. 163.
Note the words "mark," "impress," "distinctive nature," "engrave." Note too that God made man in His
Image and Likeness:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth." Genesis 1:26.
....and Adam begat a son in his image and likeness:
"And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and
called his name Seth:" Genesis 5:3.
One is Spirit and the other flesh. Because of the differences between the two, there remains this
distinction throughout the rest of Scripture:
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." John 4:24.
"For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Galatians 6:8.
Speaking the words of the first Adam, i.e. philosophy, opinion, belief, etc., is not worshiping God in
Truth and in Spirit; but is sowing to the flesh, for which the punishment is death. Speaking the words of
Christ Jesus, the last Adam, is worshipping God in Truth and in Spirit, because,
"And all men are from the ground, and Adam was created of earth." Ecclesiasticus 33:10.
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a
quickening spirit." 1 Corinthians 15:45.
And the words Christ speak through all of us cannot be judged by those of the flesh because they are
corrupt,
"That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts;" Ephesians 4:22.
"But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." 1 Corinthians 2:15.
and,
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:14.
....but stands vindicated and justified by the Judgment of Christ upon all flesh.
Therefore,
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in
judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is
of me, saith the LORD." Isaiah 54:17
Now to our Brother Benjamin Keach, who made the following observations which are extremely
important for all to understand why we must speak those words bearing the Seal of Christ:
The Holy Spirit Compared
to a Seal and Sealer
"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation; in
whom also after that ye believed, ye were Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Eph 1:13.
"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are Sealed unto the day of Redemption." Eph
4:30.
" A seal is an instrument fitted to make an impression or mark, by which a man knows the thing
done, whatsoever it be, to be his own and not another's act; as also to ratify and make authentic bonds,
covenants, &c. And to open this metaphor of believers being sealed by the Holy Spirit, these things are
meet to be noted.
1. The letter written, or the vessel filled with treasure, every true Christian.
2. The wax appointed to the Seal, and that is the heart, the relenting and pliable heart of a sinner, Heb
10:6.
3. The Sealer, that is, as some conceive, the Father, or the Lord Jesus Christ; others more immediately
the Holy Spirit, or third Person of the Trinity.
4. The Seal, as some understand, is the Word of God, others the Spirit; we include both jointly
considered.
5. The Sealing or active impression, is the act of applying the Word in the ministry of the Gospel, by
the help of the Spirit, to the soul.
6. The print or passive impression, or image of the Seal left in wax, is called the image of God, or
knowledge, faith, love, truth, holiness, &c., which are originally in God, and communicated to us by
the Word and Spirit from him.
7. The end of Sealing, which is secrecy, property, and security, which things will appear more fully in
the Metaphor.
Metaphor
I. A Seal (especially if it be the king's seal) is highly prized, and very carefully kept.
II. A Seal makes a impression in the wax like itself, or leaves a resemblance of it.
III. Before the Seal can make an impression, the wax must be melted, or made pliable, soft, and fit to
take it.
IV. The Seal alters the form of the clay it is set or stamped upon. A piece of clay is a rude lump, without form or figure, saith Mr. Caryl, but if you take a Seal and stamp upon it, that clay receives any figure, or coat of arms, that is engraven upon
it, Job 38:14.
V. A Seal is to confirm and make sure bonds, contracts, or covenants that are made between man and
man. If an honest man make a promise of such and such things to his friend, he thinks he hath
ground to hope those good things, so promised him, are his own, but if he give it under his hand
writing, he concludes he is more sure; but if the writing, covenant, or promise be sealed, it is as firm
and as sure as he can desire to have it.
VI. A Seal is used to distinguish or differ things one from another, whereby property is known and
secured; a merchant knows his goods from other men's by the Seal or mark he sets upon them.
VII. A Seal is used to confirm and make laws authentic; till they have the king's Seal stamped upon
them, they oblige not the subject to obedience.
VIII. A Seal is used to secure, preserve or keep safe several things, which otherwise might be spoiled,
run out, and become good for nothing. Things that we would not have any to touch, nor meddle with,
we set a Seal upon.
IX. A Seal may times is counterfeited by ill men, they endeavour to imitate it as nigh as they can, to
cheat poor ignorant people thereby.
X. A Seal is used to hide or keep back others from the knowledge of things; if a man have any thing to
write unto his friend that he would not have others to know, he seals up his letter, upon the account of
secrecy, though it is likely afterwards, in convenient time, those things so concealed are discovered.
Parallel
I. The Holy Spirit is the King's Seal, the glorious King of heaven and earth, and therefore is highly
valued and prized by every true Christian.
II. The Holy Spirit makes an impression on the heart, there is in a believer a similitude, a likeness or
resemblance of God; every saint hath the image of the Spirit upon him, he is holy, harmless, heavenly,
&c.
III. Before the Holy Spirit Seals any person to the day of redemption, the heart is broken, softened, and
made pliable by the word, and powerful operations of grace, and so made fit to take that heavenly
impression. And thus you have David speaking, 'I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out
of joint: my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels.'
IV. The Spirit makes a change upon the soul of a man or woman that receives the impression of it, it
alters every faculty, and puts a new form or figure, as it were, upon it. Man naturally is a rude lump, a
gross and confused piece, by reason of sin, till the Spirit stamp upon him, or infuse into him new
habits.
V. The Holy Spirit confirms and makes sure covenant and promises of God to believers, Psal. 22:24.
God hath not only made gracious promises to them, of pardon, peace, and eternal life, &c. But he hath
left these promises written in the Holy Scriptures; and not only so, but such is his great love and
kindness to them, he hath given them his Seal, they have his promise, his word, and his Spirit also,
that they might not doubt of the truth and stability of his covenant, 2 Cor 1:22. 'We are his witnesses
the Holy Spirit, of these things, and so is also whom God hath given to them who obey him.' Eph 1:13,
Acts 5:32.
VI. The Holy Spirit distinguishes or differs one man from another; God hath set his Seal or mark upon
all his people. 'The Foundation of God remaineth sure, having this Seal, The Lord knoweth them that
are his,' 2 Tim 2:19. 'If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,' Rom 8:9.
VII. The Holy Spirit is the broad Seal of heaven, by which all the laws and institutions of the Gospel
were ratified and confirmed, with signs and wonders in the primitive times; by which means they
come to be authentic, and everlasting laws, obliging all men to obedience; and all laws of spiritual
worship, traditions, and institutions, enjoyed by any potentate, assembly, or council whatsoever, that
were not thus Sealed or witnessed to, are utterly to be rejected, Mark 16:20, Heb 2:3, 4.
VIII. The Spirit secures, preserves, and keeps safe all true believers, from the danger they continually
are exposed to, from sin, Satan, and the ensnarements and mischiefs of this evil world. Satan, nor
wicked men, must not, cannot destroy the servants of God, because of the mark or Seal he hath set
upon them. 'Set a mark upon the men that mourn,' &c. 'Saying, hurt not the earth, &c., till we have
Sealed the servants of our God in the forehead,' &c. 'And it was commanded them, that they should
not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men, which
have not the Seal of God upon their forehead,' Ezek 9:4, Rev 7:3, and 9:4.
IX. The Spirit is oftentimes counterfeited by Satan, who transforms himself into an angel of light, as
do his ministers, as if they were the ministers of righteousness; hence they pretend to light, spirit, and
holiness, and beguile the ignorant and unwary souls to their eternal ruin.
X. The Holy Spirit hath hid or Sealed up some things from men; 'Bind up my testimony, Seal the law
amongst my disciples,' Isa 8:16. Many thing are hid from saints themselves, in dark and mysterious
prophecies in the holy scripture. 'Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered,' &c. Yet in
due time those things shall be revealed, and not only so, but the saints of God themselves, by the Spirit
are such a sealed and hidden people, that but a very few can read and understand them, though legible
to be read of all the chosen and elect seed, and heirs of promise, and in that great day they shall be
known to the world.
Metaphor
I. A Seal among men, after a bond or covenant is sealed therewith, may be defaced or broken, and
thereby the said bond or covenant may lose its virtue, efficacy, and not be deemed good and authentic
in law.
II. A Seal among men can make no impression without a hand, or one to seal therewith.
III. A Seal is an instrument made by the hand of some artificer of earthly matter or substance, and
makes only a human or external impression.
IV. A Seal may be lost, or grow old and defective, and so make no perfect and clear impression.
Disparity
I. The Holy Spirit having once made a gracious and glorious impression in the soul of a man, neither
devil, nor any other enemy can ever, by all their strength and skill utterly deface, tear or break it, so as
to make the covenant of grace to lose its virtue and become of none effect to the soul; hence believers are
said, 'To be sealed to the day of redemption.' Eph. 4:30.
II. The Spirit is not only the Seal, but the Sealer, he makes the impression, needing no other, and also is the Seal by which the impression is made.
III. The Spirit is an uncreated being, or an immortal substance, and makes a divine and heavenly
impression in the mind or soul of a man or a woman, which by the operation of God's grace is made
pliable and meet to receive it.
IV. The Spirit can never be lost, grow old, be wore out, or become defective; so that the impression it
now makes, is the same in every respect with that it made five thousand years ago.
Inferences
I. From hence we may perceive by whom the change and difference is made, which is in any person.
Man is born in sin, and rather resembles Satan, and bears his image, than the character and likeness of
God, until the Holy Spirit stamp a new and heavenly character upon him, or infuse a spiritual habit into
him. 'Who makes thee to differ from another, or what hast thou, which thou has not received?' &.
II. It many serve to stir every one up, to examine their hearts, whether they have received the impression
of this spiritual Seal; as is the Seal, such is the impression it makes. 'They that are after the Spirit, mind
the things of the Spirit,' Rom 8:5. 'But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' 2 Cor
3:18.
III. For further trial take these few brief notes following.
1. Were your hearts ever humbled in the sense of sin, broken in pieces, melted, made soft, and pliable to
receive the Seal? The heart of man naturally is hard and obdurate, and will not take the spiritual
impression.
2. Did the Spirit ever set home, and seal any promise in particular, or promises in general upon your
hearts, so that you can say with the prophet David, 'Lord remember the word unto thy servant, upon
which thou hast caused me to hope?' Ps 119:49. The Ephesians are said 'To be sealed with the Spirit of
promise,' Eph 1:13.
3. Are you formed into the likeness and image of the Spirit? There is in that soul that his sealed by the
Spirit, a certain impression of divine light; former darkness flies away, and the eyes of the
understanding are enlightened, the soul sees an excellency in God, and in Jesus Christ, a transcendent
beauty in divine objects, and values the knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified, above all the
things in this world. Phil 3:9-12.
4. Are you holy, heavenly, spiritual? Are there principles of true piety and godliness wrought in you? Do
you love God because he is holy, and love his word because of the purity of it? Do you breathe and pant
after a further conformity and likeness to him?
5. Is thy heart washed from its filthiness? If thou art not cleansed from thy former wickedness, and
swinish nature, thou mayest assure thyself thou hast not the Spirit of God in thee, thou art far from
being sealed therewith. It is by the virtue of those promises that are imprinted upon the soul by the Holy
Ghost, that a man comes to 'Cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect
holiness in the fear of God.' 2 Cor 7:1.
Doth not thy heart condemn thee, for allowing thyself in any known sin, or for living in the continual
neglect of any one known duty? 'The Spirit witnesseth with our spirits, that we are the children of God.'
Where it is a sealing Spirit, it is a witnessing Spirit. It compares the heart and life of man with the rule
of the word: and if the bent and stream of the soul be heaven-ward, and his sincere design is after God,
and to live to him in this world, as well as to live with him in the world to come; to be holy here, as well
as to be happy hereafter; then the Spirit witnesses for him: but if otherwise, it witnesses against him, and
his own spirit condemns him.
IV. Moreover, this may inform sincere Christians to their unspeakable joy, how firm and sure the
covenant of grace is to them. 'They are sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption'; they are
marked for heaven, and cannot lose their title to the eternal inheritance, because they cannot lose the
Seal of it: as they have received the earnest of it, so they have the witness and seal of it, that it might be
every way firm and sure to them.
V. Let all who possess the Gospel, and pretend to the Spirit, strive to get this Seal. It is not enough to
read of the covenant of God, and to have some external knowledge of it, and dispute about it; but labour
to get it Sealed to by the Holy Spirit.
VI. If the Spirit be the earnest and Seal of this blessed inheritance, do not grieve it; this is the counsel of
the apostle gave to the Ephesians. Do not quench the motions of it, nor turn a deaf ear to the tender and
gracious reproofs it daily gives you. Do not give way to sin or Satan; neglect not your duties; pray often,
and hear the word, and be found in your places where the word and Spirit hath directed you: live in love,
and 'Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil-speaking be put away from you, with all malice:
and be kind one to another, and tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake hath
forgiven you': And hereby you will not grieve the Holy Spirit, whereby you are sealed unto the day of
redemption.
Lastly, Take heed Satan does not deceive thee with a counterfeit Seal. Many are confident they have
the Spirit light and power, when it is all mere delusion. The Spirit always leads and directs according to
the written word: 'He shall bring my word,' saith Christ, 'to your remembrance.' Some men boast of the
Spirit, and conclude they have the Spirit, and none but they, and yet at the same time cry down and
vilify his blessed ordinances and institutions, which he hath left in his word, carefully to be observed
and kept, till he come the second time without sin unto salvation." Benjamin Keach, Preaching from the
Types and Metaphors of the Bible (17__), pp. 508-510.
Christ therefore left us with this very important statement that we should all take to heart:
"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned." Matthew 12:36-37.
The day of judgment is every day, not some specific day far distant in the future, for we set a Record of
our walk here in the Court of God and it is that Record that must be found in the Lamb's Book of Life.
God does not take long journeys, does not sleep, and is not to be compared to man or the gods of men. If
our Record is not there, then we were not in Him and never can partake of His Blessings at His Table in
the Life to come. See 1 Kings 18.
And it is written,
"Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with [*or by] the words of thy mouth." Proverbs 6:2.
"A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.
He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction."
Proverbs 13:2-3.
So that when you learn of Him and wait on Him, "instant in season and out of season," you will inherit
all things through Him, for you will seek first His Righteousness:
"The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way." Psalm 25:9.
For those who seek further information on "The Power of Words," The Christian Jural Society
Press now have a 33 page pamphlet with 2 - 90 minute audio tapes available on request by
calling 818-347-7080.
The Urim and Thummim
From Cruden's Unabridged Concordance (1794):
"URIM & THUMMIM. According to the Hebrew, Exodus 28:30, the literal signification of thee two
words is, light and perfection, or the shining and the perfect. According to St. Jerome, doctrine and
judgment. According to the Sept., declaration or manifestation, and truth. Some will have it, that the
Urim and Thummim are only epithets or explanations of the stones of the breastplate of the high priest; as
if it were said, Thou shalt put therein stones that are shining and perfect. Others, to prove that the Urim
and Thummim were not the same thing with the twelve stones in the breastplate, give the following
reasons: (1) Because the stones were set and engraven in the breastplate, Exodus 28:17, 21, the Urim and
Thummim only put into it, which is a word of quite different and more loose and large signification, and
therefore probably does not design the same thing. (2) It is not likely that in such a brief account of the
sacred utensils, the same command would be repeated again; especially in more dark and general words
than it was mentioned before. And how could Moses put it in, when the workers had fastened to it already,
and could not, without violence, be taken from it? (3) Because the stones were put in by the workers,
Exodus 30:10, the Urim and Thummim by Moses himself, Leviticus 8:8 which seems to shew they were
one and the same thing. To which they answer, that there is an evident reason for both these omissions; of
the former in Exodus, because Moses mentions only those things which were made by the workers,
whereas the Urim and Thummim seems to have been made immediately by God, or by Moses with God's
direction; of the latter in Leviticus, because the stones are implied in the breastplate as a part of it, and
fastened to it, whereas there Moses only mentions what was put in by himself. Some say, that the Urim
and Thummim were two little golden figures which gave responses, which were shut up in the breastplate
as in a purse, and which answered, with an articulate voice, to all such questions as were put to them by
the high priest. Others think, that the name JEHOVAH written upon a plate of gold, was that the Scripture
calls Urim and Thummim. There are various other conjectures concerning the Urim and Thummim, but
nothing certain, because the Scripture is silent in this matter. It may suffice us to know, that this was a
singular piece of divine workmanship, which the high priest was obliged to wear upon solemn occasions,
as one of the conditions upon which God engaged to give him answers.
"There is a great diversity of opinions likewise concerning the manner in which God was consulted by
Urim and Thummim. It is agreed, that this way of consultation was used only in affairs of very great
importance: that the high priest was the only officiating minister in this ceremony; and that for this he
was to be clothed in all his pontifical habits: particularly he was to have on breastplate, to which the Urim
and Thummim was affixed; and lastly, that he was not allowed to perform this solemn consultation for a
private person, but only for the king, for the president of the Sanhedrim, for the general of the army of
Israel, or for other public persons: and even then, not upon any affair of a private nature, but for things
that relate to the public welfare of the church or state.
"When the Urim and Thummim was to be consulted, the high priest put on his robes, and presented
himself not in the sanctuary, where he could not enter but once a year, but in the holy place, before the
curtain that parted the most holy from the holy place. There standing upright, and turning his face toward
the ark of the covenant, upon which the divine presence reposed, he proposed the matter for which he had
been consulted. Behind him, at some distance out of the holy place, stood the person for whom God was
consulted, expecting with humility and reverence, the answer that it should please the Lord to give him.
The Rabbins, who are followed by Josephus, Philo, and several of the ancient fathers, are of opinion that
the high priest having then his eyes fixed upon the stones of the breastplate, which was before him, he
there read the answer of the Lord. The letters that raised themselves out of their places, and that shined
with more than ordinary lustre, were formed into the answer desired. For example, when David required
of God, whether he should go up to one of the cities of Judah, 2 Samuel 2:1 it was answered him, Alah, go
up. The three letters, Ain, Lamed, and He, came out of their places, as it were, and raised themselves,
above the rest, to compose that word which contained the answer.
"But there are some difficulties in this opinion. All the letters of the Hebrew alphabet were not found in
the breastplate; there were letters wanting, Heth, Teth, Zade, and Koph. To supply these, the Rabbins
pretend that the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were also upon the breastplate: but for all that, Teth
would be still wanting. Therefore they say, that this title also was read there Col-elle-schibte-Israel.--See
here all the tribes of Israel. But all this is advanced without proof, and without the least probability. A
second difficulty is this, that though one should admit all that the Hebrew doctors suggest in this affair,
yet by what rules did the high priest make a combination of these letters, and how put he them together?
[*Interpretation.] For it is not said that they came out of their places, but that they only raised themselves
above the rest. Supposed, for example, that any six of the letters should have swelled and shined with
more than ordinary lustre; how must the high priest dispose them, which must be first or last? It is
answered, that in this circumstance, he was always inquired and filled with the spirit of prophecy; but if it
were so, then the Urim and Thummim would have been unnecessary; for why must miracles be multiplied
without any occasion? The high priest needed only speak himself. And perhaps the whole use of the Urim
and Thummim was this, to be a sigh to the high priest that the Lord would replenish him with an internal
and supernatural light, and make him know his will in what was inquired after.
"Others think, with a great deal of probability, that God then gave his answers in attractive voices,
which were heard within the sanctuary, and from between the cherubims, which covered the ark or the
propitiatory. When the Israelites made peace with the Gibeonites, they were blamed for not having
inquired at the mouth of the Lord, Joshua 9:14, which insinuates that he had been used to make his voice
heard when he was consulted.
"If it be inquired how long the custom of consulting God by Urim and Thummim subsisted in Israel;
the Rabbins think, that it continued no longer than under the tabernacle. It is a maxim among them, that
the Holy Spirit spake to the children of Israel by Urim and Thummim while the tabernacle remained; and
under the first temple, that is, the temple of Solomon, by the prophets; and under the second temple, or
after the captivity of Babylon, by the Bath-kol, or the daughter of the voice. By this they mean a voice sent
from heaven, as that which was heard at the baptism of Christ, and at his transfiguration, Matthew 3:17 &
17:5.
"Spencer has adopted this opinion, and endeavours to support it by these two arguments. The first is,
that the Urim and Thummim were a consequence of the divine government, or of the Theocracy of the
Hebrews. While the Lord immediately governed his people, it was necessary that there should always be a
means at hand to consult hem, and to have recourse to him. Second, that this method was established to
consult God upon affairs that concerned the common interest of the whole nation. But the Theocracy
ceased, says he, when the kingdom became hereditary in the person and family of Solomon. The interests
of the nation ceased to be common, after the division of Israel into two monarchies; one governed by
Rehoboam and the other by Jeroboam. Lastly, what seems to be more convincing than any reasons drawn
from a conformity of things, it does not appear from the sacred history that there are any footsteps of
consulting the Lord by Urim and Thummim, after the construction of the temple of Solomon to the time of
its destruction; and after its destruction, all are agreed, that this was never restored to them again."
Alexander Cruden, Cruden's Unabridged Concordance (1794), p. 514.
From Watson's Bible Dictionary (1832):
"URIM & THUMMIM. The high priests of the Jews, we are told, consulted God in the most
important matters of their common wealth, and received answers by the Urim and Thummim. What these
were, is disputed among the critics. Josephus, and some others, imagine the answer was returned by the
stones of the breastplate appearing with an unusual lustre when it was favourable, or in the contrary case
dim. Others supposed, that the Urim and Thummim were something enclosed between the folding of the
breastplate; this some will have to be the Tetragrammaton, or the word hvhy, Jehovah. Christophorus de
Castro, and after him Dr. Spencer, maintain them to be two little images shut up in the doubling of the
breastplate, which gave the oracular answer from thence by an articulate voice. Accordingly, they derived
them from the Egyptians, who consulted their lares, and had an oracle, or teraphim, which they called
Truth. This opinion, however, has been sufficiently confuted by the learned Dr. Pococke and by Witsius.
The more common opinion among Christians concerning the oracle by Urim and Thummim, and which
Dr. Prideaux espouses, is, that when the high priest appeared before the veil, clothed with his ephod and
breastplate, to ask counsel of god, the answer was given with an audible voice from the mercy seat, within
the veil; but, it has been observed, that this account will by no means agree with the history of David's
consulting the oracle of Abiathar, 1 Samuel xxiii, 9, 11; xxx, 7, 8; because the ark, on which was the
mercy seat, was then at Kirjathjearim; whereas David was in the one case at Ziklag, and in the other in
the forest of Hareth. Braunius and Hottinger have adopted another opinion: they suppose, that, when
Moses is commanded to put in the breastplate the Urim and Thummim, signifying lights and perfections
in the plural number, it was meant that he should make choice of the most perfect set of stones, and have
them so polished as to give the brightest lustre; and, on this hypothesis, the use of the Urim and
Thummim, or of these exquisitely polished jewels, was only to be a symbol of the divine presence, and of
the light and perfection of the prophetic inspiration; and, as such, constantly to be worn by the high priest
in the exercise of his sacred function, especially in consulting the oracle.
"Michaelis observes: That in making distributions of property, and in cases of disputes relative to meum
(mine) and tuum (thine) recourse was had to the lot, in default of any other means of decision, will
naturally be supposed. The whole land was partitioned by lot; and that, in after times, the lot continued to
be used, even in courts of justice, we see from Proverbs 16:33; 18:18; where we are expressly taught to
remember, that it is Providence which maketh the choice, and that therefore we ought to be satisfied with
the decision of the lot, as the will of God. It was for judicial purposes, in a particular manner, that the
sacred lot called Urim and Thummim was employed; and on this account the costly embroidered pouch, in
which the priest carried this sacred lot on his breast, was called the judicial ornament. 'But was this sacred
lot used likewise in criminal trials?' Yes, says Michaelis, only to discover the guilty, to convict them; for
in the only two instances of its use in such cases which occur in the whole Bible, namely, in Joshua 7:14-18, 1 Samuel 14:37-45, we find the confessions of the two delinquents, Achon and Jonathan, annexed. It
appears also to have been used only in the case of an oath being transgressed which the whole people had
taken, or the leader of the host in their name, but not in the case of other crimes; for an unknown murder,
for example, was not to be discovered by recourse to the sacred lot.
"The inner sanctuary, within the veil of the tabernacle, observes Dr. Hales, or most holy place, was
called the oracle, 1 Kings 6:16, because there the Lord communed with Moses, face to face, and gave him
instructions in cases of legal difficulty or sudden emergency, Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89; 9:8; Exodus
33:11; a high privilege granted to none of his successors. After the death of Moses a different mode was
appointed for consulting the oracle by the high priest, who put on 'the breastplate of judgment,' a principal
part of the pontifical dress, on which were inscribed the words Urim and Thummim, emblematical of
divine illumination; as the inscription on his mitre, 'Holiness to the Lord,' was of sanctification, Exodus
28:30-37; Leviticus 8:8. Thus prepared, he presented himself before the Lord to ask counsel on public
matters, not in the inner sanctuary, which he presumed not to enter, except on the great day of national
atonement, but without the veil, with his face toward the ark of the covenant, inside; and behind him, at
some distance, without the sanctuary, stood Joshua, the judge, or person who wanted the response, which
seems to have been given with an audible voice from within the veil, Numbers 27:21, as in the case of
Joshua, 6:6-15; of the Israelites during the civil war with Benjamin, Judges 20:27, 28; on the appointment
of Saul to be king, when he hid himself, 1 Samuel 10:22-24; of David, 1 Samuel 22:10; 23:2-12; 30:8; 2
Samuel 5:23, 24; of Saul, 1 Samuel 28:6. This mode of consultation subsisted under the tabernacle erected
by Moses in the wilderness, and until the building of Solomon's temple; after which we find no instances
of it. The oracles of the Lord were thenceforth delivered by the prophets; as by Ahijah to Jeroboam, 1
Kings 11:29; by Shemaiah to Rehoboam, 1 Kings 12:22; by Elijah to Ahab, 1 Kings 17:1; 21:17-29; by
Michaiah to Ahab and Jehoshaphat, 1 Kings 22:7; by Elisha to Jehoshaphat and Jehoram, 2 Kings 3:11-14; by Isaiah to Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19:6-34; 20:1-11; by Huldah to Josiah, 2 Kings 22:13-20; by Jeremiah
to Zedekiah, Jeremiah 32:3-5, &c. After the Babylonish captivity, and the last of the prophets, Haggai,
Zechariah, and Malachi, the oracle ceased; but its revival was foretold by Ezra, 2:63, and accomplished by
Christ, who was himself the oracle, under the old and new covenants, Genesis 15:1; John 1:1. See
BREASTPLATE." Richard Watson, Watson's Bible Dictionary (1832), vol. II, pp. 940-941.
From Watson's Bible Dictionary (1832):
"BREASTPLATE or PECTORAL. One part of the priestly vestments, belonging to the Jewish high
priests. It was about ten inches square, Exodus 28:13-31; and consisted of a folded piece of the same rich
embroidered stuff of which the ephod was made. It was worn on the breast of the high priest, and was set
with twelve precious stones, on each of which was engraven the name of one of the tribes. They were set
in four rows, three in each row, and were divided from each other by the little golden squares or partitions
in which they were set. The names of these stones, and that of the tribe engraven on them, as also their
disposition on the breastplate, are usually given as follows; but what stones really answer to the Hebrew
name, is for the most part very uncertain:
"This breastplate was fastened at the four corners, those on the top to each shoulder, by a golden hook
or ring, at the end of a wreathen chain; and those below to the girdle of the ephod, by two strings or
ribbons, which had likewise two rings or hooks. This ornament was never to be separated from the priestly
garment; and it was called the memorial, because it was a sign whereby the children of Israel might know
that they were presented to God, and that they were had in remembrance by him. It was also called the
breastplate of judgment, because it had the divine oracle of URIM and THUMMIM annexed to it. These
words signify lights and perfection, and are mentioned as in the high priest's breastplate; but what they
were, we cannot determine. Some think they were two precious stones added to the other twelve, by the
extraordinary lustre of which, God had marked his approbation of a design, and, by their becoming dim,
his disallowance of it; others, that these two words were written on a precious stone, or plate of gold, fixed
in the breastplate; others, that the letters of the names of the tribes, were the Urim and Thummim; and
that the letters by standing out, or by an extraordinary illumination, marked such words as contained the
answer of God to him who consulted this oracle. Le Clerc will have them to be the names of two precious
stones, set in a golden collar of the high priest, and coming down to his breasts, as the magistrates of
Egypt wore a golden chain, at the end of which hung the figure of truth, engraven on a precious stone.
Prideaux thinks the words chiefly denote the clearness of the oracles dictated to the high priest, though
perhaps the lustre of the stones in his breastplate might represent this clearness. Jahn says the most
probable opinion is, that URIM and THUMMIM (,ydva, ,ymtv, light and justice, Septuagint)
(manifestation and truth) was a sacred lot, 1 Samuel 14:41, 42. There were employed, perhaps, in
determining this lot, three precious stones, on one of which was engraven dk, yes; on the other al, no; the
third being destitute of any inscription. The question proposed, therefore, was always to be put in such a
way, that the answer might be direct, either yes or no, provided any answer was given at all. These stones
were carried in the purse or bag, formed by the lining or interior of the pectoral; and when the question
was proposed, if the high priest drew out the stone which exhibited yes, the answer was affirmative; if the
one on which no was written, the answer was negative; if the third, no answer was to be given, Joshua
7:13-21; 1 Samuel 14:40-43; 28:6. In the midst of all this conjecture, only two things are certain: 1. That
one of the appointed methods of consulting God, on extraordinary emergencies, was by URIM and
THUMMIM; 2. That the oracles of God rejected all equivocal and enigmatical replies, which was the
character of the Heathen pretended oracles. 'The words of the Lord are pure words.' His own oracle bears,
therefore, an inscription which signifies lights and perfections, or, the shining and the perfect; or,
according to the Septuagint, manifestation and truth. In this respect it might be a type of the Christian
revelation made to the true Israel, the Christian church, by the Gospel. St. Paul seems especially to allude
to this translation of Urim and Thummim by the Septuagint, when he speaks of himself and his fellow
labourers, 'commending themselves to every man's conscience by manifestation of the truth;' in opposition
to those who by their errors and compliances with the Jewish prejudices, or with the philosophical taste of
the Greeks, obscured the truth, and rendered ambiguous the guidance of Christian doctrine. His preaching
is thus tacitly compared to the oracles of God; theirs, to their misleading and perplexed oracles of the
Heathen." Richard Watson, Watson's Bible Dictionary (1832), pp. 179-180.
From The Westminster Bible Dictionary (1944):
"URIM & THUMMIM. [lights and perfections]. It should be observed that the two Hebrew words
begin with the first and last letters of the alphabet respectively. The order is once reversed (Deuteronomy
33:8), and twice Urim alone is used (Numbers 27:21; 1 Samuel 28:6). One or more objects belonging to
the ephod of the high priest, put in the breastplate of judgment so as to be on the high priest's heart when
he went in before the Lord (Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8; cf. Ecclesiasticus 45:10). The receptacle was
probably a fold of the breastplate or the space underneath it. In connection with the Urim and Thummim,
the high priest learned the will of God in doubtful cases. This method was not adapted for inquiring the
divine will concerning private individuals or private matters, but was employed only in behalf of the
nation; hence the required place for the Urim and Thummim was in the breastplate of judgment, which
bore the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on 12 precious stones. With the Urim and Thummim, the will of
Jehovah, the Judge, concerning judicial matters, and the royal desire of Jehovah, the King, were learned
(Numbers 27:21; cf. Joshua 9:14; Judges 1:1; 20:18, 23, 27, 28; 1 Samuel 10:22; 14:36-42; 22:10, 13;
23:9-12; 28:6; 30:7, 8; 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:19, 23, 24). The will of Jehovah was inquired with Urim and
Thummim, not only the sanctuary or where the Ark was (Judges 20:27, 28; 1 Samuel 22:10), but in any
place, provided the authorized priest with the ephod was present. The answer was usually quite simple,
often a mere affirmation or denial, or a choice of one tribe or place out of several; but it was not always so
(1 Samuel 10:22; 2 Samuel 5:23, 24). Occasionally, also, when sin had interrupted communion with God,
no answer was granted (1 Samuel 14:37; 28:6). There is no reference to the use of the Urim and
Thummim after the reign of David, and at the time of the Return from exile there was no priest with Urim
and Thummim (Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65); hence Josephus is probably wrong in saying that the virtue or
use ceased 200 years before his time (Josephus, Antiquities, iii, 8, 9). The use of this method was a
prerogative of the high priest alone; and, since he belonged to the tribe of Levi, the possession of the Urim
and Thummim was a glory of that tribe (Deuteronomy 33:8).
"Different explanations of the Urim and Thummim have been offered. For example, an analogue has
been sought in the badge of office which the Egyptian high priest, as supreme judge, is reported by
classical writers to have worn, consisting of an emblem of truth suspended from his neck on a golden
chain; but the Egyptian high priest carried this official token during the judicial proceedings only, and
hung it on the person in whose favor judgment was pronounced; and there is no evidence that it was ever
used a means for inquiring the divine will. Other interpreters have supposed that when to the high priest,
clad in the ephod with the Urim and Thummim and offering prayer, and idea occurred, its divine origin
and truth were confirmed by the unwonted gleaming f the gems in the breastplate. From this phenomenon
was derived the name Urim, lights. It has been suggested that the answer was spelled out by the successive
gleaming of the letters which composed the proper names on the stones; but, to say nothing of the fact that
the complete alphabet is not yielded by these names, and that in several of the recorded responses letters
occur which are not found on the stones, the whole idea smacks of the feigned miracles of Greek and
Roman priests, and is foreign to the methods and conceptions of the Hebrew ritual.
"Only 2 theories are important: 1. The Urim and Thummim probably were 2 appendages of the ephod
and detachable, and were used as the lot, cast like dice, and by their fall somehow revealed the divine will.
Support is sought for this theory in the fact that the casting of the lot is twice referred to in close
association with seeking revelation through Urim and Thummim (1 Samuel 10:19-22; 14:37-42). In the
later case, Saul prayed, 'Give a perfect lot,' (ch. 14:41, R.V. margin). The word thumim is used, which it is
proposed to pronounce thummim, and thus make the Urim and Thummim to have been a kind of sacred
lot. The text of the Septuagint favors this interpretation. While there is much uncertainty about Urim and
Thummim in the sacred lot, some have supposed that they were flat stones, white on the one side and
black on the other. If both fell white side up, the answer was in the affirmative; if black, then negative.
But if one had the white side and the other the black side upwards, no reply was vouchsafed to the
question. 2. The Urim and Thummim give no outward manifestation, but served as a symbol. The high
priest arrayed himself in the ephod with Urim and Thummim, which betokened his authority to obtain
light and truth, as the name indicates, in order that he might seek counsel of Jehovah in the divinely
appointed manner. He laid the matter humbly before God in prayer; the answer dawned in his mind; he
believed that the response was correct, because he had made his request in the manner of God's
appointment, and because he had God's promise that he should receive light and truth. The answer was
inward illumination, without any external sign, and finds its parallel in the revelations granted to the
prophets." Westminster Bible Dictionary (1944), pp. 619-620.
"BREASTPLATE. 1. A sacred article of dress worn by the Jewish high priest (Exodus 28:15-30). See
HIGH PRIEST. 2. Armor designed to protect the body in battle (Revelation 9:3); see ARMOR.
Figuratively righteousness (Isaiah 59:17; Ephesians 6:14; Wisdom of Solomon 5:18), or faith and love,
constitute a spiritual breastplate (1 Thessalonians 5:8)." Westminster Bible Dictionary (1944), p. 80.
From Easton's Bible Dictionary:
"THUM'MIM. Perfection (LXX., 'truth;' Vulg., 'veritas'), Ex.28:30; Deut.33:8; Judg.1:1;20:18;
1 Sam.14:3,18; 23:9; 2 Sam.21:1. What the 'Urim and Thummim' were cannot be determined with any
certainty. All we certainly know is that they were a certain divinely-given means by which God imparted,
through the high priest, direction and counsel to Israel when these were needed. The method by which
this was done can be only a matter of mere conjecture. They were apparently material objects, quite
distinct from the breastplate, but something added to it after all the stones had been set in it, something in
addition to the breastplate and its jewels. They may have been, as some suppose, two small images, like
the teraphim (comp. Judg. 17:5; 18:14, 17, 20; Hos. 3:4), which were kept in the bag of the breastplate, by
which, in some unknown way, the high priest could give forth his divinely imparted decision when
consulted. They were probably lost at the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. They were never
seen after the return from captivity." Easton's Bible Dictionary.
The Cult of Lincoln
by Greg Loren Durand
The following is Appendix Five from Greg Loren Durand's newly released 380 page book "America's Caesar
-- Abraham Lincoln and the Birth of a Modern Empire." His original footnotes ( {1} ) appear at the end of the
article.
"Abraham Lincoln has long since entered the sublime realm of apotheosis. Where now is the man so rash
as to warmly criticize Abraham Lincoln?"{1}
The American obsession with the sixteenth President of the United States can rightly be described as a
cult -- not merely a political cult, but an idolatrous religious cult wherein Abraham Lincoln is literally
worshipped as a god. His deified likeness seated upon its marble throne in Washington, D.C. is but a
symbol of the sublime place of adoration he occupies in the hearts of his admirers everywhere.
This cult was founded on 15 April 1865 when the death of Lincoln altered what otherwise would have
been his rightful place in history. Up until that time, Lincoln was denounced by nearly everyone in
Washington, including the men of his own party and the members of his own Cabinet, as "a despicable
tyrant,"{2} "that original gorilla,"{3} and "a low, cunning clown."{4}
He was ridiculed for his "halting imbecility,"{5} and his Administration was criticized for its
"feebleness, faithlessness and incapacity,"{6} for being "an insult to the flag, and a traitor to their God,"{7}
and for dragging the Union to ruin."{8} Of "Ol' Honest Abe" it was asserted that "a hound might hunt Mr.
Lincoln, and never find him by an honest scent."{9} Wendell Phillips, a leading Republican Abolitionist,
viewed Lincoln as "a mere convenience [who was] waiting, like any other broomstick, to be used."{10}
In an editorial entitled "Lincoln and Johnson," the editors of the New York World wrote in 1864:
The age of railsplitters and tailors, of buffoons, boors and fanatics has succeeded. Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson
are both men of mediocre talent, neglected education, narrow views, deficient information and of course, vulgar
manners. A statesman is supposed to be a man of some depth of thought and extent of knowledge. Has this
country with so proud a record been reduced to such intellectual poverty as to be forced to present two such names
as Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson for the highest stations in this most trying crisis of its history? It is a
cruel mockery and bitter humiliation. Such nominations at this juncture are an insult to the common sense of the
people.{11}
The denunciations ceased with Lincoln's last breath when the real Abraham Lincoln suddenly vanished
from the public record to be replaced by a figure resembling the mythical gods of pagan Rome more than a
man. The Republican-run and ill-named Globe-Democrat of St. Louis stated, "One thing is certain,
Lincoln was apotheosized after his death. Had he lived 4000 years ago his name would now be enrolled
among the gods of Greece and Rome."{12} In the words of Charles L. C. Minor, "The real Lincoln was a
very different man, in his private and in his public life , from what the world's verdict has pronounced
him to be."{13} Ward H. Lamon, who was one of Lincoln's closest friends during his stay in the White
House, stated:
The ceremony of Mr. Lincoln's apostheosis was planned and executed by men who were unfriendly to him
while he lived. The deification took place with showy magnificence; men who had exhausted the resources of
their skill and ingenuity in venomous detractions of the living Lincoln were the first, after his death, to undertake
the task of guarding his memory, not as a human being, but as a god.
There was the fiercest rivalry as to who should canonize Mr. Lincoln in the most solemn words; who should
compare him to the most sacred character in all history. He was prophet, priest and king, he was Washington, he
was Moses, he was liken to Christ the Redeemer, he was likened to God. After that came the ceremony of
apotheosis.
For days and nights after the President's death it was considered treason to be seen in public with a smile on
your face. Men who ventured to doubt the ineffable purity and saintliness of Lincoln's character, were pursued by
mobs of men, beaten to death with paving stones, or strung up by the neck to lamp posts until dead.{14}
Since American society at that time was dominated by an external form of Christianity, one of the main
features of Lincoln's apotheosis was to declare his eminent religious character. J.G. Holland eulogized his
dead hero with these words:
Lincoln unequaled since Washington in service to the Nation. Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as
eminently a Christian President. Conscience, not popular applause, not love of power, was the ruling motive of
Lincoln's life. No stimulant ever entered his mouth, no profanity ever came from his lips.
Abraham Lincoln was the first of all men who have walked the earth since the Nazarene.{15}
Likewise, when Lincoln's alleged birthplace in Kentucky{16} was dedicated as a national monument,
Henry Watterson, a Southern-born man and a former Confederate soldier, boldly declared:
You lowly cabin which is to be dedicated on the morrow may well be likened to the Manger of Bethlehem, the
boy that went thence to a God-like destiny, to the Son of God, the Father Almighty of Him and us all. Whence his
prompting except from God? His tragic death may be likened also to that other martyr whom Lincoln so closely
resembled.
There are utterances of his which read like rescripts from the Sermon on the Mount. Reviled as Him of
Galilee, slain, even as Him of Galilee, yet as gentle and as unoffending a man who died for men.{17}
Today, nearly a century and a half after his death, the myth of Lincoln's moral character and faith in
Christianity continues to be perpetuated. In his lectures, David Barton of Wallbuilders, Inc. often cites
Lincoln's ambiguous religious statements as supporting evidence of "America's Christian Heritage." One
Internet site refers to Lincoln as "America's Abraham."{18} In the words of popular Southern Baptist
minister, Dr. Charles Stanley:
Despite his Christian upbringing, Lincoln did not accept Christ as his Savior until later in life. While he
governed the nation by many of the principles written in God's Word, he lacked a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. After the death of his son, Willie, Lincoln heard for the first time of Christ's personal love and forgiveness
for each man and woman.
He wrote: "When I left Springfield, I asked the people to pray for me; I was not a Christian. When I buried my
son--the severest trial of my life--I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg, and saw the graves of
thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ."
Finally, Lincoln had found the inner peace he longed for all his life. Following his salvation experience, he
worshiped regularly at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church and planned to make a public confession of his
faith. The war was winding down. Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9--Palm Sunday, and Lincoln was re-
elected President. He gave thanks to God for bringing a close to the war and began turning the nation's interest
toward reconciliation and reconstruction. However, five days later on Good Friday, he was shot by an assassin's
bullet.
Throughout his life, Lincoln suffered many defeats -- enough to make most men give-up. But not Abraham
Lincoln. His dedication and commitment found merit in heaven. He believed he was chosen "for such a time as
this."{19}
Was Lincoln indeed a Christian? Is it true that he accepted Jesus Christ in the last days of his life? To
answer these questions, we must not turn to the tall tales that were concocted following Lincoln's death by
ambitious Republican radicals and later permanently etched in the historical record by endless repetition,
but to the testimonies of those who knew him personally, both before and during his tenure as President of
the United States. In the suppressed biography entitled The Life of Lincoln, by William H. Herndon, who
was "for Twenty Years His Friend and Partner," we find the following description of the sixteenth
President:
Lincoln was a deep-grounded infidel. He disliked and despised churches. He never entered a church except to
scoff and ridicule. On coming from a church he would mimic the preacher. Before running for any office he wrote
a book against Christianity and the Bible. He showed it to some friends and read extracts. A man named Hill was
greatly shocked and urged Lincoln not to publish it. Urged it would kill him politically. Hill got this book in his
hands, opened the stove door, and it went up in flames and ashes. After that, Lincoln became more discreet, and
when running for office often used words and phrases to make it appear that he was a Christian. He never
changed on this subject. He lived and died a deep-grounded infidel.{20}
Herndon was so outraged by the "pretended biographies" of his late friend that he wrote the following
to Lincoln's former associate Ward H. Lamon on 18 February 1870:
In New Salem Mr. Lincoln lived with a class of men, moved with them, and had his being with them. They
were scoffers at religion, made loud protests against the followers of Christianity. They declared that Jesus was
an illegitimate child. On all occasions that offered they debated on the various forms of Christianity. They
ridiculed old divines, and not infrequently made those very divines skeptics by their logic; made them
disbelievers as bad as themselves. In 1835 Lincoln wrote a book on infidelity and intended to have it published.
The book was an attack on the idea that Jesus was Christ. Lincoln read the book to his friend Hill. Hill tried to
persuade him not to publish it. Lincoln said it should be published. Hill, believing that if the book was published
it would kill Lincoln forever as a politician, seized it and thrust it in the stove. It went up in smoke and ashes
before Lincoln could get it out. When Mr. Lincoln was candidate for the Legislature he was accused of being an
infidel, and of having said that Jesus was an illegitimate child. He never denied it, never flinched from his views
on religion. In 1854 he made erase the name of God from a speech I was about to make. He did this to one of his
friends in Washington City. In the year 1847 Mr. Lincoln ran for Congress against the Rev. Peter Cartwright. He
was accused of being an infidel; he never denied it. He knew it could and would be proved on him. I know when
he left Springfield for Washington he had undergone no change in his opinion on religion. He held many of the
Christian ideas in abhorrence. He held that God could not forgive sinners. The idea that Mr. Lincoln carried a
Bible in his bosom or in his boots to draw on his opponents is ridiculous.{21}
Two years later Lamon himself admitted:
[Lincoln] never joined any church. He did not believe that the Bible was inspired.
He denied that Jesus was the Son of God. Overwhelming testimony out of many mouths, and nothing stranger
than out of his own, place these truths beyond controversy.{22}
In her biography entitled Life of Abraham Lincoln, Ida Tarbell declared, "If Mr. Lincoln was not
strictly orthodox, he was profoundly religious. He was a regular and reverent attendant at church."{23}
However, Lincoln's "regular and reverent" church attendance was seen in a different light by his cousin,
Dennis Hanks:
When Lincoln went to church, he went to mock and came away to mimic. When he went to New Salem he
consorted with free thinkers [atheists] and joined with them in deriding the gospel story of Jesus. He wrote a
labored book on this subject, which his friend Hill put in the stove and burned up. Not until after Mr. Lincoln's
death were these facts denied [by the Republicans]...
At an early age Abe began to attend the preachings around about, but mostly at the Pidgeon Creek Church,
with a view to catching anything that might be ludicrous in the preaching, in the manner or matter, and making it
a subject of mimicry as soon as he could collect a crowd of idle boys and men to hear him. He frequently
reproduced a sermon with a nasal twang, rolling his eyes, and all sorts of droll aggravations, to the great delight
of the wild fellows assembled. Sometimes he broke out with stories passably humorous and invariably
vulgar.{24}
John Matthews, who described himself as Lincoln's "personal and political friend," testified that he
"attacked the Bible and the New Testament," and "would come into the clerk's office where I and some
young men were writing... and would bring a Bible with him; would read a chapter and argue against
it."{25} John G. Nicolay, who was Lincoln's private secretary throughout his Presidency, and who
"probably was closer to the martyred [sic] President than any other man,"{26} declared, "Mr. Lincoln did
not, to my knowledge, in any way change his religious views or beliefs from the time he left Springfield
till his death."{27} Even Lincoln's own widow confessed in a letter to family friend Lamon that, "Mr.
Lincoln had no hope and no faith in Christianity."{28}
It is beyond comprehension how a professing Christian, such as Lincoln is said to have been, would
have engaged in the vulgar manner of behavior that he did. According to William Herndon, "Lincoln
could never realize the impropriety of telling vulgar yarns in the presence of a minister of the gospel," and
"Lincoln's highest delight was to get a rowdy crowd in groceries or on street corners and retell vulgar
yarns too coarse to put in print."{29} A.Y. Ellis, who was a friend of Lincoln's, said, "On electioneering
trips Mr. Lincoln told stories which drew the boys after him. I remember them, but modesty forbids me to
repeat them."{30} Ward Lamon likewise stated, "His humor was not of a delicate quality; it was chiefly
exercised in telling and hearing stories of the grossest sort. Mr. Lincoln's habit of relating vulgar yarns
(not one of which will bear printing) was restrained by no presence and no occasion."{31} In a rare moment
of honesty, Lincoln worshipper J.G. Holland wrote:
It is useless for Mr. Lincoln's biographers to ignore this habit; the whole West, if not the whole country, is full
of these stories, and there is no doubt at all that he indulged in them with the same freedom that he did in those
of a less objectionable character.... Men who knew him throughout all his professional and political life... have
said that "he was the foulest in his jests and stories of any man in the country."{32}
Following the bloody battle of Antietam in 1862, the Sussex, New Jersey Statesman published the
following account:
We see that many papers are referring to the fact that Lincoln ordered a comic song to be sung upon the
battlefield. We have known the facts of the transaction for some time, but have refrained from speaking about
them. As the newspapers are stating some of the facts, we will give the whole. Soon after one of the most
desperate and sanguinary battles, Mr. Lincoln visited the Commanding General [George McClellan], who, with
his staff, took him over the field, and explained to him the plan of the battle, and the particular places where the
battle was most fierce. At one point the Commanding General said: "Here on this side of the road five hundred of
our brave fellows were killed, and just on the other side of the road four hundred and fifty more were killed, and
right on the other side of that well five hundred rebels were destroyed. We have buried them where they fell." "I
declare," said the President, "this is getting gloomy; let us drive away." After driving a few rods the President
said: "Jack," speaking to his companion [Ward Lamon], "can't you give us something to cheer us up? Give us a
song, and a lively one." Whereupon, Jack struck up, as loud as he could bawl, a comic negro song, which he
continued to sing while they were riding off from the battle ground, and until they approached a regiment drawn
up, when the Commanding General said: "Would it not be well for your friend to cease his song till we pass this
regiment? The poor fellows have lost more than half their number. They are feeling very badly, and I should be
afraid of the effect it would have on them." The President asked his friend to stop singing until they passed the
regiment.
When this story was told to us we said: "It is incredible, it is impossible, that any man could act so over the
fresh-made graves of the heroic dead." But the story is told on such authority we know it to be true. We tell the
story now that the people may have some idea of the man elected to be President of the United States.{33}
Above we have read the alleged and undocumented testimony of Lincoln that he "consecrated his life to
Christ" on the battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. However, despite its uncritical endorsement by
Charles Stanley's organization, such is merely a myth drawn from one of the many stories that were
fabricated about Lincoln as part of his apotheosis ceremony. Indeed, it does not coincide with the
testimonies of eyewitnesses of Lincoln's conduct at Gettysburg while the ground was still wet from the
blood of both Union and Confederate soldiers. General Donn Piatt, who was present as Lincoln toured the
battlefield, referred to Gettysburg as "the field that he shamed with a ribald song."{34} One observer of
Lincoln's lack of respect for those who died for their convictions voiced his disgust in verse: "Abe may
crack his jolly jokes/Over bloody fields of battle/While yet the ebbing life tide smokes/ From men who die
like butchered cattle/And even before the guns grow cold/To pimps and pet Abe cracks his jokes."{35}
Lincoln's last words were a joke told at the expense of the conquered and devastated Southern people. In
fulfillment of the promise of Psalm 7: 11-16, the foul tongue of the reprobate President was forever
silenced by the assassin's bullet as he sat in the audience of--fittingly--a comedy play at Ford's Theater in
the capital of a country he had destroyed.
It is noteworthy that during Lincoln's campaign for the Presidency, twenty out of the twenty-three
Christian ministers in his home town of Springfield, Illinois, opposed him because of his anti-Christian
views. The closest that Lincoln ever came to a denial of this consensus was in the handbill that was
circulated during his campaign for re-election in 1864:
TO THE VOTERS OF THE SEVENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT:
FELLOW CITIZENS:
A charge having got into circulation in some of the neighborhoods of this district in substance that I am an open
scoffer at Christianity. I have by the advice of friends concluded to notice the subject in this form. That I am not a
member of any Christian church is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scripture; and I have never
spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination, of Christians in particular. It is
true that in early life I was inclined to believe in what I understand is called the "Doctrine of Necessity,"--that is,
that the human mind is impelled to action or held in rest by some power, over which the mind itself has no
control; and I have sometimes (with one, two, or three, but never publicly) tried to maintain this opinion in
argument. The habit of arguing thus, however, I have entirely left off for more than five years; and I
add here I have always understood this same opinion to be held by several of the Christian denominations. The
foregoing is the whole truth, briefly stated in relation to myself on this subject.{36}
Lincoln was the consummate politician and a master of rhetoric, so his "denial" of the charges against
him need to be carefully dissected. Lincoln claimed that he had "never spoken with intentional disrespect
of religion in general." Technically, this was true. He could not afford to speak with disrespect for
"religion in general" since the Republican party upon which his political career depended was dominated
by Unitarians, who, like himself, held to a form of "natural religion" which found the "spark of divinity"
in all mankind and denied the unique Divinity of Jesus Christ. The "Scripture" of such people was nature
itself, which human reason was capable of comprehending without the aid of divine revelation, and the
Bible was derided, in the words of Thaddeus Stevens, as "nothing but obsolete history of a barbarous
people." Such was the basis of the Abolition movement that declared war on the Christian South.
Furthermore, Lincoln did not directly lie when he claimed that he had never spoken with disrespect for
"any denomination, of Christians in particular." As seen in the above testimonies of his closest friends and
associates, his disdain was voiced for Christianity in general, rather than for denominations "in
particular." Finally, Lincoln's claim that his "Doctrine of Necessity" was "held by several of the Christian
denominations" was an outright lie. This doctrine, in which events are predetermined by "some power
over which the mind has no control," was nothing more than a pagan fatalism upon which Lincoln could
rely to relieve himself of the responsibility for the deaths of 600,000 American men and the destruction of
the Union and its Constitution which he had been sworn to uphold and defend. After all, reasoned
Lincoln, "What is to be will be."{37} this was not the predestinarianism held by the Presbyterian and
Reformed churches, but was the doctrine espoused by the atheist Abolitionists at the helm of Lincoln's
Republican party, who merely used religious rhetoric to conceal their true character from their deceived
constituents. It was only later, in his second Inaugural Address, that Lincoln attempted to pin the blame
for the horrific carnage which he had caused on the righteous Judge of men, for which blasphemy he was
not long thereafter summoned before the Heavenly Bench to give an account.
It is a travesty indeed that Abraham Lincoln, the infidel, is mythologized by so many today as
"Abraham Lincoln, the Christian." As the present writer has endeavored to prove in this book, the
sixteenth U.S. President was no friend to the Union he professed to save, no friend to the slaves he
professed to emancipate, and no friend to his "fellow countrymen" for whom he professed no malice. It is
time for History to execute her long over-due sentence of infamy against the godless tyrant who, with the
wave of his executive scepter, nearly single-handedly destroyed the remnants of a centuries-old Christian
social and law order and plunged America into the dark abyss of pagan despotism from which we have yet
to recover.
"America's Caesar - Abraham Lincoln and the Birth of a Modern Empire" can be acquired by writing to:
Crown Rights Book Company--c/o U.S. Post Office Box 769--Wiggins, Mississippi C.S.A.
Endnotes
{1} St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 6 March 1898.
{2} New York World, 26 October 1864.
{3} Edwin Stanton, quoted by Edmonds, Facts and Falsehoods, page 18.
{4} Edwin Stanton, quoted by Charles L. C. Minor, The Real Lincoln (Wiggins, Mississippi: Crown Rights Book
Company, [1928] 1997), page 42.
{5} Editorial: "A Yearning for the Democratic Party," New York World, 15 April 1864.
{6} New York World, 2 June 1864.
{7} Alfred R. Wooten, Attorney-General of Delaware, quoted by New York Tribune, 4 June 1863.
{8} Wendell Phillips, quoted by ibid.
{9} Wooten, quoted by ibid.
{10} Wendell Phillips, a speech delivered on 1 August 1862; quoted by Edmonds, Facts and Falsehoods, page 16.
{11} Editorial: "Lincoln and Johnson," New York World, 9 June 1864.
{12} The Globe-Democrat, quoted by Edmonds, Facts and Falsehoods, page 2.
{13} Minor, Real Lincoln, page 1.
{14} Ward H. Lamon, Life of Abraham Lincoln (Boston, Mass.: Osgood, 1872); quoted by Edmonds, Facts and
Falsehoods, pages 2-3, 9, 10.
{15} J.G. Holland, quoted by Rutherford, True Estimate, page 72.
{16} As documented by James H. Cathey in 1899, Lincoln was actually born in the western North Carolinian home of
Abraham Enloe, for whom his mother, Nancy Hanks, worked as a servant and with whom she had an adulterous
affair. Because of the reproach thus brought upon the family, Nancy and her infant child were sent by Enloe to
Kentucky, where she eventually married Thomas Lincoln (reference: The Genesis of Lincoln [Wiggins, Mississippi:
Crown Rights Book Company 1899, 1999)].
{17} Henry Watterson, quoted by Rutherford, ibid., page 73.
{18} America's Christian Heritage, http://user. mc.net/dougp/a/heritage.html.
{19} Charles Stanley, article, "Abraham Lincoln: For Such a Time as This,"
http://www.intouch.org/INTOUCH/study/.
{20} William H. Herndon, quoted by Edmonds, Facts and Falsehoods, pages 54-55.
{21} Herndon, letter to Ward H. Lamon, quoted by Edmonds, ibid., pages 54-55, Minor, Real Lincoln, page 29.
{22} Lamon, Life of Abraham Lincoln; quoted by Rutherford, True Estimate, page 53.
{23} Tarbell, Life of Lincoln.
{24} Dennis Hanks, quoted by Edmonds, Facts and Falsehoods, pages 54-55.
{25} John Matthews, quoted by Edmonds, ibid., page 56; Minor, Real Lincoln, pages 28-29.
{26} Cosmopolitan of March 1901, quoted by Minor, ibid, page 30.
{27} John G. Nicolay, quoted by Edmonds, Facts and Falsehoods, page 54.
{28} Mary Todd Lincoln, quoted by Edmonds, ibid, page 56.
{29} Herndon, quoted by Edmonds, ibid., pages 68, 69.
{30} A.Y. Ellis, quoted by Edmonds, ibid., page 69.
{31} Lamon, Life of Abraham Lincoln, page 480.
{32} Holland, Abraham Lincoln (1866); quoted by Minor, Real Lincoln. pages 31-32.
{33} Sussex (New Jersey) Statesman, quoted by Edmonds, Facts and Falsehoods, pp. 73-74.
{34} Donn Piatt, Memories of the Men Who Saved the Union (New York: Butler Brothers, 1887), page 35.
{35} Editorial: "One of Mr. Lincoln's Jokes," New York World, 9 September 1864.
{36} Lincoln, quoted by Roy P. Basler, A Touchstone For Greatness (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 1973),
page 61.
{37} Lincoln, quoted by Lamon, Life of Lincoln, page 503.
The Language of the Tower
Part One
by John Joseph and Randy Lee
During the course of running the race set before us, to and for our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus,
the Christ, many Brothers and Sisters have asked what words all of us should be using, what words to
avoid, and what to do or say when we hear the words of our Sovereign's Adversary. This work is to
address some of that particular need, bringing together a number of seemingly separated works together in
one work that can be useful during your sojourn here. All instances within a quote where the words are
preceded with an asterisk within brackets [*...] are our interpolations.
There are probably hundreds of other words, but these are the most popular words we have seen in our
research and heard used in all of our discourses with the ministers of the Foe. All of these words you do
not find in Scripture in the way the heathen, or natural man, uses them. For instance, you will find the
word "home" in Scripture; but it is not a noun, it is an adverb, i.e.:
"Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;"
Deut. 21:12
"And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at
home at my house." Luke 9:61
These two passages show that "home" and "house" are not synonymous parts of speech; and the
substitution of one for the other is incorrect. The natural man has made it into a noun for his deceitful
purposes. For further confirmation of this, Cruden's or Strong's Concordance may be used.
Every kingdom has its particular language. In America it is American English; in England it is British
English; in Japan it is Japanese. Using the words of the Kingdom/kingdom to which you belong is
evidence of who you belong to. For instance, when an American meets a Japanese, both speak their own
respective languages, and though neither understands the other, they know that the other is not of or from
the same kingdom. When Christ Jesus goes looking for His lost sheep, He is looking for those who hear or
respond to His voice having His Word written on their hearts, and speaking that Word to Him from their
hearts through their works in fulness of faith to Him, thereby bearing witness to the world that they are
His. He knows who are His and those who are not. He knows the counterfeits from those who are of His
flock. Those not of the Tower know that:
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
When Satan looks for the ignorant and weak, he looks for those who ignorantly use the words his
ministers have conjured up through their partaking of and using falsely-named knowledge (see 1 Timothy
6:20), i.e. science/philosophy or the wisdom of the world. They speak those words and survive by those
words and hear not the words of Christ Jesus. They "desire" the "Language of the Tower," or in Kenneth
Boulding's estimation, "the imaginary road leading from nowhere to nothing":
"on the vital matter of intellectual freedom, the image of the academic world is split and divided.
We do not know from whence comes our peace, or our prosperity. The universe of discourse is
crumbling into a multiverse, and in one's more depressed moments one looks forward to a time when
the progress of science [*a graven image] will grind to a standstill in a morass of mutual
incomprehensibility [confusio]. Out of our intellectual pride, we may be building a new Tower of
Babel." Boulding, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (1956), p. 139.
"BABEL, TOWER. A symbol of the false conception [*the lie] that the highest truth may be reached through the exercise of the lower [*human] mental faculties [*philosophy and reason]." Gaskell,
Dictionary of All Scriptures and Myths (1960), p. 88.
"Ubi jus incertum, ibi jus nullum --Where the law is uncertain [*confused], there is no law."
Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2165.
A few basics to start us off are the following:
"For the word of the LORD is right; and all His works are done in truth." Psalm 33:4.
"TRUTH. There are three conceptions as to what constitutes 'truth': Agreement of thought and
reality; eventual verification; and consistency of thought with itself. Memphis Telephone Co. v.
Cumberland Telephone & Telegraph Co., C.C.A.Tenn., 231 F. 835, 842." Black's Law Dictionary (4th
ed. 1957 & 1968), p. 1685.
Christ manifested all three requirements, for He is the Truth. But the natural man and his vain
philosophies deliver none:
"Law and reality. But it is precisely such devices and metaphors that the fictionalist philosophy
regards as the best examples of the fiction, and so once more we are brought up against the problem of
reality, which has so long perplexed the philosophers and which therefore lawyers can hardly hope to
solve." J. W. Jones, Historical Introduction to the Theory of Law (1940), p. 178.
The so-called problem perceived by the lawyer was solved by Christ's death on the cross and
resurrection from the dead. See Colossians 2:14-16.
One of the many "curiosities of the law" shows the lies and deceit that surrounds the "law" and "law
words" of the natural man:
"Lord Denman, delivering judgment in the House of Lords, in a celebrated case, took occasion to
remark, that a large portion of the legal opinion which has passed current for law falls within the
description of 'law taken for granted'; and that, 'when, in the pursuit of truth, we are obliged to
investigate the grounds of the law, it is plain, and has often been proved by recent experience, that the
mere statement and restatement of a doctrine--the mere [*and vain] repetition of the cantilena of
the lawyers--cannot make it law, unless it can be traced to some competent authority, and if it be
irreconcilable to some clear legal principle.' [O'Connell v. The Queen, 11 Clark & Finnelly, p. 373.
And see per Pollock, C. B. 2 H. & N. 139.]" Heard, Curiosities of the Law Reporters (1876), p. 157.
The doctrine of lawyers, judges, and legislators through their vain and empty repetitions can never be
Law nor bind those in and of Christ Jesus. All authority must be traceable to The Tree of Life, otherwise it
is no authority at all; it is dead in Law.
Persons, Human Being, Individuals, Private, Citizens, Civilian, Pagans, Home, Residence,
Resident
"it is precisely those enterprises that are 'creatures of the law' to which the Fourteenth Amendment is
addressed." Pollak, Racial Discrimination and Judicial Integrity, 108 U. of Pa. L. Rev. 1 (1959).
That "amendment" was the continuing setup of fascism in America. The beginning was the U.S.
Constitution:
"It was clear enough by the time of the Treaty of Paris that the loose confederation was not working
very well; it was equally clear that Americans were not yet prepared to embrace, as an alternative, the
Old World model of centralized nation-states. Was there perhaps something in between --something
that could satisfy the interests and quiet the fear of particularism and fulfill the demands of
nationalism without sacrificing those liberties for whose vindication the Americans had fought a war
of independence? Could they solve that problem which had for centuries baffled and confounded
statesmen of the Old World: the problem of imperial organization or--to put it in American
terms--of federalism? "They could and they did." Henry Steele Commager, The Empire of Reason (1978), p. 207.
Constitutional law is the morality of fascism and comes from the vain imaginations of men. It is a code,
rule, or regulation for the dead thing it brings into being. This is based upon the following:
"The Volksgeist. Savigny's version of the new creed has become familiar. A people's law, like its
language or its moral and political order, is the product of the Volksgeist--of something vaguely
conceived to be compounded only in part of reason and primarily of intuition, custom, tradition,
animal instinct, authority; or, in [*Sir Henry] Maine's words, of the huge mass of opinions, beliefs,
and superstitions produced by the institutions and human nature reacting one upon another." J.
W. Jones, Historical Introduction to the Theory of Law (1940), pp. 55-56.
In the following, we see that Truth cannot be distorted, or made into a lie. Only that which is a lie to
begin with can be made to appear as the truth:
"The fictions of Jurisprudence are therefore assertions [*void of Truth] about rules of law and not
about the facts to which these rules apply, although they often take the form of attaching to new groups
of facts consequences formerly following other groups. In essence they are metaphors of speech,
terminological devices [*terms of art], and not distortions of the truth." J. W. Jones, Historical
Introduction to the Theory of Law (1940), p. 177.
This helps in distinguishing the Truth from a lie, for "jurisprudence" itself is a terminological device,
or term of art.
"HUMANITY, PRINCIPLE OF. Principle doing the same work as the principle of charity, but
suggesting that we regulate our procedures of interpretation by maximizing the extent to which we see
the subject as humanly reasonable, rather than the extent to which we see it as right." Oxford's
Dictionary of Philosophy (1994), p. 178.
Humanitarianism is a counterfeit of the Love in Christ of the Brethren--the fulfilling of the Law.
"HUMAN BEING. See MONSTER." Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing Law Dictionary (1948), p. 389.
This is the natural man or "the old man."
"The natural man is a spiritual monster. His heart is where his feet should be, fixed upon the
earth; his heels are lifted up against heaven, which his heart should be set on. His face is towards hell;
his back towards heaven. He loves what he should hate, and hates what he should love; joys in what he
ought to mourn for, and mourns for what he ought to rejoice in; glories in his shame, and is ashamed
of his glory; abhors what he should desire, and desires what he should abhor." Thomas Boston, quoted
in Augustus Toplady, Complete Works (1794, reprinted by Sprinkle Publications 1987), p. 584.
We may state definitively that the sole purpose of constitutions is to free human beings from God's Law
in order to chain them to the morality of the State dictated in its codes, rules, and regulations:
"The old constitution of the United States is the noblest instrument of human [*monster] freedom
[*the Way to Truth and Life is too difficult, so the monster is turned loose] ever devised by man, it
has grown with our [*sinful philosophical and commercial] growth and risen to the demands of every
[*perceived] emergency [*because it is a molten image] for more than a century and a half." Quin
O'Brien (1934), speech to the Nebraska State Bar, 13 Nebraska Law Bulletin 69, at 75.
All constitutions were created by the fallen reason of the natural man, and are molded by reasonable
interpretation of human beings wearing black robes.
"PRIVATE. Affecting or belonging to individuals, as distinct from the public generally. Not
clothed with office." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), p. 2712.
Private rights are always weighed against the greater public good and are regulated by the "police
power," post.
"PAGAN. heathen. XIV--L. paganus rustic, peasant, citizen, civilian; eccl.) (Christian and Jewish,
f. pagus (rural) district, the country, orig. landmark fixed in the earth, f. *pag-, p g-, as in pangere fix,
parallel to *pak- (see PACT); see -AN. The sense 'heathen' (Tertullian) of paganus derived from that
of 'civilian' (Tacitus), the Christians calling themselves enrolled soldiers of Christ (members of his
militant church) and regarding non-Christians as not of the army so enrolled. Represented earlier
(XIII-XVI) by paien, payen--OF. paien (mod. paien)=Pr. paien, pagan, Sp., It. pagano; cf.
PAYNIM. Hence paganISM. XV." Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1966), pp. 640-641.
"CIVILIAN. One who is skilled or versed in the civil law. A doctor, professor, or student of the
civil law. Also a private citizen, as distinguished from such as belong to the army and navy, or (in
England) the church." Black's Law Dictionary (4th edition, 1957 & 1968), p. 313.
Civilians are separate from the Lawful Assemblies in and of Christ.
"INDIVIDUAL. 1. Any thing regarded as something single, as a unit. 2. Especially, a person, a
human being.
"In Mournier's personalism, 'individual' is used pejoratively, in contrast to 'person.' An individual is
shallow, egocentric, inauthentic, materialistic, with no sense of values or vocation in life [*idle or
dead]. A person is the opposite, adopts freely values [*morality] by which to live, and relates to others
in a spirit of community [*society or class].
"The word derives from the Latin individuum, which was used by Boethius to translate the Greek
atomon, both words signify undividedness [*unity with the world]." Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy
(1996), p. 272.
Human beings and things are the same. Pagan forms of law are imposed upon and operate on things,
not on words.
"Legislatorum est viv vox, rebus et non verbis legem imponere --The voice of the legislators is a
living voice to impose laws on things and not on words." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim,"
p. 2142.
"Non verbis, sed ipsis rebus, leges imponimus --We impose laws, not on words, but upon things
themselves." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 & 1968), p. 1205.
This is how the "police power" attaches to those who do not sojourn in Christ.
"EARTHLY, adj. Mundane, material, temporal, secular. See IRRELIGION." Roget's Thesaurus in
Dictionary Form (1940), p. 153.
---------------
"IRRELIGION.--I. Nouns. irreligion, impiety, irreligionism, ungodliness, irreverence,
godlessness, wickedness; laxity, apathy, indifference.
"skepticism or scepticism, doubt, unbelief, disbelief, incredulity, agnosticism, freethinking;
materialism, hylotheism, rationalism, positivism, Comtism, Pyrrhonism, Humism; atheism, infidelity,
antichristianity, antichristianism.
"irreligionist, skeptic, unbeliever, heretic, giaour (Turkish), zendik (Arabic), infidel, atheist, miscreant (archaic), heathen, alien, gentile, Nazarene; freethinker, rationalist, materialist, positivist,
Comtist, agnostic, Pyrrhonist, nullifidian, esprit fort (F.), nihilist.
"II. Verbs. be irreligious, doubt, disbelieve, skepticize, or scepticize, question, lack faith, deny the
truth.
"III. Adjectives. irreligious, undevout, godless, graceless, ungodly, irreverent, profane, impious,
blasphemous; unholy, unsanctified, unhallowed.
"skeptical, or sceptical, freethinking, agnostic or agnostical, incredulous, Pyrrhonean, Pyrrhonic,
positivistic, materialistic or materialistical, unbelieving, unconverted, faithless, atheistic, nullifidian,
unchristian, antichristian.
"worldly, mundane, earthly, carnal, worldly-minded, unspiritual, unregenerate.
"See also IMPIETY, INCREDULITY, UNBELIEF.--Antonyms. See ORTHODOXY, PIETY, THEOLOGY,
WORSHIP." Roget's Thesaurus in Dictionary Form (1940), p. 267.
---------------
"PERSON. The characteristic of a person is that he has the capacity to appear at law to defend his
rights or prosecute his claims [*One who sojourns in Christ has right to the Tree of Life only]. Until
modern times, the extent of this capacity varied greatly with the status of his person. Some persons
had full capacity and some only a limited capacity. But personality existed, if there was any such
capacity, no matter how restricted. Even a serf was a person to some extent. The only exception was
that of a slave, wherever slavery was lawful. At the present time, every living human being is, at
common law, a person, although there are still degrees of legal capacity, depending on status, on age
and, in a number of jurisdictions, on sex.
"1. In a few common law jurisdictions, persons condemned to life imprisonment are declared to be
'civilly dead,' but they do not cease to be persons in many important respects. They may be sued at law,
although they generally may not be plaintiffs, and various devices are used to protect their property
interests. See Death, civil.
"2. Human beings are called 'natural' persons, to distinguish them from 'artificial' persons or
corporations. [*But for all purposes in statutes, they are the same.] At common law, corporations are
declared to be 'persons at law,' or 'artificial' persons. As such they may sue and be sued, and are
invested with rights and liabilities different from those of all or any of the natural persons [*human
beings who are like the thing they worship--the State licensing their corporation and their corporate
status. See Psalm 115 and Psalm 135.] who by combination form them. To acquire the status of
artificial or legal personality, the group seeking it must be incorporated, i.e., must obtain a formal state
license, which is now obtainable upon fulfilling certain relatively simple requirements. Unincorporated
groups, like partnerships, clubs, churches, societies, are given a certain limited and restricted
personality at common law, but that is rather for convenience than in recognition of a legal status.
"3. In modern civil law, while incorporation is necessary for some purposes, chiefly in commercial
law, any group of persons, acting as a unit, may be treated as an artificial or legal person, and the
same is true of a fund, like a foundation or a trust, or a complex of interests like the estate of a
decedent. [*This is the condition of the "religious society."]
"4. Within the meaning of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the term 'person'
includes corporations as well as human beings, but it has been held not to include a political
subdivision. Warren Co. v. Heister, 219 La. 763, 54 S.2d 12." Radin, Law Dictionary (1955), p. 249.
---------------
"PERSONALTY. Personal property; movable property; chattels.
"In old practice, an action was said to be in the personalty, where it was brought against the right
person or the person against whom in law it lay. Old Nat.Brev. 92; Cowell.
"Quasi personalty. Things which are movable in point of law, though fixed to things real, either
actually, as emblements, (fructus industriales), fixtures, etc.; or fictitiously, as chattels-real [*deeds],
leases for years, etc." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 & 1968), p. 1301.
---------------
"39. Persons, in law, are entities having capacity to own or be bound by legal rights. [*Those in
agreement with the social contract based upon or founded in morality common to them.]
"In General
"The capacity to be the subject or owner of a legal right is the ability to control or influence the acts
of others with the aid of the State [*going to law], whereas the capacity to be bound by legal rights is
the ability to act so as to subject oneself to the correlative conditions imposed by the legal rights of
others. Any entity capable of having legal rights and acting so as to assume legal duties or incur
legal liabilities has the status of a legal person, and possesses legal personality. [*Moral persons
and legal persons are one and the same thing.]
"Natural and Juristic Persons
"Legal personality is conferred by the [*Roman imperial] law upon two classes of persons, natural
and juristic. The former [*natural person] is composed of human beings; the latter, of [*belong to] the
State, municipalities, and private corporations. And, although the legal personality of a juristic person
may be limited in certain particulars by reason of hte nature of such a person, to the extent that it is
conferred the legal personality of a juristic person is as effective as that of a natural person. [*Juristic
person, natural person, and moral person are one and the same in and under the State.] On the other
hand, not all natural persons have complete legal personalities and may thus be distinguished by their
'normal' and 'abnormal' legal personalities. For example, a natural person may be said to have a
'normal' legal personality when he has the capacity to enforce [*civil] rights in court, assume legal
duties [*prescribed by code, rule or regulation], and incur civil and criminal liabilities; whereas such a
person has an 'abnormal' legal personality when he does not have all of these capacities. Such
abnormality, or an incapacity precluding a natural person from having complete legal personality, may
be the consequence of of any of the following conditions: (1) infancy; (2) marriage; (3) alienage; (4)
mental infirmity; or, (5) conviction of a crime.
"Except for rights to inherit property accorded an unborn child but which do not become effective
until the child is born alive, and except for what protection may be given an unborn child by statutes
making abortions criminal, it may be said that the legal personality of a natural person begins
with his birth [*note carefully what God tells us in Jeremiah 1:4-5--you have no "legal personality."];
and except for those causes of action which are allowed by the law to survive, it may be said the legal
personality of a natural person ends with his death." Smith, Elementary Law (1939), pp. 112-113.
The terms "legal," "person" and "owner" are all Roman imperial terms and are used and promoted
heavily to further Caesar's fascist State.
"PERSON. This word is applied to men, women, and children, who are called natural persons. In
law, man and person are not exactly synonomous terms [*but for purposes of statutes, they are
made equivalent because "man" in vacuo is a flexible term]. Any human being is a man, whether he be
a member of society or not, whatever may be the rank he holds, or whatever may be his age, sex, &c.
A person is a man considered according to the rank he holds in society [*built upon the common
morality], with all the [*moral] rights to which the place he holds entitles him [*gives him a title of
"citizen"], and the duties [*moral obligations] which it imposes. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 137.
"2. It is also used to denote a corporation which is an artificial person. 1 Bl. Comm. 123; 4 Bing.
669; S. C. 33 Eng. C. L. R. 488; Wooddes. Lect. 116; Bac. Us. 57; 1 Mod. 164.
"3. But when the word 'person' is spoken of in legislative acts, natural persons will be intended,
unless something appear in the context to show that it applies to artificial persons. 1 Scam. R. 178.
[*Natural persons and artificial persons treated the same in and by statutes, codes, rules, and
regulations.]
"4. Natural persons are divided into males, or men; and females or women. Men are capable of all
kinds of engagements and functions, unless by reasons applying to particular individuals. Women
cannot be appointed to any public office, nor perform any civil functions, except those which the law
specially declares them capable of exercising. Civ. Code of Louis. art. 25.
"5. They are also sometimes divided into free persons and slaves. Freemen are those who have
preserved their natural liberty, that is to say, who have the right of doing what is not forbidden by the
law. A slave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs. Slaves are sometimes ranked
not with persons but things. But sometimes they are considered as persons; for example, a negro is in
contemplation of law a person, so as to be capable of committing riot in conjunction with white men. 1
Bay, 358. Vide Man.
"6. Persons are also divided into citizens, (q. v.) aliens, (q. v.) when viewed with regard to their
political rights. When they are considered in relation to their civil rights, they are living or civilly
dead; Vide Civil Death; outlaws; and infamous persons.
"7. Persons are divided into legitimates and bastards, when examined as to their rights by birth.
"8. When viewed in their domestic relations, they are divided into parents and children; husbands
and wives; guardians and wards; and masters and servants. [*Because of the moral obligations and
moral entities given to each of them.]
"9. For the derivation of the word person, as it is understood in law, see 1 Toull. n. 168; 1 Bouv.
Inst. n. 1890, note." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1859), pp. 332-333.
---------------
"This word 'person' and its scope and bearing in the law, involving, as it does, legal fictions and
also apparently natural beings, it is difficult to understand: but it is absolutely necessary to grasp, at
whatever cost, a true and proper understanding of the word in all the phases of its proper useThe
words persona and personae did not have the meaning in the Roman which attaches to homo, the
individual, or a man in the English; it had a peculiar reference to artificial beings, and the condition
or status of individualsA person is here not a physical or individual person, but the status or
condition with which he is investednot an individual or physical person, but the status,
condition, or character borne by physical personsThe law of persons is the law of status or
condition.
"A moments reflection enables one to see that man and person cannot be synonymous, for there
cannot be an artificial man, though there are artificial persons. Thus the conclusion is easily reached
that the law itself often creates an entity or a being which is called a person; the law cannot create an
artificial man, but it can and frequently does invest him with artificial attributes [*the lies of
philosophy]; this is his personalitythat is to say, the man-person; and abstract persons, which are
fictitious and which have no existence except in law; that is to say, those which are purely legal
conceptions or creations (*from the caldron pot)." American Law and Procedure, Volume 13, pp. 137-162 (1910).
---------------
"PERSON. n. [L. persona, lit., a face mask used by actors on the stage, hence a character, a person,
from personare, to sound through; per, through, and sonare, to sound.] 1. An individual human being,
especialy as distinguished from a thing, or lower animal; an individual man, woman, or child. A zeal
for persons is far more easy to be perverted than a zeal for things.--Sprat. 2. A common individual:
used in slight or contempt. 3. (a) A living human body; (b) bodily form or appearance; as, she was neat
and clean about her person. The rebels maintained the fight for a small time, and for their persons
showed no want of courage.--Bacon. 4. Personality; self; being; as, his very person. 5. In grammar,
(a) division into three classes of pronouns and, in most languages, corresponding verb forms, the use
of which indicates and is determined by the identity of the subject, thus: the first person (I or we) is
used when the subject is the speaker; the second person (you) when the subject is spoken to; the third
person (he, she, or it) when the subject is spoken of; (b) any of these three classes. 6. In law, any
individual or incorporated group having certain legal rights and responsibilities. [These describe the
mask through which the entity sounds through either vocally or by deed.] 7. In theology, one of the
three modes of being (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) in the Trinity. 8. A human being represented in
dialogue, fiction, or on the stage; a character; as, a player appears in the person of King Lear.
[Archaic.] 9. In biology, a bud or shoot of a plant; a polyp or zooid of any compound hydrozoan,
anthozoan, etc. In person; in the flesh; in bodily presence." Webster's New Twentieth Century
Dictionary, Unabridged (1969), p. 1338.
---------------
"PERSON An indispensable word with varied, overlapping meanings. Often used without
definition, as in the U.S. Constitution (Arts. I, II, III, IV; Amends. IV, V, XII, XIV, XXII). Defined,
and redefined, in an endless succession of special purpose statutes, with no assurance to the
profession that this is the person you thought you were talking about. The definitions here give an
overview of current usage. This omits a whole list of historical horrors in the ugly shadows of slavery,
racism, and sexism.
"1. A human being without regard to sex, legitimacy, or competence. This person is the central
figure in law, as elsewhere, characterized by personal attributes of mind, intention, feelings,
weaknesses, morality common to human beings; with rights and duties under the law. This is the
person, sometimes called an individual, and often referred to in the law as a natural person, as
distinguished from an artificial person.
"2. The physical, biological human being. This is the person who is injured or killed, the person of
'injury to the person 'and of firearms 'concealed upon the person.' This sense overlaps the sense of the
person with rights (sense 1), e.g., 'No person shall be excluded on the basis of sex.' Overlaps again on
the question of when one becomes a person:
"Existing person: a child unborn, en ventre sa mere (see), a person for purposes of inheritance, but
not a person in the criminal law generally. As of this writing, in the abortion controversy, 'a 'person' as
used in the Fourteenth Amendment does not include the unborn.' (Roe v. Wade (1973), 410 U.S. 113,
158)....
[NOTE The fruit of the womb have no "legal personality" assigned them under the Fourteenth Amendment
while they are in the womb. Legal personality is assigned at or after delivery from the womb.]
....."3. An artificial person: an abstraction of convenience regarded by the law as a distinct being,
having an existence independent of those who create or own it. The classic of this person is the
corporation (see under corporate), a being distinct from its shareholders; in its own name owning
property, contracting, suing and being sued, taxed, and regulated, with rights and duties often spelled
out in statutes and constitutional decision. A labor union and a business trust (see trust) have also been
described as artificial persons. The expressions juristic person and legal entity (see, below, in this
entry) are frequently used as synonyms of artificial person." Mellinkoff's Dictionary of American Legal
Usage (1992), p. 479.
---------------
"A juristic person is domestic in the [*forum] State by which it was created (or by which it was
expressly authorized). This theory has met with considerable support, especially in the United
States, where indeed it may be said to be the accepted doctrine.Nationality in the present sense,
as the factor which determines by what rules of law its legal constitution and capacities must be
governed, is a juridical and not a political quality, and should therefore be determined by the legal and
not by the political characteristics of the juristic person." E. Hilton Young, The Nationality of a
Juristic Person, 22 Harv.L.R. 1, 3, 7.
"The personal law of natural persons depends in different legal systems upon jus sanguinis, jus
soli, or domicile. Juristic persons can have no jus sanguinis or jus soli, but they can have domicile
[*within the law creating them]." E. Hilton Young, The Nationality of a Juristic Person, supra, 14.
To be continued next month.
What is in a "name?"
Part One:
Written solely by the Grace of God in and
through Christ Jesus by John Joseph, His mere bondman
Throughout the pages of the News we have discussed the importance of names and what they mean in
terms of Law. In furtherance of this calling, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ blessed us
recently with a case from Indiana concerning the importance of the "the name" in legal process. I know
there will be those who may be thinking that we should "obey all government authority," therefore giving
your name is not important. I agree that we should obey that government instituted by the Spirit of God in
Christ Jesus; but not a usurper or pretender to His Throne. The above statement pre-supposes that we are
doing His Will, and not our own will. A few passages from Scripture will suffice in this regard:
"Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the
LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face. And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well,
and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the
house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of
the sanctuary. And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; O ye
house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers,
uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye
offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. And
ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for
yourselves. Thus saith the Lord God; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter
into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the
children of Israel." Ezekiel 44:4-9.
"They have set up kings, but not by Me: they have made princes, and I knew not: of their silver and their gold
have they made them idols, that they may be cut off." Hosea 8:4.
The strangers mentioned above are those who are not circumcised in heart by the Word of God, and for
that cause have not His Seal. Therefore, God does not recognize them, they have no authority or power
from Him, and they are not the higher powers; but are usurpers (TYRANNUS) of His Power:
"TYRANNUS. I, m.=turannosz. I. Gen. A monarch, ruler, sovereign king: Virg.; Hor. II. Esp. A cruel or
severe ruler; a despot, tyrant: Cic. Hence, Fr. tyran." White, Latin-English and English-Latin
Dictionary (1872), p. 625.
"DESPOT. princeps or rex, cujus arbitrium pro legibus est, or cujus libido pro legibus habetur (a
sovereign whose will is law; after Just., 1, 1, 2; 2, 7, 3); tyrannus, or pure Latin, dominus (a usurper
who has obtained absolute power in a free state): rex importunus (opposed to rex clemens)." Riddle,
English-Latin Lexicon (1849), p. 198.
"USURPER. Tyrannus (i.e., one who has made himself sovereign of a free state); by
circumlocution." Riddle, English-Latin Lexicon (1849), p. 673.
Their souls are subject to the higher power of God in Christ Jesus:
"All souls are Mine [*not the man's, the State's, or the men using the artifice of the State]; as the soul of the
father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sinneth it shall die." Ezekiel 18:4.
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." Matthew
28:18.
"For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living."
Romans 14:9.
"All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth
any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Matthew 11:27.
"All things are delivered to Me of My Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the
Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." Luke 10:22.
"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son,
that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to
as many as Thou hast given Him." John 17:1-2.
"For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: And hath given Him
authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man." John 5:22 & 27.
"For the kingdom is the LORD's: and He is the governor among the nations." Psalm 22:28.
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of
the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,
to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the
LORD of hosts will perform this." Isaiah 9:6-7.
"All Thy works shall praise Thee, O LORD; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of
Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious
majesty of His kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all
generations." Psalm 145:10-13.
"And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy Name."
Luke 10:17.
Therefore the Law applies to them,
"He is the LORD our God: His judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the
word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath
unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto
thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: When they were but a few men in number; yea,
very few, and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people;
He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, He reproved kings for their sakes; Saying, Touch not Mine anointed,
and do My prophets no harm." Psalm 105:7-15. See also 2 Chronicles 16.
God's restriction of the acts of the heathen against His Inheritance in His church applies:
"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor
female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise." Galatians 3:26-29.
And He has delegated to His Assembly and those serving Him the same Authority that flows through
Him from the Father:
"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and
nothing shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19.
Now, a few basics to help us start off. Names, in general, are given by men to things that are subject to
them to mark or note them. They are fictions, and not Truth:
"Nomina sunt symbola rerum --Names are the symbols of things." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914),
"Maxim," p. 2149.
"Nomina sunt notae rerum --Names are the marks of things." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914),
"Maxim," p. 2148.
"Nomen est quasi rei notamen --A name is as it were a note of a thing." Bouvier's Law Dictionary
(1914), "Maxim," p. 2148.
The importance of this cannot be stressed enough. In every one of the above maxims of law, the name
always refers to a "thing" or "things." So a name because it refers to a thing does not refer to the bondmen
of Christ, for it is written:
"But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor
Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."
Colossians 3:8-11.
Those that are in and of Christ have answered His Call to "come out of her My People, and be ye
separate":
"CHURCH. (ekklhsian), ek, out, kalew, to call or summon. This is the first occurrence of this word in the New Testament. Originally an assembly of citizens, regularly summoned. So in New Testament,
Acts 19:39. The Septuagint uses the word for the congregation of Israel, either as summoned for a
definite purpose (1 Kings 8:65), or for the community of Israel collectively, regarded as a congregation
(Genesis 28:3), where assembly is given for multitude in margin. In New Testament, of the
congregation of Israel (Acts 7:38); but for this there is more commonly employed sunagwgh, of which
synagogue is a transcription; sun, together, agw, to bring (Acts 13:43). In Christ's words to Peter the
word ejkklhsia acquires special emphasis from the opposition implied in it to the synagogue. The
Christian community in the midst of Israel would be designated as ejkklhsia, without being
confounded with the sunagwgh, the Jewish community. See Acts 5:11; 8:1; 12:1; 14:23, 27, etc.
Nevertheless sunagwgh is applied to a Christian assembly in James 2:2, while ejpisunagwgh
(gathering or assembling together) is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:1; Hebrews 10:25. Both in Hebrew
and in New Testament usage ejkklhsia implies more than a collective or national unity; rather a
community based on a special religious idea and established in a special way. [*Psalm 127:1 for
example]In the New Testament the term is used also in the narrower sense of a single church, or a
church confined to a particular place. So of the church in the house of Aquila and Priscilla (Romans
16:5); the church at Corinth, the churches in Judea, the church at Jerusalem, etc." M. R. Vincent,
Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), p. 56.
And are known by and of those who also are in and of Him:
"And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek
for thee. And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them
which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the
same is my brother, and my sister, and mother." Mark 3:32-35.
"And when he putteth forth His own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow: for they know his
voice." John 10:4.
Those who have not answered His Call are dead both to Him and to those answering His Call.
Therefore, the name of the bondman of Christ is hid from the world:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other
way, the same is a thief and a robber. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers. All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear
them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." John
10:1, 5, 8-9.
Those dead to Christ are made after the image that created them: corporations called "The State"
having refused or not heard His Call:
"All states whatever are corporations [*dead]." Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall.(U.S.) 419, 468, 1
L.Ed. 440.
"'They [corporations] cannot commit trespass nor be outlawed nor excommunicate, for they have
no souls.'--10 Rep. 32 b." Heard, Curiosities of the Law Reporters (1876), p. 67.
Corporations are therefore dead to Christ. Those that put their trust in "the State" are just like it--dead
to Christ:
"Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.
Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they
speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the
LORD: he is their help and their shield." Psalm 115:1-9. See also Psalm 135.
Corporations always mark their property, or "things," with "legal descriptions," a.k.a. "legal
personality;"
"Legislatorum est viva vox, regus et non verbis legem imponere --The voice of legislators is a living
voice, to impose laws on things and not on words." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), p. 2142.
"Legis non verbis sed rebus sunt impositae --Laws are imposed on things and not words." Bouvier's
Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2142.
"Debita sequuntur personam debitoris --Debts follow the person of the debtor." Bouvier's Law
Dictionary (1914), p. 2131.
"What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and
a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that
saith to the wood [*paper certificate], Awake [*resurrection of something dead or asleep]; to the dumb
stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over [*deceit] with gold and silver [*euphonious
commercial words], and there is no breath [*soul--see Genesis 1:27 & 2:7] at all in the midst of it."
Habakkuk 2:18-19. [Insertions added.]
In other words, Christ is not found in the creations of men, just as God always Seals His and knows
His own:
"Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before
thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Jeremiah
1:4-5.
"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Matthew10:30.
"But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many
sparrows." Luke 12:7.
"To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth
them out.I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." John 10:3 & 14.
"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And,
Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 2 Timothy 2:19.
And this is what this and all other legal cases rest upon: the office one has, the mark or character one
bears having standing in the the courts in which the cause is brought. Let us see what the courts of men
say:
"The object of the description of persons in all legal proceedings is to identify them, or to designate
their office or the character in which they are to be viewed [*perceived] in the proceeding. All persons
are presumed to have what is called a christian or given name, and for the purpose of identifying
parties, it is a primary rule in practice and pleading, that the full christian and surname should be
given at length, unless averred to be unknown. Under our criminal code, as well as the old practice in
this State, the christian name of the defendant, if known, must be set out in full in the indictment or
information." Gardner v. The State, 4 Indiana 632; Bicknell Criminal Practice, 84."
Note carefully the there are three purposes for a name: One, to identify those who have standing in the
court, the subjects of the "law" relied upon by the one opening the action:
"The party who brings a suit is master to decide what law he will rely upon." Reynolds v. Royal
Mail Lines, Inc. (1957), 147 F.Supp. 223, aff'd 254 F.2d 55, cert. denied 358 U.S. 818, 79 S.Ct. 28, 3
L.Ed.2d 59.
.....and used in deciding the controversy; Two, the office they have, if any; and Three, the character in
which they will be seen during the course of all proceedings of the litigation. The first is why you never
cast your pearls before swine, by giving the name God calls you, to those who are not of God:
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them
under their feet, and turn again and rend you." Matthew 7:6.
When you do, it will be converted to something dead of the State's creation to give standing in its
courts, because the law it declares is the one written on its books--codes, rules and regulations. You are
now re-defining yourself in terms of "the person," or "juridical man," described in its codes, rules, and
regulations. The other indicia are a birth date and an address. This makes up the whole "juridical man."
In this court, the fiction, (or more accurately) the lie, is the truth that only the dead see:
"Fictio est contra veritatem, sed pro veritate habetur --Fiction is against the truth, but it is to be
esteemed truth." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2134.
This is how the State courts of the dead acquire jurisdiction. This is seen in the following:
"Homo iuridicus. Kelsen's system provides the most thoroughgoing attempt yet made to work out a
purely objective theory of law. It is directed particularly against what he calls ' politico-psychological'
conceptions of law. In some ways it forms a curious parallel with the modern pure theory of
economics, which seeks to abolish from economic science all reference to the mental processes which
precede economic action and also to exclude any thing which smacks of political evaluation. To such a
science, the concept of economic good is a purely formal one: things are included in wealth, not
because they have substantial qualities which contribute to human welfare, but because they are scarce.
And the concept of an economic man, who buys in the cheapest and sells in the dearest market, is
defended as no more than a device for distinguishing the subject-matter of economics from that of
other sciences. Since the science of economics is not concerned with ends, as such, but only with the
forms taken by human conduct in the disposition of goods which are scarce, it classifies as economic,
or non-economic, human acts and not human motives. As a counterpart to this homo æconimicus,
Kelsen sets up a homo iuridicus who is merely a number of legally relevant acts, i.e. acts which make
up the content of legal rules [*codes, rules, and regulations]. Farther along the road of abstraction is
the 'physical person,' a symbol for the aggregate of legal rules having reference to one and the same
legal man [*the imposition of legal rules upon the legal person represented by the physical man-the
surety for the legal person]; and, farther still, the 'legal person' representing the unity inherent in the
complex of rules relating to a number of men forming a group [*class or caste]. Finally there is the
State, which is only a name for the unity of a legal system prevailing on a distinct territory, and
assumed for the time being to be distinct from the international order and to comprise within itself all
other legal entities." J. W. Jones, Historical Introduction to the Theory of Law (1940), pp. 228-229.
The legal entities contained within the State establish one's relation to the State through the name given
the thing by it:
"Relatio est fictio juris et intenta ad unum --Relation is a fiction of law, and is intended for one
thing." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1957 & 1968), p. 1452.
"Lex fingit ubi subsistit aequitas --Law creates a fiction where equity exists." Bouvier's Law
Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2143.
"In fictione juris semper subsistit aequitas --In a legal fiction equity always exists." Bouvier's Law
Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2138.
This is the power of words Christ refers to in His walk with us, when He said:
"And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that
are God's. And they marvelled at Him." Mark:12:17.
The word "render" is the key word in this verse. It means:
"591. APODIDOMI. From 575 and 1325; to give away, i.e. up, over, back, etc. (in various
applications):--deliver (again), give (again), (re-)pay(-ment be made), perform, recompense, render,
requite, restore, reward, sell, yield." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"591. RENDER. Apodidomi. 'to give up or back,' is translated 'to render,' (a) of righteous acts, (1)
human, Matt. 21:41; 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 16:2, RV (KJV, 'give'); Luke 20:25; Rom. 13:7; 1 Cor.
7:3; (2) divine, Matt. 16:27, RV, 'shall render' (KJV, 'shall reward'), an important RV change; Rom.
2:6; 2 Tim. 4:14, RV (KJV, 'reward'); Rev. 18:6 (ditto); 22:12, RV (KJV, 'give'); (b) of unrighteous
acts, Rom. 12:17, RV (KJV, 'recompense'); 1 Thess. 5:15; 1 Pet. 3:9. See DELIVER, A, No. 3,
RECOMPENSE, B, No. 2." Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
In other words, if the government of men has not named you, then you cannot restore or give back to
them something it or they have not given you. Can dead things part with any thing? Can dead things give
any thing? The truth is shown:
"Fictio juris non est ubi veritas --Where truth is, fiction of law does not exist." Bouvier's Law
Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2134.
"Fictio cedit veritati, fictio juris non est ubi veritas --Fiction yields to truth, where the truth appears,
there can be no fiction of law." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2134.
Thus, when asked for a name, there is no lawful cause for them to ask for something they never gave
because it is impossible for things dead to have any lawful testimony:
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward;
for the memory of them is forgotten." Ecclesiastes 9:5.
Presumption is that you have a name government has given you, and you are asked to confirm that
presumption. If they are sent by God to chastise you, then you must ask them to bear witness of the evil or
wickedness you have done in the eyes of our Lord Christ Jesus. This Christ did:
"Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me?" John 8:46.
"Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou
Me?" John 18:23.
The act must be evil or wicked according to the Perfect living Law of Love in Christ:
"Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the
great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Matthew 22:35-40.
"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Romans
13:8.
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Galatians
5:14.
There is no other way it can be evil or wicked, codes, rules, or regulations not with standing for they are
the moral traditions or religion of men. We read the following:
"II. Development of doctrine.--Of the scribes of this period, with the exception of Ezra and Zadok,
Neh. 13:13, we have no record. A later age honored them collectively as the men of the Great
Synagogue. Never, perhaps, was so important a work done so silently. They devoted themselves to the
careful study of the text, and laid down rules for transcribing it with the scrupulous precision. As time
passed on the 'words of the scribes' were honored above the law. It was a [*596] greater crime to
offend against them than against the law. The first step was taken toward annulling the
commandments of God for the sake of their own traditions. Mark 7:13. The casuistry became at once
subtle and prurient, evading the plainest duties, tampering with conscience. Matt. 15:1-6; 23:16-23.
We can therefore understand why they were constantly denounced by our Lord along with the
Pharisees. While the scribes repeated the traditions of the elders, he 'spake as one having authority,'
'not as the scribes.' Matt. 7:29. While they confined their teachings to the class of scholars, he 'had
compassion on the multitudes.' Matt. 9:36. While they were to be found only in the council or in their
schools, He journeyed through the cities and villages. Matt. 4:23; 9:35, etc. While they spoke of the
kingdom of God vaguely, as a thing far off, he proclaimed that it had already come nigh to men. Matt.
4:17." Smith's Bible Dictionary, pp. 595-596.
Let us now return to "character." "Character" can not be proven by or through third party testimony
because character is what the creator of it says it is, not what opinions we or others speculate or entertain
of it:
"KNOWN. Familiar; perceived; recognized; understood; especially, when used absolutely, familiar to
all; generally understood or perceived, and term may, according to context, refer to both actual and
constructive knowledge. Wolf v. Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, 336 Mo. 746, 81 S.W.2d 323, 333;
McCullough v. National Bank of Union City, 127 Pa.Super. 452, 193 A. 65, 66." Black's Law
Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 & 1968), p. 1013.
"CHARACTER. Character consists of the qualities which constitute the individual, while reputation is
the sum of opinions entertained concerning him. The former is interior; the latter external. The one is
the substance; the other the shadow [*fiction or lie]. Character is what a person is. Reputation is what
people say of him. But not with standing this distinction which is every where agreed upon, the two
words are sometimes used, even by judges, as synonymous." Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing Law
Dictionary (1948), p. 138.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart,
I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." Jeremiah
17:9-10.
This may seem to not apply here, but in reality it is straightforward. God in Christ Jesus testifies to the
character of those bondmen in and of Him; Satan testifies to the character of the legal person or juridical
man "who is merely a number of legally relevant acts which make up the content of legal rules" embodied
in the work of the workmen--codes, rules, and regulations. He and his agents can only testify to
reputation of the bondman of Christ for he and they cannot see the heart of any one, but can only speculate
about it. Speculation is not Truth and is not even remotely connected to it. Corroboration of the character's
creator establishes the Truth of that character. For instance, one may claim to be a "bondman of Christ."
Claims must be proved, and not relied upon, to be true. And Brother James, in his general epistle, answers
this claim fully:
"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a
brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye
warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it
profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have
works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there
is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith
without works is dead?" James 2:14-20.
The fullness of the working of faith to, in and of Christ Jesus in the one producing fruit establishes the
Truth of character--not the mere spoken words:
"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good
tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and
cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity." Matthew 7:16-23.
And so,
"Nomen non sufficit si res non sit de jure aut de facto --A name does not suffice if the thing does not
exist by law or by fact." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2148.
Casting your pearls before the swine then allows the attachment of jurisdiction, and there is no way out.
Once the State has received from you what it needs it must now convert you into something tangible in its
darkened eyes: a name in all capital letters. This is "branding" you like an animal. Now it can proceed to
do what it needs to engorge its insatiable self.
The Martyrdom of
Perpetua and Felicitas
Introduction, Preface, and Translation by the Rev. R. E. Wallis
Part Two
In last months introduction to this account of early martyrdom, we are told that Perpetua and Felicitas
suffered in the reign of Septimius Sererus, about the year 202 a.d. Some think that they suffered at
Tuburbium in Mauritania; but the more general opinion is, that Carthage was the scene of their
martyrdom.
In Chapter One, we were shown the circumstances leading up to their imprisonment and the
steadfastness of these martyrs to put Christ Jesus first, before family and the things of this world.
Chapter Two.
Perpetua, When besieged by Her Father, Comforts Him. When Led with Others
to the Tribunal, She Avows Herself a Christian, and is Condemned with the Rest to the Wild
Beasts.
1. "After a few days there prevailed a report that we should be heard. And then my father came to me
from the city, worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might cast me down, saying, 'Have pity
my daughter, on my grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. If
with these hands I have brought you up to this flower of your age, if I have preferred you to all your
brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of men. Have regard to your brothers, have regard to your
mother and your aunt, have regard to your son, who will not be able to live after you. Lay aside your
courage, and do not bring us all to destruction; for none of us will speak in freedom if you should suffer
anything.' These things said my father in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my
feet; and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady. And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father,
that he alone of all my family would not rejoice over my passion. And I comforted him, saying, 'On that
scaffold whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power, but in that
of God.' And he departed from me in sorrow.
2. "Another day, while we at dinner, we were suddenly taken away to be heard, and we arrived at the
town-hall. At once the rumor spread through the neighborhood of the public place, and an immense
number of people were gathered together. We mounted the platform. The rest were interrogated, and
confessed. Then they came to me, and my father immediately appeared with my boy, and withdrew me
from the step, and said in a supplicating tone, 'Have pity on your babe.' And Hilarianus the procurator,
who had just received the power of life and death in the place of the proconsul Minucius Timinianus, who
was deceased, said, 'Spare the grey hairs of your father, spare the infancy of your boy, offer sacrifice for
the well- being of the emperors.' And I replied, 'I will not do so.' Hilarianus said, 'Are you a Christian?'
And I replied, 'I am a Christian.' And as my father stood there to cast me down from the faith, he was
ordered by Hilarianus to be thrown down, and was beaten with rods.
And my father's misfortune grieved me as if I myself had been beaten, I so grieved for his wretched old
age. The procurator then delivered judgment on all of us, and condemned us to the wild beasts, and we
went down cheerfully to the dungeon. Then, because my child had been used to receive suck from me, and
to stay with me in the prison, I sent Pomponius the deacon to my father to ask for the infant, but my father
would not give it him. And even as God willed it, the child no longer desired the breast, nor did my breast
cause me uneasiness, lest it should be tormented by care for my babe and by the pain of my breasts at
once.
Chapter Three.
Perpetua is Again tempted by Her Father. Her Third Vision, Wherein She is
Led Away to Struggle Against an Egyptian. She Fights, Conquers, and Receives the Reward.
1. "Again, after a few days, Pudens, a soldier, an assistant overseer of the prison, who began to regard us
in great esteem, perceiving that the great power of God was in us, admitted many brethren to see us, that
both we and they might be mutually refreshed. And when the day of the exhibition drew near, my father,
worn with suffering, came into be and began to tear out his beard, and to throw himself on the earth, and
to cast himself down on his face, and to reproach his years, and to utter such words as might move all
creation. I grieved for his unhappy old age.
2. "The day before that on which we were to fight, I saw in a vision that Pomponius the deacon came
hither to the gate of the prison, and knocked vehemently. I went out to him, and opened the gate for him;
and he was clothed in a richly ornamented white robe, and he had on manifold calliculm. And he said to
me, 'Perpetua, we are waiting for you; come!' And he held his hand to me, and we began to go through
rough and winding places. Scarcely at length had we arrived breathless at the amphitheater, when he led
me into the middle of the arena, and said to me, 'Do not fear, I am here with you, and I am labouring with
you;' and he departed. And I gazed upon an immense assembly, in astonishment. And because I knew that
I was given to the wild beasts, I marvelled that the wild beasts were not let loose upon me. Then there
came forth against me a certain Egyptian, horrible in appearance, with his backers, to fight with me. And
there came to me, as my helpers and encouragers, handsome youths; and I was stripped, and became a
man. Then my helpers began to rub me with oil, as is the custom for contest; and I beheld that Egyptian
on the other hand rolling in the dust. And a certain man came forth, of wondrous height, so that he even
over-topped the top of the amphitheatre; and he wore a loose tunic and a purple robe between two bands
over the middle of the breast; and he had on calliculm of varied form, made of gold and silver; and he
carried a rod, as if he were a trainer of gladiators, and a green branch upon which were apples of gold.
And he called for silence, and said, 'This Egyptian, if he should overcome this woman, shall kill her with
the sword; and if she shall conquer him, she shall receive this branch.' Then he departed. And we drew
near to one another, and began to deal out blows. He sought to lay hold of my feet, while I stuck at his face
with my heels; and I was lifted up in the air, and began thus to thrust at him as if spurning the earth. But
when I saw that there was some delay I joined my hands as to twine my fingers with one another; and I
took hold upon his head, and he fell on his face, and I trod upon his head. And the people began to shout,
and my backers to exult. And I drew near to the trainer and took the branch; and he kissed me, and said to
me, 'Daughter, peace be with you:' and I began to go gloriously to the Sanavivariangate. Then I awoke,
and perceived that I was not to fight with beasts, but against the devil. Still i knew that the victory was
awaiting me.
This, so far, I have completed several days before the exhibition; but what passed at the exhibition
itself, let who will write."
Chapter Four.
Saturus, in a Vision, and Perpetua Being Carried by Angels into the Great
Light, Behold the Martyrs. Being Brought to the Throne of God, are Received with a Kiss.
They Reconcile Opatus the Bishop and Aspasius the Presbyter.
1. Moreover, also, the blessed Saturus related this his vision, which he himself committed to writing:-
"We had suffered," says he, "and we were gone forth from the flesh, and we were beginning to be borne by
four angels into the east; and their hands touched us not. And we floated not supine, looking upwards, but
as if ascending a gentle slope. And being set free, we at length saw the first boundless light; and I said,
'Perpetua (for she was at my side), 'this is what the Lord promised to us; we have received the promise.'
And while we are borne by those same four angels, there appears to us a vast space which was like a
pleasure-garden, having rose-trees and every kind of flower. And the height of the trees was after the
measure of a cypress, and their leaves were falling incessantly. Moreover, there in the pleasure-garden
four other angels appeared, brighter than the previous ones, who, when they saw us, gave us honour, and
said to the rest of the angels, 'Here they are! Here they are!' with admiration. And those four angels who
bore us, being greatly afraid, put us down; and we passed over on foot the space of a furlong in a broad
path. There we found Jocundus and Saturninus and Artaxius, who having suffered the same persecution
were burnt alive; and Quintus, who also himself a martyr had departed in the prison. And we asked of
them where the rest were. And the angels said to us, 'Come first, enter and greet your Lord.'
2. "And we came near to place, the walls of which were such as if they were built of light; and before the
gate of that place stood four angels, who clothed those who entered with white robes. And being clothed,
we entered and saw the boundless light, and heard the united voice of some who said without ceasing,
'Holy! Holy! Holy!' And in the midst of that place we saw as it were a hoary man sitting, having snow-white hair, and with a youthful countenance; and his feet we saw not. And on his right hand and on his
left were four-and-twenty elders, and behind them a great many others were standing. We entered with
great wonder, and stood before the throne; and the four angels raised us up, and we kissed Him, and He
passed His hand over our face. And the rest of the elders said to us, 'Let us stand;' and we stood and made
peace. And the elders said to us, and enjoy.' And I said, 'Perpetua, you have what you wish.' And she said
to me, 'Thanks be to God, that joyous as I was in the flesh, I am now more joyous here.'
3. "And we went forth, and saw before the entrance Optatus the bishop at the right hand, and Aspasius the
presbyter, a teacher, at the left hand, separate and sad; and they cast themselves at our feet, and said to us,
'Restore peace between us, because you have gone forth and have left us thus.' And we said to them, 'Art
not thou our father, and thou our presbyter, that you should cast yourselves at our feet?' And we prostrated
ourselves, and we embraced them; and Perpetua began to speak with them, and we drew them apart in the
pleasure-garden under a rose-tree. And while we were speaking with them, the angels said unto them, 'Let
them alone, that they may refresh themselves; and if you have any dissensions between you, forgive one
another.' And they drove them away. And they said to Optatus, 'Rebuke thy people, because they assemble
to you as if returning from the circus, and contending about factious matters.' And then it seemed to us as
if they would shut the doors. And in that place we began to recognize many brethren, and moreover
martyrs. We were all nourished with an indescribable odour, which satisfied us. Then, I joyously awoke."
Chapter Five.
Secundulus Dies in the Prison. Felicitas is Pregnant, But with Many Prayers She
Brings Forth in the Eighth Month Without Suffering, the Courage of Perpetua and of Saturus
Unbroken.
1. The above were the more eminent visions of the blessed martyrs Saturus and Perpetua themselves,
which they themselves committed to writing. But God called Secundulus, while he has yet in the prison,
by an earlier exit from the world, not without favour, so as to give a respite to the beasts. Nevertheless,
even if his soul did not acknowledge cause for thankfulness, assuredly his flesh did.
2. But respecting Felicitas (for to her also the Lord's favour approached in the same way), when she had
already gone eight months with child (for she had been pregnant when she was apprehended), as the day
of the exhibition was drawing near, she was in great grief lest on account of her pregnancy she should be
delayed, -- because pregnant women are not allowed to be publicly punished, -- and lest she should shed
her sacred and guiltless blood among some who had been wicked subsequently. Moreover, also, her
fellow- martyrs were painfully saddened lest they should leave so excellent a friend, and as it were
companion, alone in the path of the same hope. Therefore, joining together their united cry, they poured
forth their prayer to the Lord three days before the exhibition. Immediately after their prayer her pains
came upon her, and when, with the difficulty natural to an eight months' delivery, in the labour of
bringing forth she was sorrowing, some one of the servants of the Cataractarii said to her, "You who are
in such suffering now, what will you do when you are thrown to the beasts, which you despised when you
refused to sacrifice?" And she replied, "Now it is I that suffer what I suffer; but then there will be another
in me, who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer for Him." Thus she brought forth a little
girl, which a certain sister brought up as her daughter.
3. Since then the Holy Spirit permitted, and by permitting willed, that the proceedings of that exhibition
should be committed to writing, although we are unworthy to complete the description of so great a glory;
yet we obey as it were the command of the most blessed Perpetua, nay her sacred trust, and add one more
testimony concerning her constancy and her loftiness of mind. While they were treated with more severity
by the tribune, because, from the intimations of certain deceitful men, he feared lest they should be
withdrawn from the prison by some sort of magic incantations, Perpetua answered to his face, and said,
"Why do you not at least permit us to be refreshed, being as we are objectionable to the most noble Caesar,
and having to fight on his birth-day? Or is it not your glory if we are brought forward fatter on that
occasion?" The tribune shuddered and blushed, and commanded that they should be kept with more
humanity, so that permission was given to their brethren and others to go in and be refreshed with them;
even the keeper of the prison trusting them now himself.
4. Moreover, on the day before, when in that last meal, which they call the free meal, they were partaking
as far as they could, not of a free supper, but of an agape; with the same firmness they were uttering such
words as these to the people, denouncing against them the judgment of the Lord, bearing witness to the
felicity of their passion, laughing at the curiosity of the people who came together; while Saturus said,
"To-morrow is not enough for you, for you to behold with pleasure that which you hate. Friends today,
enemies to-morrow. Yet note our faces diligently, that you may recognize them on that day of judgment."
Thus all departed thence astonished, and from these things many believed.
Chapter Six.
From the Prison They are Led Forth with Joy into the Amphitheatre, Especially
Perpetua and Felicitas. All Refuse to Put on Profane Garments. They are Scourged, They are
Thrown to the Wild Beasts. Saturus Twice is Unhurt. Perpetua and Felicitas are Thrown
Down; They are Called Back to the Sanavivarian Gate. Saturus Wounded by a Leopard,
Exhorts the Soldier. They Kiss One Another, and are Slain with the Sword.
1. The day of their victory shone forth, and they proceeded from the prison into the amphitheatre, as if to
an assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenances; if perchance shrinking, it was with joy, and not with
fear. Perpetua followed with placid look, and with step and gait as a matron of Christ, beloved of God;
casting down the luster of her eyes from the gaze of all. Moreover, Felicitas, rejoicing that she had safely
brought forth, so that she might fight with the wild beasts; from the blood and from the midwife to the
gladiator, to wash after childbirth with a second baptism. And when they were brought to the gate, and
were constrained to put on the clothing--the men, that of the priests of Saturn, and the women, that of
those who were consecrated to Ceres--that noble- minded woman resisted even to the end with constancy.
For she said, "We have come thus far of our own accord, for this reason, that our liberty might not be
restrained. For this reason we have yielded our minds, that we might not do any such thing as this: we
have agreed on this with you." Injustice acknowledged the justice; the tribune yielded to their being
brought as simply as they were. Perpetua sang psalms, already treading under foot the head of the
Egyptian; Revocatus, and Saturninus, and Saturus uttered threatenings against the gazing people about
this martyrdom. When they came within sight of Hilarianus, by gesture and nod, they began to say to
Hilarianus, "Thou judgest us," say they, "but God will judge thee." At this the people, exasperated,
demanded that they should be tormented with scourges as they passed along the rank of the venatores.
And they indeed rejoiced that they should have incurred any one of their Lord's passions.
2. But He who had said, "Ask, and ye shall receive," gave to them when they asked, that death which each
one had wished for. For when at any time they had been discoursing among themselves about their wish
in respect of their martyrdom, Saturninus indeed had professed that he wished that he might be thrown to
all the beasts; doubtless that he might wear a more glorious crown. Therefore in the beginning of the
exhibition he and Revocatus made trial of the leopard, and moreover upon the scaffold they were harassed
by the bear. Saturus, however, held nothing in greater abomination than a bear; but he imagined that he
would be put an end to with one bite of a leopard. Therefore, when a wild boar was supplied, it was the
huntsman rather who had supplied that boar who was gored by that same beast, and died the day after the
shows. Saturus only was drawn out; and when he had been bound on the floor near to a bear, the bear
would not come forth from his den. And so Saturus for the second time is recalled unhurt.
3. Moreover, for the young women the devil prepared a very fierce cow, provided especially for that
purpose contrary to custom, rivalling their sex also in that of the beasts. And so, stripped and clothed with
nets, they were led forth. The populace shuddered as they saw one young woman of delicate frame, and
another with breasts still dropping from her recent childbirth. So, being recalled, they are unbound.
Perpetua is first led in. She was tossed, and fell on her loins; and when she saw her tunic torn from her
side, she drew it over her as a veil for her middle, rather mindful of her modesty than her suffering. Then
she was called for again, and bound up her dishevelled hair; for it was not becoming for a martyr to suffer
with dishevelled hair, lest she should appear to be mourning in her glory. So she rose up; and when she
saw Felicitas crushed, she approached and gave her her hand, and lifted her up. And both of them stood
together; and the brutality of the populace being appeased, they were recalled to the Sanavivarian gate.
Then Perpetua was received by a certain one who was still a catechumen, Rusticus by name, who kept
close to her; and she, as if aroused from sleep, so deeply had she been in the Spirit and in an ecstasy,
began to look round her, and to say to the amazement of all, "I cannot tell when we are to be led out to
that cow." And when she had heard what had already happened, she did not believe it until she had
perceived certain signs of injury in her body and in her dress, and had recognized the catechumen.
Afterwards causing that catechumen and the brother to approach, she addressed them, saying, "Stand fast
in the faith, and love one another, all of you, and be not offended at my sufferings."
4. The same Saturus at the other entrance exhorted the soldier Pudens, saying, "Assuredly here I am, as I
have promised and foretold, for up to this moment I have felt no beast. And now believe with your whole
heart. Lo, I am going forth to that beast, and I shall be destroyed with one bite of the leopard." And
immediately at the conclusion of the exhibition he was thrown to the leopard; and with one bite of his he
was bathed with such a quantity of blood, that the people shouted out to him as he was returning, the
testimony of his second baptism, "Saved and washed, saved and washed." Manifestly he was assuredly
saved who had been glorified in such a spectacle. Then to the soldier Pudens he said, "Farewell, and be
mindful of my faith; and let not these things disturb, but confirm you." And at the same time he asked for
a little ring from his finger, and returned it to him bathed in his wound, leaving to him an inherited token
and the memory of his blood. And then lifeless he is cast down with the rest, to be slaughtered in the usual
place. And when the populace called for them into the midst, that as the sword penetrated into their body
they might make their eyes partners in the murder, they rose up of their own accord, and transferred
themselves whither the people wished; but they first kissed one another, that they might consummate their
martyrdom with the kiss of peace. The rest indeed, immovable and in silence, received the sword-thrust;
much more Saturus, who also had first ascended the ladder, and first gave up his spirit, for he also was
waiting for Perpetua. But Perpetua, that she might taste some pain, being pierced between the ribs, cried
out loudly, and she herself placed the wavering right hand of the youthful gladiator to her throat. Possibly
such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself had willed it, because she was feared by the
impure spirit.
O most brave and blessed martyrs! O truly called and chosen unto the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ!
whom whoever magnifies, and honours, and adores, assuredly ought to read these examples for the
edification of the Church, not less than the ancient ones, so that new virtues also may testify that one and
the same Holy Spirit is always operating even until now, and God the Father Omnipotent, and His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord, Whose is the glory and infinite power for ever and ever. Amen.
Divide et Impere
or
The Doctrine of Modern Fascism
written solely by the Grace of God in and through
our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
by John Joseph and Randy Lee
"Divide and conquer," the main tactical mode of today's Roman fascism is found not only residing in
the governmental and political structures of all of the States of the world but is also to be found in the
same structures of the "Church world," such as those that call themselves "The Protestant Church," "a
New Testament Church," and other such self-defining terms.
We understand that the above statement will be considered by many as an affront or attack on His
Lawful assembly--the church--which it is not. The church--His remnant--the body of Jesus, the
Christ--has never been divided, and never will be (Matthew 16:18). Therefore, this article does not
pertain to the bondmen of Christ Jesus who abide, live, move, and have their being in Him; but is for the
edification of those who have been deceived through those "organizations of the world" who have dubbed
themselves to be "a New Testament Church," "Protestant Church," or any other "personal" and "divisive"
self-engrandizing designations not found in the Word of God or in His Creation, i.e., Roman Catholic,
Lutheran, Methodist, Mormon, Calvinist, Anglican, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptist, Congregational,
Unitarian, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Presbyterian--and all other "evolutionary" cults and
creations by and of the "reasonable" mind of the natural man (see "Denominationalism" in "Bits and
Pieces, Page five).
We understand that all of the statements above will also be considered by many as an assault to divide.
Again, it is not, and cannot be, for it also pertains to the natural men of those "organizations" which have
already "sanctified" themselves from The Way, The Truth, and The Life as a result of their self-willed
restatements of the Truth--through the man-made science called theology.
One of the results of theology is the redefinition of God into the pagan image "created" by the particular
theologician's "science":
"Theology. The science of God or religion;..." Webster's New International Dictionary (1933), page 2140.
"Science is a subculture among subcultures. It can claim to be useful. It may claim rather more
dubiously to be good. It cannot claim to give validity." Boulding, The Image: Knowledge of Life in
Society (1956), p. 16.
"Theology. a. The study or science which treats of God, his nature and attributes, and his relations
with man and the universe; 'the science of things divine' (Hooker); divinity. b. A particular theological
system or theory 1669. c. Applied to pagan or non-Christian systems 1662" The Oxford Universal
Dictionary (1933), page 2167.
Theory. 1. Mental view, contemplation--1710. 2. A conception or mental scheme of something to
be done, or of the method of doing it; a systematic statement of rules or principals (*creeds,
confessions of faith, etc.) to be followed 1597." The Oxford Universal Dictionary (1933), page 2167.
But all bondmen of Christ Jesus do not engage in theory and its systematic mental speculations, for they
have the Truth in Christ Jesus, The Word:
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's,
let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's." 2 Corinthians 10:3-7
One of the many snares of this "falsely named knowledge," called theology, (see 1 Timothy 6:20) that
these "'synagogues of Satan" have created since the third century is the Pharisaical outward show through
the notions of creeds, confessions, covenants, articles of faith, ad nauseam.
Today the Lawful assembly appears to be divided. Why? First, let us look at Scripture for the answer
and then we will get to the heart of the matter. We will note here that Brother Paul addressed the issue of
division in and of the Lawful assembly in his epistle to our Brothers at Corinth:
"For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of
Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye
baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; Lest any
should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas:
besides, I know not whether I baptized any other." 1 Corinthians 1:11-16.
"For it was shown to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of the house of Chloe, that strifes
among you there are. But I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of
Cephas, and I of Christ. Has the Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or to the name of
Paul were ye baptized? I thank God that not one of you I baptized, except Crispus and Gaius, that not
any one should say that unto my name I baptized. And I baptized also the house of Stephanas; as to the
rest I know not if any other I baptized." 1 Corinthians 1:11-16 (Berry).
Note that there were those who were contending for their "new" masters whom they claimed, though
the ones they claimed never once made such claims. We know of no statements made by Cephas, Apollos
or Paul claiming themselves to be masters, for it is written,
"Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people."
Isaiah 55:4.
"Behold, I have made Him a testimony among the Gentiles, a prince and commander to the
Gentiles." Isaiah 55:4 (LXX).
"But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.Neither
be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ." Matthew 23:8 & 10.
"But be ye not called Rabbi; for one is your leader, the Christ, and all ye are brethren.Neither be
ye called leaders; for one is your leader, the Christ." Matthew 23:8 & 10 (Berry).
So then we can state that there were others who made such claims without their knowledge until such
was brought to Paul's attention. He at once dispelled these myths; for these claims appealed to the flesh,
and drew them away from Christ Jesus. Such are the same ones who make confessions, creeds, covenants,
or articles of faith. They make the claim that they have come to an "understanding" of Scripture and
demand that if you want their fellowship, you must come to their same private knowledge--or to put it in
modern terms--their pagan systematic theology having them as its god. Thus, their understanding of
Scripture is at the fore, and not Christ. This is evidence that these are not in and of Christ, but are
impostors, who "are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and
our Lord Jesus Christ." Jude 1:4.
"For came in stealthily certain men, they who of old have been before marked out to this sentence,
ungodly persons changing the grace of our God into licentiousness [*license] and denying the only
master--God and our Lord Jesus Christ." Jude 1:4 (Berry).
They deny the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to us in Scripture, to conjure and preach another christ based
on their understanding and pagan theology of the world. Theology is pagan and is not of God. How does
one reason "I Am" or "He Who Is"? We can see this in the encounter between Moses and our Father at the
burning bush. Moses, who had learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians, asked Who sent him to Pharaoh.
He could never have arrived at the Truth in and of God, using the wisdom of men. Therefore, creeds,
confessions, covenants, or articles of faith speak of the world of their creators, and not of God revealed in
Christ Jesus:
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no
light in them." Isaiah 8:20.
"They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of
God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth, and the spirit of error." 1 John 4:5-6.
Is God's Revelation of Himself in Christ Jesus sufficient? It was for Moses; are these "divines" more
"enlightened" than Moses? And who is the source of that light? For it is written, "Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light." 2 Corinthians 11:14. And it stands written,
"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of
light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in
thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matthew 6:22-23.
"The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye single be, thy whole body light will be. But if
thine eye evil be, thy whole body dark will be. If therefore the light that is in thee darkness is, the
darkness how great;" Matthew 6:22-23 (Berry).
Satan will appear to be light when the darkness of the eye is dark in respect to him. So that we clearly
see that these impostors who "create" false knowledge are representative of the ungodly licentious men
spoken of at Jude 4 by making merchandise of Christ and His flock. See Ezekiel 34. Just how did they
come in? This is shown plainly to us:
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are
good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep
into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning
[*through pagan systematic theology based on scholasticism], and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth [*because they have not and have received not the Spirit of God]. Now as
Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds [*seared
consciences], reprobate concerning the faith." 2 Timothy 3:1-8.
"But this know thou, that in the last days difficult times will be present; for men will be lovers of
self [*self-will from which the fruit is creeds, covenants, confessions, or articles of faith] lovers of
money, vaunting, proud, evil speakers, to parents disobedient, unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection, implacable, slanderers, incontinent, savage, not lovers of good, betrayers, headlong, puffed
up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; having a form of piety, but the power of it denying;
and these turn away from. For of these are those who are entering into houses and leading captive silly
women laden with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never to the knowledge of the
truth able to come. Now in the way [*manner] Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, thus also these
withstand the truth, men utterly corrupted in mind, found worthless as regards the faith [*for their
faith is in creeds, covenants and confessions of faith]." 2 Timothy 3:1-8 (Berry).
Truly they are covenant-breakers with God in Christ Jesus, writing another covenant outside Scripture
with another Jesus found in their pagan theology and their history--"the historical Jesus." "Form of
godliness" is outward show, without any inward renewal by the Spirit of God; and, we know the kingdom
of God comes not with outward show. See Luke 17:20. "Denying the power thereof" means they deny
Christ Jesus to Whom all Authority, Power and Judgment was given to judge both the living and the dead.
This has the result of another and alien interpretation of Romans 13. Their words in their covenants are
dead words for adhering to and performing dead works of their dead religion and not execution of Law in
and of Christ. Their works are their own works and not the Works of Christ:
"I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer
me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace
offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the
melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have
ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have
borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to
yourselves." Amos 5:21-26.
By "creation" of these dead creeds, confessions, covenants, or articles of faith, they join or conform
themselves to the dead (a religious society)--the "new man" of or with dead and forbidden morality (a
moral person)--and not a life renewed by in and of Christ. Barflies are one breed of those who stealthily
crept in:
"A century and a half ago Edwin Burke said, Civilization is a contract between the great dead, the
living and the unborn--A contract between the great dead, the living and the unborn. I want to talk to
you very briefly this afternoon, my brethren, if I may, about the thing we are trying to do here in
America. You and I wanted something to do and engaged in the business of trying law suits for clients,
in order that we may make a living, but back of and bigger than it all, you and I--whether or not we
know it and whether or not we are wholly conscious of it--are engaged in the most extraordinary
thing the world has ever seen. We are helping to build, maintain, and hand to future ages the contract
between the great dead, the living and the unborn. And with the band of American lawyers
consecrating themselves to that great patriotic duty, we will hand to the ages untarnished the great
contract between the dead, the living and the unborn." F. F. Faville, former Justice of the Supreme
Court of Iowa, The Great Contract (1935), 15 Nebraska Law Bulletin 88. [*Note carefully the religion
connected to the law profession].
The sole purpose of the barfly is to join the living to the dead through artifices of his reasonable
conjuring--all outside Christ:
"The theoretical and practical expressions of religious experience are complemented by a third
aspect, the sociological. 'Vital religion, by its very nature, must create and sustain a social
[*human--without the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus] relationship.'
"In the United States of America, the Declaration of Independence marked a significant epoch in
Church-State relations whose import will be assessed below. Disestablishment of all cults-- though
only slowly carried out in practice--was to insure the freedom of religious association. The State was
[*and still is] to be concerned only with the social [*human] and not with the theological character
of religious organizations [*all corporate businesses are the same under the State], and, as a result, all
groups, regardless of how they defined themselves (covenant, church, etc.) [*sans Warrant of
Authority in, of and from Christ Jesus], are officially classified as religious societies. Complete
freedom is given to each group to disseminate religious propaganda." Joachim Wach, Sociology of
Religion (1944), pp. 27, 277-278.
Creeds, confessions, covenants, and articles of faith change His Lawful assembly into a "religious
society," and are, in contemplation of law, just like all corporations under American constitutional law
(see also "The Police Power," Page twelve):
"RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. A body of persons associated together for the purpose of maintaining
religious worship [*specific and private rites outside Christ and therefore outside the
Law--outlawry]. The communicants of a denomination who statedly attend services (*commercial)
in the church edifice. Fiske v. Beaty, 201 N.Y.S. 441, 444, 206 App.Div. 349." Blacks Law Dictionary
(4th ed., 1957 & 1968), p. 1456.
"BODY POLITIC OR CORPORATE. A social compact by which the whole people covenants with each
citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws [*covenants,
confessions of faith, creeds, ad nauseam, all restatements of Law, but not Law] for the common good
[*based on the morals expressed in the aforesaid documents]. Uricich v. Kolesar, 54 Ohio App. 309, 7
N.E.2d 413, 414. A term applied to a corporation. County. Bazzoli v. Larson, 40 Ohio App. 321, 178
N.E. 331, 332; Lindburg v. Bennett, 117 Neb. 66, 218 N.W. 851, 855. Municipality. Middle-States
Utilities Co. v. City of Osceola, 1 N.W.2d 643, 645, 231 Iowa 851, 855. School district. Patrick v.
Maybank, 198 S.C. 262, 17 S.E.2d 530, 534.
"State or nation or public associations, Utah State Building Commission, for Use and Benefit of
Mountain States Supply Co. v. Great American Indemnity Co., 105 Utah 11, 140 P.2d 763, 767."
Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 & 1968), p. 222.
"Ecclesiastical and Lay. In the English law, all corporations private are divided into ecclesiastical
and lay, the former being such corporations as are composed exclusively of ecclesiastics organized for
spiritual purposes, or for administering property held for religious uses, such as bishops and and
certain other dignitaries of the Church and (formerly) abbeys and monasteries.1 Bl. Comm. 470. Lay
corporations are those composed of laymen, and existing for secular or business purposes. This
distinction is not recognized in American law. Corporations formed for the purpose of maintaining
or propagating religion or of supporting public religious services (*commercial), according to the rites
of particular denominations, and incidentally owning and administering real and personal
property for religious uses (*private), are called 'religious corporations,' as distinguished from
business corporations; but they are 'lay' corporations, and not 'ecclesiastical' in the sense of the
English law." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 &1968), "Corporation," p. 410.
---------------
"Man has been created [*by] in and for the Word of God, and this makes him the being who is
responsible.
"Masses, collectives, and species have no responsibility; they are not capable of assuming
responsibility [*because they have no souls (10 Rep. 32 b)]." Brunner, Man in Revolt (The Westminster
Press, 1947), p. 279.
Civilizations and societies, corporations and schools have no responsibility to God and therefore are of
the spirit of anti-Christ, for they receive not the things of the Spirit of God, but the spirit of the natural
men that put the creeds, etc., onto a soulless and dead piece of paper:
"They [corporations] cannot commit trespass nor be outlawed nor excommunicated, for they have
no souls. 10 Rep. 32 b." Heard, Curiosities of the Law Reporters (1876), p. 67.
Corporations, including ecclesiastical corporations, are dead to Christ and therefore have no authority
or right to the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God, for they are engaged in, and try to recruit
others into, their Baal worship:
"They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices [*creeds, confessions, covenants,
or articles of faith] of the dead." Psalm 106:28.
"BAAL-PEOR. (lord of the opening, i.e., for others to join the worship. We have already referred to
the worship of this god. The narrative (Numbers 25) seems clearly to show that this form of Baal-worship was connected with licentious rites [*creeds, confessions of faith, licensing, etc.]. Smiths Bible
Dictionary, p. 70. [*So much for "Christian attorneys"].
So that we state what was said before:
"On the 26th of May, 1786, James Madison, who subsequently became president of the United
States, said in a sermon he delivered before the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Virginia: I
earnestly recommend to our Christians to reject every system as the fallible production of human
contrivance, which shall dictate the articles of faith; and adopt the gospel alone as their guide. Those
Christian societies will ever be found to have formed their union upon principles, the wisest and the
best, which make the Scriptures alone, and not human articles, a confession of belief, the sole rule of
faith and conduct." W. D. Frazee, Reminiscences and Sermons (1896), p. 63. [*Madison, being
knowledgeable of the Law, knew the consequences of joining the living to the dead].
It is also stated,
"Articles, Creeds, and Confessions of Faith alike fail to give us this full knowledge of God which is
so essential to our faith and walk. They are all only mans impressions, inferences, and conclusions
drawn from Scripture; and have themselves to be judged by Scripture.
"Whatever of truth there may be in them; or however useful, or even necessary, they may be in their
proper place, they can never take the place of the Word of God.
"Only in the "person" of the Living Word, and in the pages of the Written Word, can we get to
know God.
"We do not, therefore, now propose to discuss doctrines, or to use any non-scriptural expressions;
not even such words as Trinity or Unity, or any Ecclesiastical terminology. These are the things which
divide the members of the One Body, instead of uniting them. These introduce the seeds of strife and
contention. These have been the causes of controversies and martyrdoms. But, if we confine ourselves
to the Word of God, and that alone, both writer and readers may, and will, all learn together what God
has revealed concerning Himself." E. W. Bullinger, The Knowledge of God (1920), page 3.
Because these creeds, covenants, confessions, and articles of faith are judged by the Word of God, they
are not of Christ Jesus nor of God our Father. Pick up a Strong's or Cruden's Concordance and you will
not find any of these terms, except covenant. But the covenant spoken of is with God through Christ Jesus,
not through a higher'archy (higher anarchy) of men. Have you Peace with God through creeds, covenants,
confessions, and articles of faith that are judged by God? Does God our Father second-guess His own
Work? It is written:
"For the word of the LORD is right; and all His works are done in truth." Psalm 33:4.
To be continued next month.
Heresy
by Richard Watson
From Watson's Bible Dictionary (1832), pp. 448-451.
"HERESY. Hæresis, aireoij, from airew, I choose, signifies an error in some essential point of Christian
faith, publicly avowed, and obstinately maintained; or, according to the legal definition, 'Sententia rerum
divinarum humano sensu excogitate, palm dicta, et pertinaciter defense.' [An opinion of divine things
invented by human reason, openly taught, and obstinately defended.'] Among the ancients, the word
heresy appears to have had nothing of that odious signification which has been attached to it by
ecclesiastical writers in later times. It only signified a peculiar opinion, dogma, or sect, without conveying
any reproach; being indifferently used, either of a party approved, or of one disapproved by the writer. In
this sense they spoke of the heresy of the Stoics, of the Peripatetics, Epicureans, &c., meaning the sect or
peculiar system of these philosophers. In the historical part of the New Testament, the word seems to bear
very nearly the same signification, being employed indiscriminately to denote a sect or party, whether
good or bad. Thus we read of the sect or heresy of the Sadducees, of the Pharisees, of the Nazarenes, &c.
See Acts 5:17; 15:5; 24:5; 28:22. In the two former of these passages, the term heresy seems to be adopted
by the sacred historian merely for the sake of distinction, without the least appearance of any intention to
convey either praise or blame. In Acts 26:4, 5, St. Paul, in defending himself before King Agrippa, uses
the same term, when it was manifestly his design to exalt the party to which he had belonged, and to give
their system the preference over every other system of Judaism, both with regard to soundness of doctrine
and purity of morals.
"2. It has been suggested that the acceptance of the word airesij in the epistles is different from what it
has been observed to be in the historical books of the New Testament. In order to account for this
difference, it may be observed that the word sect has always something relative in it; and therefore,
although the general import of the term be the same, it will convey a favorable or an unfavorable idea,
according to the particular relation it bears in the application. When it is used along with the proper
name, by way of distinguishing one party from another, it conveys neither praise nor reproach. If any
thing reprehensible or commendable be meant, it is suggested, not by the word airesij itself, but by the
words with which it stands connected in construction. Thus we may speak of a strict sect, or a lax sect; or
of a good sect, or a bad sect. Again, the term may be applied to a party formed in a community, when
considered in reference to the whole. If the community be of such a nature as not to admit of such a
subdivision, without impairing or corrupting its constitution, a charge of splitting into sects, or forming
parties, is equivalent to a charge of corruption in that which is most essential to the existence and welfare
of the society. Hence arises the whole difference of the word, as it is used in the historical part of the New
Testament, and in the epistles of St. Peter and St. Paul; for these are the only Apostles who employ it. In
the history, the reference is always of the first kind; in the epistles, it is always of the second. In these last,
the Apostles address themselves only to Christians, and either reprehend them for, or warn them against,
forming sects among themselves, to the prejudice of charity, to the production of much mischief within
their community, and of great scandal to the unconverted world without. In both applications, however,
the radical import of the word is the same; and even in the latter it has no necessary reference to doctrine,
true or false. During the early ages of Christianity, the term heresy gradually lost the innocence of its
original meaning, and came to be applied, in a reproachful sense, to any corruption of what was
considered as the orthodox creed, or even to any departure from the established rites and ceremonies of
the Church.
"3. The heresies chiefly alluded to in the apostolical epistles are, first, those of the Judaizers, or rigid
adherents to the Mosaic rites, especially that of circumcision; second, those of converted Hellenists, or
Grecian Jews, who held the Greek eloquence and philosophy in too high an estimation, and corrupted, by
the speculations of the latter, the simplicity of the Glad Tidings; and third, those who endeavored to blend
Christianity with a mixed philosophy of magic, demonology, and Platonism, which was then highly
popular in the world. With respect to the latter, the remarks of Hug will tend to illustrate some passages in
the writings of St. Paul:--Without being acquainted with the notions of those teachers who caused the
Apostle so much anxiety and so much vexation, a considerable part of these treatises must necessarily
remain dark and unintelligible. From the criteria by which the Apostle points them out, at one time some
deemed that they recognized the Gnostics; others perceived none but the Essenes; and every one found
arguments for his assertions from the similarity of the doctrines, opinions, and morals. It would, however,
be as difficult to prove that the Gnostic school had at that time indeed perfectly developed itself, as it is
unjust to charge the Essenes with that extreme of immorality of which St. Paul accused these seducers,
since the contemporaries and acquaintenances of this Jewish sect mention them with honor and respect,
and extol its members as the most virtuous men of their age. The similarity of the principles and
opinions, which will have been observed in both parties compared with St. Paul's declarations, flows from
a common source, from the philosophy of that age, whence both the one and the other have derived their
share. We shall therefore go less astray, if we recede a step, and consider the philosophy itself, as the
general modeller of these derivative theories. It found its followers among Judaism as well as among the
Heathens; it both introduced its speculative preparations into Christianity, and endeavoured to unite them
or to adjust them to it, as well as they were able, by which means Christianity would have become
deformed and unlike to itself, and would have been merged in the ocean of philosophical reveries, unless
the Apostles had on this occasion defended it against the follies of men. An oriental, or, as it is commonly
called, a Babylonian or Chaldean, doctrinal system had already long become known to the Greeks, and
even to the Romans, before Augustus, and still more so in the Augustan age, and was in the full progress
of its extension over Asia and Europe. It set up different deities and intermediate spirits in explanation of certain phenomena
of nature, for the office of governing the world, and for the solution of other metaphysical questions,
which from time immemorial were reckoned among the difficult propositions of philosophy. The practical
part of this system was occupied with the precepts by means of which a person might enter into
communication with these spirits or demons. But the result which they promised to themselves from this
union with the divine natures, was that of acquiring, by their assistance, superhuman knowledge, that of
predicting future events, and of performing supernatural works. These philosophers were celebrated under
the name of magi and Chaldeans; who, for the sake of better accommodating themselves to the western
nations, modified their system after the Greek forms, and then, as it appears, knew how to unite it with the
doctrine of Plato, from whence afterward arose the Neo-Platonic and in Christendom the Gnostic school.
These men forced their way even to the throne. Tiberius had received instruction in their philosophy, and
was very confident that by means of an intelligence with the demons, it was possible to learn and perform
extraordinary things. Nero caused a great number of them to be brought over from Asia, not unfrequently
at the expense of the provinces. The supernatural spirits would not always appear, yet he did not discard
his belief of them. The magi and Chaldeans were the persons who were consulted on great undertakings,
who, when conspiracies arose, predicted the issue; who invoked spirits, prepared offerings, and in love
affairs were obliged to afford aid from their art. Even the force of the laws, to which recourse was
frequently necessary to be had at Rome, tended to nothing but the argumentation of their authority. As
they found access and favour with the people of all classes in the capital, so did they also in the provinces.
Paul found a magus at the court of the proconsul at Paphos, Acts 13:6. Such was that Simon in Samaria,
Acts 8:10, who was there considered as a higher being of the spiritual class. The expression is remarkable,
as it is a part of the technical language of the Theurgists; they called him Denamij tou Qeou megalh, 'The
great power of God.' So also Pliny calls some of the demons and intermediate spirits, by whose
cooperation particular results were effected, potestates. [Powers.] Justin Martyr, the fellow countryman of
Simon, has preserved to us some technical expressions of his followers. He says that they ascribed to him
the high title nperanw washj archj, kai dunamewj. [Far above all principality, and power, and might.] Of
these classes of spirits, which appear under such different appellations, the superior were those who ruled;
but the inferior, who had more of a material substance, and who, on that account, were able to connect
themselves immediately with matter, were those who executed the commands of the superior. By an
intelligence with the superior spirits a person might have the subaltern at his service and assistance; for
the more powerful demons thus commanded the inferior to execute certain commissions in the material
world: 'Sn tw doconti twn daimoniwn,' 'By the prince of the devils,' [*Beelzebub] Matthew 12:24.
"4. The Syrian philosopher, Jamblichus, of Chalcis, has furnished us with a circumstantial
representation of this system and its several varieties, in his book on the mysteries of the Chaldeans and
Egyptians:--The nature of the gods is a pure, spiritual, and perfect unity. With this highest and perfect
immateriality no influence on matter is conceivable, consequently, no creation and dominion of the world.
Certain subordinate deities must therefore be admitted, which are more compounded in their nature, and
can act upon gross matter. These are the 'creators of the world,' dhmiourgoi, and 'the rulers of the world,'
kosmokratorej. The superior deities are, however, the real cause of all that exists; and from their fulness,
from their wlhrwma, it derives its existence. The succession from the highest deities down to the lowest is
not by a sudden descent, but by a continually graduating decrease from the highest, pure, and spiritual
natures, down to those which are more substantial and material, which are the nearest related to the gross
matter of the creation, and which consequently possess the property of acting upon it. In proportion to
their purer quality, or coarser composition, they occupy different places as their residence, either in a
denser atmosphere, or in higher regions. The highest among these classes of spirits are called arcai, or,
arcikon. Others among the 'divine natures,' Ieai ousiai, are 'intermediate beings,' mioai. Those which
occupy themselves with the laws of the world are also called arcontej, and 'ministering spirits' are
dunameij and aggeloi. The archangels are not generally recognized in this theory; this class is said to have
been of a later origin, and to have been first introduced by Porphyry. (See Archangel.) If we take here also
into consideration the exousiai, of which Justin has before spoken, we shall have enumerated the greater
part of the technical appellations of this demonology. But to arrive at a union with the higher orders of the
spiritual world, in which alone the highest bliss of man consists, it is necessary, before all things, to
become disengaged from the servitude of the body, which detains the soul from soaring up to the purely
spiritual. Matrimony, therefore, and every inclination to sexual concupiscence, must be renounced before
the attainment of this perfection. Hence, the offerings and initiations of the magi cannot, without great
injury, be even communicated to those who have not as yet emancipated themselves from the libido
procreandi, and the propensities to corporeal attachments. To eat meat, or to partake in general of any
slain animal, nay, to even touch it, contaminates. Bodily exercises and purifications, though not
productive of the gifts of prophecy, are nevertheless conducive to them. Though the gods only attend to
the pure, they nevertheless mislead men to impure, actions. This may perhaps proceed from the totally
different ideas of that which is good and righteous, which subsist between them and mankind.
"5. The philosophy of which the elements had already existed a long time in the east, formed itself, in
its progress to the west, into a doctrinal system, which found there far more approbation and celebrity than
it ever had deserved. It was principally welcome in those countries, to which the epistles of the Apostle are
directed. When St. Paul had preached at Ephesus, a quantity of magical and theurgical books were
brought forward by their possessors and burned before his eyes, Acts 19:19. This city had long since been
celebrated for them, and the 'Efesia alexifarmaka, and 'Efesiagratta were spells highly extolled by the
ancients for the purpose of procuring an authority over the demons. As late as the fourth century, the
synod at Laodicea was obliged to institute severe laws against the worship of angels, against magic, and
against incantations. These opinions had taken such a deep root in the mind, that some centuries did not
suffice for the extinction of the recollection of them. Now, there are passages in the Apostle which
strikingly characterize this theory. He calls the doctrinal system of his opponents filosofia ou kata Cri,
'a philosophy incompatible with Christianity,' Colossians 2:8; Irhskeia twn aggelwn, 'a worship of angels,'
Colossians 2:18; didaskaliai daimoniwn, 'a demonology,' 1 Timothy 4:1. He calls still farther gohteia, 2
Timothy 3:13. This is the peculiar expression by which the ancients denoted magical arts and necromantic
experiments; gohj is, according to Hesychius, magoj, kolax, weiergoj, and gohteuei, apata, mageuei,
faruakeuei, exaidei l. St. Paul compares these teachers to Jannes and Jambres, 2 Timothy 3:8. These two
persons are, according to the ancient tradition, the magicians who withstood Moses by their arts. They
were from time immemorial names so notorious in the magical science, that they did not remain unknown
even to the Neo-Platonics. When the Apostle enjoins the Ephesians to array themselves in the arms of
faith, and courageously to endure the combat, Ephesians 6:12, he says that it the more necessary, because
their combat is not against human force, ou wroj [not against] aima kai sarka, 'flesh and blood,' but
against superhuman natures. Where he mentions these, he enumerates in order the names of this magico-spiritual world, arcas, exousiaj, particularly the kosmokratoraj, 'principalities,' 'powers,' 'rulers'; and likewise fixes their abode in the upper aerial regions, eij ton aira en toij epouranioij. In like manner, in the Epistle to the Colossians, for the sake of representing to them Christianity in an exalted and important
light, and of praising the divine nature of Jesus, he says, that all that exists is His creation, and is
subjected to Him, not even the spiritual world excepted. He then selects the philosophic appellations to
demonstrate that this superstitious demonacracy is wholly subservient to Him; whether they be Ironoi, or
kuriothtej, arcai, exousiai [thrones, dominions, principalities, powers] Colossians 1:16. Finally, to destroy
completely and decisively, the whole doctrinal system, he demonstrates, that Christ, through the work of
redemption, has obtained the victory over the entire spiritual creation, and he drags in triumph the arcaj
[principalities] and exousiaj [powers] as vanquished, and that henceforth their dominion and exercise of
power have ceased, Colossians 2:15. But what he says respecting the seared consciences of these heretics,
respecting their deceptions, their avarice, &c., is certainly more applicable to this class of men, than to
any other. None throughout all antiquity are more accused of these immoralities, than those pretended
confidents of the occult powers. If he speaks warmly against any distinction of meats, against abstinence
from matrimony, this also applies to them; and if he rejects bodily exercises, it was because they
recommended them, because they imposed baths, lustrations, continence, and long preparations, as the
conditions by which alone the connection with the spirits became possible. These, then, are the persons
who passed before the Apostle's mind, and who, when they adopted Christianity, established that sect
among the professors of Jesus, which gave to it the name of Gnostics, and which, together with the
different varieties of this system, is accused by history of magical arts. Other adherents of this system
among the Heathens, to which the Syrian philosophers, as well as some Egyptian, such as Plotinus and his
scholars, belonged, formed the sect of Neo-Platonism.
"But in the above remarks of this learned German, some considerations are wanting, necessary to the
right understanding of several of the above passages quoted from St. Paul. The philosophic system above
mentioned was built on the Scripture doctrine of good and evil angels, and so had a basis of truth,
although abused to a gross superstition, and even idolatry. It was grounded, too, upon the notion of
different orders among both good and evil spirits, with subordination and government; which also is a
truth of which some intimation is given in Scripture. The Apostle then could use all these terms without
giving any sanction to the errors of the day. He knew that the spiritual powers they had converted into
subordinate deities, were either good or evil angels in their various ranks, and he uproots the whole
superstition, by showing that the 'thrones and dominions' of heaven are submissive created servants of
Christ; and that the evil spirits, the rulers of 'the darkness of this world,' are put under his feet." Richard
Watson, Watson's Bible Dictionary (1832), pp. 448-451.
A Sacred Name for God:
Must it be used?
written solely by the Grace of God in and through our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
by John Joseph
In the past we have been criticized for not using the so-called "sacred name" for God in our writings
and in our many discourses. To begin this discourse, we will call witnesses to bring their testimony as it
has relevance. The Spirit of God through Brother John gave us a list of witnesses to call:
"This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and
blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are
three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in
one." 1 John 5:6-8.
Above are a total of four witnesses--three are one in essence; and, the other three agree with that
essence being One. Note that the Spirit is both a Witness in heaven against ungodly men; and, a Witness
for God in Christ Jesus to all men, regardless of race, religion, creed, ad nauseam; none of which are in
Christ, nor can they trace their authority to Him. We will be consulting these Witnesses for their
Testimony in this present work, for from them do we hear the Truth; and, not from the works of men, i.e.,
creeds, confessions, covenants, and articles of faith. The Spirit of God...
"now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be
glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen." Romans 16:26-27.
"Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit;" Ephesians 3:5.
"God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets," Hebrews 1:1.
Note that the testimony of the New Testament corroborates the testimony of the Old Testament for the
Spirit of God changes not at any time:
"God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and
shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" Numbers 23:19.
"God is not as man to waver nor as the son of man to be threatened; shall He say and not perform? shall
He speak and not keep to His word?" Numbers 23:19 (LXX).
"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is not a man, that He should repent." 1
Samuel 15:29.
"and God will not turn nor repent, for He is not as a man to repent." 1 Samuel 15:29 (LXX).
"For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Malachi 3:6.
"For I am the Lord your God, and I am not changed." Malachi 3:6 (LXX).
This shows then that there can be no separation--both are contained in Christ, so to separate one from
the other is to separate Christ. "Is Christ divided?" So we will be consulting the writings of the prophets
for the Witness of the Spirit of God in looking toward the coming of Christ; and, we will be consulting the
writings of the prophets of the New Testament in looking back to Christ.
We have been led by our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, to answer these criticisms and
these critics, not by the wisdom of the world; but by the Power of the Word, that may be summed up by
the Spirit as follows:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God." John 1:1 & 2. (Berry)
Christ's own Testimony corroborating the Spirit's Testimony is,
"I and My Father are one." John 10:30.
Note here that the Spirit speaking through Brother John never conveyed a sacred name, for to do so
would divide the Testimony of one against the others. The bolded phrase in John 1:2 is the key to every
act that every bondmen in and of Christ Jesus undertakes in His Name and by His Authority, for there is
no Authority or Power superior to or antedating Christ. In Truth and in deed, it is written for us that;
"And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the
church: Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the
preeminence." Colossians 1:17-18.
"All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made." John
1:3.
"O LORD, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name; for Thou hast done
wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." Isaiah 25:1.
"O Lord God, I will glorify Thee, I will sing to Thy name for thou hast done wonderful things, even
an ancient and faithful counsel." Isaiah 25:1 (LXX).
"Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing He judgeth those that are high." Job 21:22.
"Is it not the Lord Who teaches understanding and knowledge? and does not He judge murders?"
Job 21:22 (LXX).
For our particular Cause here it demonstrates that Christ Jesus was in the beginning with God. This
implies that there is a certain knowledge of God known to Christ alone before He showed Him to us. The
veil was in place from the time of Adam's judgment to the dawn of Christ for it is written, to wit;
"and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him." Luke 10:22.
"No man hath seen God at any time." 1 John 4:12.
"No man hath seen God at any time [*not Moses, not Abraham, none of the prophets]; the only
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." John 1:18.
Notice that we do not hear Moses declaring the Father for he never saw Him face to face. But Christ
Jesus, being in the bosom of the Father, has both seen and declared Him. And the Word of His Testimony
is recorded for us, to wit;
"Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen
the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" John 14:8-9.
Now, in the above testimony, we do not hear or read of God instructing Christ to use the terms
"Elohim," "Yahweh," "Jehovah," or "El-Shaddai" or other words that merely describe what is seen or
heard in the outer court looking at the veil of the Law hiding the inner court, the activities of the Father
for His Purposes taking place in the inner court.
Names are always given by those to things of which they are not a constituent. For instance, if you do
not belong to a certain kingdom, you are labeled or named by that kingdom to be of another kingdom. For
example, Americans call those from the continent of Asia, Asians; from Africa, Africans; the ungodly
calling bondmen of Christ, christians, ad nauseam. But if you are a constituent of a Kingdom, you do not
name one in the same Kingdom any thing; but, you call them according to the relation between the two of
you, i.e., brother, sister, father, mother. But Who establishes the relation? The Lawgiver;
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all
thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Deuteronomy 6:5.
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them."
Matthew 18:20.
"For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and
sister, and mother." Matthew 12:50.
"If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us [*not perfected through
someone's mere description of Him]." 1 John 4:12.
"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law."
Romans 13:8.
Love for Him is what is required--not the lust for the letters of a sacred name. We can say then, that if
you use any names for God other than Abba Father, you are outside Him and not in Christ. This is seen
when we read or hear of the Testimony of the Son about His Father, and the Father's Testimony of His
Son, to wit;
"And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is
My beloved Son: hear Him." Mark 9:7.
"And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son: hear Him." Luke 9:35.
The prophets wrote:
"Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in Whom My soul delighteth; I have put My
Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." Isaiah 42:1. [This is confirmed at
Matthew 12:18].
"Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which
teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go." Isaiah 48:17. [This
is confirmed at Matthew 11:29].
Note Who's Word we are to hear and note that no euphonious words of men or Massoretic conjurations
are mentioned. Also note Who is teaching us. Is there any one else who can take His place? In Truth, no.
In fact Moses wrote the following testimony given by God our Father through Christ Jesus to him:
"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words
in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to
pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My Name, I will require
it of him." Deuteronomy 18:18-19.
"I will raise up to them a prophet of their brethren, like thee; and I will put My words in His mouth,
and He shall speak to them as I shall command Him. And whatever man shall not hearken to
whatsoever words that prophet shall speak in My name, I will take vengeance on him." Deuteronomy
18:18-19 (LXX).
Christ's Testimony of the above reads:
"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of
Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.For had ye believed Moses, ye would have
believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?"
John 5:39-40, 46-47.
Note carefully the bolded words. If you believe not Christ's Words, you have nothing in Him or God our
Father. God our Father put the words Christ Jesus spoke to us in His mouth. These were not words that
Christ Jesus spoke out of turn, or of His own will; but of the Will of Him Who sent Him. Let us now hear
the Testimony of Christ Jesus Himself:
"Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am
He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things." John
8:28.
"And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the
Father said unto Me, so I speak." John 12:50.
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you
I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John 14:10.
The prophets also wrote:
"For His God doth instruct Him to discretion, and doth teach Him." Isaiah 28:26.
Following this chain, there is and was no commandment given by God our Father, through His
Son--His Word--our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ to call Him by any sacred name.
Would God our Father teach lies to His Son? or would He teach His Son to lie to His Inheritance? or
would He teach His Son to withhold access to Him through or by withholding a sacred name for God from
us?
"God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be
justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." Romans 3:4.
Would Christ Jesus be an obedient Son by withholding some key sacred name for God from us? The
Spirit testifies;
"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." Philippians 2:8.
Let us also consult with the woman at the well, who conversed with Christ Jesus, and her testimony is
recorded to be;
"The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come,
He will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He." John 4:25-26.
Has Christ Jesus told us all things? Is His Testimony True? We know His Testimony is True;
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
Me." John 14:6.
...and therefore He has told us all things; and so those that deny He was and is complete condemn
themselves. There is no thing that has not been revealed or manifested to us by, in and through Him. He
bears witness;
"And He said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be
set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing
kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." Mark 4:21-23. [Have you heard any of the so-called sacred names coming from His lips?]
"For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me.I
have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as
I am not of the world." John 17:8 & 14.
Did God forget to give Christ Jesus some words? Did Christ Jesus forget to speak some words given by
God? In and of Truth, no. What words did God or Christ Jesus forget? In and of Truth, none. You bear
false witness otherwise.
The next question is, does God, our Father, tell us to hear the voice of a liar? The Scripture is full of
warnings and admonitions against hearing the voice of liars, but for our purposes it is sufficient to quote
just one, for all three Witnesses in heaven being One declare:
"But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded
him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods [*attributes or activities are now god, and
not His Eternal Power and Theiotes], even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How
shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of
the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not
spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously [marg. ref., arrogance]: thou shalt not be
afraid of him." Deuteronomy 18:20-22.
So that we can say then, that because Christ is and was Sealed from the beginning, then we are to hear
Him Whom God has Sealed and not those whom God has not sealed and who speak arrogantly--the
sciolist, sophist, philosopher, theologian, theorician, knave, pietatus simulator, ad nauseam. The Son
Whom we hear, the Father recognizes and declares by His Seal;
"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed." John 6:27.
The Seal of God not only is recognition of His Son, but also that His Testimony is True. There is no one
else bearing this recognition unless he is a son of God. For one to be a son, however, means that there
must be a Father Who has recognized His son and declared him to the world;
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:" Romans 8:16.
And likewise the son must bear witness of Who is his Father to the world. Again Romans 8:16 testifies
to this very fact. The Spirit of God bearing witness with our spirit is a reciprocal flow: we bear witness of
our Father, and He bears Witness of us. Without this reciprocal flow we are bastards, liars, thieves, and
others who are not of His Righteousness and Kingdom. Christ Jesus bears witness of this in His Testimony
given to Him by His Father;
"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true." John 5:31.
"It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of
Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me [*the Spirit of God beareth witness of
Me with Me]." John 8:17-18.
"And in your law also it has been written, that of two men the witness is true. I am who bears
witness concerning Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness concerning Me." John 8:17-18.
[Berry].
Note again, no sacred name used.
Would God our Father witness one not His son to be His Son? Would God our Father, bear witness of a
liar? Would He bear witness and seal the witness of one wilfully withholding the Truth?
Additionally, a mere name can give no recognition, for it merely describes, has no Life in itself and
gives no life. But God our Father can, and does;
"as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;" John
5:26.
Another approach we take to this question of "the sacred name" for God involves the following
manifestation at Calvary, which was also called Golgotha or "the place of the skull." This has tremendous
impact in Law and in fact which we will show here. This seems to have been overlooked by those who
demand that others partake of their private truth of using "the" sacred name only. Let us now read the
testimony of the Glad Tidings given by the Spirit and recorded by Brother Matthew:
"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did
quake, and the rocks rent;" Matthew 27:51. See also Ezekiel 37.
Notice what was destroyed at the temple by the act performed at Golgotha, or "the place of the skull."
The veil of necrotic dogma that existed in the minds of men was rent from top to bottom and men now
had access to their Father through Christ Jesus. We read thus,
"By a new and living way [*not mere words sans Execution in Him], which He hath consecrated
for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;" Hebrews 10:20.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
Me." John 14:6.
"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures [*images, or
shadows] of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:" Hebrews
9:24.
Note that there is no access to God by a mere name for Him; but, to God our Father through Christ
Jesus, the Son Whom the Father declared from before the foundation of the world. A mere name is
insufficient in Law for establishing the inheritance in and of the son from the Father. It must be witnessed
by the Father, and we have not found such a witness.
The next thing we will mention here is the following Testimony of Christ concerning His Lawful
execution of our Father's Will;
"Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Matthew 5:17.
"Think not that I am come to abolish the Law, or the prophets: I come not to abolish, but to fulfil."
Matthew 5:17. [Berry]
Note very carefully the testimony given. Christ Jesus did not come to destroy (or abolish) the Law, for
in Him is the Law and the Law is His Image, not the image of a so-called sacred name. If He came to
destroy it, it would have meant suicide. He came not to abolish or destroy the prophets, for that would
have made them and the Spirit of our Father who spoke through them liars. The Scripture has been
written from the beginning, and for Him to have destroyed the Law and the prophets would have made the
Word of God of none effect--impotent--instead of Omnipotent. Could He be an obedient Son and destroy
the Law of our Father's House? So let us look to the word of the prophets for why Christ Jesus always
called God, Father (or in Aramaic, Abba), and commanded us to do the same:
"Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of
a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors according to mine
heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding And it shall come to pass, when ye be
multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD [*see Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 37]: neither shall it come to mind [*see Hebrews 8:6] neither shall they remember it [*see Luke 17:20]; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more [*types and shadows of ceremony are removed when Christ Jesus comes
into the heart--see Hebrews 4:10, 7:22, 9:12 & 24]. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne
of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem:
neither shall they walk any more after the imagination [marg. ref., stubbornness] of their evil
heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come
together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of
the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call Me, My father; and shalt not turn away from Me."
Jeremiah 3:14-19.
Note carefully the bolded words. All the sacred names for God, all types and shadows, are contained in
the Law and the Prophets. Note that what was mere shadow or type, i.e., a sacred name for God, will not
be remembered any more because it was replaced with substance--by, in and through Christ Jesus:
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." Galatians 3:24-25.
Did or has God, our Father, being our Lawgiver, establish(ed) that relation between us and Him
through Christ Jesus? For Christ Jesus to have called God any name other than Abba--Father--would
have meant He turned away from Him, an act of disobedience, for He would have violated the above
command in Jeremiah 3:19. But He did not at any time turn away. If He had turned away, He could never
have borne Witness of the Spirit in the prophets or executed the Law and Judgment written from the
beginning; and, we would be the most miserable creatures, without hope, destitute of salvation,
condemned forever. Note Christ's testimony directing us what to call God our Father:
"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name."
Matthew 6:9.
When do we become a son joined to our Father? The answer is found in two places, first the Holy Spirit
through Brother John declares;
"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God." John 1:12-13.
and then through Brother Paul declares;
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:" Romans 8:16.
Therefore, claims that one "is saved" are frivolous without the witness of the Spirit of God. Do we join
Him at our pleasure by our power or authority? Clearly the above Witnesses of the Spirit are contrary to
such a flawed human doctrine. Do we become joined to our Father by use of a "sacred name" for Him
known only to some? Again, clearly the contrary is witnessed by the Spirit. We are without any authority
or power within ourselves to force God to do any thing for us. Only if the Spirit bears witness with our
Spirit is it said we are the sons of God--not our own claims or the claims of others for us.
Those that claim we must use a sacred name for God claim to have knowledge unknown or unrevealed
to and in Christ, thereby bringing damnation upon themselves because they believe not the Testimony of
our Father through and about His Son;
"But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given Me to
finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me. And the Father
Himself, which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of Me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any
time, nor seen His shape. And ye have not [marg. ref., not honored] His word abiding in you: for
Whom He hath sent, Him ye believe not." John 5:36-38.
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark
16:16.
"Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me." John
12:44.
"Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way [*the Way of Truth and Life], and ye shall seek Me
[*in your darkness because you know not Me nor the Scriptures about Me], and shall die in your sins
[*being filled with your own ungodliness]: whither I go, ye cannot come [*the gulf separating Life and
Light from death and darkness is too great].I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins:
for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins [*because ye believe Me not--note
Deuteronomy 18:18-19 and Ezekiel 3:18]." John 8:21 & 24.
The Spirit, speaking through Solomon, also bearing witness;
"Turn you at My reproof [*"Repent: for the Kingdom of God is at hand"]: behold, I will pour out
My Spirit unto you, I will make known My words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I
have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all My counsel, and
would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and
anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me
early, but they shall not find Me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the
LORD: They would none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the
fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." Proverbs 1:23-31.
"Behold, I will bring forth to you the utterance of My breath, and I will instruct you in My speech.
Since I called, and ye did not hearken; and I spoke at length, and ye gave no heed; but ye set at nought
My counsels, and disregarded My reproofs; therefore I also will laugh at your destruction; and I will
rejoice against you when ruin comes upon you; yea when dismay suddenly comes upon you, and your
overthrow shall arrive like a tempest; and when tribulation and distress shall come upon you, or when
ruin shall come upon you. For it shall be that when ye call upon Me, I will not hearken to you: wicked
men shall seek Me, but shall not find Me. For they hated wisdom, and did not choose the word of the
Lord: niether would they attend to My counsels, but derided My reproofs. Therefore shall they eat the
fruits of their own way, and shall be filled with their own ungodliness." Proverbs 1:23-31 (LXX).
The use of a sacred name for God is not a commandment given by God through Christ Jesus; but, is a
doctrine of self-aggrandizing men who have not the corroborating Witness of the Spirit of
God--Judaizers--who;
"Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth
in the law." Romans 2:17-20
"Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of
godliness [*type or shadow (morphosis)], but deny the power thereof." 2 Timothy 3:4-5.
and in the same passage by the Spirit we are counselled;
"from such turn away."
Remain in fullness of faith in and to our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, for He bears
Witness;
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater
than he that sent him." John 13:16.
And, by the Grace of God, our Father, all called by Him will hearken to His Name,
Amen.
Office Found/Abatement
Nota Bona: The Footnotes/endnotes are for your edification, and are not to appear in served abatement.
Locus ecclesia sigilii
[Put no box or rope or other appendage around the seal, because this limits the seal to matters inside them.
This box is to show here the Lawful assembly's seal should appear.
Case numbers are not a requirement, for the Lawful assembly has knowledge in Christ Jesus of the action.
The Cause is in Law for His Lawful assembly is in Him Who sanctified Himself from the world that all
His bondmen may remain in Law, and not in the world.]
superior court,
San Mateo county, California
His Lawful assembly at San Mateo,
Demandant
-
against
-
Gregory Jones and Robert Foreman,
idolators and natural persons,
Defendants.
|
( Cause in Law:
)
( Part One.
) Non-Statutory Abatement and Office Found:
( Answers within ten days to Declarations of Law
) and Fact Ordered.
(
)
|
Non-Statutory Abatement and Office Found:
By His Lawful assembly at San Mateo:
In the accusation and maltreatment of our Brothers: William Michael and William Eugene, our Brothers
in and of His Lawful assembly through our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ:
Be it Known and Remembered by All to Whom These Presents Come, and May Concern:
Introduction
Comes Now, His Lawful assembly at San Mateo, grateful to Almighty God for His Son, our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, and our Liberty in Him, to humbly Extend Greetings and
Salutations to you from our Sovereign Lord, Saviour and Testator Jesus, the Christ, and ourselves by
Visitation, to exercise His Ministerial Powers in this Cause, in His Name, by His Authority, under
Direction of His Warrant, Mandate and Will contained in His Writ, revealed both in His Testament and
Glad Tidings written of Him in Holy Scripture and in Him:
By Authority of all Power in heaven and earth being given unto our Sovereign Lord and Saviour
Christ Jesus{1}, Who died and rose again that He might be Lord both of the dead and living{2}; and, all
things having been delivered of God our Father to Him{3}; all Power over all flesh having been given unto
Him{4}; all Judgment having been committed unto Him by God our Father{5} for the Kingdom is the
LORD's: and He is the governor among the nations{6}, all Lawful Government is upon His shoulder and of
the increase of His Government there is no end{7} for His Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His
dominion endureth throughout all generations{8}; and by His sanctification{9}, and sending His bondmen
in Lawful assembly in the world to bear Witness of Him to the world{10}, and delegating all who sojourn
in and serve Him power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all power of the enemy{11}, our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus by and through His Lawful assembly at San Mateo proclaims{12}:
Declaration of Law:
This Non-Statutory Abatement is issued by and under the Ministerial Power and Authority vested
solely in and appertaining to the Ministerial Office of Christ in His Lawful assembly at San Mateo,
established from everlasting{13} and forever in Truth{14} by the Grace of God through Our Sovereign Lord
and Saviour Jesus{15}, the Christ, Who is the Foundation of Law{16}, in and among all those sojourning
bondmen in and of Him, being co-heirs and anointed co-Executors of His Testament by His Delegation of
Authority{17} governing His Creation brought into being by His original Act sworn to by Him in His
Testament{18} in and from the beginning{19}, and in Lawful execution of His Judgments against Gregory
Jones and Robert Foreman, idolatrous, natural persons, who have received not the things of the Spirit of
God{20}, and that are enemies of, and strangers to, our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus for
Whom we minister and serve{21}, for we are commanded by Him to bear fruit at all times in and for
Him{22}, and it is an honour of His Lawful assembly to execute upon them the judgment written{23}
because to obey is better than sacrifice{24} for it is written, to wit, Then judgment shall dwell in the
wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field{25}. Said Defendants are attempting to plunder
and usurp His Authority in His Lawful assembly contrary to Law, for it is written, to wit: In their setting
of their threshold by My thresholds, and their post by My posts, and the wall between Me and them; and,
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! because they have cast
away the Law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel{26} Who is the
Word.{27} The aforesaid acts are outlawed by and in Him, and in His Lawful assembly at San Mateo, for it
is written, to wit: ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the Law; ye have
corrupted the covenant{28} thereby making the Word of God of none effect{29} for Verily, verily, I say unto
you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him{30}; and,
because they disturb His Peace that He bestowed upon His Lawful assembly at San Mateo{31}, and it
conflicts with His Law He put in our inward parts for it is written, this shall be the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My Law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people{32}for the covenant is in and
through Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour through Whom flows all Law, Righteousness and Truth, for it
is written, to wit, I in them, and thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me{33}; and it is written, to wit, At that day shall a man look to his Maker,
and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of
his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images{34}, i.e.
UNITED STATES, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN MATEO, CITY OF SAN MATEO,
for it is written, to wit, the workman made them, therefore they are not God{35} because there is no other
God, for it is written, to wit, Is there a God beside Me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any{36} and we
know not any, for it is written, to wit, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent
greater than he that sent him{37}; and, it conflicts with the law of the land for it is written, In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth{38} And Christ Jesus is before all things, and by Him all
things consist.{39} Wherefore, it is written, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.{40}
Therefore the Law He put on our inward parts, known by all men to be the lex non scripta, is the jus
publicum and lex et consuetudo regni in His Lawful assembly at San Mateo, all pretensions to the
contrary not with standing, because what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder{41}
for that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them, so that
they are without excuse{42}, and for it is written, For where two or three are gathered together in My
NAME, there AM I in the midst of them{43} and it is written, Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the
Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me{44}:
Declaration of Facts:
At, on, or about the eighth hour of the thirtieth day of the ninth month in the nineteen hundred
and ninety-ninth Year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, our Brothers in
and of this Lawful assembly at San Mateo through our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, were
sent by our our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, in His Name and by His Authority, to
inquire of the county clerk, one Gregory Jones, by and through exercise of the Ministerial Power of
Visitation delegated to them by our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ. After being informed
our Brothers were waiting patiently for him, Gregory Jones, did wilfully, without Warrant in our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, refuse to see, hear, or acknowledge our Brothers sent by our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, thereby attempting to frustrate the Lawful exercise and
execution of His Ministerial Power delegated to His Lawful assembly by hiding behind thresholds and
posts next to but outside the Word of God{45}, and bearing witness against himself, to wit, They shall put
you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God
service{46}; and, has had his conscience seared with a hot iron47, and is not circumcised in heart{48};
having not received the things of the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus for they are foolishness unto him{49};
and proclaiming that he is an enemy of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, for it is written,
to wit: He that is not with Me is against Me{50}; and, He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that
despiseth you despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me{51}; He that receiveth
you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me{52}; If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him{53} for whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God{54};
thereby evidencing his love for death over Life, for it is written, to wit, he that sinneth against Me
wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me love death{55}; Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is
not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him{56}; and,
Our Brothers were shamefully treated, being wilfully accused of being dangerous by one Robert
Foreman, who bore no True witness of the evil of our Brothers because the Witness of God our Father is
greater{57}, Who did not corroborate his witness, for it is written, to wit, Whosoever abideth in Him
sinneth not{58}. On the contrary, God our Father bore witness that his presumption of evil in our Brothers
is evidence of the darkness and evil within himself, to wit, whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither
known Him{59}; and, that he and his presumption of evil have no thing in Him or His Lawful assembly, for
it is written, to wit, Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment{60}, for with what
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again61. This same Robert Foreman later called some other men in the employ of THE COUNTY OF
SAN MATEO, a dead corporation without the breath of Life breathed into it by God our Father, thereby
showing no evidence of lineage or authority to the Tree of Life{62}, and therefore an idol engraved on their
hearts, to escort our Brothers outside the building, where they patiently waited for Gregory Jones, thereby
bearing witness against himself that he attempted to frustrate the Lawful exercise and execution of His
Ministerial Power delegated to His Lawful assembly, to wit, They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea,
the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service{63}; and, has had his
conscience seared with a hot iron{64}, and is not circumcised in heart{65}; having not received the things of
the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus for they are foolishness unto him.{66} In excess of three hours later, the
doors on the building were shut to our Brothers and locked against them, never having audience with
Gregory Jones, being despised by him and Robert Foreman. By these acts Robert Foreman proclaimed
himself to be an enemy of Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, for it is written, to wit: He that is
not with Me is against Me{67}; and, He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you despiseth
Me; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me{68}; He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he
that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me{69}; If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him{70} for whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God{71}; thereby evidencing that he
loves death over Life, for it is written, to wit, he that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they
that hate Me love death{72}; and, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord;
neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him{73}; and,
Now, therefore:
The Law in and of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus righteously Judges, and has
righteously Judged, you and and each of you and your acts and each of your acts to have no Warrant in
Him and His Lawful assembly at San Mateo; and, to be without Him, without Life, without Law, and
without Truth, for it is written, to wit, for without Him ye can do nothing{74} in Law; and, we shall,
henceforth, by the Grace of God with and in fulness of faith in and to Christ Jesus our Sovereign Lord and
Saviour, Lawfully avoid you, you having proven yourselves strange and alien to our Sovereign Lord and
Saviour Jesus the Christ, His Law and His Lawful assembly at San Mateo; for Lawful Cause: and are,
herewith, abated for being destructive of His Lawful assembly at San Mateo and His Inheritance herein;
and your acts to be works of darkness, for it is written, to wit, For every one that doeth evil hateth the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.{75} There are no factors that warrant
adjustment of the Abatement and Office Found, for it is written, God divided the light from the
darkness{76} and the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not{77} and there is no
fellowship between Him or His Lawful assembly at San Mateo and the workers of iniquity{78} or their
works of darkness{79}; and,
Ordering Clause:
"Every direction of a court or judge, made or entered in writing,
and not included in a judgment, is denominated an order."
His Lawful assembly, in the Name and by Authority of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Christ
Jesus, being His express Image and Likeness in and to but not of the world{80}, so orders the said
Defendants to answer the above Declarations of Law and Fact within ten days of the ordering of this Non-Statutory Abatement and Office Found; or, show Cause in the Law in and of our Sovereign Lord and
Saviour Christ Jesus why this Abatement should not lie and the Defendants be not found and declared out
of Office and in outlawry--assumption, belief, dogma, reason, necessity, presumption, speculation,
opinion, morals, morality, moralism, philosophy, sophism, or sciolism not with standing, for all are
without Christ and therefore without Law or standing in Law. Any and all written response must include a
detailed factual statement and supporting documentation standing in Law. If more time than ten days is
needed to respond, it may be granted on written request to His Lawful assembly. Because all are without
excuse, failure to obey this Lawful order of and from His Lawful assembly or failure to respond in the time
prescribed, herein, will result in Default and Default Judgment, for it is written, to wit, There is no
darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves{81}, for He hast made of
a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built{82} for
His hand shall find out all His enemies: His right hand shall find out those that hate Him{83} and shalt
bring down the noise of strangers{84} for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped{85} so that the
congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery{86} for the
LORD our God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God{87} for the work of a man shall He render unto him,
and cause every man to find according to his ways. Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the
Almighty pervert judgment{88} because His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth{89}. The zeal of the
LORD of hosts, our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, will perform this{90}; for it is written, to
wit, ye cannot serve God and mammon{91}; therefore, Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and
will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.{92}.
All remittance, answer, and response to and of this instant Cause shall be given over to His messengers,
our Brothers, sent by Him through letter of appointment from us, His Body, ten days hence from the
serving of this Non-Statutory Abatement and Office Found on the Defendants.
Solely by the Grace of God in and through our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, for the
next forty days, to edify all our Brothers and fellow bondmen sojourning in, with, and of our Sovereign
Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus concerning this instant Lawful Cause, a Notice of this Non-Statutory
Abatement and Office Found and Default Rule day is posted, in the Record, at general post-offices in San
Mateo, Foster City, and Belmont, in San Mateo county, California, and in other locations for all our
Brothers and fellow bondmen in His Body to Witness, Record, and have Knowledge: for the Comforter
has come already{93}, which proceedeth from the Father{94}, Whom He has sent unto us from our
Father{95}, even the Spirit of Truth Whom the Defendants cannot receive, because they see or know Him
not{96}, He has testified of Him and His Lawful assembly at San Mateo: And we also bear witness, because
we have been with Him from the beginning{97}; and, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we in and of His Lawful assembly are the children of God{98} for it is written, to wit, In the mouth of two
or three witnesses shall every word be established{99}.
By the Authority and Power conditionally delegated to us solely the Grace of God by, in and through
our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, in accordance with His Commandments, Precepts,
Judgments, Statutes, Ordinances, and Testimonies in and of His Holy Writ, solely under Direction of His
Warrant in Law and by His Will, do we in and of His Body make and issue this Non-Statutory Abatement
and Office Found, for it is written, whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one
member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it{100}; and, we are the body of Christ, and members in
particular{101}; for we are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in
them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people{102}; again it is written, to wit, So we being
many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another{103}; and, we have a building of God,
an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens{104}; and, therefore we are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone{105}; For other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ{106}; because Except the LORD build the
house, they labour in vain that build it{107} for the prince, principalities, powers, and rulers of this world
have been overcome{108}, judged{109}, their goods spoiled{110} their dogma in their pretensions of law
crucified and buried{111} but never resurrected by, with or through Him for Him hath God our Father
sealed{112} Who knew no sin{113} because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in
righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained{114}, and they have been cast out{115} being made His
footstool under His feet{116}; and, we being redeemed by Him{117} are heirs according to His promise{118}
being graffed in{119} and therefore are partakers in and of His triumphant Victory{120}, all thanks be to
God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus, the Christ{121} for without Him we can do
nothing{122}:
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"Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but My people have changed their
glory for that which doth not profit." Jeremiah 2:11
Endnotes
{1} Matthew 28:18.
{2} Romans 14:9.
{3} Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22.
{4} John 17:2.
{5} John 5:22; John 5:27.
{6} Psalm 22:28.
{7} Isaiah 9:6-7
{8} Psalm 145:13.
{9} John 17:19.
{10} John 20:21; Matthew 28:19.
{11} Luke 10:19.
{12} Luke 10:16.
{13} Psalm 90:2; Psalm 93:2; Psalm 145:13.
{14} Psalm 119:42, 51.
{15} See John 1:1.
{16} 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:20; Psalm 127:1.
{17} Matthew 10:16; Luke 10:3; John 20:21.
{18} Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 6:17.
{19} Jeremiah 1:4-5; Isaiah 41:4; Hebrews 4:3.
{20} 1 Corinthians 2:14.
{21} See James 4:4.
{22} Genesis 1:22 & 28; Psalm 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8; Hosea 10:1; Matthew 21:19.
{23} Psalm 149:9.
{24} 1 Samuel 15:22.
{25} Isaiah 32:16.
{26} Isaiah 5:21 & 24.
{27} John 1:1.
{28} Malachi 2:8.
{29} Mark 7:13.
{30} John 13:16.
{31} John 14:27.
{32} Jeremiah 31:33.
{33} John 17:23.
{34} Isaiah 17:7-8.
{35} Hosea 8:6.
{36} Isaiah 44:8.
{37} John 13:16.
{38} Genesis 1:1.
{39} Colossians 1:17; John 1:3.
{40} Luke 17:20.
{41} Matthew 19:6; Mark 10:9.
{42} Romans 1:20.
{43} Matthew 18:20.
{44} John 14:6.
{45} See Leviticus, the whole book, for in here are the duties of every county clerk.
{46} John 16:2.
{47} 1 Timothy 4:2.
{48} Ezekiel 44:7 & 9; Romans 2:29.
{49} 1 Corinthians 2:14.
{50} Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23.
{51} Luke 10:16.
{52} Matthew 10:40.
{53} 1 John 2:15.
{54} James 4:4.
{55} Proverbs 8:36.
{56} John 13:16.
{57} 1 John 5:9.
{58} 1 John 3:6.
{59} 1 John 3:6.
{60} John 7:24.
{61} Matthew 7:2.
{62} Revelation 22:14.
{63} John 16:2.
{64} 1 Timothy 4:2.
{65} Ezekiel 44:7 & 9; Romans 2:29.
{66} 1 Corinthians 2:14.
{67} Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23.
{68} Luke 10:16.
{69} Matthew 10:40.
{70} 1 John 2:15.
{71} James 4:4.
{72} Proverbs 8:36.
{73} John 13:16.
{74} John 15:5.
{75} John 3:20.
{76} Genesis 1:4.
{77} John 1:5.
{78} Psalm 1:5; Psalm 5:5; Luke 13:27.
{79} John 14:30; Ephesians 5:11.
{80} Romans 8:29.
{81} Job 34:22.
{82} Isaiah 25:2.
{83} Psalm 21:8.
{84} Isaiah 25:5.
{85} Psalm 63:11.
{86} Job 15:34:
{87} Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3.
{88} Job 34:11-12.
{89} Isaiah 25:1.
{90} Isaiah 9:7.
{91} Matthew 6:24.
{92} Revelation 2:16.
{93} Isaiah 44:3-8; Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:17-18.
{94} John 15:26.
{95} John 14:26 & 15:26.
{96} John 14:17.
{97} Isaiah 44:7; John 15:26-27.
{98} Romans 8:16.
{99} 2 Corinthians 13:1; Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15.
{100} 1 Corinthians 12:26.
{101} 1 Corinthians 12:27.
{102} 2 Corinthians 6:16; Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 11:20.
{103} Ephesians 4:25.
{104} 2 Corinthians 5:1.
{105} Ephesians 2:19-20.
{106} 1 Corinthians 3:11.
{107} Psalm 127:1.
{108} John 16:33; Luke 11:22.
{109} John 16:11.
{110} Luke 11:22.
{111} Colossians 2:14-16; Ephesians 2:15-16.
{112} John 6:27.
{113} 2 Corinthians 5:21.
{114} Acts 17:31.
{115} John 12:31.
{116} Psalm 110:1.
{117} Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 1:18; Revelation 5:9; 1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23; Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 1:30;
Ephesians 1:7, 14 & 4:30; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12 & 15.
{118} Galatians 3:29.
{119} Romans 11:17.
{120} Romans 8:37; Colossians 2:14-16.
{121} 1 Corinthians 15:57.
{122} John 15:5.
The "Elusive" Sabbath-rest
of the Bondman in Christ
written solely by the Grace of God in and through our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
by John Joseph and Randy Lee, His mere bondmen
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are located at the end of this article)
Much conjecture and speculation has muddied this subject-matter and clouded it so that it is no longer
recognizable as part of and in the Christ, but of the religions of the world. Such has never been the case;
and, in Truth the reverse is true. The Sabbath-rest of the natural man's religions are the mimic in the flesh
of that which is and always has been in Spirit. Arguments over the correct Sabbath day, i.e. Saturday v.
Sunday, are pointless and fruitless in the Christ. Neither position is correct; and, most importantly, neither
bears fruit for His Glory. We will not be going into the historical evidence for this statement in this work.
we are solely concerned with what the Word of God declares the Sabbath-rest of His bondmen is and how
it is entered.
Many times we have sat silent in the congregations of the Sunday social clubs to listen to the preaching
of their god's "word," their god being a powerless and dead conjuration of seminary theology (see Divide
et Impere); but, never the Word of God revealed to us in the Christ on this most vital and important
subject. It is as though there were a shroud of mystery over this subject; and, that if you knew what it was,
in Truth, the scheme of hunting and hounding the flock of Christ and making merchandise of them, the
Christ and His Word would come to an end. So be it, for the Spirit of God speaking through Brothers
Peter and Paul witnesses against these workers of iniquity,
"Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but
willingly; not for filthy lucre{1}, but of a ready mind;" 1 Peter 5:2.
"shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not by constraint, but willingly; not
for base gain, but readily" 1 Peter 5:2 (Berry).
"For a bishop [*careful here--this is a static position of man] must be blameless{2}, as the steward
of God; not self-willed {3}, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy
lucre{4};For there are many unruly{5) and vain talkers{6} and deceivers{7}, specially they of the
circumcision [*of the flesh--Judaizers]: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert{8} whole
houses{9}, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy{10} lucre's sake." Titus 1:7, 10 & 11.
"For it behoves the overseer [*this is not a static position but a living executor in and of the Christ]
unimpeachable to be, as God's steward; not self-willed, not passionate, not given to wine, not a striker,
not greedy of base gain,For there are many and insubordinate vain talkers and mind-deceivers,
especially those of circumcision, whom it is necessary to stop the mouths of, who whole houses
overthrow [*undermining and subversion], teaching things which ought not, for sake of base gain."
Titus 1:7, 10 & 11 (Berry).
This work is not and cannot be the result of any theological works if it is to be true to Him Who called
all generations from the beginning. See Isaiah 41:4. However, to fully understand His Word, the Spirit
witnesses and instructs us that we must,
"Study{11} to shew{12} [*evidence-- John 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; James 2:22] thyself
approved{13} [*see Psalm 12:6 & 33:4; Romans 2:29; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Galatians 2:8] unto God, a
workman{14} that needeth not to be ashamed{15} , rightly dividing{16} the word of truth." 2 Timothy
2:15.
"Be diligent to present thyself approved to God, a workman not ashamed, straightly cutting the
word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15 (Berry).
Without exercising diligence in moving forward in Christ and in His Name, one is backsliding through
heresy to apostasy.
This work is not a license to use our Liberty in the Christ for aggrandizing ourselves, enlarging our
pleasures, increasing our wants, or doing the same for others, the Spirit witnessing;
"For, brethren{17}, ye have been called{18} unto liberty{19} [*Romans 8:2, 5, 23; 1 Corinthians 12:7; 2
Corinthians 1:22, 5:5; Ephesians 4:3] ; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh{20} [*see
Romans 14:23; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Galatians 3:12, 5:19-21, 6:8; Ephesians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:9-10;
Hebrews 13:4; Revelation 21:8, 22:15], but by love{21} [*Galatians 5:22-23] serve{22} [*not service --
whoredom] one another{23}." Galatians 5:13.
[*Note that this is the original charge given to Adam in Genesis 2:17--Romans 13:8--there is no
natural equity (morality) of man in agapao].
To begin this discourse, we will call witnesses to bring forth their testimony having relevance to this
very issue. The Spirit of God through Brother John gave us a list of witnesses to call:
"This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and
blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth{24} [*not dead and
powerless conjurations of theology]. For there are three that bear record{25} in heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one{26}. And there are three that bear witness{27} in
earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood [*see Acts 17:26]: and these three agree{28} in one{29}."
1 John 5:6-8.
"This is He Who came by water and blood, Jesus the Christ; not by water only, but by water and
blood. And the Spirit it is that bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. Because three there are
who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three one are. And
three there are who bear witness on earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and three to the
one are." 1 John 5:6-8 (Berry).
These are the only Witnesses in Truth capable of testifying to and about the subject-matter of this
present work. Above are a total of four witnesses--three are One in Truth; and, the other three being one
bear witness that the Truth is One. This is seen from the following, the Spirit bearing Witness:
"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit [*not only mere words from the mouth but in Truth
evidenced in works of obedient fullness of faith] that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not [*not only mere words from the mouth but evidenced in
Truth in works of disobedience{30}] that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that
spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the
world." 1 John 4:2-3.
"By this ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh{31}, of
God is; and every spirit which confesses not Jesus Christ come in flesh not of God is; and this{32} is
that of the antichrist{33}which ye heard that it comes, and now in the world is it already." 1 John 4:2-3
(Berry).
"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." 2 John 1:7.
In substance and in truth, those that preach a one-day Sabbath or that mere words are sufficient for
salvation are of this kind.
"Because many deceivers entered into the world{34}, those who do not confess Jesus Christ coming
in flesh--this is the deceiver and the antichrist." 2 John 1:7 (Berry).
Antichrist is a spirit manifesting himself in a system manipulating men through the deceit of a dead to
the Christ moral feminized society{35}; and not a singular specific man in the flesh.
Note that the Spirit is both a Witness in heaven against ungodly men and their doctrines, speculations,
dogma, conjectures, opinions and imaginations; and, a Witness for God in Christ Jesus to all men,
regardless of race, religion, creed, ad nauseam none of which are in the Christ, nor can they trace their
authority to Him. We will be consulting these Witnesses for their Testimony in this present work, for from
them do we hear the Truth; and, not from the hermeneutically sealed works of men, i.e., creeds,
confessions, covenants, and articles of faith, and other codes, rules and regulations of the world. See
pamphlet entitled Divide et Impere concerning that particular matter. The Spirit of God...
"now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience{36} of faith: To God only wise,
be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen." Romans 16:26-27.
"Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit;" Ephesians 3:5.
"which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as now it was revealed to
His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit," Ephesians 3:5 (Berry).
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets," Hebrews 1:1.
"In many parts and in many ways of old God having spoken to the fathers in the prophets,"
Hebrews 1:1 (Berry).
Note that the testimony of the New Testament corroborates the testimony of the Old Testament for the
Spirit of God changes not at any time:
"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath He said,
and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" Numbers 23:19.
"God is not as man to waver nor as the son of man to be threatened; shall He say and not perform?
shall He speak and not keep to His word?" Numbers 23:19 (LXX).
"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is not a man, that He should repent."
1 Samuel 15:29.
"and God will not turn nor repent, for He is not as a man to repent." 1 Samuel 15:29 (LXX).
"For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Malachi 3:6.
"For I am the Lord your God, and I am not changed." Malachi 3:6 (LXX). See also Revelation
19:10.
Therefore, it is impossible for man to Lawfully separate or put asunder what God has joined together by
and in Himself through the Christ. So we will be consulting the writings of the prophets for the Witness of
the Spirit of God in looking toward the coming of the Christ; and, we will be consulting the writings of
the prophets of the New Testament for the Witness of the Spirit of God in looking back to the Christ, for
both are one being united in and to Him, because these are the places we are to look:
"There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so
I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this
people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law,
which Moses My servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou
mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but
thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is
written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou
dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:5-9.
"Not a man shall stand against you all the days of thy life; and as I was with Moses, so will I also be
with thee, and I will not fail thee, or neglect thee. Be thou strong and quit thyself like a man, for
thou shalt divide the land to this people which I sware to give to your fathers. Be strong, therefore, and
quit thyself like a man, to observe and do as Moses My servant commanded thee; and thou shalt not
turn therefrom to the right hand or to the left [*walking in Truth with an upright heart], that thou
mayest be wise in whatsoever thou mayest do [*no theology]. And the book of this law shall not
depart out of thy mouth, and thou shalt meditate in it day and night, that thou mayest know how
to do all the things [*the Truth] that are written in it [*see Matthew 6:33]; then shalt thou prosper, and make thy ways prosperous, and then thou shalt be wise [*not in theology or theory, but in Truth].
Lo! I have commanded thee: be strong and courageous, be not cowardly nor fearful, for the Lord thy
God is with thee in all places whither thou goest." Joshua 1:5-9 (LXX).
We have been led by our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, to fully answer what the
Sabbath-rest of the bondman in and of Christ is , not by the wisdom of the world; but by the Power of His
Word, that may be summed up by the Spirit as follows:
"In the beginning was the Word{37}, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God." John 1:1 & 2.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in
the beginning with God." John 1:1 & 2 (Berry).
The Christ's own Testimony, displaying the simplicity of His Glad Tidings, and corroborating the
Spirit's Testimony is,
"I and My Father are one{38} John 10:30.
"I and the Father are one." John 10:30 (Berry).
From the above testimony, we will begin our work in looking at the Sabbath-rest of the bondman in and
of the Christ. Because the Christ and our Father are one, there is a level of direct and intimate knowledge
of the Sabbath-rest known specifically to Him alone that was not shown to Moses directly, nor did Moses
reveal more than he was commanded by Him in the Old Testament. We will not be using the dead
theological word of the world "christian"{39} to describe either ourselves or those who truly belong to and
labor for Him (not labor on Him or for the world), but will be using the term to distinguish those of the
Christian religion from the bondman in and of the Christ. In the Will of God, we will begin this
discussion from the beginning in Part Two for further discourse on this Matter concerning His Lawful
assembly.
Endnotes
{1} "2771. KERDOS. Of uncertain affinity; gain (pecuniary or genitive case):--gain, lucre." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
"aiscrwkerdwj, for the sake of dishonourable gain." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the
English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 471.
{2} "410. ANEGKLETOS. From 1 (as a negative particle) and a derivative of 1458; unaccused, i.e. (by implication)
irreproachable:--blameless." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{3} "829. AUTHADES. From 846 and the base of 2237; self-pleasing, i.e. arrogant:--self-willed." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
"829. AUTHADES. 'Self-pleasing' (autos, 'self,' hedomai, 'to please'), denotes one who, dominated by self-interest, and inconsiderate of others, arrogantly asserts his own will, 'self-willed,' Titus 1:7; 2 Pet. 2:10 (the opposite
of epieikes, 'gentle,' e.g., 1 Tim. 3:3), 'one so far overvaluing any determination at which he has himself once arrived
that he will not be removed from it' (Trench, who compares and contrasts philautos, 'loving self, selfish'; Syn. xciii).
In the Sept., Gen. 49:3, 7; Prov. 21:24." W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of the New Testament, vol III, p. 343.
"829. AUTHADES. Gen. authadous, masc.-fem., neut. authades, adj. From autos (846), himself, and hedomai (n.f.) to please. One who is pleased with himself and despises others, insolent, surly, the contrast of courteous or
affable. A person who obstinately maintains his own opinion or asserts his own rights but is reckless of the rights,
feelings, and interests of others. He regulates his life with no respect to others [*not even our Sovereign] (Titus 1:7; 2
Pet 2:10; Sept.: Gen 49:3, 7; Prov 21:24).
"Syn. Philautos (5367), loving self, selfish; propetes (4312), precipitous, headlong, heady, rash; hubristes (5197), an insulter.
"Ant. Semnos (4586), venerable, honorable; epiekes (1933), appropriate, gentle, tolerant; eugenes (2104), noble; chrestos (5543), gracious." Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament (1994), p. 287.
"auqadhj (autoj, self, and hdomai, to satisfy) self-complacent; and hence, assuming, presumptuous, self-willed, (lxx for ]i, Genesis 49:3, 7; ryty, Proverbs 21:24.)" E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the
English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 680. [*See also Deuteronomy 18:20-22].
{4} "aiscrokerdhj, eager even for dishonourable gain." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the
English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 471.
{5} "506. ANUPOTAKTOS. From 1 (as a negative particle) and a presumed derivative of 5293; unsubdued, i.e.
insubordinate (in fact or temper):--disobedient, that is not put under, unruly." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{6} "3151. MATAIOLOGOS. From 3152 and 3004; an idle (i.e. senseless or mischievous) talker, i.e. a
wrangler:--vain talker." Strong's Greek Dictionary. [*These are those who cause dissension in the Body of Christ].
{7} "5423. PHRENAPATES. From 5424 and 539; a mind-misleader, i.e. seducer:-- deceiver." Strong's Greek
Dictionary. [*These are the seed of the serpent in Genesis 3:24].
"frenapathj, a mind-deceiver, i.e. deceivers of men's minds." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance
to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 209. [*Bullinger then refers the reader to another definition of
"deceive" that corresponds to this noun;
"frenapataw, (No. 1 with frhn, the mind, prefixed,) to deceive the mind of any one; implying a self-originating and subjective deception." ibid., at p. 208.
{8} "396. ANATREPO. From 303 and the base of 5157; to overturn (figuratively):-- overthrow, subvert." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{9} "3624. OIKOS. Of uncertain affinity; a dwelling (more or less extensive, literal or figurative); by implication a
family (more or less related, literal or figuratively):--home, house(-hold), temple." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
[*Remember you are the temple of the Holy Spirit--1 Corinthians 6:19].
{10} "150. AISCHROS. From the same as 153; shameful, i.e. base (specially, venal):--filthy." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{11} "4704. SPOUDAZO. From 4710; to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest:--do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"STUDY. Notes: For philotimeomai, 'study,' 1 Thess. 4:11, see AIM. For spoudazo, 2 Tim. 2:15, KJV, see
DILIGENCE, B, No. 1." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
"4704. DILIGENCE, DILIGENT, DILIGENTLY. Verb. Spoudazo. Has meanings corresponding to A, No.
2; it signifies 'to hasten to do a thing, to exert oneself, endeavor, give diligence'; in Gal. 2:10, of remembering the
poor, KJV, 'was forward,' RV, 'was zealous'; in Eph. 4:3, of keeping the unity of the Spirit, KJV 'endeavoring,' RV,
'giving diligence'; in 1 Thess. 2:17, of going to see friends, 'endeavored'; in 2 Tim. 4:9; 4:21, 'do thy diligence'; in the
following the RV uses the verb 'to give diligence': 2 Tim. 2:15, KJV, 'study'; Titus 3:12, KJV, 'be diligent'; Heb. 4:11,
of keeping continuous Sabbath rest, KJV, 'let us labor'; in 2 Pet. 1:10, of making our calling and election sure; in 2
Pet. 1:15, of enabling believers to call Scripture truth to remembrance, KJV, 'endeavour'; in 2 Pet. 3:14, of being
found in peace without fault and blameless, when the Lord comes, KJV, 'be diligent.' See ENDEAVOR, FORWARD,
LABOR, STUDY, ZEALOUS." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
{12} "3936. PARISTEMI. Or prolonged paristano {par-is-tan'-o}; from 3844 and 2476; to stand beside, i.e.
(transitively) to exhibit, proffer, (specifically) recommend, (figuratively) substantiate; or (intransitively) to be at hand
(or ready), aid:--assist, bring before, command, commend, give presently, present, prove [*by evidence], provide,
shew, stand (before, by, here, up, with), yield." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{13} "1384 DOKIMOS. From 1380; properly, acceptable (current after assayal), i.e. approved:--approved, tried."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"1384. APPROVE, APPROVED. Adjective. Dokimos. Akin to dechomai, 'to receive,' always signifies
'approved'; so the RV everywhere, e.g., in Jas. 1:12 for KJV, 'when he is tried.' The word is used of coins and metals
in the Sept.; in Gen. 23:16, 'four hundred didrachms of silver approved with merchants'; in Zech. 11:13, in regard to
the 30 pieces of silver, 'Cast them into a furnace and I will see if it is good (approved) metal.'" W. E. Vine, Vine's
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. [*One is approved by God when he is tried and found True to Him
alone].
{14} "2040. ERGATES. From 2041; a toiler; figuratively, a teacher:--labourer, worker(-men)." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{15} "422. ANEPAISCHUNTOS. From 1 (as a negative particle) and a presumed derivative of a compound of 1909
and 153; not ashamed, i.e. irreprehensible: that needeth not to be ashamed." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"anepaiscuntoj, (a priv. and epaiscunw), (Vulg. inconfusibilis), having no cause to be ashamed. Unused in Greek writings." Thayer, Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, p. 44.
{16} "3718. ORTHOTOMEO. From a compound of 3717 and the base of 5114, to make a straight cut, i.e.
(figuratively) to dissect (expound) correctly (the divine message):--rightly divide." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{17} "80. ADEPHOS. From 1 (as a connective particle) and delphus (the womb); a brother (literally or figuratively)
near or remote [much like 1]:--brother." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{18} "2564. KALEO. Akin to the base of 2753; to 'call' (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, dir. or
otherwise):--bid, call (forth), (whose, whose sur-)name (was [called])." Strong's Greek Dictionary. [*Note: the Greek
is eklhqhte which means that God is the Caller Who calls one out of the world. See Thayer, Thayer's Greek-English
Lexicon (1896), p. 321.]
{19} "1657. ELEUTHERIA. From 1658; freedom (legitimate or licentious, chiefly moral or ceremonial):--liberty."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{20} "4561. SARX. Probably from the base of 4563; flesh (as stripped of the skin), i.e. (strictly) the meat of an
animal (as food), or (by extension) the body (as opposed to the soul [or spirit], or as the symbol of what is external, or
as the means of kindred), or (by implication) human nature (with its frailties [physically or morally] and passions), or (specifically) a human being (as such): --carnal(-ly, + -ly minded), flesh([-ly]). PROBABLY from the base of 4563; flesh (as stripped of the skin), i.e. (strictly)
the meat of an animal (as food), or (by extension) the body (as opposed to the soul [or spirit], or as the symbol of
what is external, or as the means of kindred), or (by implication) human nature (with its frailties [physically or
morally] and passions), or (specifically) a human being (as such): --carnal(-ly, + -ly minded), flesh([-ly])." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{21} "26. AGAPE. From 25; love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast:--(feast of) charity([-ably]), dear, love." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{22} "1398. DOULEUO. From 1401; to be a slave to (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary):--be in
bondage, (do) serve(-ice)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{23} "240. ALLELON. Gen. plural from 243 reduplicated; one another:--each other, mutual, one another, (the
other), (them-, your-)selves, (selves) together [sometimes with 3326 or 4314]." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{24} "alhqeia, truth, as the revealed reality lying at the basis of, and agreeing with, an appearance; the manifested,
veritable essence of a matter; hence, the reality appertaining to an appearance or manifestation, truth." E. W.
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 823.
"225. ALETHEIA. From 227; truth:--true, X truly, truth, verity." Strong's Greek Dictionary,
"225. TRUE, TRULY, TRUTH. Noun. ALETHEIA. 'Truth,' is used (a) objectively, signifying 'the reality lying at
the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter' (Cremer), e.g., Rom. 9:1; 2 Cor. 11:10;
especially of Christian doctrine, e.g., Gal. 2:5, where 'the truth of the Gospel'è denotes the 'true' teaching of the
Gospel, in contrast to perversions of it; Rom. 1:25, where 'the truth of God' may be 'the truth concerning God' or 'God
whose existence is a verity'; but in Rom 15:8 'the truth of God' is indicative of His faithfulness in the fulfillment of
His promises as exhibited in Christ; the word has an absolute force in John 14:6; 17:17; 18:37, 38; in Eph. 4:21,
where the RV, 'even as truth is in Jesus,' gives the correct rendering, the meaning is not merely ethical 'truth,' but
'truth' in all its fullness and scope, as embodied in Him; He was the perfect expression of the truth; this is virtually
equivalent to His statement in John 14:6; (b) subjectively, 'truthfulness,' 'truth,' not merely verbal, but sincerity and
integrity of character, John 8:44; 3 John 3, RV; © in phrases, e.g., 'in truth' (epi, 'on the basis of'), Mark 12:14; Luke
20:21; with en, 'in,' 2 Cor. 6:7; Col. 1:6; 1 Tim. 2:7, RV (KJV, 'inverity'); 1 John 3:18; 2 John 1, 3, 4. Note: In Matt.
15:27, KJV, nai, 'yea' (RV), is translated 'truth.'" W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
[*Note carefully nothing is True without the Witness of God declaring the Truth of that which is seen or heard].
{25} "marturew, to be a witness, to bear witness, i.e. to attest to any thing that one knows, and therefore to state
with a certain degree of authority, usually for something, and hence, to confirm or prove." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical
Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 629.
"3140. MARTUREO. From 3144; to be witness, i.e. testify (literally or figuratively):--charge, give [evidence],
bear record, have (obtain, of) good (honest) report, be well reported of, testify, give (have) testimony, (be, bear, give,
obtain) witness." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"3140. WITNESS. Verb. MARTUREO. Denotes (I) 'to be a martus' (see A, No. 1), or 'to bear witness to, 'sometimes rendered 'to testify' (see TESTIFY, No. 1); it is used of the 'witness' (a) of God the Father to Christ, John
5:32, 37; 8:18 (2nd part); 1 John 5:9, 10; to others, Acts 13:22; 15:8; Heb. 11:2, 4 (twice), 5, 39; (b) of Christ, John
3:11, 32; 4:44; 5:31; 7:7; 8:13, 14, 18 (1st part); 13:21; 18:37; Acts 14:3; 1 Tim. 6:13; Rev. 22:18, 20; of the Holy
Spirit, to Christ, John 15:26; Heb. 10:15; 1 John 5:7, 8, RV, which rightly omits the latter part of v. 7 (it was a
marginal gloss which crept into the original text: see THREE); it finds no support in Scripture; © of the Scriptures, to
Christ, John 5:39; Heb. 7:8, 17; (d) of the works of Christ, to Himself, and of the circumstances connected with His
death, John 5:36; 10:25; 1 John 5:8; (e) of prophets and apostles, to the righteousness of God, Rom. 3:21; to Christ,
John 1:7, 8, 15, 32, 34; 3:26; 5:33, RV; 15:27; 19:35; 21:24; Acts 10:43; 23:11; 1 Cor. 15:15; 1 John 1:2; 4:14; Rev.
1:2; to doctrine, è Acts 26:22 (in some texts, so KJV; see No. 2); to the Word of God, Rev. 1:2; (f) of others,
concerning Christ, Luke 4:22; John 4:39; 12:17; (g) of believers to one another, John 3:28; 2 Cor. 8:3; Gal. 4:15; Col.
4:13; 1 Thess. 2:11 (in some texts: see No. 2); 3 John 3, 6, 12 (2nd part); (h) of the apostle Paul concerning Israel,
Rom. 10:2; (I) of an angel, to the churches, Rev. 22:16; (j) of unbelievers concerning themselves, Matt. 23:31;
concerning Christ, John 18:23; concerning others, John 2:25; Acts 22:5; 26:5; (II) 'to give a good report, to approve of,'
Acts 6:3; 10:22; 16:2; 22:12; 1 Tim. 5:10; 3 John 12 (1st part); some would put Luke 4:22 here." W. E. Vine, Vine's
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
{26} "eij (fem., eia, neut., en) one, the first cardinal numeral; emphatic, one, even one, single." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 553.
{27} See footnote 3.
{28} "eimi, to be, with." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New
Testament (1908), p. 37.
{29} See footnote 4.
[30} [*And this is the work of a Judaizer under various names: patriot, patriolator, christian, citizen, pagan, civilian,
and other ilk of self--those having feminine personality in the image and likeness of Eve; and, concerned with the
affairs of the world--remember Lot's wife. Those who espouse the doctrines of "personal sovereignty" are of the
aforementioned ilk, for there is no such thing--man cannot divorce himself from the dominion of God our Father
using his lies, i.e. legal personality, for: One, God is no respecter of persons; Two, there is only one Master, Christ
Jesus; Three, everything a man needs in this life is given him by the mouth of God; and therefore they are not for Him
but against Him].
{31} "3. Is come in the flesh. Omit. Render, confesseth not Jesus. So Rev. An ancient reading is luei ton ûIhsoun
annulleth or destroyeth Jesus." The simple Jesus emphasizes the human form of our Lord considered in itself. See Romans 3:26; 10:9; 2 Corinthians 11:4; Ephesians 4:21; Hebrews 2:9." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word
Studies (1888), vol. II, p. 1171.
{32} "This (touto). Not this spirit, but this non-confession, summed up in all its manifestations." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. II, p. 1171.
{33} "500. ANTICHRISTOS. Antichrist. Can mean either 'against Christ' or 'instead of Christ,' or perhaps,
combining the two, 'oneè who, assuming the guise of Christ, opposes Christ' (Westcott). The word is found only in
John's epistles, (a) of the many 'antichrists' who are forerunners of the 'Antichrists' himself, 1 John 2:18, 22; 2 John 7;
(b) of the evil power which already operates anticipatively of the 'Antichrist,' 1 John 4:3. What the apostle says of him
so closely resembles what he says of the first beast in Rev. 13, and what the apostle Paul says of the Man of Sin in 2
Thess. 2, that the same person seems to be in view in all these passages, rather than the second beast in Rev. 13, the
false prophet; for the latter supports the former in all his Antichristian assumptions. Note: The term pseudochristos, 'a
false Christ,' is to be distinguished from the above; it is found in Matt. 24:24 and Mark 13:22. The false Christ does
not deny the existence of Christ, he trades upon the expectation of His appearance, affirming that he is the Christ.
The Antichrist denies the existence of the true God (Trench, Syn. XXX)." W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of Old
and New Testament Words, Vol. I, p. 61-62.
"Antichrist. Peculiar to John in the New Testament. The absence of the article shows its currency as a proper
name. It may mean one who stands against Christ, or one who stands instead of Christ; just as antistrathgoj may
mean either one who stands in the place of a strathgoj praetor, a propraetor (see Introd. to Luke, vol. 1, p. 246, and
note on Acts 16:20), or an opposing general. John never uses the word yeudocristoj false Christ (Matthew 24:24;
Mark 13:22). While the false Christ is merely a pretender to the Messianic office, the Antichrist "assails Christ by
proposing to do or to preserve what he did, while denying Him." Antichrist, then, is one who opposes Christ in the
guise of Christ [*usurpation and deceit]. Westcott's remark is very important, that John's sense of Antichrist is
determined by the full Christian conception of Christ, and not by the Jewish conception of the promised Savior."
Vincent's New Testament Word Studies, vol. II, p. 1153.
"antixristoj, opponent of Christ; that which sets itself in the place of Christ, which appears as Christ in opposition
to Christ, (as distinct from yeudoxristoj, which means rather a false hypocritical representative of Christ than an
opponent of Him.) The many Antichrists must be regarded not only as forerunners of the actual Antichrist, but as
attempts to realize it." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New
Testament (1908), p. 56.
{34} "2889. KOSMOS. Probably from the base of 2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by implication, the
world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively [morally]):--adorning, world."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"kosmoj, order, i.e. regular disposition and arrangement; hence, ornament, decoration; (lxx. for ydi, Exodus 33:4, 5, 6; Isaiah 49:18; Jeremiah 4:30; Ezekiel 7:20; and tlapt, Prov. 20:29; Isaiah 3:18), (prob. from the root kad, as it
occurs e.g. in kainumai, to polish. The same is found in the Hebrew word arb, create, which means literally to cut, cut
out, carve to cut or pare down, to plane and polish. All which implies that the creation was a perfect work, in perfect
and beautiful order. Not a chaos as is usually conceived. Genesis 1:1 says, tywarb, in former times, of old, God
created (in perfect order) the heavens and the earth. 'And the earth became (hyh being very frequently so translated)
confusion and emptiness.' See the epxression in Isaiah 34:11, and Jeremiah 4:23; but how and when it became so
prior to fitting it up for man is not revealed. The lxx. never use kosmoj to denote the world; it is first used in the
apocryphal books of Wisdom and 2 Maccabees to denote the universe; and in the New Testament is used with a new
force.
"Thus, kosmoj denotes the order of the world, the ordered universe, the ordered entirety of God's creation, but
considered as separated from God. Then, the abode of humanity [*in vain and dead philosophies], or that order of things in which humanity moves or of which man is the centre [*Man is the center and origin of all philosophy,
morality and legal personality]; then, mankind as it manifests itself in and through such an order
[*codes,constitutions, rules, and regulations, edicts, fiats, ad nauseam]; then [*901] that order of things which, in consequence of and since the Fall, is alienated from God, as manifested in and through the human race." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), pp. 900-901.
"2889. WORLD. Kosmos. Primarily 'order, arrangement, ornament, adornment' (1 Pet. 3:3, see ADORN, B), is
used to denote (a) the 'earth,' e.g., Matt. 13;35; John 21:25; Acts 17:24; Rom. 1:20 (probably here the universe: it had
this meaning among the Greeks, owing to the order observable in it); 1 Tim. 6:7; Heb. 4:3; 9:26; (b) the 'earth' in
contrast with è Heaven, 1 John 3:17 (perhaps also Rom. 4:13); (c) by metonymy, the 'human race, mankind,' e.g.,
Matt. 5:14; John 1:9 [here 'that cometh (RV, 'coming') into the world' is said of Christ, not of 'every man'; by His
coming into the world He was the light for all men]; v. 10; 3:16, 17 (thrice), 19; 4:42, and frequently in Rom. 1 Cor.
and 1 John; (d) 'Gentiles' as distinguished from Jews, e.g., Rom. 11:12, 15, where the meaning is that all who will
may be reconciled (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19); (e) the 'present condition of human affairs,' in alienation from and opposition to
God, e.g., John 7:7; 8:23; 14:30; 1 Cor. 2:12; Gal. 4:3; 6:14; Col. 2:8; Jas. 1:27; 1 John 4:5 (thrice); 5:19; (f) the 'sum
of temporal possessions,' Matt. 16:26; 1 Cor. 7:31 (1st part); (g) metaphorically, of the 'tongue' as 'a world (of
iniquity),' Jas. 3:6; expressive of magnitude and variety." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words. [*The world is the habitation of the unregenerate natural man, i.e. human beings. Note carefully the
following:
"HUMAN BEING. See MONSTER." Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing Law Dictionary (1948), p. 389.
"MONSTER. A human-being by birth, but in some part resembling a lower animal [*psuche--soul having not
received the things of the Spirit of God]." Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing Law Dictionary (1948), p. 540.
{35} "A century and a half ago Edwin Burke said, 'Civilization is a contract between the great dead, the living and
the unborn'--'A contract between the great dead, the living and the unborn.' I want to talk to you very briefly this
afternoon, my brethren, if I may, about the thing we are trying to do here in America. You and I wanted something to
do and engaged in the business of trying law suits for clients, in order that we may make a living, but back of and
bigger than it all, you and I--whether or not we know it and whether or not we are wholly conscious of it--are
engaged in the most extraordinary thing the world has ever seen. We are helping to build, maintain, and hand to future ages the contract between the great dead, the living and the unborn." F. F. Faville, "The Great Contract," 15 Nebraska Law Bulletin 88 (1935). [*Partaking of the spirit of morals and society is joining the dead--Adam's sin
in the Garden. See also Psalm 115:1-8, 135:15-18].
{36} "upakoh, a hearing attentively, or listening; hence, obedience, as the result of attentive hearing." E. W.
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 540.
"5218. HUPAKOE. From 5219; attentive hearkening, i.e. (by implication) compliance or submission:--obedience,
(make) obedient, obey(-ing)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"5218. OBEDIENCE, OBEDIENT, OBEY. Noun. HUPAKOE. 'Obedience' (hupo, 'under,' akouo, 'to hear'), is used (a) in general, Rom. 6:16 (1st part), RV, '(unto) obedience,' KJV, '(to) obey'; here 'obedience' is not personified, as in the next part of the verse, 'servants... of obedience' [see (c)], but is simply shown to be the effect of the
presentation mentioned; (b) of the fulfillment of apostolic counsels, 2 Cor. 7:15; 10:6; Philem. 21; © of the fulfillment
of God's claims or commands, Rom. 1:5 and 16:26, 'obedience of faith,' which grammatically might be objective, to
the faith (marg.), or subjective, as in the text. Since faith is one of the main subjects of the Epistle, and is the initial
act of obedience in the new life, as well as an essential characteristic thereof, the text rendering is to be preferred;
Rom. 6:16 (2nd part); 15:18, RV '(for) the obedience,' KJV, '(to make) obedient'; 16:19; 1 Pet. 1:2, 14, RV, '(children
of) obedience,' i.e., characterized by 'obedience,' KJV, 'obedient (children)'; v. 22, RV, 'obedience (to the truth),' KJV,
'obeying (the truth)'; (d) of 'obedience' to Christ (objective), 2 Cor. 10:5; (e) of Christ's 'obedience,' Rom. 5:19
(referring to His death; cf. Phil. 2:8); Heb. 5:8, which refers to His delighted experience in constant 'obedience' to the
Father's will (not to be understood in the sense that He learned to obey)." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of
New Testament Words.
{37} "The meaning of Logos in John
"As Logos has the double meaning of thought and speech, so Christ is related to God as the Word to the Idea, the
word being not merely a name for the Idea, but the Idea itself expressed. The thought is the inward word è (Dr.
Schaff compares the Hebrew expression 'I speak in my heart' for 'I think').
"The Logos of John is the real, personal God (1:1), the Word, who was originally before the creation with God, and
was God, one in essence and nature, yet personally distinct (1:1, 18); the revealer and interpreter of the hidden being
of God; the reflection and visible image of God, and the organ of all His manifestations to the world. Compare Heb.
1:3. He made all things, proceeding personally from God for the accomplishment of the redemption of the world.
Compare Philip. 2:6." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies, p. 383.
"Logoj, the word (not in the grammatical sense like No. 2, but) the spoken word; the word, not in its outward form,
but as connected with the inward thought; the word, not written, but spoken; the word, not as a part of speech, but as
part of what is uttered.
"(a) Hence, used of the second activity of the Godhead, because as the word spoken manifests the invisible
thought; so He manifests to us the invisible God and Godhead.
-------------------------
"The Godhead is 'Spirit' (John 4:24) and as Spirit has not likeness to matter, God Himself took some creature form
(not human) before He created any thing, in order that creation might have a mediator, or a means of communion
with Himself. Hence Christ is said to have been, 'in the beginning,' (John 1:1); 'before all things,' (Colossians 1:17.)
'The first-born of every creature,' (Colossians 1:15) 'the beginning of the creation of God,' (Revelation 3:14); and
hence, 'In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,' (Colossians 2:9)." E W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon
and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 896. [*Therefore, the Christ had not human
nature; but, had human form only].
"John 1:1--Here the subject, 'the Word,' being defined by the article which is prefixed to it, can be placed at the
end of two of the clauses: 'In the beginning was the Word, and God the Word was': i.e., in plain cold English, 'The Word was in the beginningand the Word was God.'
"The A.V. preserves the hyperbolation in the first clause, but not in the last, because the English idiom will not
bear it. But in each case we are to put the stress on 'the Word.' E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech used in the Bible
(1898), p. 694.
{38} "30. One (en). The neuter, not the masculine eiv, one person. It implies unity of essence, not merely of will or
of power." Vincent's New Testament Word Studies, vol. I, p. 1016.
"eij (fem., eia, neut., en) one, the first cardinal numeral; emphatic, one, even one, single." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 553. [*God is therefore not a
woman as the modern apostates proclaim.
{39} Cristianoj, Christian (a word formal not after the Greek but after the Roman manner, denoting attachment to
or adherents to Christ. Only occurs as used by others of them, not by Christians of themselves. Tacitus (A.D. 96)
says (Annals 15, 44), 'The vulgar call them Christians. The author or origin of this denomination, Christus, had, in
the reign of Tiberius been executed by the procurator, Pontius Pilate,')." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance of the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 152.
"This name (christian) occurs but three times in the New Testament, and is never used by bondmen of Christ of
themselves, only as spoken by or coming from those without the church. The general names by which the early
bondmen of Christ called themselves were 'brethren,' 'disciples,' 'believers,' and 'saints.' The presumption is that the
name 'christian' was originated by the heathen." Thomas W. Doane, Bible Myths (1882), p. 567, n. 3.
The Simplicity in Christ:
Part Two - the general post-office
written solely by the Grace of God in Christ Jesus
by Randy Lee and John Joseph
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are located at the end of this article)
The point was made last month concerning our leaving the Egyptian house of bondage and the
Babylonian confusion that reigns therein, to diligently seek the simplicity in Christ. This instant work is
to show that we continue to run that race set before us from the chains of servitude binding us to the
prince of this world to the arms of our loving Master, to rest in Him and partake of His Peace and Victory
over the prince of this world.
First, we admit to all our Brothers and Sisters our errors concerning "general delivery," "General
Delivery," "GENERAL DELIVERY SERVICE," and any other derivations of the same. We were deceived
about its true nature and only recently learned, through talking to a postmaster to whom we were led, that
it is a creation over which, originally, the Post Office Department and, by contract, the U.S. Postal Service
has jurisdiction. It is their facsimile of the original station of the "general post-office.
In the recent past, we were denied "general delivery" at Canoga Park. Now this may appear to be the
end of the work we do for our Lord concerning postal matters. But, such is not the case. We now know
that general delivery has been nothing more than a "stepping-stone" on the path back to where we all
belong in fellowshiping through His post.
The Spirit through our Brother Paul, in writing to our Brother Timothy, said:
"Study{1} to shew{2} [*evidence-- John 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; James 2:22] thyself
approved{3} [*see Psalm 12:6 & 33:4; Romans 2:29; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Galatians 2:8] unto God, a
workman{4} that needeth not to be ashamed{5} , rightly dividing{6} the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15.
The Greek word for "study" (philotimeomai) actually reads "be diligent" (spoudazo, spoudason) in the
Greek text. The error by the King James "divines" in mistranslating it "study" limits the Word to
systematized academics (see footnote {1} below). So we were instructed to "be diligent" to show ourselves
a workman of God. How to do this? Exercise diligence in finding the old paths and returning to them.
And this is what led us, by His Grace, to the "general post-office."
As many are aware, it was always our impression that the Post Office Department was the original
earthly foundation of the current postal system. This impression was formed according to the many
writings that have been published over the past 150 years, or so, concerning postal matters in the U.S. and
abroad. What was not realized until recently was the fact that the true earthly foundation of the postal
system known as 'the general post-office" began to be referred to as "the post-office department" in the
early 1800's, not long after the "statutory" general post-office was instituted February 20, 1792, to wit:
Chap. VII.--An Act to establish the Post-Office and Post Roads within the United States.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall be established, at the seat of the government of the
United States, a general post-office. And there shall be one Postmaster General......"
Note that this 1 page statutory creation by Congress was for the government of the United States, not
the United States of America. The general post-office, which already existed, was never designated as
being repealed in this Act. Therefore, it still remained in existence, separate from the "governmental
business" set up by this Act.
As we stated above, in the early 1800's the general post-office began to be referred to as 'the post-office
department," but was not officially created by a 46 page statute until June 8, 1872, to wit:
Chap. CCCXXXV. -- An Act to revise, consolidate, and amend the Statutes relating to the Post-office
Department.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled, That there shall be established, at the seat of government of the United States of
America, a department to be known as the Post-office Department.
The important part to note in the above statute is that it was established for "the government of the
United States of America." At first glance, this would appear to have substance, until you realize that the
governments before and after the Civil War were not of the same nature. The one after the Civil War was
a commercially "Reconstructed" government through incorporation. This 46 page statute clearly shows
that it was established as "a business" of that new government. And again, the original general post-office
was not repealed in this statute. It is for this cause that the re-organized service and its employees have no
authority over the general post-office--it precedes their creation and has its Source and Origin in God
through His Lawful assembly, long before the legal memory of man (1189 A.D.):
"by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him,
and for Him [*and for His Lawful assembly and not for the wills of men]: And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence." Colossians 1:16-18.
The natural man does recognize this in his own maxims of law,
"Prior tempore, potior jure --First in time is stronger in right." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914),
"Maxim," p. 2154.
For the natural man, there must be evidence forthcoming that he can witness the change and
repentance from the ways of the world, and to remind the natural man that he can do nothing in and of
himself, for it is written:
"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a
candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the
house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16
This can be shown in the new wording that should be on the "address label" or written in above he or
she to whom it is directed," as follows:
First-Class Matter
posted and moved by the Grace of God
in and through our Lord and Saviour [This is your mailing location]
Jesus the Christ,
for the calling forth by:
_________________________
We have to show that the matter originated with God in Christ Jesus and not with ourselves. This is
covered in the first phrases of the above. The matter is a matter posted and moved by His Grace alone, not
by the "power" of men.
Reviving the general post-office
Since it is a fact that all mail matter today is moved through The U.S. Postal Service under statutory
license and contract, it would appear to be most difficult to revive the station of the general post-office
without a bit of resistance from those within the Postal Service who like things just the way they presently
are. But we must keep in mind that our Father never leaves us destitute. He always supplies our needs. It
is us who through the working of our flesh rebel into the situation of wants, believing that our needs being
met are not sufficient--apostasy.
To relate the trial that was set before us concerning the reception of mail matter following denial of
general delivery at Canoga Park, we first went to the Word of God and after reading the aforementioned
passage of Scripture (Colossians 1:16-18) we began to realize, by Grace of God, that somewhere under the
layers and layers of deceit masking the Truth the old paths for His Lawful assembly would be found. We
both looked at some old Civil War envelopes photographed by the Post Office Department in some of their
philatelic literature. On all of the envelopes were just the name to whom the matter was directed with the
city and state. No other lines appeared. Mind you, this is before the creation of the layers of deceit by the
lawyers and other such ministers of Satan. Further "digging" through the layers, we found the original
general post-office. What we needed to find out was: what is the relation in Law between the general post-office and His Lawful assembly? From Scripture we learn that those who were called out from the world
and apostled for the Christ sent their matters with others in and of the Lawful assembly to others in His
Body. This is because His assembly is in Law and not of the world. The relation then is that the general
post-office is in His Body and is one of several organs of His Body for His Glory. That is why the original
general post-office is still found and exists under all of the layers "created" by the natural man.
Of course, having access to the above information does not automatically revive the general post-office.
The workmen must still attend to the work set before them. And by the Power and Will of God, it will be
accomplished, because His Word does not return to Him void.
To recount the initial steps that we have been led to take, we will begin by telling you that it was a walk
of faith in and with Him, for He has told us:
"Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matthew 11:29-30
For all of those Lawful assemblies that will be sending their Brothers out two by two to the general
post-office through letter of appointment to call forth the First-Class Matter for the Lawful assembly, it is
not pertinent to know every step that we took and every word that we spoke, for the Spirit of God will
direct them in all things, for it is written:
"Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a
mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist." Luke 21:14-15
Therefore, the general way to proceed can be as follows:
Send or have others send a First-Class letter (do not send a "signature required" class) to the main post
office within the area of the Lawful assembly, directed to that Lawful assembly, such as:
the Christ's assembly at San Diego
general post-office
Bonsall, California
After three or four days, send two or three Brothers with a Letter of Appointment (see below) to call
forth the mail matter that was sent. The initial verbal introduction can be: "Greetings, we were sent by the
Christ's assembly at San Diego to call forth their First-Class matter. Here is their Letter of Appointment."
Once the mail matter is handed to them, the general post-office is revived. Keep in mind that they may
be told that they can only receive "general delivery," etc., but once the mail matter is handed to them, the
question is moot, for they have already born witness otherwise.
Endnotes
{1} "4704. SPOUDAZO. From 4710; to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest:--do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"STUDY. Notes: For philotimeomai, 'study,' 1 Thess. 4:11, see AIM. For spoudazo, 2 Tim. 2:15, KJV, see
DILIGENCE, B, No. 1." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
"4704. DILIGENCE, DILIGENT, DILIGENTLY. Verb. Spoudazo. Has meanings corresponding to A, No. 2; it
signifies 'to hasten to do a thing, to exert oneself, endeavor, give diligence'; in Gal. 2:10, of remembering the poor, KJV, 'was
forward,' RV, 'was zealous'; in Eph. 4:3, of keeping the unity of the Spirit, KJV 'endeavoring,' RV, 'giving diligence'; in 1
Thess. 2:17, of going to see friends, 'endeavored'; in 2 Tim. 4:9; 4:21, 'do thy diligence'; in the following the RV uses the verb
'to give diligence': 2 Tim. 2:15, KJV, 'study'; Titus 3:12, KJV, 'be diligent'; Heb. 4:11, of keeping continuous Sabbath rest, KJV,
'let us labor'; in 2 Pet. 1:10, of making our calling and election sure; in 2 Pet. 1:15, of enabling believers to call Scripture truth to
remembrance, KJV, 'endeavour'; in 2 Pet. 3:14, of being found in peace without fault and blameless, when the Lord comes,
KJV, 'be diligent.' See ENDEAVOR, FORWARD, LABOR, STUDY, ZEALOUS." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary
of New Testament Words.
{2} "3936. PARISTEMI. Or prolonged paristano {par-is-tan'-o}; from 3844 and 2476; to stand beside, i.e.
(transitively) to exhibit, proffer, (specifically) recommend, (figuratively) substantiate; or (intransitively) to be at hand (or
ready), aid:--assist, bring before, command, commend, give presently, present, prove [*by evidence], provide, shew, stand
(before, by, here, up, with), yield." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{3} "1384 DOKIMOS. From 1380; properly, acceptable (current after assayal), i.e. approved:--approved, tried." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"1384. APPROVE, APPROVED. Adjective. Dokimos. Akin to dechomai, 'to receive,' always signifies 'approved'; so the RV everywhere, e.g., in Jas. 1:12 for KJV, 'when he is tried.' The word is used of coins and metals in the Sept.; in Gen.
23:16, 'four hundred didrachms of silver approved with merchants'; in Zech. 11:13, in regard to the 30 pieces of silver, 'Cast
them into a furnace and I will see if it is good (approved) metal.'" W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words. One is approved by God when he is tried and found True to Him alone.
{4} "2040. ERGATES. From 2041; a toiler; figuratively, a teacher:--labourer, worker(-men)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{5} "422. ANEPAISCHUNTOS. From 1 (as a negative particle) and a presumed derivative of a compound of 1909 and 153; not
ashamed, i.e. irreprehensible: that needeth not to be ashamed." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"anepaiscuntoj, (a priv. and epaiscunw), (Vulg. inconfusibilis), having no cause to be ashamed. Unused in Greek writings." Thayer, Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, p. 44.
{6} "3718. ORTHOTOMEO. From a compound of 3717 and the base of 5114, to make a straight cut, i.e. (figuratively) to
dissect (expound) correctly (the divine message):--rightly divide." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
Romans 13:
Bow the Knee to and Confess Whom?
written solely by the Grace of God in and through
our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
by John Joseph and Randy Lee
Part One
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are located at the end of this article)
The title to this particular work tells it all. Today's moderns have been teaching a heresy that makes
Romans 13 the most misunderstood chapter in Scripture, although Scripture is consistent, being written
by the finger of God through men anointed by Him to record His Testimonies for His Glory and our
benefit. Who else is the Author of Truth and Life? No one else--the Spirit and Word bearing witness,
"For the word of the LORD is right [*not theology, theories, speculations, hermeneutics, ad
nauseam]; and all His works are done in truth." Psalm 33:4.
"I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy
truth: for Thou hast magnified Thy word [*not theology, theories, speculations, hermeneutics, ad
nauseam] above all Thy name." Psalm 138:2.
"And I know that His commandment [*not theology, theories, speculations, presumptions,
assumptions, conjectures, ad nauseam] is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the
Father [*not theologicians, theologians, theoricians, philosophers, lawyers, legislators, ad nauseam]
said unto Me, so I speak." John 12:50.
"and I know His commandment [*not theology, theories, speculations, presumptions,
assumptions, conjectures, ad nauseam] life eternal is. What therefore I speak, as has said to Me the
Father [*not the theologicians, theologians, theoricians, philosophers, lawyers, legislators, ad
nauseam], so I speak." John 12:50 (Berry).
Who wrote His Law on our inward parts with His finger? The same Author--the Spirit and Word bearing
witness;
"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the
LORD [*not Hermes, a.k.a. Mercury, Mercurius, Thoth--pick your marketable deity], I will put My
law [*not theology, theory, speculation, conjecture, presuppositions, hermeneutics, ad nauseam] in
their inward parts, and write it in their hearts [*not on sheets of paper with codes, rules, regulations,
covenants, confessions, creeds, and articles of faith]; and will be their God, and they shall be My
people." Jeremiah 31:33.
"Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you [*not
on a sheet of paper with codes, rules, regulations, covenants, confessions, creeds, and articles of faith
founded on speculative theology based in the art and science of hermeneutics{1}]." Luke 17:21.
"nor shall they say, Lo here, or lo there; for lo the kingdom of God in the midst of you is [*not on
a sheet of paper with codes, rules, regulations, covenants, confessions, creeds, and articles of faith
founded on speculative theology based in the art and science of hermeneutics]." Luke 17:21 (Berry).
Would the Law from the same Author be different on a written page than what He wrote on our inward
parts? The answer is no--the Spirit bearing witness;
"God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." 1 Corinthians
14:33.
"For He is not the God of disorder, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints." 1 Corinthians
14:33 (Berry).
So we see there is a consistency here that has clearly been overlooked and never overcome by the
moderns because the Truth is the same no matter what one opines or conjectures.
The context throughout this work is that we are doing the Will of Him Who sent us into the world to
bear witness of Him to the world; that is, walking before Him in Truth with a meek (praus not authades)
heart able to receive His instruction, and not the conjurings of men through morphosis{2}--hermeneutically/
hermetically sealed systematic education in the ways of the world.
Much of what is said in this work may appear to conflict with the testimony of the Spirit speaking
through Brother Peter; but this is groundless, for the Spirit is Truth and Truth is not inconsistent at any
time. Let us first learn what the Spirit through Brother Peter wrote for our edification, for much has been
said about the following verse:
"Submit{3} yourselves to every ordinance{4} of man{5} for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king,
as supreme;" 1 Peter 2:13.
"Be in subjection therefore to every human institution for the sake of the Lord: whether to king as
supreme," 1 Peter 2:13 (Berry).
On its face alone, this appears to be saying to submit your spirit to every ordinance of the natural man,
who the Spirit witnesses receives not the things of Him. See 1 Corinthians 2:14. But such is not the case.
Brother Peter was witness to the best example of executing what the Spirit wrote using him for His
instrument. This verse clearly concerns submitting the flesh, not the spirit, to bear witness of the Spirit of
God in the bondman to put to shame the wicked, ungodly or foolish man. This is because the ordinances
of men are for the tempering of the flesh, but not the spirit. This is known and admitted by the natural
man:
"Law [*of the natural man --conjured morality] is concerned with external behavior and not with
the inner life of man. It rests in large measure upon compulsion [*physical force--not Law in and of
Christ]." Frankfurter, dissenting opinion, West Virginia State Board of Education et al. v. Barnette
(1943), 319 U.S. 624.
And this is why Christ's Lawful assembly must execute His Testament to curb the compulsive or
impulsive appetites of the moral man, a.k.a. the natural man of 1 Corinthians 2:14.
The accounts given by the Spirit through Brothers Matthew and John testify to this fact. See Matthew
26:50-57 and John 18:7-13 of Christ executing His Precept. By the Christ executing His Precept, the
Spirit in and through Brothers Peter and John executed the same in Acts 4:1-21 and Acts 5:17-40, thus
manifesting the Truth to us in this passage. There is no account of Brothers Peter and John doing any
physical harm or making any threats of doing physical harm in the heat of anger or passion to those sent
to arrest them, the Spirit bearing witness through them and Brother Paul that;
"the weapons{6} of our warfare{7} are not carnal{8}, but mighty through God to the pulling
down{9} of strong holds{10}; Casting down imaginations{11} [*theology, theories, speculations,
conceits, conjectures, reasonings, religion of men, opinions, ad nauseam], and every high thing
[*philosophy, sophisms, sophistry, sciolism, ad nauseam] that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity [*things captured are conquered and overcome] every thought
[*or system of thought] to the obedience of Christ [*Dominion and Rest]; And having in a readiness
to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." 2 Cor. 10:4-6.
And neither is there any account that they spoke not the Truth before the council of the Judaizers, for
they did cast down the vain imaginations of those of the council, the Word and Spirit bearing witness, that
"I will give you a mouth{12} and wisdom{13}, which all your adversaries{14} shall not be able to
gainsay{15} nor resist{16}." Luke 21:15.
"Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken
unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and
heard [*which did not and does not include theologies, religions, creeds, confessions, articles of faith,
hermeneutics, codes, rules, and regulations. Note also John 3:31-32; 5:37; 8:38; 14:9; 15:24]." Acts
4:19-20.
This is witnessing the Truth of God in Christ Jesus to the world in the same manner we have been
shown by Christ Jesus Himself:
"Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men
[*and their theologies, religions, creeds, confessions, articles of faith, hermeneutics, codes, rules,
and regulations]." Acts 5:29.
Note that the apostles were of one mind in Christ and never raised any ecclesiastical, theological,
hermeneutical or religious argument--all those things being dead without Law.
Thus, they executed and showed us what Christ showed us, and the Spirit bears witness;
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee
in judgment thou shalt condemn [*with My word and Judgments and not with theology, theories,
conjecture, opinion, supposition, science, ad nauseam]. This is the heritage of the servants of the
LORD, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the LORD [*not of systematic theologicians,
philosophers, sciolists, sophists, opinionists, legislators, speculators, pollsters, ad nauseam]." Isaiah
54:17.
The Spirit by, in and through Brother Peter bears witness of the sole purpose of this verse for us, to wit;
"Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the
praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the
ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as
the servants of God." 1 Peter 2:14-16.
Clearly then, it is the will of God that we bear witness of Him to the gods of the "people," to put them to
shame that:
"your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16. See also Genesis 1:28 and note the word "multiply."
This glorifies God, for the Spirit witnesses:
"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto
the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of
uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak
evil of dignities." 2 Peter 2:9-10.
"For even Christ pleased not Himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached
thee fell on Me." Romans 15:3.
"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He
will." Proverbs 21:1.
Now we know there will be those who may be thinking that we are saying "obey all government
authority," relying solely on what Brother Paul wrote in Romans 13:
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that
be are ordained of God." Romans 13:1.
"Let every soul be subject to authorities{17} above{18} [*Note Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31]. For there
is no authority except from God; and those that are authorities, by God have been appointed." Romans 13:1 (Berry).
...and not taking into account the whole counsel of God; or worse, relying on the new putrid pretensions
to the Word of God. We agree that we should obey that government instituted by the Spirit of God in
Christ Jesus; but not a usurper or pretender to His Throne. This statement, and all that is said herein, pre-supposes that we are doing His Will (walking meekly in Truth before Him in execution of His Will expressed in Genesis 1:28 and revealed in Christ Jesus) and not our "will." In no case are we advocating doing our desires and trying to find support on a dogmatic moral reed bending in every direction of
personal opinion, or a fig-leaf cover through convoluted and reasonable theological sin-thesis--the
covering of the pit to the lower world through which many have fallen. A few passages from Scripture
will suffice in this regard:
"Then brought He me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the
glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face. And the LORD said unto me,
Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee
concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the
entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. And thou shalt say to the rebellious,
even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your
abominations, In that ye have brought into My sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and
uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to pollute it, even My house, when ye offer My bread,
the fat and the blood, and they have broken My covenant because of all your abominations. And ye
have not kept the charge of Mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of My charge in My sanctuary
for yourselves. Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in
flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel." Ezekiel 44:4-9.
"They have set up kings, but not by Me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver
and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off." Hosea 8:4.
We can see then that what God sanctified by and through His Word was polluted by strangers, not by
their physical presence, but by the doctrine they preached and executed. The strangers mentioned above
are those who are not circumcised in heart by the Word of God and for that cause have not His Seal, for
the cutting of the old man away from the new man is necessary for the Seal to be written into the new
heart--see Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37-38. Therefore, God does not recognize them, they have
no authority or power from Him, and they are not the higher powers; but are usurpers (TYRANNUS) of
His Authority and Power and pretenders to His Throne, when they attempt to wield these powers
belonging to God our Father against those called by Him executing His Will:
"Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master [*Christ Jesus--Matthew 23:8
& 10; Isaiah 54:16-17] he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him
stand." Romans 14:4.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up
some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."John 10:1.
"5181. TURANNOS. A provincial form of the derivative of the base of 2962; a 'tyrant'; Tyrannus,
an Ephesian:--Tyrannus." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"2962. KURIOS. From kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority, i.e. (as noun) controller; by
implication, Mr. (as a respectful title):--God, Lord, master, Sir." Strong's Greek Dictionary. [*This
would probably be equivalent to "Baal" in the Old Testament].
"TYRANNUS. I, m.=turannosz. I. Gen. A monarch, ruler, sovereign. king: Virg.; Hor. II. Esp. A
cruel or severe ruler; a despot, tyrant: Cic. Hence, Fr. tyran." White, Latin-English and English-Latin
Dictionary (1872), p. 625.
"DESPOT. princeps or rex, cujus arbitrium pro legibus est, or cujus libido pro legibus habetur (a
sovereign whose will is law; after Just., 1, 1, 2; 2, 7, 3); tyrannus, or in pure Latin, dominus (a
usurper who has obtained absolute power in a free state): rex importunus (opposed to rex clemens)."
Riddle, English-Latin Lexicon (1849), p. 198.
"USURPER. Tyrannus (i.e., one who has made himself sovereign of a free state); by
circumlocution." Riddle, English-Latin Lexicon (1849), p. 673.
It is necessary to draw the distinction between those who exercise Godly Power in Lawful Execution of
God's Will from those who exercise a moral "power" (that other threshold outside the Word of God
written about in Ezekiel above) for their own private purposes or aggrandizement and claim to be doing
God's service, but do not prove such by the testimony of their works; and, to show Who is the Source and
Holder of all Lawful Power being separate from the one who exercises it unlawfully. I use the words
"moral power" meaning the same subtlety of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. If it were said that men in
their natural unregenerate state were the source and holder of all power, the quoted verse would not read
the way it does and the verse of Brother Paul then would conflict with Brother Ezekiel's. This is the Duty
of every bondman in Christ. In a past issue of this work there appeared a sample "Abatement and Office
Found" which is used for this very purpose--separate the Law from the moral chaff--and in that
separation to sift the the bondman in Christ from the natural man.
Their souls, as ours, are subject to the higher powers of God in Christ Jesus, for all souls are His and all
Lawful Authorities and Powers originate in and flow from God through Him, the Word and the Spirit
bearing witness:
"All souls are Mine [*not the man's, the State's, or the men using the artifice of the State by
speaking through its various masks--legislative, judicial, executive, administrative, and media, ad
nauseam]; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth it shall
die."Ezekiel 18:4.
"Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD [*not men or their theology--Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4]
be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity [*theology, philosophy, sophistry, sciolism,
or theory] with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons [*the State, its instrumentalities, religion,
theology, employees, agents, administrators, masks, ad nauseam], nor taking of gifts [*bribes
inhibiting or interfering with His execution of His Judgments]." 2 Chronicles 19:7.
"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth{19} I perceive{20} that God is no respecter of
persons{21} [*theologicians, theoricians, theologians, legislators, lawyers, ad nauseam]: But in every
nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." Acts 10:34.
"And Peter opening mouth said, Of a truth I perceive that God is not a respecter of persons, but in
every nation he that fears Him and works righteousness, acceptable to Him is." Acts 10:34 (Berry).
"Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD [*not
theologicians, theoricians, theologians, legislators, lawyers, ad nauseam], the first, and with the last; I
am He." Isaiah 41:4.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life [*not theologicians, theoricians,
theologians, legislators, lawyers, ad nauseam]: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me [*the
Word or Logos of God--not the word of conjured morality or theology "discovered" by the natural
man's reason called "the scientific method"]." John 14:6.
"Jesus says to him, I am the way, the truth and the life [*not theologicians, theoricians, theologians,
legislators, lawyers, ad nauseam]. No one comes to the Father but by Me [*the Word or Logos of
God -- not the word of conjured morality or theology "discovered" by the natural man's reason called
"the scientific method"]."John 14:6 (Berry).
From the above, no soul is separated from Him by a constitution, statute, code, rule, or regulation.
These qualify the phrase "Let every soul be subject." There is and indeed cannot be any "limited
liability" which would limit the operation and execution of God's Word upon all in His creation. The
artifices of men do not divorce or remove them from God's creation--they are vain words that appear to
do so in the minds of them who create them and those who give them their credence. This is the testimony
of the dead. See Ecclesiastes 9:5 concerning the testimony of the dead. And because He called the
generations from the beginning He knew all souls before they were brought into being by His Word. But
"many are called but few are chosen."
Next, let us look at Who is the Higher Power or Authority to Whom all souls are subject, the Spirit and
the Word bearing witness:
"For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me [*not to un-Godly men who
are not of My Spirit, i.e. the world's politicians, theologicians, philosophers, sciolists, ad nauseam],
and every tongue shall confess to God [*not to the world's theologicians, philosophers, legislators,
lawyers, ad nauseam]. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God [*not to the State
or men using the artifice of theology and other Spirit-less and vain conjurings of those that knowingly
or unknowingly minister for Satan]." Romans 14:11-12.
"For it has been written, I live says the Lord, to Me [*not to un-Godly men who are not of My
Spirit] shall bow every knee, and every tongue shall confess, to God. So then each of us concerning
himself account shall give to God [*not to the State or men using the artifice of theology and other
Spirit-less and vain conjurings of those that knowingly or unknowingly minister for Satan]." Romans
14:11-12 (Berry).
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled
Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name: That at the Name of Jesus [*not the
President, governor, or the State] every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [*not the State,
theology, or men using the artifice of the State] is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians
2:5-11. [*Plain and simple there is no command in the Word of God to confess the State to the glory
of the State].
"Let this mind be in you which also in Christ Jesus was; Who, in the form of God subsisting,
esteemed it not rapine to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, having taken a bondman's form, in
the likeness of men having become; and in figure having been found as a man, He humbled Himself,
having become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore also God Him highly
exalted and granted to Him a Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus [*not the
President, governor, or the State] every knee should bow of beings in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [*not the State or men men
using the artifice of the State] is Lord to the Glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:5-11 (Berry).
"All things are delivered{22} unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him."
Matthew 11:27.
"All things to Me were [*past tense--the work was finished before the foundation of the world]
delivered by My Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father; nor the Father does any one
know except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son may will to reveal Him." Matthew 11:27 (Berry).
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power{23} is given{24} unto Me in heaven and in
earth." Matthew 28:18.
"And having come to them Jesus spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given [*past
tense--from the beginning] unto Me in heaven and on earth." Matthew 28:18 (Berry).
"All things are delivered{25} to Me of My Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the
Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him." Luke 10:22.
"All things were delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows Who is the Son except the
Father, and Who is the Father, except the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son may will to reveal
Him." Luke 10:22 (Berry).
"For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and
living." Romans 14:9.
"For, for this Christ both died and rose and lived again that both the dead and living He might rule
over." Romans 14:9 (Berry).
"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;
glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee: As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh,
that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him." John 17:1-2.
"For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:And hath
given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man." John 5:22 & 27. Note
now John 20:21.
"for the Father judges no one, but all judgment has given to the Son,and authority gave to Him
also judgment to execute, because Son of man He is." John 5:22 & 27 (Berry).
"For the kingdom is the LORD's: and He is the governor among the nations." Psalm 22:28.
"For the kingdom is the LORD's; and He is the governor of the nations." Psalm 21 (22):28 (LXX).
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His
shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The Mighty God, The Everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon
the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with
justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this." Isaiah 9:6-7.
"For a Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us, whose government is upon His shoulder: and
His name is called the Messenger of Great Counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health
to him. His government shall be great, and of His peace there is no end: it shall be upon the throne of
David, and upon his kingdom to establish it, and to support it with judgment and with righteousness,
from henceforth and for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this." Isaiah 9:6-7 (LXX).
"All Thy works shall praise Thee, O LORD; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the
glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and
the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion
endureth throughout all generations." Psalm 145:10-13.
"Let all Thy works, O Lord, give thanks to Thee; and let Thy saints bless Thee. They shall speak
of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy dominion; to make known to the sons of men Thy
power, and the glorious majesty of Thy kingdom. Thy kingdom endures through all generations.
The Lord is faithful in His words, and holy in all His works." Psalm 145:10-13 (LXX).
"And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through
Thy Name." Luke 10:17.
"by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him,
and for Him [*not for self-willed men]: And He is before all things [*powers], and by Him all things
[*powers] consist{26}. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence." Colossians 1:16-18.
When we continue these Matters next month, by His Grace, we will look further into the
Logos of God and see Who the "higher powers" of Romans 13 truly are.
Endnotes
{1} "HERMENEUTICS. (Greek, to interpret). The art [*deception] and science [*falsifiable statements], or body
of rules, of truthful interpretation. It has been used chiefly by theologians; but Zacharie, in "An Essay on General
Legal Hermeneutics" (Versuch elner allg. Hermeneitik des Rechts), and Dr. Lieber, in his work on Legal and
Political Hermeneutics, also make use of it. See INTERPRETATION; CONSTRUCTION." Bouvier's Law
Dictionary (1914), p. 205.
{2} "Morphosis- morfwsij -Outward Pretence
"An old word that has received a new passive sense (external shape) in place of its è active meaning hitherto (a
shaping).
"In secular Greek morphosis was a rare word, perhaps a Stoic term for 'education' (MM). Theophrastus,
however, joins it with schematismos (configuration) in referring to the 'schematismos and morphosis (bringing into
shape) of plants.' The compound diamorphosis, used by Plutarch, concerns the 'shaping' of wood. Hence, its secular
meaning is active, and intrinsic influence or vital impulse, working outwards. But the meaning fails to suit Christian
contexts, where morphosis is a soulless and dead shell revealing, as Chrysostom observes, only schema (outward
show), tupos (impression), and hupokrisis (playing a part).
"Paul demonstrates that the Jew, for all his pretensions regarding the Law of Moses, had no more than the
morphosis (outward pretence) of knowledge and truth (Romans 2:20). It is a shape received, not from within, but
from the outside. Unlike the secular meaning, this is passive. Later, Paul foretells that heretics in the last times will
have only the outward pretence of godliness (2 Timothy 3:5)--the species of piety (Vulgate, Claromontanus).
Secular writers would no doubt have resorted to morphoma, for morphosis had for them an active meaning. Ellicott
observed that in the NT there is a tendency to replace the verbal nouns in -ma by the corresponding nouns in -sis. The
Jerusalem Bible has the 'outward appearance' of religion, Moffat and RSV, 'form', and Knox and NEB 'the outward
form' of religion, and all point to the word's new meaning." Nigel Turner, Christian Words (1981), p. 303.
[*Morphosis is the fruit of systematic theology].
{3} "5293. HUPOTASSO. From 5259 and 5021; to subordinate; reflexively, to obey:--be under obedience
(obedient), put under, subdue unto, (be, make) subject (to, unto), be (put) in subjection (to, under), submit self unto."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{4} "2937. KTISIS. From 2936; original formation (properly, the act; by implication, the thing, literally or
figuratively):--building, creation, creature, ordinance." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{5} "442. ANTHROPINOS. From 444; human:--human, common to man, man[-kind], [man-]kind, men's, after the
manner of men." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{6} "3696. HOPLON. Probably from a primary hepo (to be busy about); an implement or utensil or tool (literally or
figuratively, especially offensive for war):--armour, instrument, weapon." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{7} "4752. STRATEIA. From 4754; military service, i.e. (figuratively) the apostolic career (as one of hardship and
danger):--warfare." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{8} "4559. SARKIKOS. From 4561; pertaining to flesh, i.e. (by extension) bodily, temporal, or (by implication)
animal, unregenerate:--carnal, fleshly." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{9} "2507. KATHAIREO. From 2596 and 138 (including its alternate); to lower (or with violence) demolish
(literally or figuratively):--cast (pull, put, take) down, destroy." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{10} "3794. OCHUROMA. From a remote derivative of 2192 (meaning to fortify, through the idea of holding
safely); a castle (figuratively, argument):--stronghold." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{11} "3053. LOGISMOS. From 3049; computation, i.e. (figuratively) reasoning (conscience, conceit): --imagination, thought." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{12} "4750. STOMA. Probably strengthened from a presumed derivative of the base of 5114; the mouth (as if a
gash in the face); by implication, language (and its relations); figuratively, an opening (in the earth); specifically, the
front or edge (of a weapon):--edge, face, mouth." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{13} "4678. SOPHIA. From 4680; wisdom (higher or lower, worldly or spiritual):--wisdom." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{14} "480. ANTIKEIMAI. From 473 and 2749; to lie opposite, i.e. be adverse (figuratively, repugnant)
to:--adversary, be contrary, oppose." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{15} "471. ANTEPO. From 473 and 2036; to refute or deny:--gainsay, say against." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{16} "436. ANTHISTEMI. From 473 and 2476; to stand against, i.e. oppose:--resist, withstand." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{17} "1849 EXOUSIA. From 1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, i.e. (subjectively) force, capacity, competency,
freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely, magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated
influence:--authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength." Strong's Greek Dictionary. Note that the power is a
delegated power, not an inherent power. Therefore, all Powers are of God, and are not inherent in the man exercising
them.
"EXOUSIA; denotes freedom of action, right to act; used of God, it is absolute, unrestricted, e.g., Luke 12:5 (R.V.
marg., "authority"); in Acts 1:7 'right of disposal' is what is indicated; used of men, authority is delegated. Angelic
beings are called "powers" in Eph. 3:10 (cp. 1:21); 6:12; Col. 1:16; 2:15 (cp. 2:10). See AUTHORITY, No. 1, se also
PRINCIPALITY." W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, p. 878.
{18} "5242. HUPERECHO. From 5228 and 2192; to hold oneself above, i.e. (figuratively) to excel; participle (as
adjective, or neuter as noun) superior, superiority:--better, excellency, higher, pass, supreme." Strong's.
{19} "225 ALETHEIA. From 227; truth:--true, X truly, truth, verity." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{20} "2638. KATALAMBANO. From 2596 and 2983; to take eagerly, i.e. seize, possess, etc. (literally or
figuratively):--apprehend, attain, come upon, comprehend, find, obtain, perceive, (over-)take." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{21} "4381. PROSOPOLEPTES. From 4383 and 2983; an accepter of a face (individual), i.e. (specifically) one
exhibiting partiality:--respecter of persons." Strong's Greek Dictionary. The phrase "accepter of a face" can also
mean "accepter of a mask."
{22} 27. Are delivered (paredo1h). More lit., were delivered, as of a single act at a given time, as in this case, where
the Son was sent forth by the Father, and clothed with authority. Compare 28:18." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New
Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. 1, p. 89.
{23} "Power (exousia). Better, authority, as Rev." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol.
1, p. 176.
{24} "Is given (ejdoqh). Lit., was given, by the divine decree." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. 1, p. 176.
{25} "22. Are delivered (paredozh). See on Matthew 11:27." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies
(1888), vol. 1, p. 386.
{26} "Consist (sunesthken). Cohere, in mutual dependence. Compare Acts 27:28; Hebrews 1:3. For other meanings
of the verb, see on Romans 3:5. Christ not only creates, but maintains in continuous stability and productiveness. 'He,
the All-powerful, All-holy Word of the Father, spreads His power over all things everywhere, enlightening things
seen and unseen, holding and binding all together in Himself. Nothing is left empty of His presence, but to all things
and through all, severally and collectively, He is the giver and sustainer of life.... He, the Wisdom of God, holds the
universe in tune together. He it is who, binding all with each, and ordering all things by His will and pleasure, produces the perfect unity of [*creation] and the harmonious reign of law. While He abides unmoved forever with the Father, He yet moves all things by His own appointment according to the Father's will' (Athanasius)." M. R.
Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies, p. 512.
The Spiritually Dead
and the tools of their trade
Part One
by John Joseph and Randy Lee
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are found at the end of this article)
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save
the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind
of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2:9-16.
We all must note that the above verses clearly show that man's wisdom--or "human" wisdom--the
wisdom of the world, cannot be looked to for truth by the bondman in Christ. The natural man's love for
the wisdom of the world, better known as philosophy, is the main subject of this multi-part discourse and
word study, and will include many of the sub-categories of it, i.e., the spiritually dead philosophical
sciences known as ethics, morals, hermeneutics, theology, and other sophistry of seminary morphosis.
The Spirit bears witness, to wit;
"For ye see your calling{1}, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base{2} things of the
world, and things which are despised{3}, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought
things that are: That no flesh{4} should glory in His presence." 1 Corinthians 1:26-29.
Who are these that challenge the ways of God through their dead philosophies attempting to engrave
an image of truth upon the heart of the ignorant through their vain babblings? Those that either have not
received His Spirit, having received another spirit; or, who rebel against His Ways, the Spirit and the
Word bearing witness, to wit;
"To the law{5} and to the testimony{6}: if they speak{7} not according to this word, it is because
there is no light in them." Isaiah 8:20.
The natural man has restated Isaiah 8:20 as follows:
"Nihil tam proprium imperio quam legibus vivere --Nothing is so becoming to authority as to live
according to the law." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2148.
"They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them." 1 John 4:5.
"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned." Matthew 12:36-37.
The Spirit--not morals, ethics, theology, hermeneutics, or seminary morphosis--is the Truth and sole
Authority, for it is written, the Spirit bearing witness through Brother John, to wit,
"This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and
blood. And it is the Spirit [*not hermeneutics, theology, seminary morphosis] that beareth witness
[*because hermeneutics, theology, seminary morphosis being merely opinions of men are not a witness
in Law], because the Spirit is truth [*not opinions, hermeneutics, theology, seminary morphosis]." 1
John 5:6.
It is the Truth, the pneuma of God, that drives out the lie, for no conjurations of man can withstand the
Truth of God in and of the Christ, the Word bears witness, to wit;
"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be
reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God." John 3:20-21.
...and the Truth, the pneuma of God, separates life from death, the Spirit bearing witness to wit;
"For the word of God is quick{8}, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow [*note Ezekiel 37], and is
a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in
His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
Hebrews 4:12-13.
And it is in Truth and in Spirit, both in the Christ, that God our Father must be worshipped by and
through doing His work appointed to us; and, not by, in or through outward pretence conjured by
hermeneutically "sound" theology, the Word bearing witness, to wit;
"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth [*and not by outward pretence--note Luke 17:20]."
John 4:23-24.
It is not possible to worship God in Truth by, in, or through the ways of the world--gathering in the
high places (i.e. corporations, religious associations and societies) or groves (i.e. denominations). Is the
Christ's testimony true or not? See also Amos 5:21-24.
It is important to note and remember that the philosophies of hermeneutics, theology and the resulting
seminary morphosis are not witness in Law of any type, kind character, or description, because they are
opinion, speculation, presupposition, assumption, conjecture, and theory of the dead in Law proposer or
conjurer of them, for they create confusion, and bear not the Truth in and of the Spirit of God. For this
cause, they are meaningless to the bondmen in Christ, for the dead have no standing. Note 1 John 5:6 and
Ecclesiastes 9:5.
Further, the Spirit bears witness that,
"All Scripture is given by inspiration{9} of God [*not hermeneutically systemized, constructed and
schemed], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture{10} is of any private{11} interpretation{12} [*by
hermeneutics, theology, or seminary morphism]. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man: but holy men of God spake{13} as they were moved{14} by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:20-21.
"this first knowing, that not any prophecy of scripture is of its own interpretation, for not by will
of man was prophecy brought at any time, but, by Holy Spirit being borne, spoke the holy men of
God." 2 Peter 1:20-21 (Berry).
The True context of Scripture, then, is always in the Spirit of God because it is given by His
inspiration when He moved men called and chosen by Him to write His words about His Word; and, not
by, in or through the letter of man-made dead hermeneutics, logic, reason, ethics, morals and other vain
babblings of theology or seminary morphosis. Note that Brother Peter is not talking about dead
hermeneutics, but is relating what Christ had told us--that the Spirit will guide us to all Truth (John
16:13), not opinions, speculations, conjectures, presumptions, ad nauseam.
In Part Two next month, we will continue this discourse and word study.
Endnotes
{1} "Calling (klhsin). Not condition of life, but your calling by God; not depending on wisdom, power, or lineage."
M. R Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies.
{2} "Base. Greek agenes. Literally without family, or descent. Only here. The opposite of eugenes [*noble] verse
26." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1698.
{3} "Despised (exov1enhmena) Literally, set at nought. Not merely despised, but expressly branded with contempt.
See Luke 23:11." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies.
{4} "4561. SARX. Probably from the base of 4563; flesh (as stripped of the skin), i.e. (strictly) the meat of an
animal (as food), or (by extension) the body (as opposed to the soul [or spirit], or as the symbol of what is external, or
as the means of kindred), or (by implication) human nature (with its frailties [physically or morally] and passions), or
(specifically) a human being (as such):--carnal(-ly, + -ly minded), flesh([-ly])." Strong's Greek Dictionary. To be
carnally minded is not just lustful, but includes coming to God on your terms conjured by hermeneutically sound
theology; and, not through His Christ Whom He has sealed. Note Genesis 4:1-5.
{5} "8451. TOWRAH. From 3384; a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch:--law." Strong's
Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary
{6} "8584. T`UWDAH. From 5749; attestation, i.e. a precept, usage:--testimony." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee
Dictionary.
{7} "1696. DABAR. A primitive root; perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely
(in a destructive sense) to subdue:-answer, appoint, bid, command, commune, declare, destroy, give, name, promise,
pronounce, rehearse, say, speak, be spokesman, subdue, talk, teach, tell, think, use [entreaties], utter, X well, X
work." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{8} "2198. ZAO. A primary verb; to live (literally or figuratively):--life(-time), (a-)live(-ly), quick." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
"zaw, to live, to have life. Here, the participle, living." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon
and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 618.
{9} "2315 THEOPNEUSTOS. From 2316 and a presumed derivative of 4154; divinely breathed in:--given by
inspiration of God." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"qeopneustoj, God breathed, God-inspired." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to
the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 414.
{10} "1124. GRAPHE. A document, i.e. holy Writ (or its contents or a statement in it):--scripture." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{11} "2398. IDIOS. Of uncertain affinity; pertaining to self, i.e. one's own; by implication, private or separate:--X
his acquaintance, when they were alone, apart, aside, due, his (own, proper, several), home, (her, our, thine, your)
own (business), private(-ly), proper, severally, their (own)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{12} "1955. EPILUSIS. From 1956; explanation, i.e. application:--interpretation." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{13} "2980. LALEO. A prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. utter words:--preach, say, speak
(after), talk, tell, utter. Compare 3004." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"lalew, to speak, to emply the organ of utterance, to utter words of any language, independently of any
reason why they are uttered (not, to speak inconsiderately or imprudently), to use the human voice with
words; hence, to talk; and with another, to hold colloquy." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 663.
{14} "5342. PHERO. A primary verb (for which other and apparently not cognate ones are used in certain tenses
only; namely, oio {oy'-o}; and enegko {en-eng'-ko); to "bear" or carry (in a very wide application, literally and
figuratively, as follows):--be, bear, bring (forth), carry, come, + let her drive, be driven, endure, go on, lay, lead,
move, reach, rushing, uphold." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"ferw, to bear, carry, bear along." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English
and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 510.
The "Elusive" Sabbath-rest
of the Bondman in Christ
Part Two
written solely by the Grace of God in and through our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
by John Joseph and Randy Lee, His mere bondmen
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are found at the end of this article)
The Spirit of God declares for six days God created and...
"on the seventh day God ended{1} His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh
day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:
because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." Genesis 2:2-3.
The first thing to note in the above verse of Scripture is that on the seventh day God rested, and He
blessed and sanctified it. In other words, God's creating ended, but His Work was not finished. What was
left? The first blessing given to man by God as we have received it. This blessing given by the Word of
God is familiar to most if not all of us, the Spirit declaring:
"And God blessed{2} them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful{3} [*execution of, doing, or living
by and in His Word is the fruit of His Word--see Isaiah 55:11; Matthew 5:16, 21:19-21; Mark 4:7;
Luke 8:14; John 7:17, 10:10, 15:2, 5 & 8; Romans 7:4-6; Galatians 5:22], and multiply{4} [*bring up
others in His nurture and admonition to Execute His Testimony--see Matthew 5:16, 7:29; Luke 4:32],
and replenish{5} the earth [*with His Word by sowing it--see Matthew 5:16, 7:29; 13:3-43; Luke
4:32], and subdue{6} it [*by and with the Power in and of His Word--Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2;
Psalm 149; Genesis 3:22-24; Luke 10:19]: and have dominion{7} [*not by the natural man's
theological confusion conjured by a scientific method, a.k.a. Christian Reconstruction, which are
nothing more than vain babblings--but solely by and through My Word: see Matthew 28:18; John
5:22, 16:33] over the fish{8} of the sea{9}, and over the fowl{10} of the air{11}, and over every
living thing{12} that moveth{13} upon the earth{14} [*those of the earth--Genesis 3:15; Psalm
91:13; Psalm 149; Matthew 10:1; Luke 10:19]." Genesis 1:28.
By the Christ executing the commands given by God, all was restored to those doing the same in His
Name; while those who are still in unbelief continue to languish under the chastisements of the Law. See
Revelation 22:14. And it is here that we have authority in and through His Name to judge even the fallen
angels. See 1 Corinthians 6:3.
This is the first blessing given in Scripture to man by God our Father. It is not given to any one else but
man and as we progress through this work we will see that when God rested, man's entry in to His Rest is
done through execution of His Word--not sitting on the hands and watching the depraved and
blasphemous religious entertainment and games of the world. To show this Truth, we will consult the
Word, our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, Who it is recorded for us said,
"Jesus saith unto them, My meat{15} is to do the will{16} of Him that sent Me [*praus not
authades], and to finish{17} His work{18}." John 4:34.
"Jesus says to them, My meat is that I should do the will of Him Who sent Me, and should finish
His work." John 4:34 (Berry).
Note the difference between the passages of quoted Scripture. The first separates God's Will from Him
("that" refers to an object); the second maintains the unity in Christ of doing God's Will proceeding from
His Mind ("Who" refers to a subject).
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law{19}, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil.{20} Matthew 5:17.
"Think not that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not to abolish, but to fulfil."
Matthew 5:17 (Berry).
The above two passages in Scripture are very important, for it is commonly taught that the Law
originated with Moses. But in point of fact it originated earlier, as we saw in Genesis 1:28, because Law
and Truth originate with the Lawgiver. Also early in Genesis, we read the following:
"Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." Genesis
3:21.
Note that Adam and Eve clothed themselves in fig leaves (Genesis 3:7) of deceit--self-righteousness--no shedding of blood and no remission of sin. Note also Revelation 13:8.
God's Law concerning salvation was in work even this early, the Spirit bearing witness,
"And almost all things are by the law purged{21} with blood; and without shedding of blood is no
remission." Hebrews 9:22.
...but His righteous Judgments must be executed, and so He removed them from His presence, the Paradise
of God; but not without having prepared the Way to and in the Truth and Life in the Christ to be revealed
in His time. See Revelation 22:14.
In Genesis we also read God ended His creating--but did not finish--His Creation. It also never states
that He ended execution of His Word in and over His Creation. In Truth, the testimony of the Spirit is,
"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:11.
And the Spirit also bears witness of the Christ;
"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in
His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass,
that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name{22}, I will require
it of him." Deuteronomy 18:18-19
"I will raise up to them a prophet of their brethren, like thee; and I will put My words in His mouth,
and He shall speak to them as I shall command Him. And whatever man shall not hearken to
whatsoever words that prophet shall speak in My name, I will take vengeance on him." Deuteronomy
18:18-19 (LXX).
"Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people."
Isaiah 55:4.
"Behold, I have made Him a testimony among the Gentiles, a prince and a commander to the
Gentiles." Isaiah 55:4 (LXX).
A leader and a commander testifies or bears witness of He Who sent Him to execute His will. The
Word of the Leader or Commander is the Word of He Who sent Him. The Word bears witness,
"Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said
unto you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge of you: but He that sent Me is
true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him.Then said Jesus unto
them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing
of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things." John 8:25-26, 28.
"And I know that His commandment is life everlasting [*corroborated by the Spirit through
Peter--see John 6:68]: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak."
John 12:50.
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I
speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." John 14:10.
"He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me
despiseth Him that sent Me." Luke 10:16.
"He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, Who hath also given unto us His Holy
Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 4:8.
Thus, the Word that the Leader or Commander will execute will not return void, but will be executed
with all diligence and efficiency for the glory of Him Who spoke the Word and sent our Leader.
Further, God's Word is not limited to just the planets, the animals, plants and other things of His
Creation. It includes man who is powerless to divorce himself from God's Creation, for the Word and the
Spirit witness that,
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7.
"And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." Deuteronomy 8:3.
"But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4.
And all souls are subject to the Word of God, the Spirit witnessing:
"Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul
that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18:4.
Realize now, that from the above testimony of the Spirit, that the modern teaching of Romans 13 is
apostasy, for the Scripture cannot be broken and must be interpreted with other Scripture in pari materia.
It may appear to conflict with the testimony of the Spirit speaking through Brother Peter; but this is
groundless, for the Spirit is Truth, and Truth is not inconsistent at any time. We digress for the moment
here, for much has been said about the following verse;
"Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as
supreme;" 1 Peter 2:13.
On its face alone, this verse appears to be saying to submit your spirit to every ordinance of the natural
man, who the Spirit witnesses receives not the things of the Spirit of God. See 1 Corinthians 2:14. But
such is not the case. Brother Peter was witness to the best example of executing what the Spirit wrote
using him for His instrument. This verse clearly concerns submitting the flesh to bear witness of the Spirit
of God in the bondman to put to shame the wicked, ungodly or foolish man. The accounts given by the
Spirit through Brothers Matthew and John testify to this very issue. See Matthew 26:50-57 and John 18:7-13. By the Christ executing His very precept, the Spirit in and through Brothers Peter and John executed
the same in Acts 4:1-21 and Acts 5:17-40, thus manifesting the Truth to us in this passage. The Spirit by,
in and through Brother Peter bears witness of the sole purpose of this verse for us, to wit;
"Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the
praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the
ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as
the servants of God." 1 Peter 2:14-16.
All this is laying the groundwork for what we will be declaring in this work: That the Sabbath-rest of
the bondman in the Christ is doing the Will of Him to Whom he is bonded, the Spirit witnessing;
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's." 1 Corinthians 6:20.
...and that he enters into that Sabbath-rest of His Master when he is faithful to Him, the Word bearing
Witness:
"His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant{23}: thou hast been
faithful{24} over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy{25} of
thy lord." Matthew 25:21.
Note that the bondman or servant must do one thing: walk meekly in Truth in fulness of faith before his
Master by Whom he is called out of the world and sent into the world to bear witness of his Master. For by
so doing, the battle is not with the servant but with the Master of the servant. This is seen again, the Spirit
and the Word bearing witness:
"keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His
commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou
mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself; That the LORD may
continue His word which He spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to
walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said
he) a man on the throne of Israel." 1 Kings 2:3-4.
"and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, to keep the commandments and
the ordinances and the judgments which are written in the law of Moses; that thou mayest understand
what thou shalt do in all things that I command thee: that the Lord may confirm His word which He
spoke, saying, If thy children shall take heed to their way to walk before Me in truth with all their
heart, I promise thee, saying, there shall not fail a man on the throne of Israel." 1 Kings 2:3-4 (LXX).
See also 3 John 1:4.
"He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me
despiseth Him that sent Me." Luke 10:16.
"He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us His holy
Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 4:8.
"So then he that sets aside, sets not man aside, but God, Who also gave His Holy Spirit to us." 1
Thessalonians 4:8 (Berry).
"though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge{26} all disobedience{27},
when your obedience{28} is fulfilled{29} [*executed or accomplished--the same word used in Matthew
5:17]." 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.
Christ Jesus attained to this joy of God our Father, having fulfilled or executed His obedience to our
Father, and it is to Him we look for our example the Spirit bearing witness;
"And being found in fashion{30} as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient{31} unto
death{32}, even the death of the cross." Philippians 2:8.
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:2.
We will now be looking more closely at the commandment in Genesis 1:28 and taking careful note of
how the Christ executed and accomplished each and every one of them in the works that He did. This is
truly following Him, not as the world blindly follows its leaders who bear witness of their father and have
not the testimonial witness of our Father; but, following Him Who has borne witness of God our Father in
Him, and God our Father having borne witness of Him through the Law and the Prophets confirmed
through His works. Further, it is here we will find our rest, not as the world finds its rest in decay. We
find our rest in Life,
"Take My yoke{33} upon you, and learn{34} of Me; [*see Psalm 119:5, 8, 12, 16, 23, 26, 33, 48, 64,
68, 71, 80, 83, 112, 117, 118, 124, 135, 145, 171] for I am meek{35} and lowly{36} in heart [*walking in
Truth before God our Father]: and ye shall find{37} rest{38} unto your souls{39}. For My yoke is
easy{40}, and My burden{41} [*by the singular obligation of living testamentary execution] is
light{42} [*meet or fit for you because it is written on your inward parts (soul)--see Jeremiah
31:33]." Matthew 11:29-30.
"Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for meek I am and lowly in heart; and ye shall find
rest to your souls. For My yoke easy and My burden light is." Matthew 11:29-30 (Berry).
Note that the rest is not a pleasure feast for the flesh; but a rest for our souls for we are not ourselves,
but His. See Ezekiel 18:4. Christ bears witness of this;
"Peace{43} [*rest by reconciliation to God our Father through Me] I leave with you, My peace [*rest
by reconciliation to God our Father through Me] I give unto you: not as the world giveth [*no human
morality attached or controlling for the world has only tribulation], give I unto you. Let not your heart
be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27.
As a consequence of this, we cease from our will and doing our labours to do His Will with the labour
with which He blesses us. We, His bondmen reconciled to Him, must follow the Leader and Commander
Whom God our Father declares us to follow, the Word witnessing that;
"The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord." Matthew 10:24.
"The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master." Luke
6:40.
The Spirit then bears also this witness that;
"Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." 1 Corinthians 7:23.
This is corroborated by the words of the Christ;
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24.
"No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Luke 16:13.
We can serve only one Master Whom God our Father has declared and Sealed, and we ourselves are not
our masters, nor the masters of any yoke-fellows or Brothers, the Word bearing witness that,
"But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." Matthew
23:8.
Because we love Him over the world we can do only His Will and not our own to remain in His love
and His Peace, the Word bearing witness;
"If ye love{44} Me, keep My commandments{45}.He that hath My commandments, and keepeth
them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him,
and will manifest{46} Myself to him." John 14:15 & 21.
"If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's
commandments, and abide in His love." John 15:10.
Note carefully the following: One, that the love the Christ speaks of is not love as the world
understands and uses the term; Two, that the commandments of Christ are of authoritative weight above
and beyond those moralisms of or from the world, the Spirit bearing witness;
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them;
for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so
that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God,
neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
Romans 1:18-21.
The natural man knows this and bears witness of this:
"No more immoral advice could be given in our time than the not infrequently uttered exhortation
of some popular preachers that morality would be a sham unless God exists. Naturalists, like any other
persons, might well grant that morality might be in some respects revised if the existence of God were
known. If God exists, his will is either in accord with what is right for men to do on grounds
independent of his existence [*man's "free will" is always right to those of Eve], or it is not in accord.
In the former case, knowledge of his existence would have no bearing on the content of moral
principles, but would add, at least for many people, certain religious sanctions. In the latter case,
knowledge of his existence would change the content of moral principles; but to what extent and in
what ways, it is useless to consider until both his existence and his will come to be known [*both
revealed in His creation, Scripture, and our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ]. Meanwhile,
men continually have to act, and they may act rightly or wrongly [*by whose fixed Righteous Law?],
from sound ideals or from spurious ideals. To tell them that life has no meaning without belief in the
existence of God, or to tell them that ideals are futile in a world in which God does not exist, is to
throw away moral certainties ["Certainties" may be a word that jars on the ears of many empiricists
and naturalists. If so, it may be said that it is here used to mean the conclusions that are so well
"tested" that they seem to be settled [*according to reasonable conjurations].] and moral probabilities
[*a crap shoot] in order to try by that absurd means to inveigle people into accepting a theology for
which there is no evidence [*but there is a mountain of history and evidence that human civilizations
crumble and fail when God is neglected or forgotten.] Morality, in its vital matters, is much more
certain and much more basic than any theological doctrine, true or false. [*How can a man know
himself without knowing God?] We may remain uncommitted on the theory of the existence of God,
without being in any way troubled about many important values and aims of human life." Sterling P.
Lamprecht, "Naturalism and Religion," in Naturalism and the Human Spirit (1944), pp. 30-37.
Our Father's commandments in Genesis 1:28 were never repealed or replaced by Moses, or any act that
Christ performed in fulfilling the Law;
"And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God
is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely
this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
Mark 12:29-31.
In fact, at every turn He fulfilled those five commands given in the one commandment. The Word and
Spirit bearing witness that;
"The thief{47} cometh not, but for to steal{48}, and to kill{49}, and to destroy{50): am come that
they might have life{51} [*see Psalm 23], and that they might have it more abundantly{52}." John
10:10.
"And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John 1:16-17.
It is in His Rest and Peace that the bondman of His finds his rest and his peace. If the Master is at
Peace, so are His obedient bondmen. Those who are disobedient bondmen, have not His Peace, for they
are chastised by Him to drive them through repentance to obedience, the Spirit witnessing that;
"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise
not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. [*Quoting Proverbs 3:11-12 from
the Septuagint] If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom
the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye
bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave
them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they
verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be
partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:
nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby." Hebrews 12:5-11.
Those that are not His bondman have not His Peace either here or hereafter, the Spirit bearing witness:
"Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes." Psalm 119:155.
"Salvation is far from sinners: for they have not searched out thine ordinances." Psalm 118
(119):155 (LXX).
"Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they
have not known my ways [*see Isaiah 55:9; Ezekiel 18:25, 29]. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not
enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in
departing from the living God.'But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that
had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter
into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."
Hebrews 3:10-12, 17-19.
"Wherefore I was indignant with that generation, and said, Always they err in heart; and they did
not know My ways [*see Isaiah 55:9; Ezekiel 18:25, 29]; so I swore in My wrath, If they shall enter
into My rest. Take heed brethren, lest perhaps shall be in any one of you a wicked heat of unbelief in
departing from living God.And with whom was He indignant with forty years? Not with those who
sinned, of whom the carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom swore he shall not enter in to His
rest except to those who disobeyed? And we see that they were not able to enter in on account of
unbelief." Hebrews 3:10-12, 17-19 (Berry).
"Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the
righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
Psalm 1:5-6.
"Therefore the ungodly shall not rise in judgment, nor sinners in the counsel of the just. For the
Lord knows the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Psalm 1:5-6 (LXX).
The lot of the wicked then is manifested to us in the following:
"Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans and fatherless, our
mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. Our necks
are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. We have given the [*right] hand [*of life and
power] to the Egyptians [*slave holders--note Revelation 13], and to the Assyrians [*commercial
men], to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their
iniquities. Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. We gat our
bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness." Lamentations 5:2-8.
For a more in depth study, there is currently a multipage pamphlet on this subject available on
request through the Christ's assembly at California.
Endnotes
{1} "3615. KALAH. A primitive root; to end, whether intransitive (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitived (to
complete, prepare, consume): -accomplish, cease, consume (away), determine, destroy (utterly), be (when were)
done, (be an) end (of), expire, (cause to) fail, faint, finish, fulfil, X fully, X have, leave (off), long, bring to pass,
wholly reap, make clean riddance, spend, quite take away, waste." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{2} "1288. BARAK. A primitive root; to kneel; by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration), and (vice-versa) man (as a benefit); also (by euphemism) to curse (God or the king, as treason):--X abundantly, X altogether,
X at all, blaspheme, bless, congratulate, curse, X greatly, X indeed, kneel (down), praise, salute, X still, thank."
Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{3} "6509. PARAH. A primitive root; to bear fruit (literally or figuratively):--bear, bring forth (fruit), (be, cause to
be, make) fruitful, grow, increase." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{4} "7235. RABAH. A primitive root; to increase (in whatever respect):--[bring in] abundance (X -antly), + archer
[by mistake for 7232], be in authority [*note Matthew 7:29 and Luke 4:32], bring up, X continue, enlarge, excel,
exceeding(-ly), be full of, (be, make) great(-er, -ly, X -ness), grow up, heap, increase, be long, (be, give, have, make,
use) many (a time), (any, be, give, give the, have) more (in number), (ask, be, be so, gather, over, take, yield) much
(greater, more), (make to) multiply, nourish, plenty(-eous), X process [of time], sore, store, thoroughly, very."
Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{5} "4390. MALE'. Or malae (Esth. 7:5) {maw-law'}; a primitive root, to fill or (intransitively) be full of, in a wide
application (literally and figuratively):--accomplish, confirm, + consecrate, be at an end, be expired, be fenced, fill,
fulfil [*note Matthew 5:17], (be, become, X draw, give in, go) full(-ly, -ly set, tale), [over-]flow, fulness, furnish,
gather (selves, together), presume, replenish, satisfy, set, space, take a [hand-]full, + have wholly." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{6} "3533. KABASH. A primitive root; to tread down; hence, negatively, to disregard; positively, to conquer,
subjugate, violate: - bring into bondage, force, keep under, subdue, bring into subjection." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee
Dictionary.
{7} "7287. RADAH. A primitive root; to tread down, i.e. subjugate; specifically, to crumble off:--(come to, make
to) have dominion, prevail against, reign, (bear, make to) rule,(-r, over), take." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{8} "1710. DAGAH. Feminine of 1709, and meaning the same:--fish." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{9} "3220. YAM From an unused root meaning to roar; a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water;
specifically (with the article), the Mediterranean Sea; sometimes a large river, or an artificial basin; locally, the west,
or (rarely) the south: -sea (X -faring man, [-shore]), south, west (-ern, side, -ward)." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee
Dictionary.
{10} "5775. `OWPH. From 5774; a bird (as covered with feathers, or rather as covering with wings), often
collectively:--bird, that flieth, flying, fowl." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldeeè Dictionary.
{11} "8064. SHAMAYIM. Dual of an unused singular shameh {shaw-meh'}; from an unused root meaning to be
lofty; the sky (as aloft; the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher
ether where the celestial bodies revolve):--air, X astrologer, heaven(-s)." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{12} "2416 CHAY. From 2421; alive; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially
in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively: -+ age, alive,
appetite, (wild) beast, company [*includes all dead soul-less legal entities], congregation, life(-time), live(-ly),
living (creature, thing), maintenance, + merry, multitude, + (be) old, quick, raw, running, springing, troop
[*military]." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{13} "7430. RAMAS. A primitive root; properly, to glide swiftly, i.e. to crawl or move with short steps; by analogy
to swarm:--creep, move." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{14} "772 'ARA`. (Aramaic) corresponding to 776; the earth; by implication (figuratively) low:--earth, interior."
Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{15} 1033. BROMA. From the base of 977; food (literally or figuratively), especially (ceremonially) articles allowed
or forbidden by the Jewish law:--meat, victuals." Strong's è Greek Dictionary.
"broma, whatever is eaten, solid food, as opposed to milk, etc." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 401.
{16} "2307. THELEMA. From the prolonged form of 2309; a determination (properly, the thing), i.e. (actively)
choice (specially, purpose, decree; abstractly, volition) or (passively) inclination:--desire, pleasure, will." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{17} "teleiow, to make perfect, consummate. (This word is used of inaugurating as king, to confirm the kingdom, and
so, of the consummation of the martyrs and glorification of the saints." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 287.
{18} "2041. ERGON. From a primary (but obsolete) ergo (to work); toil (as an effort or occupation); by implication,
an act:--deed, doing, labour, work." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{19} "3551. NOMOS. From a primary nemo (to parcel out, especially food or grazing to animals); law (through the
idea of prescriptive usage), genitive case (regulation), specifically (of Moses [including the volume]; also of the
Gospel), or figuratively (a principle):--law." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{20} "4137. PLEROO. From 4134; to make replete, i.e. (literally) to cram (a net), level up (a hollow), or
(figuratively) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse, influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or
coincide with a prediction), etc.:--accomplish, X after, (be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full
(come), fully preach, è perfect, supply." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"plhrow, to make full, fill; then, to fulfill, perform fully, complete, accomplish." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical
Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 311.
"plhrow, universally and absolutely, to fulfill, i.e. to cause God's will (made known in the Law) to be obeyed as it
should be, and God's promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfilment: Matthew 5:17." Thayer, Thayer's
Greek-English Lexicon (1896), p. 518."
{21} "251. KATHARIZO. From 2513; to cleanse (literally or figuratively):--(make) clean(-se), purge, purify."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{22} "8034. SHEM. A primitive word [perhaps rather from 7760 through the idea of definite and conspicuous
position; compare 8064]; an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority,
character: --+ base, [in-]fame[-ous], named (-d), renown, report." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{23} "1401. DOULOS. From 1210; a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary; frequently, therefore in a
qualified sense of subjection or subserviency):--bond(-man), servant." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{24} "4103. PISTOS. From 3982; objectively, trustworthy; subjectively, trustful:--believeè (-ing, -r), faithful(-ly),
sure, true." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{25} "5479. CHARA. From 5463; cheerfulness, i.e. calm delight:--gladness, X greatly, (X be exceeding) joy(-ful, -fully, -fulness, -ous)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"5479 JOY (Noun and Verb), JOYFULNESS, JOYFULLY, JOYOUS. Noun. Chara. 'joy, delight' (akin to chairo, 'to rejoice'), is found frequently in Matthew and Luke, and especially in John, once in Mark (4:16, RV, 'joy,'
KJV, 'gladness'); it is absent from 1 Cor. (though the verb is used three times), but is frequent in 2 Cor., where the
noun is used five times (for 7:4, RV, see Note below), and the verb eight times, suggestive of the apostle's relief in
comparison with the circumstances of the 1st Epistle; in Col. 1:11, KJV, 'joyfulness,' RV, 'joy.' The word is sometimes
used, by metonymy, of the occasion or cause of 'joy,' Luke 2:10 (lit., 'I announce to you a great joy'); in 2 Cor. 1:15, in
some mss., for charis, 'benefit'; Phil. 4:1, where the readers are called the apostle's 'joy'; so 1 Thess. 2:19, 20; Heb.
12:2, of the object of Christ's 'joy'; Jas. 1:2, where it is connected with falling into trials; perhaps also in Matt. 25:21,
23, where some regard it as signifying, concretely, the circumstances attending cooperation in the authority of the
Lord. See also the Note following No. 3. Note: In Heb. 12:11, 'joyous' represents the phrase meta, 'with,' followed by
chara, lit., 'with joy.' So in 10:34, 'joyfully'; in 2 Cor. 7:4 the noun is used with the middle voice of huperperisseuo, 'to
abound more exceedingly,' and translated '(I overflow) with joy,' RV (KJV, 'I am exceeding joyful')." W. E. Vine,
Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
{26} "1556. EKDIKEO. From 1558; to vindicate, retaliate, punish:--a (re-)venge." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{27} "3876. PARAKOE. From 3878; inattention, i.e. (by implication) disobedience:--disobedience." Strong's Greek
Dictionary. Inattention is the opposite of diligence in 2 Timothy 2:15.
{28} "5218. HUPAKOE. From 5219; attentive hearkening, i.e. (by implication) compliance or
submission:--obedience, (make) obedient, obey(-ing)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{29} "4137. PLEROO. From 4134; to make replete, i.e. (literally) to cram (a net), level up (a hollow), or
(figuratively) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse, influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or
coincide with a prediction), etc.:--accomplish, X after, (be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full
(come), fully preach, perfect, supply." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"plhrow, to make full, fill; then, to fulfill, perform fully, complete, accomplish." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical
Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 311.
"plhrow, universally and absolutely, to fulfill, i.e. to cause God's will (made known in the Law) to be obeyed as it
should be, and God's promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfilment: Matthew 5:17." Thayer, Thayer's
Greek-English Lexicon (1896), p. 518.
{30} "4976. SCHEMA. From the alternate of 2192; a figure (as a mode or circumstance), i.e. (by implication)
external condition:--fashion." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"schma, outward figure, shape, mien." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and
Greek New Testament (1908), p. 276.
Fashion (schmati). That which is purely outward and appeals to the senses. The form of a servant is concerned with the fact that the manifestation as a servant corresponded with the real fact that Christ came as the servant of
mankind. In the phrase in the likeness of men the thought is still linked with that of His essential nature which
rendered possible a likeness to men, but not an absolute identity with men. In being found in fashion as a man the
thought is confined to the outward guise as it appealed to the sense of mankind. Likeness states the fact of real resemblance to men in mode of existence: fashion defines the outward mode and form. As a man. Not being found a man not what He was recognized to be, but as a man, keeping up the idea of semblance expressed in likeness." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. III, pp. 475-476.
{31} "5255. HUPEKOOS. From 5219; attentively listening, i.e. (by implication) submissive:--obedient." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{32} Became obedient unto death (genomenoj--mecri). Became, compare Revelation 1:18. Unto. The Rev. very
judiciously inserts even; for the A.V. is open to the interpretation that Christ rendered obedience to death. Unto
is up to the point of. Christ's obedience to God was rendered to the extent of laying down His life." M. R. Vincent,
Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. III, p. 476.
{33} "2218. YOKE, YOKED. Noun. Zugos. 'A yoke,' serving to couple two things together, is used (1)
metaphorically, (a) of submission to authority, Matt. 11:29, 30, of Christ's 'yoke,' not simply imparted by Him but
shared with Him; (b) of bondage, Acts 15:10 and Gal. 5:1, of bondage to the Law as a supposed means of salvation;
(c) of bondservice to masters, 1 Tim. 6:1; (2) to denote 'a balance,' Rev. 6:5. See BALANCE." W. E. Vine, Vine's
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. [*The yoke binds three ways: One, the bondman to Christ; Two, the
bondman to God our Father through Christ; Three, God our Father to Christ. And only in this manner can it ever be
said that the Spirit of God our Father bears witness with our spirit, for if one is against Christ, Christ and the Father
being one (see 1 John 5:7) are against the one opposing Christ].
{34} "3129. MANTHANO. Prolongation from a primary verb, another form of which, matheo, is used as an
alternate in certain tenses; to learn (in any way):--learn, understand." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"3129. LEARN, LEARNED (be). Verb. Manthano. Denotes (a) 'to learn' (akin to mathetes, 'a disciple'), 'to increase one's knowledge,' or 'be increased in knowledge,' frequently 'to learn by inquiry, or observation,' e.g., Matt. 9:13;
11:29; 24:32; Mark 13:28; John 7:15; Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 4:6; 14:35; Phil. 4:9; 2 Tim. 3:14; Rev. 14:3; said of
'learning' Christ, Eph. 4:20, not simply the doctrine of Christ, but Christ Himself, a process not merely of getting to
know the Christ but of so applying the knowledge as to walk differently from the rest of the Gentiles; (b) 'to
ascertain,' Acts 23:27, RV, 'learned' (KJV, 'understood'); è Gal. 3:2, 'This only would I learn from you,' perhaps with a
tinge of irony in the enquiry, the answer to which would settle the question of the validity of the new Judaistic gospel
they were receiving; (c) 'to learn by use and practice, to acquire the habit of, be accustomed to,' e.g., Phil. 4:11; 1 Tim.
5:4, 13; Titus 3:14; Heb. 5:8. See UNDERSTAND." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words.
"manqanw, to learn, intellectually from others, or from study and observation, to be informed, to understand." E.
W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 447.
{35} "PRAUS or PRAOS denotes gentle, mild, meek; for its significance see the corresponding noun, below, B.
Christ uses it of His own disposition, Matt. 11:29; He gives it in the third of His Beatitudes, 5:5; it is said of Him as
the King Messiah, 21:5, from Zech. 9:9; it is an adornment of the Christian profession, 1 Pet. 3:4; Cp. epios, gentle,
of a soothing disposition, 1 Thess. 2:7; 2 Tim. 2:24." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words (1940), vol. III, pp. 55-56.
"4239. PRAUS; meek (Matt. 5:5; 21:5; 1 Pet. 3:4) or, praos (4235), meek, lowly (Matt. 11:29). See prautes
(4240), meekness.
"4240. PRAUTES; meekness, expressed not in man's outward behavior only nor in his relations to his fellow man
or his mere natural disposition, but expressed rather as an inwrought grace of the soul, first and chiefly directed
toward God (James 1:21). That attitude of spirit in which we accept God's dealings with us as good and do not
dispute or resist. Prautes, according to Aristotle, is the middle course in being angry, standing between two extremes,
getting angry without reason (orgulotes), and not getting angry at all (aorgesia). Therefore, prautes is getting angry at
the right time, in the right measure, and for the right reason [*cause--note the Christ's anger in banishing the
moneychangers from the temple]. Prautes is not readily expressed in Eng. since the term 'meekness' suggests
weakness, but prautes is a condition of mind and heart which demonstrates gentleness not in weakness but power. It
is a virtue born in strength of character." Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study New Testament, King James Version
(1994), p. 932.
{36} "5011. TAPEINOS. Of uncertain derivation; depressed, i.e. (figuratively) humiliated (in circumstances or
disposition):--base, cast down, humble, of low degree (estate), lowly." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"5011. HUMBLE. (Adjective and Verb). Adjective. Tapeinos. Primarily signifies 'low-lying.' It is used always in a good sense in the NT, metaphorically, to denote (a) 'of è low degree, brought low,' Luke 1:52; Rom. 12:16, KJV,
'(men) of low estate,' RV, '(things that are) lowly' (i.e., of low degree); 2 Cor. 7:6, KJV, 'cast down,' RV, 'lowly'; the
preceding context shows that this occurrence belongs to (a); Jas. 1:9, 'of low degree'; (b) humble in spirit, Matt. 11:29;
2 Cor. 10:1, RV, 'lowly,' KJV 'base'; Jas. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5. See BASE, CAST, Note (7), DEGREE (Note), LOWLY." W.
E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
{37} "2147. HEURISKO. A prolonged form of a primary heuro {hyoo'-ro}; which (together with another cognate
form heureo {hyoo-reh'-o}) is used for it in all the tenses except the present and imperfect; to find (literally or
figuratively):--find, get, obtain, perceive, see." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"euriskw, to find, as without seeking, meet with, light upon. Also, to find as by searching, hence, find out,
discover." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p.
286.
{38} "373. ANAPANO. From 303 and 3973; (reflexively) to repose (literally or figuratively [be exempt], remain);
by implication, to refresh:--take ease, refresh, (give, take) rest." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"anapanw, Here, mid., to rest one's self, i.e. to take rest, enjoy rest, the idea of previous toil or suffering being
included." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p.
642.
{39} PSUCHE, see Etymologicum Anglicanum on page ten. We should note here that the word at Ezekiel 18:4 in the
Septuagint is psuchai the plural form of psuche, the word used by Brother Paul in Romans 13:1. This is reading
Scripture in pari materia (same subject-matter) which tells us that the modern interpretation or opinion of the natural
man wearing the title pastor (wolf in sheep's clothing) on this particular verse in Scripture (Romans 13:1) is apostasy.
The Spirit directing Brother Paul's discourse in Romans 13 squares fully with the Spirit directing Brother Ezekiel.
There is no inconsistency between the two, for the Spirit is one.
{40} "5543. CHRESTOS. From 5530; employed, i.e. (by implication) useful (in manner or morals):--better, easy,
good(-ness), gracious, kind." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"5543. EASY, EASIER, EASILY. Chrestos. Primarily signifies 'fit for use, able to be used' (akin to chraomai, 'to
use'), hence, 'good, virtuous, mild, pleasant' (in contrast to what is hard, harsh, sharp, bitter). It is said (a) of the
character of God as 'kind, gracious,' Luke 6:35; 1 Pet. 2:3; 'good,' Rom. 2:4, where the neuter of the adjective is used
as a noun, 'the goodness' (cf. the corresponding noun chrestotes, 'goodness,' in the same verse); of the yoke of Christ,
Matt. 11:30, 'easy' (a è suitable rendering would be 'kindly'); (c) of believers, Eph. 4:32; (d) of things, as wine, Luke
5:39, RV, 'good,' for KJV, 'better' (cf. Jer. 24:3, 5, of figs); (e) ethically, of manners, 1 Cor. 15:33. See GOOD,
GRACIOUS, KIND." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
{41} "5413. PHORTION. Diminutive of 5414; an invoice (as part of freight), i.e. (figuratively) a task or
service:--burden." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"fortion, is a specific load; the freight or lading that has to be borne." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 120.
{42} "1645. ELAPHROS. Probably akin to 1643 and the base of 1640; light, i.e. easy:--light." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
"1645. LIGHT, LIGHTEN (as to weight). Adjective. Elaphros. 'light in weight, easy to bear,' is used of the
burden imparted by Christ, Matt. 11:30; of affliction, 2 Cor. 4:17." W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New
Testament Words.
{43} "1515. EIRENE. Probably from a primary verb eiro (to join); peace (literally or figuratively); by implication,
prosperity:--one, peace, quietness, rest, + set at one again [*reconciled to God in Christ through Christ]." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
"1515. PEACE, PEACEABLE, PEACEABLY. Noun. Eirene. 'occurs in each of the books of the NT, save 1
John and save in Acts 7:26['(at) one again'] it is translated 'peace' in the RV. It describes (f) the harmonized
relationships between God and man, accomplished through the Glad Tidings in and of Christ, Acts 10:36; Eph.
2:17; (g) the sense of rest and contentment consequent thereon, Matt. 10:13; Mark 5:34; Luke 1:79; 2:29; John
14:27; Rom. 1:7; 3:17; 8:6; in certain passages this idea is not distinguishable from the last, Rom. 5:1." W. E. Vine,
Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
{44} "25. AGAPAO. Perhaps from agan (much) [or compare 5689]; to love (in a social or moral sense):--(be-)love(-ed). Compare 5368." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{45} "1785. ENTOLE. From 1781; injunction, i.e. an authoritative prescription:--commandment, precept." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{46} "1718. EMPHANIZO. From 1717; to exhibit (in person) or disclose (by words): --appear, declare (plainly),
inform, (will) manifest, shew, signify." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{47} "2812. KLEPTES. From 2813; a stealer (literally or figuratively):--thief. Compare 3027." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
"klepthj, a thief, one who steals by fraud or in secret." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon of the English and
Greek New Testament (1908), p. 787. [*Larceny is theft done in deceit or secret].
{48} "2813. KLEPTO. A primary verb; to filch:--steal." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"kleptw, to steal, take by stealth, (not to rob by violence.)" E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon of the English and
Greek New Testament (1908), p. 735.
{49} "2380. THUO. A primary verb; properly, to rush (breathe hard, blow, smoke), i.e. (by implication) to sacrifice
(properly, by fire, but genitive case); by extension to immolate (slaughter for any purpose):--kill, (do) sacrifice, slay."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"quw, to sacrifice, to kill and offer in sacrifice, or to kill animals for a feast." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon of the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 481.
{50} "2673. KATARGEO. From 2596 and 691; to be (render) entirely idle (useless), literally or
figuratively:--abolish, cease, cumber, deliver, destroy, do away, become (make) of no (none, without) effect, fail,
loose, bring (come) to nought, put away (down), vanish away, make void." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"katargew, to render inactive, idle; especially of land to spoil, make unclean, void, abolish, make without effect."
E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon of the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 220.
{51} "2222. ZOE. From 2198; life (literally or figuratively):--life(-time). Compare 5590." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{52} "4053. PERISSOS. From 4012 (in the sense of beyond); superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality);
by implication, excessive; adverbially (with 1537) violently; neuter (as noun) preeminence:--exceeding abundantly
above, more abundantly, advantage, exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, vehement[-ly]."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
Romans 13:
Bow the Knee to and Confess Whom?
Part Two
written solely by the Grace of God in and through
our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
by John Joseph and Randy Lee
(continued from Issue the Forty-sixth)
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are found at the end of this article)
"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."
Romans 11:36.
Therefore the Law applies to them and to us in accordance with the Word of God;
"He is the LORD our God: His judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered His covenant for
ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant He made with
Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an
everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:
When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. When they went from
one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong:
yea, He reproved kings for their sakes; Saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no
harm." Psalm 105:7-15. See also 2 Chronicles 16:14-22.
"Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in
reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space; And said unto
them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. For before
these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four
hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and
brought to nought. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away
much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And
now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of
men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to
fight against God. And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them,
they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed
from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His
name." Acts 5:34-40.
Note the time for rejoicing, singing and celebration--after having engaged the enemy not before or
never engaging the enemy!!! This the condition of today's modern masquerade.
"Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession." Psalm 2:8.
This has all to do with Who and What the Christ is. In the Glad Tidings given by the Spirit to Brother
John we read He is the Word and is God:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God." John 1:1-2.
Note here that the Word is not theology, theory, conjecture, opinion, or any reasonably conjured
synonym. Did Brother John write as directed by the Spirit or not?
The word for "Word" in the Greek is "Logos." And it is in and of the Logos of God where we find the
Authority and Power in and of Christ. We must understand the Logos of God in Christ to righteously
discern the Truth from a lie and to Lawfully execute His Will, for His Word is the Sword for the use of His
Elect, and He is the Lord of the Sword Who fights the war. It is in the Logos{1} of God where all
Authority or Warrant in Law is found:
"To Me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their
calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.If I whet My glittering
sword, and Mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to Mine enemies, and will
reward them that hate Me." Deuteronomy 32:35, 41. See also John 5:22 & 27.
"But the LORD is the true God, He is the Living God, and an everlasting King: at His wrath the
earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation. Thus shall ye say unto
them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth,
and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by His Power, He hath established the world by
His Wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion. When He uttereth His voice, there
is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the
earth; He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures." Jeremiah
10:10-13.
"Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once
cause them to know, I will cause them to know Mine hand and My might; and they shall know that
My name is The LORD." Jeremiah 16:20-21.
Christ gives us His Testimony of the Logos of God in Him, and how we, His bondmen, have been
delegated that same authority by and through Him:
"Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen
the Father [*he that hath seen His assembly Lawfully execute Law in Him hath seen Him and the
Father--see Matthew 10:40]; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" John 14:8-9.
"And the glory which thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one:
I in them, and thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that
thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved Me." John 17:22-23.
"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I
you." John 20:21.
For Christ is the express Image of God, a Perfect Reflection of Who He is, and so are His bondmen and
His Lawful assembly His very Image and Likeness, a Perfect Reflection of Who He is, in the world (see
John 17:9-11, 21; Philippians 2:7); and not the image and likeness of the world and his theology (see John
15:19), for they are not of the world and are not conformed to his image. See Romans 8:29, 12:2, 13:14;
John 17:6, 8, 14, 16, 19, 22, 23, & 26; 1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 4:4; Ephesians 2:10,
4:24; Colossians 3:10.
And just as Christ evidenced Oneness with and in the Father by confessing the Father to the world, so
His bondmen (see Philippians 2:7 for Who is our example) show their oneness with and in Him by
confessing Christ, the Logos of God, to the world, not with mere lip service, but in the Life and Power of
His Word:
"Whosoever therefore shall confess{2} Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father
which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father
which is in heaven." Matthew 10:32-33.
They possess and execute His Word and not the word, a.k.a. theology, of the world:
"For I have given unto them the words [*note Deuteronomy 18:18] which thou gavest Me [*never
was heard a theological, ecclesiastical, or religious word]; and they have received them, and have
known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that thou didst send Me.I have
given them Thy word [*not theology, theories, sciolism, conjecture, opinion, hypothesis, rationale,
supposition, ad nauseam]; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world." John 17:8, 14.
The world does not know the bondmen in Christ by any name because they, the bondmen assembled by
Him, and their Life are hid from the world;
"For ye are dead [*to the world], and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3.
"Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, Thine enemies
make a tumult: and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against
Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones." Psalm 83:1-3.
And this is even known and acknowledged by the natural man{3}.
Thus, a continuous uninterruptable flowing river of Law and Righteousness having its Source, Cause
and Origin in and from God, flows through Christ, into each of His bondmen in and of His House. See
Proverbs 1:23; Joel 2:28-29. This is to know who you are and to Whom you belong. The Logos of God is
the Seal of the Holy Spirit impressed upon a humble heart able to receive it. Those who bear this Logos
are hid from the world, for it is only Christ in them that the world sees and not them, because they seek
not their own will, but the Will of Him Who sanctified them from, and sent them into, the world. This is
the difference between the invisible Lawful assembly and the visible Assembly. This is also the difference
between the "christian"{4} (illusion) and the bondman in Christ (Truth). Christ is visible to the world;
the Assembly and those in and of Him are invisible:
"The right church then is not the whole multitude of the people whether good or bad, that join
together in an outward form or way of worship.And therefore I shall not speak of this church. But
the church I shall speak of is the true church of the New Testament, which, I say, is not any outward or
visible society, gathered together into the consent or use of outward things, forms, ceremonies,
worship, as the churches of men are; neither is it known by seeing or feeling, or the help of any
outward sense, as the society of mercers or drapers, or the like; but it is a spiritual and invisible
fellowship, gathered together in the unity of faith, hope, and love, and so into the unity of the Son, and
of the Father by the Spirit; wherefore it is wholly hid from carnal eyes, neither hath the world any
knowledge or judgment of it.
"This true Church is the communion of Saints, which is the communion believers have with one
another; not in the things of the world, nor in the things of man, but in the things of God. For as
believers have their union in the Son, and in the Father, so in them also they have their communion;
and the communion they have with one another in God cannot be in their own things, but in God's
things, even in His light, life, righteousness, wisdom, truth, love, power, peace, joy, &c. This is the
true communion of Saints, and this communion of Saints is the true Church of God." William Dell,
"The Way of True Peace and Unity" (1649), cited in Woodhouse, Puritanism and Liberty (1965), pp
303-304.
Being washed in, sanctified (separated) from the world and protected by His Word;
"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." John 15:3.
"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame
kindle upon thee." Isaiah 43:2.
God's restriction of the acts of the heathen against His Inheritance in His Assembly applies to each and
every bondman of His:
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's." Romans 6:20.
"Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." 1 Corinthians 7:23.
"Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be
confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto{5} [*with, by or through theology, creeds,
confessions, articles of faith, religion, codes, rules, and regulations]." Galatians 3:15.
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but
as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Galatians 3:16{6}.
"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3:26-29.
"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he
which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." 1 Corinthians 1:20-22.
And He has delegated to His Assembly and those serving Him and whom He has anointed with His
Spirit the same Authority that flows through Him to His Assembly from the Father:
"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions [*things that move upon the
earth], and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19.
Note Genesis 1:28.
"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Matthew 16:19.
"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the
ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth
power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint
and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall
walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31.
Note who kept, and now tries to keep, the key of knowledge of God and His Kingdom away from those
entering in:
"Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge [*of God]: ye entered not in
yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered." Luke 11:52.
The very ones who profit by having the heresy that the artifice of the State--the dead--is the "higher
power" preached from the pulpits of death. How is the thing that is dead the "higher power?" The Word
and Spirit bear witness;
"For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces." Hosea 8:6.
"He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err." Mark
12:27.
The natural man admits that the State is dead and is not the higher power;
"'They [corporations] cannot commit trespass nor be outlawed nor excommunicate, for they have no
souls.'--10 Rep. 32 b." Heard, Curiosities of the Law Reporters (1876), p. 67.
"There is an idiom in truth which falsehood never can imitate. [Lord Chancellor Napier in Low v.
Holmes, Drury Cases in Chanc. Temp. Napier, 323.]." Heard, Curiosities of the Law Reporters (1876),
p. 20.
Verily, they are the usurpers of the Authority and Power Christ delegated to His Lawful Assembly, the
heretics told to us in Scripture who attempt to join the living to the dead:
"airetikos (hairetikos), eterokidaskalo (heterodidaskalo) and airesis (hairesis), if they have not yet
become, are rapidly becoming Christian terms.
"Heretical. In secular Greek the meaning of the rare adjective, airetikos (hairetikos), was 'capable
of choosing', 'careful to avoid'. It is found in Pseudo-Plato, and also in Hierocles.
"Titus should reject, after two warnings, 'a man that is an heretick' (Titus 3:10), and the context
explains that such a teacher transgrresses the church's norm of doctrine because of his 'foolish
questions', his debates, his reversion to Judaism [*socialism with its morals and opinions of men] with
its emphasis on 'genealogies.' The adjective has this meauing quite consistently in ecclesiastical Greek
and is notably applied to Arius, the heresiarch.
"To teach heresy. The second word, the verb eterokidaskalo (heterodidaskalo), is a coinage from
existing words, literally 'to teach otherwise,' that is, contrary to the church. It is exclusively Christian
(Bauer). Timothy's task in Ephesus was to forbid the dissemination of heresy--to prevent doctrine that
was at variance with the church's wholesome accepted tradition as St. Paul had delivered it to him,
including, in one specific instance, the directions about servants (1 Timothy 1:3, 6:3). St. Ignatius
wrote to St. Polycarp, 'Let not those who seem to be plausible and yet teach heresy eterokidaskalo
(heterodidaskalo) dismay you. Stand firm, like a smitten anvil.' (I Polycarp 3:1).
"Heresy. The third word, airesis (hairesis), had in secular Greek indicated a philosophical
tendency, a school or party. Nowhere perhaps in the N.T. does airesis (hairesis) have the later
meaning of 'heresy', that is, teaching which is opposed to the doctrine of the church as a whole.
Nevertheless airesis (hairesis) stands listed among the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:20) and
elsewhere St. Paul uses it in a bad sense, (1 Corinthians 11:9), recognizing the incompatibility of
airesis (hairesis) with church (ekklhsian). 'There must be heresies among you,' if only to show up
those who are 'approved' the dokimoi (dokimoi). It is despising the church of God, this harboring of
heresies, for they harm the church. Moreover, heresies are 'damnable' [*mistranslation--see George
Ricker Berry's Interlinear Greek-English New Testament] and deny the Lord (2 Peter 2:1). Heresy in
the N.T. seems to be 'obstinate persistence in self-opinionated views contrary to revealed Truth.'
"Because airesij (hairesis) appears without explanation in the midst of a catalogue of vices, Dibelius
assumed that the pejorative sense was not first created by St. Paul. Such a sense is not suggested by the
LXX [*Septuagint], where it means 'free will' and 'choice', but if the pejorative sense was not coined
by St. Paul it may well have been devised by other elements within the church at a very early time. In 2
Peter 2:1 airesis (hairesis) means false opinion, not mere schism (Spitta, von Soden, Weiss, Mayor,
Bigg). Bigg observed that as early as 1 Corinthians 11:18f airesis (hairesis) and schisma were the
same were the same thing, and possibly St. Paul was quoting a saying of our Lord (p. 272). 'Now
airesis (hairesis) is changing its meaning with the change of circumstances.' No longer mere schism, it
is hardening into the 'denial of the fundamental articles of the Christian creed.' It is a denial of the
Lord and a bringing upon oneself swift destruction (2 Peter 2:1). For St. Ignatius, airesis (hairesis) is
'a rank weed' to be avoided; it is 'poison' mixed with Jesus Christ, a deadly drug (I. Trall. 6:1), and he
praises the Ephesians because no 'heresy' has a home among them--that is, 'aught else save
concerning Jesus Christ in Truth' (I. Eph. 6:2). 'Heresy' is the equivalent of 'evil teaching' (I. Eph. 9).
Simon of Samaria was the first heresiarch, according to St. Justin (Apol. 26)." Nigel Turner, Christian
Words (1981), pp. 211-212.
"A century and a half ago Edwin Burke said, Civilization is a contract between the great dead, the
living and the unborn--A contract between the great dead, the living and the unborn. I want to talk to
you very briefly this afternoon, my brethren, if I may, about the thing we are trying to do here in
America. You and I wanted something to do and engaged in the business of trying law suits for clients,
in order that we may make a living, but back of and bigger than it all, you and I-whether or not we
know it and whether or not we are wholly conscious of it-are engaged in the most extraordinary thing
the world has ever seen. We are helping to build, maintain, and hand to future ages the contract
between the great dead, the living and the unborn....And with the band of American lawyers
consecrating themselves to that great patriotic duty, we will hand to the ages untarnished the great
contract between the dead, the living and the unborn." F. F. Faville, former Justice of the Supreme
Court of Iowa, The Great Contract (1935), 15 Nebraska Law Bulletin 88.
Still believe you have, are, or can be, a lawyer and at the same time a bondman in Christ?
Those that join themselves to the heresy that the dead is or are the higher power are revealed in
Scripture, the Spirit bearing witness;
"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands [*see Hosea 8:6]. They have mouths, but
they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but
they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak
they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in
them." Psalm 115:4-8.
"The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands [*see Hosea 8:6]. They have
mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; neither
is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that
trusteth in them." Psalm 135:15-18.
But by and through Him all His bondmen have overcome and conquered the prince of this world, the
world, and its theologies, religions, sciences, dogma, opinions, speculations, assumptions, ad nauseam,
the Spirit bearing witness;
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Romans 8:37.
"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians
15:57.
....and have Right and Authority through Him to the Tree of Life in the midst of the paradise of God to
judge the nations of the world with Him:
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have
tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long;
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans
8:35-39.
"I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you,
young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye
have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the
beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in
you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." 1 John 2:13-14.
"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than
he that is in the world." 1 John 4:4.
"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son
of God?" 1 John 5:4.
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Revelation 2:7.
"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the
nations:" Revelation 2:26.
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am
set down with my Father in his throne." Revelation 3:21.
"he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2:15-16.
"These [*theologicians, lawyers, scientists, legislators, ad nauseam] shall make war with the Lamb,
and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with
him are called, and chosen, and faithful." Revelation 17:14.
"He that overcometh [*by the Sword of the Word] shall inherit all things; and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son [*not those who partake of the things of the dead, a.k.a. theology, religion,
arts, sciences]." Revelation 21:7.
"Blessed are they that do His commandments [*not the rituals of philosophy, theology, religion, arts
or sciences--outward pretence or show--see Luke 17:20], that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:14.
For a more indepth study, there is currently a multipage pamphlet on this subject available on
request through the Christ's assembly at California.
Endnotes
{1} "The Meaning of Logos in John
"As Logos has the double meaning of thought and speech, so Christ is related to God as the Word to the Idea, the
word being not merely a name for the Idea, but the Idea itself expressed. The thought is the inward word (Dr. Schaff
compares the Hebrew expression 'I speak in my heart' for 'I think').
"The Logos of John is the real, personal God (1:1), the Word, who was originally before the creation with God,
and was God, one in essence and nature, yet personally distinct (1:1, 18); the revealer and interpreter of the hidden
being of God; the reflection and visible image of God, and the organ of all His manifestations to the world. Compare
Heb. 1:3. He made all things, proceeding personally from God for the accomplishment of the redemption of the world.
Compare Philip. 2:6." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies, p. 383.
{2} "32. Confess me (omologhsei en emoi). A peculiar but very significant expression. Lit., 'Confess in me.' The idea is that of confessing Christ out of a state of oneness with him. 'Abide in me, and being in me, confess me.' It implies
identification of the confessor with the confessed, and thus takes confession out of the category of mere formal or
verbal acknowledgment. [*"I just love Jesus"] 'Not every one that saith unto me 'Lord! Lord!' shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven.' The true confessor of Christ is one whose faith rests in Him. Observe that this gives great force
to the corresponding clause, in which Christ places himself in a similar relation with those whom he confesses. "I will
confess in him." It shall be as if I spoke abiding in him. 'I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one,
and that the world may know that thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved Me" (John 17:23)." M. R.
Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. 1, p. 84. See also Matthew 12:34 and Luke 6:45.
{3} "Omnis persona est homo, sed non vicissim --Every person is a man, but not every man a person [*no legal
personality, note, mark, or symbol]." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2152. [*Bondmen or slaves have
no legal personality outside or separate from their Master].
"Quicquid acquiritur servo acquiritur domino --Whatever is acquired by the servant is acquired for the master."
Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1957 & 1968), p. 1415.
"A slave and all his earnings belong to his master or owner, and he could not, therefore, make contracts which
were obligatory upon himself or the person contracted with." Bedford, Trustee v. Williams, Adm'r, (1867), 5
Coldw.(Tenn.) 202. [See also University v. Cambreling, 6 Yer.(Tenn.) 84; Fletcher v. The State, 6 Hum.(Tenn.) 256;
Jenkins v. Brown, 6 Hum.(Tenn.) 299; Hite v. The State, 9 Yer.(Tenn.), 207.] [*Bondmen of Christ are slaves of
Jesus Christ, and therefore are bound by the same Law, His Law].
"SLAVE. A person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has no freedom of action, but whose
person and services are wholly under the control of another. Webster; Anderson v. Salant, 38 R.I. 463, 96 A. 425,
428, L.R.A.1916D, 651.
"One who is under the power of a master, and who belongs to him; so that the master may sell and dispose of his
person, of his industry, and of his labor, without his being able to do any thing, but what must belong to his master.
Civ.Code La. 1838, art. 35." Black's Law Dictionary 4th ed., 1957 & 1968), p. 1559. See all of Brother Paul's, James,
and John's epistles and note the words "bondservant," "bondman" --never did they call themselves a "christian."
"1401. DOULOS. From 1210; a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary; frequently, therefore in a
qualified sense of subjection or subserviency):--bond(-man), servant." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"1401. BONDMAN, BONDMAID. Doulos. From deo, 'to bind,' 'a slave,' originally the lowest term in the scale
of servitude, came also to mean 'one who gives himself up to the will of another,' e.g., 1 Cor. 7:23; Rom. 6:17, 20, and
became the most common and general word for 'servant,' as in Matt. 8:9, without any idea of bondage. In calling
himself, however, a 'bondslave of Jesus Christ,' e.g., Rom. 1:1, the apostle Paul intimates (1) that he had been
formerly a 'bondslave' of Satan, and (2) that, having been bought by Christ, he was now a willing slave, bound to his
new Master. See SERVANT. The feminine, doule, signifies 'a handmaid,' Luke 1:38, 48; Acts 2:18." W. E. Vine,
Vine's Expository Dict. of New Testament Words.
{4} "This name (christian) occurs but three times in the New Testament, and is never used by Christians of
themselves, only as spoken by or coming from those without the church. The general names by which the early
Christians called themselves were 'brethren,' 'disciples,' 'believers,'and 'saints.' The presumption is that the name
'christian' was originated by the heathen." Thomas W. Doane, Bible Myths (1882), p. 567, n. 3. [*Note that although
Doane is a pagan, he recognizes the difference in venue, jurisdiction and language].
"Cristianoj, Christian (a word formal not after the Greek but after the Roman manner, denoting attachment to or
adherents to Christ. Only occurs as used by others of them, not by Christians of themselves. Tacitus (A.D. 96)
says (Annals 15, 44), 'The vulgar call them Christians. The author or origin of this denomination, Christus, had, in
the reign of Tiberius been executed by the procurator, Pontius Pilate,')." E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance of the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 152.
{5} "Addeth thereto (ejpidiatassetai). N.T. Adds new specifications or conditions to the original covenant, which is
contrary to law. Comp. ejpidiaqhkh a second will or codicil, Joseph B. J. 2:2, 3; Ant. 17:9, 4. The doctrine of the
Judaisers, while virtually annulling the promise, was apparently only the imposing of new conditions. In either case it
was a violation of the covenant." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. 4, p. 697.
{6} "16. The course of thought is as follows. The main point is that the promises to Abraham continue to hold for
Christian believers (verse 17). It might be objected that the law made these promises void. After stating that a human
covenant is not invalidated or added to by any one, he would argue from this analogy that a covenant of God is not
annulled by the law which came afterwards. But before reaching this point, he must call attention to the fact that the
promises were given, not to Abraham only, but to his descendants. Hence it follows that the covenant was not a mere
temporary contract, made to last only up to the time of the law. Even a man's covenant remains uncancelled and
without additions. Similarly, God's covenant-promises to Abraham remain valid; and this is made certain by the fact
that the promises were given not only to Abraham but to his seed; and since the singular, seed, is used, and not seeds,
it is evident that Christ is meant." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol 4, p. 698.
The Beginning of the End
by Ethelbert William Bullinger
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are found at the end of this article)
The following is a reprint of the Appendix entitled "The Beginning of the End" from the book "Ten
Sermons on the Second Advent," written and published by E. W. Bullinger in 1892.
When you read this short dissertation you will see that specific signs of the times are telling us we are
further along, and why, than what the modern "born yesterday" (i.e. raptured but first captured) pasteurs (cleansers of the Word of God) claim and preach from their pull-pits.
Considering the occurrences over the last 100+ years since this was written, we see from the following
that Bullinger's lack of "theological training" (he never attended a seminary) freed him from the chains
of "tradition" to expound the Word of God, in Truth, as the Spirit of God directed him.
The Beginning of the End
"He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is
red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites,
ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" Matt. xvi. 2, 3.
These are the words of the Lord Jesus, when the Pharisees and Sadducees asked for "a sign from
heaven." He declared (v. 4) that no such sign should be given; and that nothing should be added to the
signs of the prophetic word.
There were then Jews, who did discern these signs of the Word, and were looking and waiting for His
first coming.
At Christ's second coming there shall be signs from Heaven, great and terrible, but we have already and
now the signs of the "sure word of Prophecy." We desire in this Appendix to show from these signs of the
Scriptures, that we are fast approaching the time when there "shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in
Heaven."
The Second Advent of Christ
will consist of a series of events of which the visible and personal appearing of Christ will be the great
central point. His first coming consisted of many events, and extended over a period of about thirty-three
years. A Jew read of this coming in Micah v. 2., "thou Bethlehem Ephratahout of thee SHALL HE
COME forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel:" and he also read of this same coming in Zech. ix. 9,
"Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion; shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King COMETH unto
thee," &C. But there was nothing in these prophecies to tell him that there were to be more than 30 years
between these two events, which were both Christ's coming. So likewise in the prophecies of Christ's
second coming, we read, "I will come again and receive you unto myself" (John xiv. 3); and, "The Lord
my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee." There is nothing to tell us how long an interval will
elapse between the reception of the Saints by Christ, and their coming with Him in glory, though some
interval is clearly implied. And so when we read that the saints are to be caught up "to meet the Lord in
the air" (I Thess. iv. 17), there is nothing to tell us how long they shall be with Him there, before they
return with him in glory; whether it is to be momentary or prolonged. We learn, however, from many
Scriptures that at least seven years will run their course, for this period is spoken of several times in its
various parts of 1,260 days, 42 months, and 3 years, &C. Whether it will be extended beyond this we are
not told. All the events that are recorded in the book of "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" are connected
with, and form part of that Revelation, and go to make up the Second Advent; while the personal
appearing of Christ will of course form a definite act in that series of events, as definite as the lightning's
flash.
If this consideration be borne in mind it will solve many difficulties, and remove many perplexities. So
with;
The Return of the Jews.
This will not be accomplished in a day or a week. But as we have seen in Sermon No. viii., there will be
a preliminary, or partial, or natural gathering; and there will be also a "second" complete and miraculous
gathering. The return from Babylon occupied more than forty years. The re-building of the street and the
wall, was to be in "the strait of times" (Dan. ix. 25, margin), t.e. the smaller interval of the two named,
viz., in seven weeks, or seven sevens of years, i.e. forty nine years. The dispersion of the Jews likewise was
not completed until the destruction of Jerusalem, till forty years after Christ foretold it in Luke xxi. So that
we might expect the gathering of the Jews to their City and land to be accomplished gradually in the
course of years, and by apparently natural causes: when the Anti-christ shall be revealed in his time, and
first by flatteries and deceit, then by violence and persecution shall lead up to his own destruction by the
glory of Christ's coming with His Saints-the saints having been previously caught up to meet Him in the
air.
In a work by the Rev. Dr. S. H. Kellog, of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., entitled, "The Jews: or Prediction and
fulfillment,"{1} there is a mass of evidence, and a collection of facts showing how in the past history of
the Jews the most minute predictions have been literally fulfilled, and pointing the most powerful
argument to a like literal fulfillment of prophecies in the present, and in the near future. We must refer
those who wish to go more deeply into the subject to Dr. Kellog's book, while we give a brief resume of his
facts and figures in the following notes.
In showing that predictions as to the future of Israel are already beginning to receive their fulfillment, it
is not necessary to assert or to assume that God has begun to deal with the Jews in the proper sense of the
term. God has not now two distinct peoples on the earth under two distinct covenants; any more than He
had in the early years of the Church when the Jews were being dispersed. In the Acts of the Apostles we
see how "the Church of God" was being formed, and side by side with that, "the Jew" was being scattered
and dispersed, and his Temple destroyed according to the Word of God. All through this dispensation
predictions have been receiving their fulfillment. Prophecies are in the same way being now fulfilled in
our own day, and this is fast leading up to the time when God will again put forth His hand to deal with
His people Israel and remove His church to be "for ever with the LORD."
In order to appreciate the facts which Dr. Kelly marshals as to this present fulfillment it is necessary to
read carefully such prophecies of the past 1800 years as Deut. xxviii. 25, 63, 64, and think of the millions
of Jews destroyed in the siege of Jerusalem, and in the revolts of A.D. 116 and 135, &C So also Deut.
xxviii. 29 43, 48, all have been literally fulfilled and v. 58, 59 where God said He would make their
plagues "wonderful" and "of long continuance," and that the stranger shall get up above thee very high
and thou shalt come down very low" (v. 43) For 2000 years God has watched over them to destroy them
and now if we see predictions being fulfilled under our eyes it is because God is watching over them to
accomplish His word, although He may not yet have actually commenced to deal with them as with His
people again.
As to the past fulfillment of Deut. xxviii. we have to remember that under Pagan Rome their lot was
harsh, and under Papal Rome it was harder still Constantine began the oppression, and Justinian
continued it by expressly excluding the Jews from his code. Ever since then the Jews have been the objects
of unreasoning and pitiless hatred; the victims of repeated confiscations, violence, torture, massacres, and
banishments. From the time of the Crusades the Jews have been legally plundered, and brief respites have
been dearly paid for. In 1290 they were expelled from England, in 1395 from France, and in 1492 from
Spain. The Reformation only mitigated their sufferings, for the Protestant Princes subjected the Jews to
live in separate quarters; to wear a distinctive dress; to submit to exceptional legislation: while they were
the subjects of systematic indignity, insult and oppression.
Hos. iii. 4, Lev. xxvi. 31, Is. lxi. 4, xxxii. 13-15, Mic. iii. 12, have all been literally fulfilled, and so has
Lu. xxi. 24, which says that "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled." Attempts have been made to falsify this prediction. In A.D. 362, Julian the Apostate
tried it in vain. In 1799 Napoleon I. tried to settle the Jews there, but he failed. Pagans have held
Jerusalem, Christians have held it, Mahommedans have held it, but the Jews never since that word went
forth; and will not, "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."
Now look at seven great predictions, which stand in direct contrast to all those we have just named. A
contrast so great, that nothing else could explain the facts which we see transpiring before our eyes, or
reveal the causes of the marvellous transformation in the condition of the Jews during this present century.
I. The Breaking of the Gentile Yoke.
Jer. xxx. 8. "It shall come to pass in that day{2}, saith the Lord of Hosts, that I will break his (i.e. the
Gentile's) yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves
of him." When we think of the 1800 years and more during which that heavy yoke has been borne and the
bonds with which the Jews have been bound, is it too much to see in recent events the beginning of the
end of the oppression of Ages ? Look at the following entirely new facts in the light of that oppression.
1. In 1783 Joseph II. of Austria first abolished the body-tax, removed vexatious restrictions, and
opened the schools to the Jews.
2. In 1784 Louis XVI. of France abolished the body-tax.
3. In 1787 Frederick William of Prussia repealed some of the laws which Frederick the Great had
made.
4. In 1788 Louis XVI. appointed a commission to re-model the laws respecting the Jews. The
Revolution stopped this work, but it included the Jews in its Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
5. In 1805 Alexander I. of Russia revoked the Edict of Exclusion and millions returned there.
6. In 1806 they were made citizens of Italy and Westphalia (as they had been some years before of
Holland and Belgium), and were formally recognized by Napoleon I, as a religious body.
7. In 1809, Baden; and 1813, Prussia and Denmark gave the Jews civil liberty.
8. In England, successive Acts in 1830, 1833, and 1835 removed certain restrictions, but it was not till
1858 that the Jews had full equality.
9. In 1870 Bismarck completed the unification of Germany, and made the Jews free all through the
Empire.
10. In 1867 Turkey gave the Jews, for the first time, the right to possess land in Palestine.
11. In 1870 with the fall of the temporal power of the Pope, freedom came in Italy.
12. In 1878 The Berlin Congress made the freedom of the Jews in Roumania a special condition.
Is it too much to conclude that in all these things, Jer. xxx. 7, has begun to be fulfilled.
II. Restoration Gradual.
Ezek. xxxvii. 7-14. The restoration is not to be the one work of a moment, but it is marked by
successive stages. (I) "a noise," (2) "a shaking," (3) "the bones came together, bone to his bone," (4) "the
sinews and flesh came up upon them," (5) "the skin covered them above," (6) "the breath came into them
and they lived," and (7) they "stood up upon their feet."
Now as the Restoration of Israel cannot be the work of a moment or a day, or of a mere brief period, Is
it too much to ask whether we may not call these present movements, the "noise" and the "shaking," even
if not the coming together of bone to bone, for;
1. In 1806 Napoleon summoned the great Sanhedrim for the first time in Europe, and
2. In 1860, "The Alliance Israelite Universelle" was formed in Paris.
3. And in later years many other organizations have been formed which may surely be regarded as
similar signs.
III. Transfer of Wealth.
Isa. lx. 6-10. "Surely the Isles shall wait for thee, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from
far, their silver and their gold with them" &c. (v. 6).
So also Isa. xxxiii. I. Speaking to the Gentiles God says "Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not
spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee; when thou shalt cease to
spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal
treacherously with thee." And as to when this shall take place, we learn from v. 10.
Now we cannot properly appreciate the following facts unless we continually bear in mind the condition
of the Jews during the last eighteen centuries. There is no lack of evidence to show the gradual
accumulation of capital in Jewish hands.
1. The Rothschilds' loans amount to four millions sterling to England, one to Austria, one to Prussia,
two and a half to France, One to Russia, and a quarter to Brazil, Ten millions altogether.
2. The Jews are the money lenders of Europe.
3. In 1869 in Russia 73% of the immovable property had passed into Jewish hands, and a quarter of
the Railway property was in the hands of the Russian Railway King, Samuel Solomonowitz de
Poliakoff.
4. The official returns of Prussia, 1861, showed that 38,000 Jews out of 71,000 were engaged in
commerce, while only 1 Jew in 586 was a day labourer!
5. In 1871 out of 642 Bankers in Prussia all but 92 were Jews. Thus while the Jews were only 2% of
the population, 85% of the Bankers were Jews.
6. In 1871 in Berlin, the Jews were only 5% of the population, But the employers of labour were 39%
of the Gentiles, and 71% of the Jews. While the Merchants were 55% of the Jews and only 12% of the
Gentiles.
7. In Vienna, the Bourse is almost entirely in Jewish hands.
8. In Lower Austria, out of 59,122 returned as Merchants, 30,012 were Jews.
9. In Algiers in 1881 nearly the whole trade was in the hands of the Jews.
IV. A Name and a Praise.
Zeph. iii. 19, 20. "Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth,
and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every, land where they have
been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again even in the time that I gather you: for I will make
you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes,
saith the Lord." Of course the fulness of this prophecy will be realised only in Millenial days. But whether
there be any connection between the present facts and the prophecy, the facts exist, and look very much as
though the first drops of that mighty shower of blessing were already beginning to fall upon the Jews.
Fame and a name and a praise do not necessarily follow on emancipation. It has not followed in the
case of negroes in the United States; and in the West Indies; nor in the case of the serfs in Russia.
One of the effects of the emancipation of the Jews was their admission to schools and colleges, and we
note the following results:
1. In Berlin recently out of 3,609 students 1,302 were Jews.
2. In the High Schools of Vienna lately out of 2,488 students 1,039 were Jews.
3. In Lower Austria recently out of 2,140 advocates 1,024 were Jews.
4. In Germany the Jews are one in 75 of the population but in the German Universities the Jews are
one in 10.
5. In Hungary (1878-9) the Jews were 4% of the population, while in many of the Schools they are
75%. In the whole kingdom 18% of the students at the Schools are Jews; 36% at the colleges and 25%
of the Faculty of Law!
6. We cannot count the names of Jews who are renowned in the Literary, Educational and Musical
worlds.
In Berlin out of 23 newspapers there are only 2 not under Jewish control. At a gathering of Editors
lately in Dresden 29 Out of 43 were Jews. And in Austria at the last census, out of 370 persons who
returned themselves as Authors 225 were Jews (nearly two-thirds).
7. In England out of 20,000 clergy of the Church of England, 200 are Jews--and thus one in 100 Jews
are Clergymen as against one Gentile in 1,300!
8. In the political world, we cannot enumerate the many names of renown, in all countries. While the
number of seats held in various parliaments is out of all proportion compared with the smallness of
their numbers to the whole population.
V. Increase in Numbers.
Isa. lx. 22. "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will
hasten it in His time," so also Isa. xxvii. 6: Jer. xxxl. 27 and Ezek. xxxvi, 37. These of course refer to
Millenial days: but, when we remember how terribly the number of Jews decreased during seventeen
centuries, and contrast the wonderful increase in recent years, it seems almost miraculous, and certainly
leads us to reflect whether these prophecies are not beginning to be fulfilled. For 1800 years God has done
as He said He would:--"watch over them to destroy and afflict." If this sudden and marvellous change has
taken place, has He not ceased to "watch" for this purpose, and begun to "hasten" their increase?
1. In 1708 the Jewish population was estimated at 3,000,000. To day they are not less than 12,000,000.
2. In Germany, as to Births, the proportion of Jews to Gentiles is as 5-5 to 3.8. And as to longevity, at
Frankfort (1847-1858) one quarter of the Gentile population died before reaching seven years of age,
while one-quarter of all the Jews not till 28 years of age. One-half of all Gentiles born, died before
reaching 36 years, while one-half of all Jews born survived to 53 years of age. Three-quarters of all
Gentiles born died before 60 years of age, but Jews not before 71.
3. In Prussia (1816-1867) the whole population increased 91%, but the Jews 112%.
4. In Austria-Galicia (1820-1870) the population increased 25%, but the Jews 150%.
VI. Gentile Decline.
In Isa. xxxiii. I; Ii. 22, 23 and Jer. xxx. 10, 11, we read that when God thus takes the cup of trembling
out of the hand of the Jew, He will put it into the hand of the Gentile: He will also make a full end of the
nations whither the Jews have been driven.
What is the principle that has led to Jewish emancipation? "Equality." What is the principle animating
all the present forces of disintegration? Equality! This is the very canker which to day is beginning to eat
into the vitals of the Gentile nations. The wedge which when driven home will split up and break up the
nations of the world. And
VII. The Jew is to Bring This About
as the Instrument, see Micah v.8, 9 and Zech. xii. 6.
1. The Jews are the fathers of modern Rationalism in the person of Spinoza and Strauss (see
Archdeacon Lee on Inspiration, pp.463-6).
2. As to Socialism, Communism, Internationalism, Nihilism, and Anarchy, we read that in 1848, the
Jews, Carl Marx and Leibknecht organized the International Working Men's Association. Marx drew
up the laws of the present movement in 1864.
3. In Germany, a Jew, Ferdinand Lasalle, in 1863, founded the German Socialist party. And the Text
books of Socialism are Marx's Critique of Capital, and Lasalle's System of Acquired rights (i.e. that
capital is robbery)!
4. The Russian Nihilists have among them ten times as many Jews as of all others put together.{3}
In conclusion, All these things are new. What we now see, has not been seen before, or till now! It is
the beginning of the end! All these facts seem to tell us that many Scriptures are beginning to be fulfilled,
and that before long God will remove His heavenly people and deal again, first in judgment, and
afterwards in mercy with His earthly people Israel.
Restoration can be the only result of all these combined movements. If the Jews are to repossess
Palestine, Turkey must lose it. In 1822 Turkey lost Greece. In our day she has lost Roumania, Servia,
Bulgaria, Cyprus, then more of Greece, then Tunis, while Egypt, Armenia and Arabia are on the move.
The Eastern Question
is the one question with which all the newspapers of Europe are filled, all minds are occupied, and to
which all eyes are turned. All the nations of Europe are arming themselves for its settlement, but it will
never be settled till God takes it up, and how near may be the time when He will do so we, cannot tell. But
as we know that summer is near when we see the buds and the leaves, though we know not the day, so we
may tell that the time cannot be far distant when GOD will take up the Eastern Question, and with it the
Jewish Question{4} and settle both for ever.
Many circumstances point to it.
1. The equal rights of men call for it
2. The principle of restoring nationalities. The cry of Germany for the Germans, Italy for the Italians,
Greece for the Greek, &c., &c., demanding Palestine for the Jews.
3. Jewish movements point to it. The Jewish Chronicle (Dec. 17, 1880), says "We are inundated with
books on Palestine, and the air is thick with schemes for colonizing the Holy Land once more.
4. "The Palestine Exploration Fund" has turned the eyes and hearts and thoughts, yea and the feet of
thousands of God's servants towards the stones and dust of Emmanuel's Land, and caused the words of Ps.
cii. 13, 14 to have a new and most solemn and important significance:--
"Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof."
As a supplement to the above, the following is from Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary (1984) on the topic
of "Judaizers," showing to all that have eyes to see and ears to hear that the kosmos has been given over
to them as an instrument of His threshing floor, i.e., the separation of the wheat from the chaff, the living
from the dead, the Children of Light from the children of darkness, those of the kosmos from those in the
aion.
Judaizers
"Those Gentiles who followed certain religious practices and customs of Judaism. The Greek verb
Ioudaizo "to judaize" (RSV "live like Jews"; NIV "follow Jewish customs") occurs in the NT only in Gal.
2:14. In this passage Paul relates how he opposed Peter at Antioch because Peter refused to eat with the
Gentiles in the church there. By practicing social separation Peter was in effect saying to these Gentile
Christians, "Unless you conform to Jewish dietary laws and a Jewish life style we cannot maintain
fellowship with you." By his withdrawal Peter was compelling these Gentiles to "judaize."
Christ, however, had already instituted a change in regard to OT regulations on clean and unclean
foods (Mark 7:1-23; cf. Lev. 11; Deut. 14). As "apostle to the Gentiles" (Rom. 11:13), Paul was against
imposing a strict Jewish dietary code on non-Jews. Such might imply that the belief of Gentile Christians
was defective in comparison with that of Jewish Christians; something else (i.e., conformity to Jewish
custom) must be added to faith in Christ (cf. Acts 15:1, 5). Paul thus was opposed to judaizing. It had the
potential to distort salvation by grace alone, divide the body, and be an argument for developing two
separate assemblies: one for Jews and one for Gentiles.
The only OT reference to judaizing is found in Esth. 8:17, where the Hebrew yehudi ("Jew") is used to
form the Hithpael verb mityahadim, "to become a Jew" or "profess oneself a Jew." The verb refers to those
Gentiles in Persia who adopted the Jewish way of life out of fear for Esther's decree, which permitted the
Jews to avenge themselves on their enemies (Esth. 8:13). The LXX uses Ioudaizo here and adds that they
became circumcised. This normally would imply conversion. In this circumstance, however, they may
only have pretended to be Jews in order to save their own lives by identification with the Jewish cause."
M. R. WILSON, Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary (1984), page 590.
Bibliography. F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians; EJ, X, 398-402; F. V. Filson, IDB, II, 1005-6; E.
F. Harrison, ISBE (rev.), II, 1150; C. Moore, Esther, 81-82; W. Gutbrod, TDNT, III, 383.
Endnotes
{1} London, James Nisbet & Co.
{2} i.e. the day of Jacob's trouble, v. 6.
{3} See The Nineteenth Century for January, 1881. "The dawn of the Revolutionary Epoch."
{4} See an important article in The Century Magazine for February, 1883, entitled "The Jew and the Eastern
Question."
The Spiritually Dead
and the tools of their trade
Part Two
written solely by the Grace of God in and through our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
by John Joseph and Randy Lee
(Footnotes ( {1} ) a found at the end of this article)
This work is not the work of merely one bondman, but is the work of many who have laboured for our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ. Especially are we in debt to our Sovereign Lord and
Saviour Jesus, the Christ, Who showed us Lawful execution and Life, and Who first called our Brothers in
multiplying Himself that He would be manifest to us in our day. Without His Calling them from the
beginning, we would have no one's labours in which to enter.
Do not take any thing said or written here for granted; but search for the Truth being always directed by
the Spirit of God and lean not to your own or our understanding. This is the only True Way of knowing
any thing of God in the Christ. As has been said,
"strangely enough, people are so much in the habit of supposing that what is printed or said, or
even thought, is true, that they incline to believe that some of the most transcendental and far-away
fiction, if it be only beautiful or in some manner attractive [*emotionally appealing], is the most real
and veracious, 'true in a higher sense,' 'truer than history,' and so on."{1}
One word of caution: there are numerous admissions of the natural man in this work that are verifiable
and you are encouraged to seek the sources quoted herein and others for verification of what is said
herein. They are not quoted for any other cause than to show that the natural man has made record of his
admissions for all to examine. In this work we will not be using the pagan's word "christian"{2} to describe
any bondman in Christ, for the two are mutually exclusive. The moniker "christian" is opposed to the
Christ and His bondmen as evidenced by the information in footnote {2} and information available
elsewhere to all diligent bondmen.
In the past we have been chided by some for "taking Scripture out of context," "mis-handling the
Word," somehow being "overly Spiritual," declared "novices of the Word," that "others must come to us
for the Truth," and other such convoluted and misleading words by those whom we will answer herein.
We know other Brothers have had the same words leveled against them. This paper is for their use against
those whose ignorance was made manifest by their baseless accusations and innuendos against the
Brethren.
In researching this paper, we were led by our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, to point out
some of the more glaring points of history, especially as they relate to the subjects above, so that we can
show the time is far past what we have been led to believe by the moderns. Those who have chided us may
not be aware of the sandy ground upon which they stand, and so we are not angry with them, but with the
spirit that holds the blindness over their eyes. Without apologies to any one, especially to those who have
called to chide us; and, others who have chided us in the past using such terms, is this article written by
the Spirit of God, for the Spirit bears witness,
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that,
whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good
conversation in Christ." 1 Pet. 3:15-16.
"but sanctify{3} the Lord God in your hearts, and always ready for a defence{4} to everyone{5}
that asks you an account concerning the hope in you, with meekness{6} and fear{7}; having a good
conscience, that whereas they may speak against you as evildoers, they may be ashamed who
calumniate{8}your good manner of life{9} in Christ." 1 Peter 3:15-16 (Berry).
"Preach{10} the word; be instant{11} in season, out of season; reprove{12}, rebuke{13}, exhort{14} with
all longsuffering and doctrine{15}." 2 Timothy 4:2.
And,
"we wrestle not against flesh and blood{16}, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers{17} of the darkness{18} of this world{19}, against spiritual wickedness{20} in high places."
Ephesians 6:12.
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war{21} after the flesh{22}: (For the weapons{23} of our
warfare{24} are not carnal{25}, but mighty{26} through God to the pulling down{27} of strong holds{28};)
Casting down imaginations{29} [*the images, devices or ways of the heathen], and every{30} high
thing that exalteth itself{32} against{33} the knowledge{34} of God, [*see also Luke 16:15] and bringing
into captivity{35} every thought{36} [*device or way of the heathen--hermeneutics, theology,
morphosis] to the obedience{37} of Christ{38}; And having in a readiness{39} to revenge all
disobedience{40}, when your obedience{41} is fulfilled." 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.
In order to sanctify the Lord in our hearts, we must already know Him by His Revelation of Himself to
us--and not by the ways of the world, the Word bearing witness, to wit;
"No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up
at the last day." John 6:44.
One does not come to Christ but by revelation--altar calls not with standing. By or through philosophy,
hermeneutics, theology, seminary morphosis it is impossible to know Him.
Knowing this then, the battle is not: One, ours but our Lord's; Two, against those who hold such views,
but against the spirit creating the images of the precepts they hold. We are His bondmen to bear witness of
the Truth to those who may be blinded by the world's{42} images of this age. We will now begin.
The Spirit speaking through Brother David witnesses that hermeneutics{43}, theology{44}, or other
seminary morphosis{45} are not required to live, understand and execute the Word of God, to wit;
"Out of the mouth of babes{46} and sucklings{47} hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." Psalm 8:2.
"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise, because of thine enemies,
that thou mightest put down the enemy and avenger." Psalm 8:2 (LXX) (see also Matthew
21:16).{48}
And this is confirmed in the Glad Tidings recorded by the Spirit writing through Brothers Mark and
John, to wit;
"And He went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow Him. And
when the sabbath day was come, He began to teach{49} in the synagogue{50}: and many hearing Him
were astonished, saying, From whence{51} hath this man these things? and what wisdom{52} is this
which is given unto Him, that even such mighty works{53} are wrought by His hands?" Mark 6:1-2.
"And sabbath being come He began in the synagogue to teach; and many hearing were astonished,
saying, Whence to this these things? and what the wisdom that has been given to Him, that even such
works of power by His hands are done?" Mark 6:2 (Berry).
"And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters{54}, having never learned{55}?"
John 7:15.
In other words, where are we told the Christ, the first born among many brethren, went to learn from,
or be morphosed by, the pietatus simulators{56} of His day?
"and the Jews were wondering saying, How knows this one letters, not having learned?" John
7:15 (Berry).
What do babes and sucklings know of philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, and seminary morphosis?
What degree from men do they have? Bear witness if you can. Therefore, the charge that any or all must
come to us for the Truth is rebutted by the Spirit of Truth declared through both Brothers David and John,
and above.
Further, we are told to receive the Word, not the ways of men, for it is the Word that delivers because it
is a True Witness; not the philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, or seminary morphosis of men, the Spirit
and Word bearing witness, to wit;
"A true witness [*see John 14:6; Revelation 3:14] delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh
lies." Proverbs 14:25.
Where is the witness of philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, or seminary morphosis delivering souls?
and whose witness is it? Note that delivering souls is not soul-winning--a pagan military ritual.
"A faithful witness [*see John 14:6; Revelation 3:14] shall deliver a soul from evil: but a deceitful
man kindles falsehoods." Proverbs 14:25 (LXX).
"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." John 17:17.
Note also John 16:13; Ephesians 1:13; 5:9; 1 John 5:6. Therefore, only the Word of God in Christ Jesus
saves souls.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
Me." John 14:6.
"Wherefore lay apart all filthiness{57} and superfluity{58} of naughtiness{59} and receive{60}
with meekness{61} the engrafted{62} word [*the Christ--the Life], which is able{63} to save your
souls [*see Romans 1:16]." James 1:21. [*See also Jeremiah 31:33 and Ezekiel 37].
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust{64}, avoiding profane and vain
babblings{65}, and oppositions of science{66} falsely so called{67}: Which some professing have
erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen." 1 Timothy 6:20-21.
You are in error when using any philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, or seminary morphosis, because
they are not knowledge of or from God, but of or from men.
Note nothing was said of receiving philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, or seminary morphosis. The
Spirit expressly excluded them. The cause for this exclusion is told to us by the same Spirit, to wit;
"For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as
many as have not seen my face in the flesh; That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together
in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In Whom are hid all the treasures{68} of wisdom
and knowledge{69} [*outside Him there is no wisdom or knowledge--reason is not knowledge]. And
this I say, lest any man should beguile{70} you with enticing words{71} [*philosophy, sophistry,
hermeneutics, theology, ad nauseam]. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the
spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have
therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord [*not the vanities of men], so walk ye in Him [*to overcome
the world by the Word of Testimony--see Revelation 12:11]]: Rooted and built up in Him [*not
philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, seminary morphosis], and stablished in the faith [*not philosophy,
hermeneutics, theology, seminary morphosis], as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Beware lest any man spoil{72} you through philosophy{73} and vain{74} deceit{75}, after the tradition{76} of men
[*see also Matthew 15:7-9; Mark 7:6-9], after the rudiments of the world [*see Galatians 4:3-7--leads to
bondage, or Egypt--see also Deuteronomy 17:16], and not after Christ. For in Him [*not the vanities of men]
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 2:1-9.
To be continued next month.
Endnotes
{1} G. T. Knight, in The Praise of Hypocrisy: An Essay in Casuistry (1906), p. 15. (The complete essay is
available by downloading TPRSOFHP.ZIP from the Library.)
{2} "CHRISTIAN. A follower of the religion of Christ. [*Note carefully the Christ never started a religion.] It is probable that the name Christian, like that of Nazarenes and Galileans, was given to the disciples of our Lord in
reproach or contempt. What confirms this opinion is, that the people of Antioch in Syria, Acts 11:26, where they were
first called Christians observed by Zosimus, Procopius, and Zonaras, to have been remarkable for their scurrilous
jesting. Some have indeed thought that this name was given by the disciples to themselves; others, that it was
imposed on them by divine authority; in either of which cases we should have met with it in the subsequent history of
the Acts, and in the Apostolic Epistles, all of è which were written some years after; whereas it is found but in two
more places in the New Testament, Acts 26:28, where a Jew is the speaker, and in 1 Peter 4:16, where reference
appears to be made to the name as imposed them by their enemies. The word used, Acts 11:26, signifies simply to be
called or named, and when Doddridge and a few others take to imply a divine appointment, they disregard the usus
loquendi [established acceptation of the term] which gives no support to that opinion. The words Tacitus, when
speaking of the Christians persecuted by Nero, are remarkable, 'vulgus Christianos appellabat,' 'the vulgar call them
Christians.' Epiphanius says, that they were called Jesseans, either from Jesse, the father of David, or, which is much
more probable, from the name of Jesus, whose disciples they were. They were denominated Christians, A. D. 42 or
43; and though the name was first given reproachfully, they gloried in it, as expressing their adherence to Christ, and
they soon generally accepted it." Richard Watson, Watson's Bible Dictionary (1832), p. 233.
"Cristianoj, Christian (a word formal not after the Greek but after the Roman manner, denoting attachment to or
adherents to Christ. Only occurs as used by others of them, not by Christians of themselves. Tacitus (A.D. 96) says
(Annals 15, 44), 'The vulgar call them Christians. The author or origin of this denomination, Christus, had, in the
reign of Tiberius been executed by the procurator, Pontius Pilate,')." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon
and Concordance of the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 152.
"This name (christian) occurs but three times in the New Testament, and is never used by Christians of
themselves, only as spoken by or coming from those without the church. The general names by which the early
Christians called themselves were 'brethren,' 'disciples,' 'believers,' and 'saints.' The presumption is that the name
'christian' was originated by the heathen." Thomas W. Doane, Bible Myths (1882), p. 567, n. 3.
"Egypt, which you commended to me, my dearest Servianus, I have found to be wholly fickle and inconsistent, and
continually wafted about by every breath of fame. The worshipers of SERAPIS (here) are called Christians, and those
who are devoted to the god Serapis (I find), call themselves Bishops of Christ." The Emperor Adrian to Servianus,
written A. D. 134.
"SERAPIS. In Egyptian, Greek, and Roman mythology, a god of the lower world." Webster's New Twentieth Century
Dictionary, Unabridged (1969), p. 1655.
{3} "37. HAGIAZO. From 40; to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to
venerate:--hallow, be holy, sanctify." Strong's Greek Dictionary. [*See also "37. SANCTIFICATION, SANCTIFY in
Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, "Kadash" in Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old
Testament (1871), p. 175, "6942. QADASH" in Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary, and "6942 Niphal, Pual, and Hiphil in William Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Dict. of the Old Testament (1847), p. 725].
{4} "627. APOLOGIA. From the same as 626; a plea ('apology'):--answer (for self), clearing of self, defence."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"apologia, defence, speech of defence." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the
English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 212.
{5} "3956. PAS. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole:--all
(manner of, means), alway(-s), any (one), X daily, + ever, every (one, way), as many as, + no(-thing), X thoroughly,
whatsoever, whole, whosoever." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
paj, all; of one only, all of him; of one in a number, any; of several, every; in plural, all." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 38.
{6} "4240. PRAUTES. From 4239; mildness, i.e. (by implication) humility:--meekness." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{7} "5401. PHOBOS. From a primary phebomai (to be put in fear); alarm or fright:--be afraid, + exceedingly, fear,
terror." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"fobos, fear, terror, fright, dismay, hence, flight. It denotes the outward manifestation rather thean the sensation of
fear. In a bad sense, it is the effect of the spirit of cowardice; in a good sense the fear of God." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 279.
{8} "1908. EPEREAZO. From a comparative of 1909 and (probably) areia (threats); to insult, slander:--use
despitefully, falsely accuse." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"ephreazw, to injure, harrass, insult; as it would seem for the pleasure of insulting." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A
Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 26.
{9} "391. ANASTROPHE. From 390; behavior:--conversation." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"anastrofe, a turning about; life, as made up of actions; mode of life, conduct, deportment." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 186.
{10} "2784. KERUSSO. Of uncertain affinity; to herald (as a public crier), especially divine truth (the
gospel):--preacher(-er), proclaim, publish." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"khrussw, to be a herald, discharge an herald's office, to make proclamation, proclaim, announce publicly, publish
announcements." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New
Testament (1908), p. 596.
{11} "2186. EPHISTEMI. From 1909 and 2476; to stand upon, i.e. be present (in various applications, friendly or
otherwise, usually literal);--assault, come (in, to, unto, upon), be at hand (instant), present, stand (before, by, over)."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"efisthmi, to place upon or over. In New Testament only intransitive, to stand upon, stand by or near, take one's
position." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament
(1908), p. 414.
{12} "1651. ELEGCHO. Of uncertain affinity; to confute, admonish:--convict, convince, tell a fault, rebuke,
reprove." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{13} "2008. EPITIMAO. From 1909 and 5091; to tax upon, i.e. censure or admonish; by implication, forbid:
--(straitly) charge, rebuke." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{14} "3870. PARAKALEO. From 3844 and 2564; to call near, i.e. invite, invoke (by imploration, hortation or
consolation):--beseech, call for, (be of good) comfort, desire, (give) exhort(-ation), intreat, pray." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{15} "1322. DIDACHE. From 1321; instruction (the act or the matter):--doctrine, hath been taught." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
"With all long-suffering and doctrine (en pash makroqumia). Pash|, every possible exhibition of long, suffering,
etc. For doctrine Rend. teaching. The combination is Suggestive. Long-suffering is to be maintained against the
temptations to anger presented by the obstinacy and perverseness of certain hearers; and such are to be met, not
merely with rebuke, but also with sound and reasonable instruction in the truth. So Calvin: "Those who are strong
only in fervor and sharpness, but are not fortified with solid doctrine, weary themselves in their vigorous efforts,
make a great noise, rave,... make no headway because they build without foundation." Men will not be won to the
truth by scolding's. They should understand what they hear, and learn by perceive why they are rebuked" (Bahnsen).
Didach teaching, only here and Titus 1:9 in Pastorals. The usual word is didaskalia. Paul uses both." M. R. Vincent,
Vincent's New Testament Word Studies, vol. IV., p. 875.
{16} "Flesh and Blood=blood and flesh; i.e. human beings, contrasted with the wicked spirits mentioned below."
Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1770.
{17} "Rulers=world-rulers. Greek kosmokrator; only here." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p.
1770.
{18} "Darkness. The present order of things [*outward pretence]." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion
Bible, p. 1770.
{19} "165 AION. From the same as 104; properly, an age; by extension, perpetuity (also past); by implication,
the world; specially (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future):--age, course, eternal, (for) ever(-more), [n-]ever,
(beginning of the , while the) world (began, without end). Compare 5550." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{20} "Spiritual wickedness. Literally spiritual (hosts) of the wickedness (Greek, poneria). These are the wicked
spirits of the evil one (Greek poneros, see 1 John 2:13)." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1770.
{21} "War (strateuomeqa). Serve as soldiers: carry on our campaign. See on Luke 3:14; James 4:1." M. R.
Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies, vol. III, p. 380.
{22} "After the flesh. Or according to (Rev.). Quite a different thing from being in the flesh." M. R. Vincent,
Vincent's New Testament Word Studies, vol. III, p. 380.
{23} "3696. HOPLON. Probably from a primary hepo (to be busy about); an implement or utensil or tool
(literally or figuratively, especially offensive for war):--armour, instrument, weapon." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{24} "4752. STRATEIA. From 4754; military service, i.e. (figuratively) the apostolic career (as one of hardship
and danger):--warfare." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{25} "4559. SARKIKOS. From 4561; pertaining to flesh, i.e. (by extension) bodily, temporal, or (by
implication) animal, unregenerate:--carnal, fleshly." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{26} "1415. DUNATOS. From 1410; powerful or capable (literally or figuratively); neuter possible:--able,
could, (that is) mighty (man), possible, power, strong." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{27} "2506. KATHAIRESIS. From 2507; demolition; figuratively, extinction: -- destruction, pulling down."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{28} "3794. OCHUROMA. From a remote derivative of 2192 (meaning to fortify, through the idea of holding
safely); a castle (figuratively, argument):--stronghold." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"ocurwma, a fastness, fortress, stronghold; (lxx. for rjbm, Joshua 19:29; Isaiah 34:13; nrvjm, 2 Kings 22:2)."
Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p.
745.
{29} "3053. LOGISMOS. From 3049; computation, i.e. (figuratively) reasoning (conscience,
conceit):--imagination, thought." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"Imaginations=thoughts or reasonings. Greek logismos. Only here and Romans 2:15." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1742.
"logismoj, reckoning or computing, (especially of arithmetic,) then, calculation, (in the way of reasoning."
Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p.
401.
{30} "3956. PAS. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the
whole:--all (manner of, means), alway(-s), any (one), X daily, + ever, every (one, way), as many as, + no(-thing), X
thoroughly, whatsoever, whole, whosoever." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{31} "5313. HUPSOMA. From 5312; an elevated place or thing, i.e. (abstractly) altitude, or (by implication) a
barrier (figuratively):--height, high thing." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{32} "1869. EPAIRO. From 1909 and 142; to raise up (literally or figuratively):--exalt self, poise (lift, take)
up." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{33} "2596. KATA. A primary particle; (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according
to the case [genitive case, dative case or accusative case] with which it is joined):--about, according as (to), after,
against, (when they were) X alone, among, and, X apart, (even, like) as (concerning, pertaining to touching), X
aside, at, before, beyond, by, to the charge of, [charita-]bly, concerning, + covered, [dai-]ly, down, every, (+ far more)
exceeding, X more excellent, for, fromto, godly, in(-asmuch, divers, every, -to, respect of), by, after the manner
of, + by any means, beyond (out of) measure, X mightily, more, X natural, of (up-)on (X part), out (of every), over
against, (+ your) X own, + particularly, so, through(-oughout, -oughout every), è thus, (un-)to(-gether, -ward), X
uttermost, where(-by), with. In composition it retains many of these applications, and frequently denotes opposition,
distribution, or intensity." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{34} "1108. GNOSIS. From 1097; knowing (the act), i.e. (by implication) knowledge:--knowledge, science."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"gnosij, knowing, or recognition, the knowledge or understanding of a thing, the insight which manifests itself in
the thorough understanding of the subjects with which it meets and in the conduct determined thereby; gnosij differs
from sofia (wisdom) inasmuch as it requires existent objects." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 436.
{35} "163. AICHMALOTIZO. From 164; to make captive:--lead away captive, bring into captivity." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
"aicmalwtizw, to make prisoners of war." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the
English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 133.
"Bringing into captivity (aijcmalwtizontej). Or leading away captive. The military metaphor is continued; the
leading away of the captives after the storming of the stronghold. See on captives, Luke 4:18. The campaign against
the Cilician pirates resulted in the reduction of a hundred and twenty strongholds and the capture of more than ten
thousand prisoners." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies, vol. III, p. 381.
{36} "3540. NOEMA. From 3539; a perception, i.e. purpose, or (by implication) the intellect, disposition,
itself:--device, mind, thought." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"nohma, what is thought out, or excogitated; hence, purpose, design, project, or device." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 796.
{37} "5218. HUPAKOE. From 5219; attentive hearkening, i.e. (by implication) compliance or submission:
--obedience, (make) obedient, obey(-ing)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"upakoh, a hearing attentively, or listening; hence, obedience as the result of attentive hearing." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 540.
{38} "To the obedience of Christ. In pursuance of the metaphor. The obedience is the new stronghold into which
the captives are led. This is indicated by the preposition eij into or unto." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament
Word Studies, vol. III, p. 381.
{39} "2093. HETOIMOS. Adverb from è 2092; in readiness:--ready." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"2092. HETOIMOS. From an old noun heteos (fitness); adjusted, i.e. ready:--prepared, (made) ready(-iness, to
our hand)." ibid.
{40} "3876. PARAKOE. From 3878; inattention, i.e. (by implication) disobedience:--disobedience." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{41} "5218. HUPAKOE. From 5219; attentive hearkening, i.e. (by implication) compliance or submission:
--obedience, (make) obedient, obey(-ing)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{42} The world (see "2889. Kosmos" in Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words) is the habitation of
the unregenerate natural man, i.e. human beings, those of the earth and written in it--see Jeremiah 17:13. Also note
carefully the following:
"HUMAN BEING. in Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing Law Dictionary (1948), p. 389.
"NATURAL PERSON. Any human being who as such is a legal entity as distinguished from an artificial person, like a corporation, which derives its status as a legal entity from being recognized so in law. Amon v.
Moreschi, 296 N.Y. 395, 73 N.E.2d 716." Max Radin, Radin's Law Dictionary (1955), p. 216.
"NATURAL CHILD. The ordinary euphemism for 'bastard' or illegitimate." Max Radin, ibid. [*Take notice now
that Satan has dominion of the natural man, for he is the prince of this world; and, as a consequence of this, he has
dominion over those of it, i.e., human beings, whom the Spirit tells us is the natural man--the one who receives not
the things of the Spirit of God (rejects Christ Who comes in the Name of the Father); and receives him that è comes
in his own name, Satan, the creator of the "natural person" and the "natural child." See John 5:43; 8:34; 1 John 3:8;
and KOSMOS. Because the bondman in Christ is sanctified from the world, Satan's dominion, he is separated from
Satan's dominion over him--sin. See John 8:34. This is the cause for Christ having sanctified Himself in the Truth of
the Word of God our Father--to provide the entrance to the refuge in and through Himself for us].
{43} For a history of "hermeneutics" see Etymologicum Anglicanum on Page twelve.
"HERMENEUTICS. (Greek, to interpret). The art and science, or body of rules, of truthful interpretation. It has
been used chiefly by theologians; but Zacharie, in "An Essay on General Legal Hermeneutics" (Versuch elner allg.
Hermeneitik des Rechts), and Dr. Lieber, in his work on Legal and Political Hermeneutics, also make use of it. See
INTERPRETATION; CONSTRUCTION." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), p. 205.
"HERMENEUTICS. Science of interpretation. XVIII (Waterland).-mod.L. hermeneutica-Gr. hermeneutike, sb.
use (sc. tekhne art) of fem. sg. of adj. (see -IC, -ICS), f. hermeneutes, agent noun f. hermeneuein interpret, f.
hermeneus interpreter." Oxford's Dictionary of Etymology (1966), p. 438.
Some other things to note about "hermeneutics" are the following from Roget's Thesaurus,
"Interpretation. (science of interpretation) exegetics, exegetic (rare); heremeneutics, hermeneutic; symptomology,
semeiology, semeiotics (all Med.); diagnostics, prognostics [*forbidden by Word of God]; physiognomics,
physiognomy; metoposcopy; oneirology, oneirocritics, oneirocriticism; astrology [*forbidden by Word of God],
chiromancy [*forbidden by Word of God], palmistry [*forbidden by Word of God] etc., divination [*forbidden by the
Word of God]." Roget's International Thesaurus (1946), p. 356.
{44} "THEOLOGY. The study or science which treats of God, His nature and attributes, and His relations with
man and the universe; the science of things divine (Hooker); divinity. b. A particular theological system or
theory-1669." Oxford's Universal Dictionary (1955), p. 2167.
"THEOLOGY. 1. A rational interpretation of religious faith, practice, and experience [*all human]; specif.:
a branch of systematic theology dealing with God and his relation to the world [*"What fellowship hath light with
darkness?"]. 2. a. A theological theory [*no Truth] or system. b. A distinctive body of theological opinion [*no
Truth]. 3. A usu. è four-year course of specialized religious training [*conscience searing] in a Roman Catholic
major seminary." Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1967), p. 915.
Note here that in looking for a definition of "theology" from a "christian" dictionary we could not find any
definition, not even in Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. We have been told that the clergy have their own
definition of theology. If this is the case, it is private and not in Christ and only evidences their willingness and
wilfullness to cover their deception and theft of God's people. See John 3:20-21.
{45} "3446. MORPHOSIS. From 3445; formation, i.e. (by implication) appearance (semblance or [concretely]
formula):--form." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
Outward Pretence -- "morfwsij (morphosis)
"An old word has received a new passive sense (external shape) in place of its active meaning hitherto (a shaping).
"In secular Greek morphosis was a rare word, perhaps a Stoic term for 'education' (MM). Theophrastus, however,
joins it with schematismos (configuration) in referring to the 'schematismos and morphosis (bringing into shape) of
plants.' The compound diamorphosis, used by Plutarch, concerns the 'shaping' of wood. Hence, its secular meaning is
active, and intrinsic influence or vital impulse, working outwards. But the meaning fails to suit Christian contexts,
where morphosis is a soulless and dead shell revealing, as St Chrysostom observes, only schema (outward show),
tupos (impression), and hupokrisis (playing a part).
"St. Paul demonstrates that the Jew, for all his pretensions regarding the Law of Moses, had no more than the
morphosis (outward pretence) of knowledge and truth (Romans 2:20). It is a shape received, not from within, but
from the outside. Unlike the secular meaning, this is passive. Later, St. Paul foretells that heretics in the last times
will have only the outward pretence of godliness (2 Timothy 3:5)--the species of piety (Vulgate, Claromontanus).
Secular writers would no doubt have resorted to morphoma, for morphosis had for them an active meaning. Ellicott
observed that in the NT there is a tendency to replace the verbal nouns in -ma by the corresponding nouns in -sis. The
Jerusalem Bible has the 'outward appearance' of religion, Moffat and RSV, 'form', and Knox and NEB 'the outward
form' of religion, and all point to the word's new meaning." Nigel Turner, Christian Words (1981), p. 303.
{46} "5768. OWLEL. Or wolal {o-lawl'}; from 5763; a suckling:--babe, (young) child, infant, little one." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{47} "3243. YANAQ. Aprimitive root; to suck; causatively, to give milk: -milch, è nurse(-ing mother), (give, make
to) suck(-ing child, -ling). " Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{48} It is also interesting to note that in the Apocrypha of the Septuagint is the following that sheds light on the
above statements made in the received canon,
"He that hath small understanding, and feareth God, is better than one that hath much wisdom and transgresseth
the Law." Ecclesiasticus 19:24 (LXX).
{49} "1321. DIDASKO. A prolonged (causative) form of a primary verb dao (to learn); to teach (in the same broad
application):--teach." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"didasko, to teach, to give instruction or direction." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 761.
{50} "4864. SUNAGOGE. From (the reduplicated form of) 4863; an assemblage of persons; specifically, a Jewish
"synagogue" (the meeting or the place); by analogy, a Christian church: --assembly, congregation, synagogue."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
Note that this is not to be construed to be a Lawful assembly, to wit,
"CHURCH.The word church and its synonyms. The church is designated in Scripture sometimes by the Greek
term ecclesia (hence French eglise), sometimes by figures of speech. Ecclesia was current in the Hellenistic world for
the regular assemblages of a particular social group or even of the whole population (cf. Acts 19:39f.). But ecclesia
was never used by the Greeks in a religious context. For religious meetings they employed other terms, not one of which is retained in the New Testament to signify the church.
"For the mission of the church is not that of withdrawing from the world but of being present within the world to
convey to it the summons of God. The church is by definition the opposite of a sect of the Pharisaic kind
[*creeds, confessions, articles of faith, ad nauseam]." Vocabulary of the Bible (1958), pg. è 50.
{51} "4159. POTHEN. from the base of 4213 with enclitic adverb of origin; from which (as interrogative) or what
(as relative) place, state, source or cause:--whence." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"poqen, (interrogatory. adverb) whence? from whence? (of place, source, author, cause or manner)." E. W.
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 870.
{52} "4678. SOPHIA. from 4680; wisdom (higher or lower, worldly or spiritual):--wisdom." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{53} "1411. DUNAMIS. From 1410; force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by
implication, a miracle itself):--ability, abundance, meaning, might(-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle(-s), power,
strength,violence, mighty (wonderful) work." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{54} "1121. GRAMMA. From 1125; a writing, i.e. a letter, note, epistle, book, etc.; plural learning:--bill,
learning, letter, scripture, writing, written." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"Letters. Greek plural of gramma. Put by fig. Metonymy (of adjunct), Ap. 6, for what is written; e.g. an account (Luke 16:6, 7); the Pentateuch (John 5:47); Epistles (Acts 28:21); the whole of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:15). Hence,
used of general literature suchas the Talmudical writings (here, and in Acts 26:24). Compare our term 'man of letters',
and see Acts 4:13." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1534.
"Letters (grammata). See on John 5:47. In John 7:15, Acts 26:24 it is used in the plural or a general term for
scriptural and Rabbinical learning." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888). [*Thus, the Spirit
bears witness that Christ had no theological or philosophical training from those who put Him on the cross by and
through their theological and philosophical training].
{55} "3129. MANTHANO. Prolongation è from a primary verb, another form of which, matheo, is used as an
alternate in certain tenses; to learn (in any way):--learn, understand." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{56} "PHARISAIC. PROP., by the genitive, Pharisaeorum. FIG., simulatus; fictus; or, if necessary, by the genitive, Pharisaeorum.
"PHARISAICALLY. more modo Pharisaeorum; simulate; speciose.
"PHARISEE. PROP., Pharisaeus, FIG., pietatus simulator; or, if necessary, Pharisaeus." Riddle, English-Latin Lexicon (1849), p. 512. [Emphasis added.]
"5330. PHARISEES. Pharisaios. From an Aramaic word peras (found in Dan. 5:28), signifying 'to separate,'
owing to a different manner of life from that of the general public. The 'Pharisees' and Sadducees appear as distinct
parties in the latter half of the 2nd cent. B.C., though they represent tendencies traceable much earlier in Jewish
history, tendencies which became pronounced after the return from Babylon (537 B.C.). The immediate progenitors
of the two parties were, respectively, the Hasideans and the Hellenizers; the latter, the antecedents of the Sadducees,
aimed at removing Judaism from its narrowness and sharing in the advantages of Greek life and culture. The
Hasidaeans, a transcription of the Hebrew chasidim, i.e., 'pious ones,' were a society of men zealous for religion, who
acted under the guidance of the scribes, in opposition to the godless Hellenizing party; they scrupled to oppose the
legitimate high priest even when he was on the Greek side. Thus the Hellenizers were a political sect, while the
Hasidaens, whose fundamental principle was complete separation from non-Jewish elements, were the strictly legal
party among the Jews, and were ultimately the more popular and influential party. In their zeal for the Law they
almost deified it and their attitude became merely external, formal, and mechanical. They laid stress, not upon the
righteousness of an action, but upon its formal correctness [*legalism]. Consequently their opposition to Christ was
inevitable; His manner of life and teaching was essentially a condemnation of theirs; hence His denunciation of them,
e.g., Matt. 6:2, 5, 16; 15:7 and chapter 23. While the Jews continued to be divided into these two parties, the spread
of the testimony of the gospel must have produced what in the public eye seemed to be a new sect, and in the
extensive development which took place at Antioch, Acts 11:19-26, the name 'Christians' seems to have become a
popular term applied to the disciples as a sect, the primary cause, however, being their witness to Christ (see CALL,
A, No. 11). The opposition of both 'Pharisees' and Sadducees (still mutually antagonistic, Acts 23:6-10) against the
new 'sect' continued unabated during apostolic times." William Edwy Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New
Testament Words.
{57} "4507. RHUPARIA. From 4508; dirtiness (morally):--turpitude." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"ruparia, dirt, filth, in the worst sense." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the
English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 286.
"4507. FILTHINESS, FILTHY (to make). Noun. Rhuparia. Denotes 'dirt, filth' (cf. No. 2, under FILTH), and is used metaphorically of moral "defilement" in Jas. 1:21." William Edwy Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New
Testament Words.
{58} "4050. PERISSEIA. From 4052; surplusage, i.e. superabundance:--abundance (-ant, [-ly]), superfluity."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"perisseia, more than enough, super- è abundance." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 750.
"4050. ABUNDANCE, ABUNDANT, ABUNDANTLY, ABOUND. Noun. Perisseia. 'An exceeding measure,
something above the ordinary,' is used four times; Rom. 5:17, 'of abundance of grace'; 2 Cor. 8:2, 'of abundance of joy';
2 Cor. 10:15, of the extension of the apostle's sphere of service through the practical fellowship of the saints at
Corinth; in Jas. 1:21 it is rendered, metaphorically, 'overflowing,' KJV 'superfluity,' with reference to wickedness.
Some would render it 'residuum,' or 'what remains.' See No. 3." William Edwy Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of
New Testament Words.
{59} "2549. KAKIA. From 2556; badness, i.e. (subjectively) depravity, or (actively) malignity, or (passively)
trouble:--evil, malice(-iousness), naughtiness, wickedness." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"kakia, vice, generally, especially malice and the evil habit of it." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon
and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 517.
"2549. WICKEDNESS. 'Evil,' is rendered 'wickedness' in Acts 8:22; RV in Jas. 1:21, KJV, 'naughtiness.' See
EVIL, B, No. 1, MALICE. Notes: (1) For the KJV of 1 John 5:19 see WICKED, No. 1. (2) In Acts 25:5, KJV, the
word atopos (RV, 'amiss') is incorrectly rendered 'wickedness.' William Edwy Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of
New Testament Words.
"2549. EVIL, EVIL-DOER. Noun. Kakia. Primarily, 'badness' in quality (akin to A, No. 1), denotes (a)
'wickedness, depravity, malignity,' e.g., Acts 8:22, 'wickedness'; Rom. 1:29, 'maliciousness'; in Jas. 1:21, KJV,
'naughtiness'; (b) 'the evil of trouble, affliction,' Matt. 6:34, only, and here alone translated 'evil.'" William Edwy Vine,
ibid.
{60} "1209. DECHOMAI. Middle voice of a primary verb; to receive (in various applications, literally or
figuratively):--accept, receive, take. Compare 2983." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"decomai, to take to one's self what is presented or brought by another, to accept, embrace, receive hospitably;
admit, approve, allow. It implies a subjective reception, showing that a decision of the will has taken place with
respect to the object presented, and that the acceptance manifests it." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon
and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 626.
{61} "4240. PRAUTES. From 4239; mildness, i.e. (by implication) humility:--meekness." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{62} "1721. EMPHUTOS. From 1722 and a derivative of 5453; implanted (figuratively): --engrafted." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
"emfutoj, adapted for inward growth grow(from emfuw, to implant; the termination marking the idea of
capabliity or adaptation both actively and passively." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 251.
"Engrafted (emfuton). Only here in New Testament. Better, and more literally, as Rev., implanted. It marks a
characteristic of the word of truth (ver. 18). It is implanted; divinely given, in contrast with something acquired by
study. Compare Matthew 13:19, "the word of the kingdom--sown in his heart." Grafted or graffed is expressed by a
peculiar word, employed by Paul only, egkentrizw, from kentron, a sharp point, thus emphasizing the fact of the
incision required in grafting. See Romans 11:17, 19, 23, 24." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies
(1888), vol. II, pp. 777-778. [*The Word of God is not just planted and left to die; but, is to grow and be fruitful for
Him as He nurtures it through His Word. The current word "edification" answers to this word].
{63} "1410. DUNAMAI. Of uncertain affinity; to be able or possible:--be able, can (do, + -not), could, may,
might, be possible, be of power." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{64} "20. That which is committed to thy trust (thn paraqhkhn). Only in Pastorals. Comp. 2 Timothy 1:12, 14. From
para beside or with, and tiqenai to place. It may mean either something put beside another as an addition or appendix
(so Mark. 6:41; Acts 16:34), or something put with or in the keeping of another as a trust or deposit. In the latter
sense always in LXX. See Leviticus 6:2, 4; Tob. x. 13; II Macc. iii. 10, 15. Hdt. vi. 73, of giving hostages; ix. 45, of
confidential words intrusted to the hearer's honor. The verb is a favorite with Luke. The meaning here is that teaching
which Timothy had received from Paul; the 'sound words' which he was to guard as a sacred trust, and communicate
to others." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. IV, p. 842.
{65} "Vain babblings (kenofwniaj). Only in Pastorals. LXX, Class. From kenoj empty and fwnh voice." M. R.
Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. IV, p. 842.
{66} "1108. GNOSIS. From 1097; knowing (the act), i.e. (by implication) knowledge:--knowledge, science."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{67} "Falsely so called. Greek pseudonumos. Only here (1 Tim.). There is much science è (knowledge) which
does not deserve the name, being only speculation." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1808.
{68} "2344. THESAUROS. From 5087; a deposit, i.e. wealth (literally or figuratively):--treasure." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
"Qhsauroj, any thing laid up in store; hence, treasure, wealth; (lxx for ]vmmm, mammon, Genesis 43:23; Proverbs
2:4; rava, 1 Kings 14:26; Provers 15:17), (non occurring)." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 818.
{69} "1922. EPIGNOSIS. From 1921; recognition, i.e. (by implication) full discernment, acknowledgement: --(ac-)knowledge(-ing, - ment)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{70} "3884. PARALOGIZOMAI. From 3844 and 3049; to misreckon, i.e. delude:--beguile, deceive." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{71}"4086. PITHANOLOGIA. From a compound of a derivative of 3982 and 3056; persuasive language: --enticing
words." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{72}"4812. SULAGOGEO. From the base of 4813 and (the reduplicated form of) 71; to lead away as booty, i.e.
(figuratively) seduce:--spoil." Strong's Greek Dictionary. [*Philosophy is a tool of theological pirates].
{73}"5385. PHILOSOPHIA. From 5386; 'philosophy,' i.e. (specifically) Jewish sophistry:--philosophy." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
"filosofia, love of wisdom; then, English, philosophy." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 584.
"Philosophy and vain deceit-- Or, the vain or empty deceit of philosophy; such philosophizing as the Jewish
and Gentile teachers used. As the term philosophy stood in high repute among the Gentiles, the Jews of this
time affected it; and both Philo and Josephus use the word to express the whole of the Mosaic institutions.
'There are three systems of philosophy among the Jews,' (Bell. Jud., lib. ii. cap 8, sec. 2,) meaning the
Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, as immediately follows. The Jewish philosophy, such as is found in the
Cabala, Midrashim, and other works, deserves the character of vain deceit, in the fullest sense and meaning of
the words. The inspired writers excepted, the Jews have ever been the most puerile, absurd, and ridiculous
reasoners in the world. Even Rabbi Maymon, or Maimonides, the most intelligent of them all, is often in his
master piece (the Moreh Nevochim, the Teacher of the Perplexed) most deplorably empty and vain."Adam
Clarke, Commentary on Colossians, vol VIa, pp. 1158-1159.
[*It is the seeking after the knowledge of the world (wizardry, divinations) that corrupts and inhibits the execution of
Christ's Testament].
{74} "2756. KENOS. Apparently a primary word; empty (literally or figuratively): --empty, (in) vain." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{75} "539. APATE. From 538; delusion:--deceit(-ful, -fulness), deceivableness (-ving)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{76} "3862. PARADOSIS. From 3860; transmission, i.e. (concretely) a precept; specifically, the Jewish
traditionary law:--ordinance, tradition." Strong's Greek Dictionary. [*This is what the lawyer does with
constitutions, codes, rules, regulations, stare decisis, and statutes--see the law review article entitled,"The Great
Contract"].
History of the Septuagint
by Richard Watson
The following is one account of the history and chronology of the Septuagint, reprinted from Watson's
Bible Dictionary (1832). We will periodically reprint various accounts from other sources as they
become available to us.
"SEPTUAGINT. Among the Greek versions of the Old Testament, says Mr. Horne, the Alexandrian or
Septuagint is the most ancient and valuable, and was held in so much esteem both by the Jews as well as
by the first Christians, as to be constantly read in the synagogues and churches. Hence it is uniformly cited
by the early fathers, whether Greek or Latin; and from this version all the translations into other
languages which were anciently approved by the Christian church were executed, with the exception of
the Syriac; as the Arabic, Armenian, Ethiopic, gothic, and old Italic or Latin version in use before the
time of Jerom; and to this day the Septuagint is exclusively read in the Greek and most other oriental
churches. This version has derived its name either from the Jewish account of seventy-two persons having
been employed to make it, or from its having received the approbation of the sanhedrim or great council of
the Jews, which consisted of seventy, or, more correctly, of seventy-two persons. Much uncertainty,
however, has prevailed concerning the real history of this ancient version; and while some have
strenuously advocated its miraculous and Divine origin, other eminent philologists have laboured to prove
that it must have been executed by several persons and at different times. According to one account,
Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, caused this translation to be made for the use of the library which he
had founded at Alexandria, at the request and with the advice of the celebrated Demetrius Phalereus, his
principal librarian. For this purpose, it is reported, that he sent Aristeas and Andreas, two distinguished
officers of his court, to Jerusalem, on an embassy to Eleazar, then high priest of the Jews, to request of the
latter a copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, and that there might also be sent to him seventy-two persons, six
chosen out of each of the twelve tribes, who were equally well skilled in the Hebrew and Greek languages.
These learned men were accordingly shut up in the island of Pharos; where, having agreed in a translation
of each period after a mutual conference, Demetrius down their version as the dictated it to him; and thus,
in the space of seventy-two days, the whole was accomplished. This relation is derived from a letter
ascribed to Aristeas himself, the authenticity of which has been greatly disputed. If, as there is every
reason to believe is the case, this piece is a forgery, it was made at a very early period; for it was in
existence in the time of Josephus, who has made use of it in his Jewish Antiquities. The veracity of
Aristeas' narrative was not questioned until the seventeenth or eighteenth century, at which time, indeed,
Biblical criticism was, comparatively, in its infancy, Vives, Scaliger, Van Dale, Dr. Prideaux, and, above
all, Dr. Hody, were the principal writers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who attacked the
genuineness of the pretended narrative of Aristeas; and though it was ably vindicated by Bishop Walton,
Isaac Vossius, Whiston, Brett, and other modern writers, the majority of the learned of our own time are
fully agreed in considering it as fictitious. Philo, the Jew, who also notices the Septuagint version, was
ignorant of most of the circumstances narrated by Aristeas; but he relates others which appear not less
extraordinary. According to him, Ptolemy Philadelphus sent to Palestine for some learned Jews, whose
number he does not specify; and these, going over to the island of Pharos, there executed so many distinct
versions, all of which so exactly and uniformly agreed in sense, phrases, and words, as proved them to
have been not only common interpreters, but men prophetically inspired and divinely directed, who had
every word dictated to them by the Spirit of God throughout the entire translation. He adds, that an annual
festival was celebrated by the Alexandrian Jews in the isle of Pharos, where the version was made, until
his time, to preserve the memory of it, and to thank God for so great a benefit.
"It is not a little remarkable that the Samaritans have traditions in favour of their version of the
Pentateuch, equally extravagant with these preserved by the Jews. In the Samaritan chronicle of Abul
Phatach, which was compiled in the fourteenth century from ancient and modern authors, both Hebrew
and Arabic, there is a story to the following effect: that Ptolemy Philadelphus, in the tenth year of his
reign, directed his attention to the difference subsisting between the Samaritans and Jews concerning the
Law, the former receiving only the Pentateuch, and rejecting every other work ascribed to the prophets by
the Jews. In order to determine this difference, he commanded the two nations to send deputies to
Alexandria. The Jews entrusted this mission to Osar, the Samaritans to Aaron, to whom several other
associates were added. Separate apartments were in a particular quarter of Alexandria were assigned to
each of these strangers, who were prohibited from having any personal intercourse, and each of them had
a Greek scribe to write his version. Thus were the Law and other Scriptures translated by the Samaritans;
whose version being most carefully examined, the king was convinced that their text was more complete
than that of the Jews. Such is the narrative of Abul Phatach, divested, however, of numerous marvellous
circumstances with which it has been decorated by the Samaritans, who are not surpassed, even by the
Jews, in their partiality for idle legends.
"A fact, buried under such a mass of fables as the translation of the Septuagint has been by the
historians who have pretended to record it, necessarily loses all its historical character, which, indeed, we
are fully justified in disregarding altogether. Although there is no doubt but that some truth is concealed
under this load of fables, yet it is by no means an easy task to discern the truth from what is false: the
following, however, is the result of our researches concerning this celebrated version:--
"It is probable that the seventy interpreters, as they are called, executed their version of the Pentateuch
during the joint reigns of Ptolemy Lagus and his son Philadelphus. The pseudo Aristeas, Josephus, Philo,
and many other writers whom it were tedious to enumerate, relate that this version was made during the
reign of Ptolemy II., or Philadelphus; Joseph Ben Gorion, however, among the rabbins, Theodoret, and
many other Christian writers, refer its date to the time of Ptolemy Lagus. Now, these two traditions can be
reconciled only by supposing the version to have been performed during the two years when Ptolemy
Philadelphus shared the throne with his father; which date coincides with the third and fourth years of the
hundred and twenty-third Olympiad, that is, about B.C. 286 and 285. Farther, this version was neither
made by the command of Ptolemy, nor at the request nor under the superintendence of Demetrius
Phalereus; but was voluntarily undertaken by the Jews for the use of their countrymen. It is well known,
that, at the period above noticed, there was a great number of Jews settled in Egypt, particularly at
Alexandria: these, being most strictly observant of the religious institutions and usages of their
forefathers, had their sanhedrim or grand council of seventy or seventy-two members, and very numerous
synagogues, in which the law was read to them on every Sabbath; and as the bulk of the common people
were no longer acquainted with Biblical Hebrew, the Greek language alone being used in their ordinary
intercourse, it became necessary to translate the Pentateuch into Greek for their use. This is a far more
probable account of the origin of the Alexandrian version than the traditions above stated. If this
translation had been made by public authority, it would unquestionably have been performed under the
direction of the sanhedrim, who would have examined and perhaps corrected it, if it had been the work of
a single individual, previously to giving it the stamp of their approbation, and introducing it into their
synagogues. It either case the translation would probably be denominated Septuagint, because the
sanhedrim was composed of seventy or seventy-two members. It is even possible that the sanhedrim, in
order to ascertain the fidelity of the work, might have sent to Palestine for some learned men, of whose
assistance and advice they would have availed themselves in examining the version. This fact, if it could
be proved, for it is offered as a mere conjecture, would account for the story of the king of Egypt's sending
an embassy to Jerusalem: there is, however, one circumstance which proves that, in executing this
translation, the synagogues were originally in contemplation, namely, that all the ancient writers
unanimously concur in saying that the Pentateuch was first translated. The five books of Moses, indeed,
were the only books read in the synagogues until the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria; who
having forbidden that practice in Palestine, the Jews evaded his commands by substituting for the
Pentateuch the reading of the prophetic books. When, afterward, the Jews were delivered from the tyranny
of the kings of Syria, they read the law and the prophets alternately in the synagogues; and the same
custom was adopted by the Hellenistic or Græcising Jews.
"But whatever was the real number of the authors of the version, their introduction of Coptic words,
such as oifo aci reufan, &c, as well as their rendering of ideas purely Hebrew altogether in the Egyptian
manner, clearly prove that they were natives of Egypt. Thus, they express the creation of the world, not by
the proper Greek word ktisij, but by genesij, a term employed by the philosophers of Alexandria to express
the origin of the universe. The Hebrew word thummim, Exodus 28:30, which signifies 'perfections,' they
render alhqeia, truth. The difference of style also indicates the version to have been the work of not of one
but of several translators, and to have been executed at different times. The best qualified and most able
among them was the translator of the Pentateuch, who was evidently master of both Greek and Hebrew; he
has religiously followed the Hebrew text, and has in various instances introduced the most suitable and
best chosen expressions. From the very close resemblances subsisting between the text of the Greek
version and the text of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Louis De Dieu, Selden, Whiston, Hassencamp, and
Bauer, are of opinion that the author of the Alexandrian version made it from the Samaritan Pentateuch.
And in proportion as these two correspond, the Greek differs from the Hebrew. This opinion is farther
supported by the declarations of Origen and Jerom, that the translator found the venerable name of
Jehovah, not in the letters in common use, but in very ancient characters; and also by the fact that very
those consonants in the Septuagint are frequently confounded together, the shapes of which are similar in
the Samaritan but not in the Hebrew alphabet. This hypothesis, however ingenious and plausible, is by no
means determinate; and what militates most against it is, the inveterate enmity subsisting between the
Jews and Samaritans, added to the constant and unvarying testimony of antiquity, that the Greek version
of the Pentateuch was executed by Jews. There is no other way by which to reconcile these conflicting
opinions than by the Egyptian Jews approximated toward the letters and text of the Samaritan Pentateuch,
or that the translators of the Septuagint made use of manuscripts written in ancient characters. Next to the
Pentateuch, for ability and fidelity of execution, ranks the translation of the Book of Proverbs, the author
of which was well skilled in the two languages: Michaelis is of opinion that, of all the books of the
Septuagint, the style of the Proverbs is the best, the translator having clothed the most ingenious thoughts
in as neat and elegant language as was ever used by a Pythagorean sage, is to express his philosophical
maxims.
"The Septuagint version, though originally made for the use of the Egyptian Jews, gradually acquired
the highest authority among the Jews of Palestine, who were acquainted with the Greek language, and
subsequently also among Christians: it appears, in deed, that they legend above confuted, of the translators
having been divinely inspired, was invented in order that the LXX. might be held in the greater
estimation. Philo, the Jew, a native of Egypt, has evidently followed it in his allegorical expositions of the
Mosaic law; and though Dr. Hody was of opinion that Josephus, who was a native of Palestine,
corroborated his work on Jewish antiquities from the Hebrew text, yet Salmasius, Bochart, Bauer, and
others, have shown that he has adhered to the Septuagint throughout that work. How extensively this
version was in use among the Jews, appears from the solemn sanction given to it by the inspired writers of
the New Testament, who have in very many passages quoted the Greek version of the Old Testament.
Their example was followed by the earlier fathers and doctors of the church, who, with the exception of
Origen and Jerom, were unacquainted with Hebrew: not with standing their zeal for the word of God, they
did not exert themselves to learn the original language of the sacred writings, but acquiesced in the Greek
representation of them, judging it, no doubt, to be fully sufficient for all the purposes of their pious
labours. The Greek Scriptures were the only Scriptures known to or valued by the Greeks. This was the
text commented on by Chrysostom and Theodoret; it was this which furnished topics to Athanasius,
Nazianzen, and Basil. From this fountain the stream was derived to the Latin church, first by the Italic or
Vulgate translation of the Scriptures, which was made from the Septuagint, and not from the Hebrew;
and, secondly, by the study of the Greek fathers. It was by this borrowed light that the Latin fathers
illumined the western hemisphere; and, when the age of Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory,
successively passed away, this was the light put into the hands of the next dynasty of theologists, the
schoolmen, who carried on the work of theological disquisition by the aid of this luminary, and none
other. So that, either in Greek or Latin, it was still the Septuagint Scriptures that were read, explained,
and quoted as authority, for a period of fifteen hundred years." Richard Watson, Watson's Bible
Dictionary (1832), vol. II, pp. 849-851.
"Septuagint Chronology
The Septuagint chronology is that which is formed from the dates and periods of time mentioned in the
Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. It reckons one thousand five hundred years more from the
creation to the time of Abraham than the Hebrew Bible. Dr. Kennicott, in the dissertation prefixed to his
Hebrew Bible, has shown it to be very probable, that the chronology of the Hebrew Scriptures, since the
period just mentioned, was corrupted by the Jews between A.D. 175 and 200; and that the chronology of
the Septuagint is more agreeable to truth. It is a fact, that, during the second and third centuries, the
Hebrew Scriptures were almost entirely in the hands of the Jews, while the Septuagint was confined to the
Christians. The Jews had, therefore, a very favourable opportunity for this corruption. The following is the
reason which is given by the oriental writers: It being a very ancient tradition that Messiah was to come in
the sixth chiliad, because he was to come in the last days, founded on a mystical application of the six
days of creation, the contrivance was to shorten the age of the world from about 5500 to 3760; and hence
to prove that Jesus could not be the Messiah. Dr. Kennicott adds, that some Hebrew copies, having the
larger chronology, were extant till the time of Eusebius, and some till the year 700." Richard Watson,
Watson's Bible Dictionary (1832), vol. II, pp. 850-851.
The Spiritually Dead
and the tools of their trade
Part Three
written solely by the Grace of God in and through our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
by John Joseph and Randy Lee
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are found at the end of this article)
The Spirit (in Colossians 2:1-9) specifically mentioned superfluity, filthiness, oppositions of falsely
called knowledge (philosophy), and vain deceit being set aside and avoided. To not avoid them leads to
destruction because it is a walk away from the Tree of Life toward the rudiments of the world and its
prince. This is seen, the Spirit bearing witness, to wit;
"The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools [*philosophers,
theologicians, sophists, sciolists, ad nauseam] poureth out foolishnessA wholesome tongue is a tree
of life: but perverseness [*i.e., the leaven of the pharisees] therein is a breach in the spirit." Proverbs
15:2 & 4.
"The tongue of the wise knows what is good: but the mouth of the foolish [*philosophers,
theologicians, sophists, sciolists, ad nauseam] tells out evil things.The wholesome tongue is a tree of
life, and he that keeps it shall be filled with understanding." Proverbs 15:2 & 4 (LXX).
Even the natural man knows that,
"Designatio unius est exclusio alterius, et expressum facit cessare tacitum --The appointment or
designation of one is the exclusion of the other; and that which is expressed prevails over that which
is implied." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2131.
"Expressio unius est exlusio alterius --The expression of one thing is the exclusion of another."
Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2134.
"Expressum facit cessare tacitum --That which is expressed puts an end to (renders ineffective) that
which is implied." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2134.
And, because they are expressly excluded and only mentioned to be those things avoided, no man adds
to or annuls the covenant that flows through the Christ from God to His bondmen, the Spirit bearing
witness, to wit;
"Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be
confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto{1}." Galatians 3:15.
"For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave
Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 1 Timothy 2:5-6.
"But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a
better covenant, which was established upon better promises." Hebrews 8:6. See also Matthew 16:1-6.
Therefore, philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, or seminary morphosis have no place in the Christ's
bondmen because they are not found in Him. Christ being the Tree of Life could not have any thing of
death in Him for they were sent forth from the Paradise of God. See John 14:30 & Genesis 3:22-24. And
because the Tree of Life is in the midst of the Paradise of God, it is in the midst of the Body of Christ--see
Matthew 18:20 & Luke 17:21.
And the natural man bears witness of his own personal knowledge of the foregoing, to wit;
"Lex uno ore omnes alloquitur --The law addresses all with one [the same] mouth or voice." Black's
Law Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 & 1968), p. 1058.
"Lex uno ore omnes alloquitur --The law speaks to all with one mouth." Bouvier's Law Dictionary
(1914), "Maxim," p. 2143.
Where is the privacy in Law?
"Within the meaning of the maxim that 'ignorantia juris non excusat' (ignorance of the law is no
excuse), the word 'jus' is used to denote the general law or ordinary law of the land{2}, and not a
private right [*brought into being by codes, rules, regulations, creeds, confessions, articles of faith, ad
nauseam--all foreign to the Christ{3} and His bondmen, but common among christians]. Churchill v.
Bradley, 58 Vt. 403, 5 A. 189, 56 Am.Rep. 563; Cooper v. Fibbs, L.R. 2 H.L. 149; Freichnecht v.
Meyer, 39 N.J.Eq. 561." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1957 & 1968), p. 994.
"Ignorare legis est culpa --To be ignorant of the law is negligence." Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing
Law Dictionary (1948), p. 394.
"Ignorare legis est lata culpa --To be ignorant of the law is gross negligence." Ballentine, Self-Pronouncing Law Dictionary (1948), p. 394.
How could what we write be interpreted to be private requiring others to come to us for Truth?
Further the Spirit witnesses,
"And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour [*see Matthew 7:21; 12:50], and every
man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me [*see Luke 10:22], from the
least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity [*seeking
familiar spirits and wizards], and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:34.
"Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people
shall weary themselves for very vanity{4} [*philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, seminary
morphosis]? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge{5} of the glory of the LORD{6}, as
the waters cover the sea." Habakkuk 2:13-14.
There is no place to hide from the Spirit of God when poured forth from Him through Christ--the
Fountainhead of living waters flowing from the belly of Christ--see John 7:38; Psalm 32:8-9.
"Are not these things of the Lord Almighty? surely many people have been exhausted in the fire,
and many nations have fainted. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the
Lord; it shall cover them as water." Habakkuk 2:13-14 (LXX).
Philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, and seminary morphosis are all private opinion, conjecture,
speculation, divinations, theory, conjurings{7}, and supposition all without Truth (see 1 Timothy 6:20-21) and have no thing in the Christ, for the Word bears witness, to wit;
"Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince{8} of this world{9} cometh, and hath nothing in Me." John 14:30.
What morphosis of the world did Christ bear when the prince of this world (kosmoj) has no thing in
Him?
"No longer much I will speak with you, for comes the ruler of this world, and in Me he has
nothing;" John 14:30 (Berry). See also Genesis 3:22-24.
And those who use such conjurings of death bear witness that they are the ones to whom others must
come for pretended knowledge of Truth. Hence, the subjectively perceived "need" for seminary morphosis
giving the outward appearance or pretence of truth is shown for the deceit it is. This will become all the
more evident when we look at the station of the Pharisees and scribes of Christ's day and their peculiar
marks that "separated" them.
Yet the Spirit of God has ordained strength in the words and works of praise babes and sucklings
speak because they are born of Him, not by the wills of seminary schoolmen; and, innocently receive, live
and do His Word, not as mules and horses of the world, thereby bringing forth the firstfruits pleasing to
God that they are children of the light, the Spirit and Word witnessing, to wit;
"But as many as received{10} Him, to them gave He power{11} to become the sons{12} of God,
even to them that believe{13} on His name{14}: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12-13.
Is it by seminary morphosis that we become a son of God? And when a babe by His Call, He has
established the relation of Father to son. By whose authority is the relationship redefined through
hermeneutics, philosophy, theology, ad nauseam?
"Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits{15} of
His creatures." James 1:18.
"Having willed He begat us by word of truth, for us to be a sort of first-fruits of His creatures."
James 1:18 (Berry).
"Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God [*not the divinators, a.k.a. "divines"]: thy Spirit is
good [*not philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, seminary morphosis]; lead me into the land of
uprightness." Psalm 143:10.
"Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God; thy good Spirit [*not philosophy, hermeneutics,
theology, seminary morphosis] shall guide me in the straight way." Psalm 142(143):10 (LXX). See
also John 16:13.
"I will instruct{16} thee and teach{17} thee in the way{18} which thou shalt go: I will
guide{19} thee with Mine eye{20}. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no
understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee." Psalm
32:8-9.
"I will instruct thee and guide thee in this way wherein thou shalt go: I will fix mine eyes upon thee.
Be ye not as horse and mule, which have no understanding; but thou must constrain their jaws with bit
and curb, lest they should come nigh to thee." Psalm 31(32):8-9 (LXX).
"Doth a fountain{21} send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" James 3:11. See also
Psalm 32:8; Proverbs 13:14; Jeremiah 2:13.
"Pours forth the fountain out of the same opening sweet and bitter?" James 3:11 (Berry).
"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth{22}: for He shall
not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things
to come." John 16:13.
"But when He may have come, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will
not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He may hear He will speak; and the things coming He will
announce to you." John 16:13 (Berry).
"But ye brethren, are not in darkness [*philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, seminary morphosis],
that that day should overtake you [*see John 1:5--the darkness apprehends not the light] as a thief. Ye
are the children of light{23}, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." 1
Thessalonians 5:4.
And will live, speak and do His Word written or engrafted on their heart, and not the word of the world,
the Spirit and Word bearing witness, to wit;
"But this shall be the covenant{24} that I will make with the house{25} of Israel; After those days,
saith the LORD, I will put My law [*not philosophy, theories, theology, logic, reason, scholasticism,
the ways of the heathen] in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and
they shall be My people." Jeremiah 31:33. See also James 1:21. The Spirit testifies that God put Law
in our inward parts. Who then put all the logic, theology, theories, reason, scholasticism,
hermeneutics, ad nauseam in the same place?
"O generation{26} of vipers [*theologicians, philosophers, ad nauseam--see Genesis 3:1], how can
ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
Matthew 12:34.
And they did speak their abundance when they murdered the Christ.
"Offspring of vipers [*theologicians, philosophers, ad nauseam--see Genesis 3:1], how are ye able
to good things to speak, being wicked? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
Matthew 12:34 (Berry).
How are vipers any bondman's brother? How can those who conspire against God and His anointed be
brothers of His anointed?
"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil
man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the
heart his mouth speaketh." Luke 6:45.
"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which good; and the wicked
man out of the wicked treasure of his heart brings forth that which wicked; for out of the abundance of
the heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45 (Berry).
Thus, the Spirit bears witness against those who put their faith in such convolutions, conjurations, or
"principles" of the pagan mind, to wit;
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways [*philosophy,
hermeneutics, theology, and seminary morphosis, ad nauseam], and My thoughts than your thoughts
[*philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, sophistry, morphosis, ad nauseam]." Isaiah 55:9.
"Canst thou by searching{27} find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection{28}?
It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure
thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." Job 11:7-9.
"Wilt thou find out the traces of the Lord? or hast thou come to the end of that which the Almighty
has made? Heaven is high; and what wilt thou do? and there are deeper things than those in hell; what
dost thou know? Or longer than the measure of the earth, or the breadth of the sea." Job 11:7-9 (LXX).
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge{29} of God! how unsearchable{30}
are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" Romans 11:33.
"O depth of riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and
untraceable{31} His ways." Romans 11:33 (Berry).
Therefore, the ways and knowledge of God are far and away beyond the reach of the natural man's
philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, and seminary morphosis. So, the natural man looks to create "a god"
in his own image and likeness using philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, etc., to give the image of truth.
We will end this subject for now where we began in Issue the Forty-seventh concerning the spiritually
dead and the tools of their vain and foolish trade, the Spirit again witnesses, to wit,
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by
His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God [*philosophy,
hermeneutics, theology, and seminary morphosis are excluded]. For what man knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God [*Because the Spirit of Truth is not in hermeneutics, divinations, theology or seminary
morphosis, how is it possible to know the things of God?]. Now we have received, not the spirit of the
world [*hermeneutics, theology, philosophy, sophistry, divinations, or seminary morphosis], but the
spirit [*of Truth] which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned [*not by hermeneutics, theology, philosophy, sophistry, divinations, or seminary
morphosis, ad nauseam--see Job 11:7-9; Isaiah 55:4]. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he
himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But
we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2:9-16.
There is now a 90 page pamphlet on this subject available from the Christ's assembly at
California. This subject will be continued next month.
Endnotes
{{1} "Addeth thereto (ejpidiatassetai). N.T.o . Adds new specifications or conditions to the original covenant, which
is contrary to law. Comp. ejpidiaqhkh a second will or codicil, Joseph B. J. 2:2, 3; Ant. 17:9, 4. The doctrine of the
Judaisers, while virtually annulling the promise, was apparently only the imposing of new conditions. In either case
it was a violation of the covenant." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's Word Studies (1888), vol 4, p. 698.
Also the philosopher and theologician would do well to take the following to heart, to wit,
"in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God." Ecclesiastes
5:7.
{2} The following maxim from the natural man clarifies the above terms "general law" and "law of the land", to wit,
"Le ley de Dieu et ley de terre sont tout un, et l'un et l'autre preferre et favour le common et publique bien del
terre --The law of God and the law of the land are all one; and both preserve and favor the common good of the
land." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2142.
The natural man then bears witness against himself and those who have fallen into apostasy with him, to wit,
"Legem terrae amittentes perpetuam infamiae notam inde merito incurrunt --Those who do not preserve the law of
the land, then justly incur the ineffaceable brand of infamy." Bouvier's Law Dict. (1914), "Maxim," p. 2142.
Note that the natural man never refers to hermeneutics, theology or seminary morphosis for these are not found,
and have nothing, in the Testament to be executed by the bondman in Christ. Note now Genesis 1:28. This is the law
of the land and has never been overruled or repealed by God in Christ Jesus; but, was executed and fulfilled by and in
Him and those who have received Him and become His sons by His Will and not the will of man. These are
admissions that the natural man knows that the only Law capable of being executed by the bondman in Christ is the
Law that brought the land into being--see Genesis 1:1-2. This is the dominion of Christ working in and through His
bondmen. The terms Son of God and Son of man are the keys to understanding this relation for they describe the
Mediatorial capacity or office of the Christ. See John 5:25-27.
{3} "Ignorance of the law. Within the meaning of the presumption that every one knows the law and hence, the rule
that ignorance of the law is not excused, the expression 'ignorance of the law' means ignorance of the laws of one's
own country [*see Hebrews 11:9-16] or state [*status or condition] and it does not extend to foreign laws or statutes
of other states [*status or condition]. Haven v. Foster, 26 Mass. 112, 19 Am.Dec. 353." Ballentine, Ballentine's Self-Pronouncing Law Dictionary (1948), p. 393.
{4} "7385. RIYQ. From 7324; emptiness; figuratively, a worthless thing; adverbially, in vain:--empty, to no
purpose, (in) vain (thing), vanity." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{5} "3045.YADA . A primitive root; to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses,
figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively,
instruction, designation, punishment, etc.) [as follow]: -acknowledge, acquaintance(-ted with), advise, answer,
appoint, assuredly, be aware, [un-]awares, can[-not], certainly, comprehend, consider, X could they, cunning, declare,
be diligent, (can, cause to) discern, discover, endued with, familiar friend, famous, feel, can have, be [ig-]norant,
instruct, kinsfolk, kinsman, (cause to let, make) know, (come to give, have, take) knowledge, have [knowledge], (be,
make, make to be, make self) known, + be learned, + lie by man, mark, perceive, privy to, X prognosticator, regard,
have respect, skilful, shew, can (man of) skill, be sure, of a surety, teach, (can) tell, understand, have
[understanding], X will be, wist, wit, wot." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{6} "The earth shall be filled, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Numbers 14:21). This is the fifth and last occurrence
of this wondrous prophecy:--Numbers 14:21; Psalm 72:19; Isaiah 6:3 (=shall be); 11:9; and Habakkuk 2:14."
Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1269. Five in Scripture has a special significance in that it
represents the Grace of God or Favour toward the unworthy. How is God's Grace or Favour private?
{7} "CONSPIRACY. Conjuratio (the proper word): conspiratio (any association either for good or bad purposes).
To form a conspiracy [vid. to CONSPIRE]: to discover a conspiracy, conjurationem invenire atque deprehendere:
conjurationem detegere (of a non-conspirator): conjuriationem patefacere or prodere (on the part of a member): to
suppress a conspiracy, conjurationem opprimere: privy to a conspiracy, conjurationis conscius, or (from context)
conscius only.
"CONSPIRATOR. Conjuratus: conjurationis particeps or socius: the conspirators, conjurati; conjurationis globus.
"CONSPIRE. Conjurare: conjurationem facere (the proper word): conspirare (to join for a certain purpose in
general). To conspire with any body, conjurare cum aliquo: to conspire against any body or any thing, conjurare
contra aliquem or aliquid: conspirare in aliquem or aliquid; for accomplishing a certain purpose, conjurare de aliqua
re facienda or in aliquid; conspirare in or ad aliquid: to conspire against any body's life, conjurare de aliquo
interficiendo or in alicujus mortem: conspirare in alicujus caedem." Riddle, English-Latin Lexicon (1849), p. 133.
[Emphasis added.] See also Psalm 2:2-3; 5:10; 31:13; 71:10; 83:3; 107:11.
{8} "758. ARCHON. Present participle of 757; a first (in rank or power):--chief (ruler), magistrate, prince, ruler."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"Prince=ruler. Greek archon; applied to Satan as prince of this world (kosmos) three times, here, 14:30, and 16:11; as prince of the demons in Matthew 12:24; Mark 3:22; and as prince of the power of the air Ephesians 2:2. The
same word is used in Revelation 1:5 of the Lord. The prince of this world was a well-known Rabbinical term (Sar ha
olam, prince of the age) for Satan, 'the angel,' as they say, 'into whose hands the whole world is delivered.' See Dr.
John Lightfoot's Works, xii, p. 369." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1551.
"arcwn, one first in power, authority or dominion; hence, a ruler, lord, prince, chief person." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 602.
{9} See KOSMOS, Pages ten and eleven.
{10} "2983. LAMBANO. A prolonged form of a primary verb, which is use only as an alternate in certain tenses;
to take (in very many applications, literally and figuratively [properly objective or active, to get hold of; whereas
1209 is rather subjective or passive, to have offered to one; while 138 is more violent, to seize or remove]):--accept,
+ be amazed, assay, attain, bring, X when I call, catch, come on (X unto), + forget, have, hold, obtain, receive (X
after), take (away, up)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"Received=accepted (from a giver). Not the same word as in verse 11." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion
Bible, p. 1513.
"lambanw, to take, take hold of, apprehend, to take or receive from another [*involves recognition of the Giver]; to
take what is given [*involves recognition of What is being given]; hence, receive, pointing to an objective reception,
(see number seven).
"decomai, to take to one's self what is presented or brought by another, to accept, embrace, receive hospitably;
admit, approve, allow. It implies a subjective reception, showing that a decision of the will has taken place with
respect to the object presented, and that the acceptance manifests it." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon
and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 626.
{11} 1849. EXOUSIA. From 1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, i.e. (subjectively) force, capacity,
competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely, magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control),
delegated influence:--authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength." Strong's Greek Dictionary."
"EXOUSIA; denotes freedom of action, right to act; used of God, it is absolute, unrestricted, e.g., Luke 12:5 (R.V.
marg., "authority"); in Acts 1:7 'right of disposal' is what is indicated; used of men, authority is delegated. Angelic
beings are called "powers" in Eph. 3:10 (cp. 1:21); 6:12; Col. 1:16; 2:15 (cp. 2:10). See AUTHORITY, No. 1, se also
PRINCIPALITY." William Edwy Vine, Expository Dict. of New Testament Words, p. 878.
"exousia, (from exesti, it is allowed, one can, it is permitted, denying the presence of a hindrance) delegated
authority, liberty, or authority to do any thing; combining the two ideas of right and might." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 598.
"exousia is not merely possibility or ability, but legitimate right derived from a competent source--the
Word." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. II, p. 872.
{12} "5043. TEKNON. From the base of 5098; a child (as produced):--child, daughter, son." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
"teknon, that which is born, (from tektw, to bear; like Anglo-Saxon, bearn; Scottish, bairn, from beran, to bear) a child, whether son or daughter; often used as a term of endearment, dear child." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A
Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 717.
{13} "4100. PISTEUO. From 4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by
implication, to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ):-- believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust
with." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"pisteuw, be persuaded, to rely upon, to trust; (not used in the Classics religiously, but nomizo.) The New
Testament conception of faith is (i) a fully convinced acknowledgment, (ii) a self-surrendering fellowship, (iii) a fully
assured and unswerving confidence." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the
English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 95.
{14} "3686. ONOMA. From a presumed derivative of the base of 1097 (compare 3685); a 'name' (literally or
figuratively) [authority, character]:--called, (+ sur-)name(-d)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"onoma, the name by which a person or thing is called. In phrases 'called Simon,' it is literally by name Simon."
Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p.
129.
"Name (onoma). See on Matthew 28:19. Expressing the sum of the qualities which mark the nature or character
of a person. To believe in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, is to accept as true the revelation contained in that
title. Compare 20:31." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. II, p. 873.
{15} "536. APARCHE. From a comp. of 575 and 756; a beginning of sacrifice, i.e. the (Jewish) first-fruit (fig.):--
firstfruits." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"536. ap-archwith a reference to the moral creation effected by Christianity all the Christians of that age called
aparch tij (a kind of firstfruits). James 1:18." Joseph Henry Thayer, Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (1885), p. 54.
"aparch, an offering of first-fruits; then, an offering generally. In New Testament plural, first-fruits which were
consecrated to God, (non occ.)." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English
and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 289.
"FIRSTFRUITS. Noun. Aparche. Denotes, primarily, an offering of firstfruits (akin to aparchomai, to make a beginning; in sacrifices, to offer firstfruits). 'Though the English word is plural in each of its occurrences save Rom.
11:16, the Greek word is always singular. Two Hebrew words are thus translated, one meaning the chief or principal
part, e.g., Num. 18:12; Prov. 3:9; the other, the earliest ripe of the crop or of the tree, e.g., Exodus 23:16; Nehemiah
10:35; they are found together, e.g., in Exodus 23:19, 'the first of the firstfruits.'
"'The term is applied in things spiritual, (a) to the presence of the Holy Spirit with the believer as the firstfruits of
the full harvest of the Cross, Romans 8:23; (b) to Christ Himself in resurrection in relation to all believers who have
fallen asleep, 1 Cor. 15:20, 23; (c) to the earliest believers in a country in relation to those of their countrymen
subsequently converted, Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:15; (d) to the believers of this age in relation to the whole of the
redeemed, 2 Thess. 2:13 (see note below) and Jas. 1:18. Cp. Rev. 14:4.'
"Notes: (1) In Jas. 1:15 the qualifying phrase, 'a kind of,' may suggest a certain falling short, on the part of those
mentioned, of what they might be. (2) In 2 Thess. 2:13, instead of ap'arches, 'from the beginning,' there is an
alternative reading, well supported, viz., aparchen, '(God chose you) as firstfruits.'" William Edwy Vine, Vine's
Expository è Dictionary of New Testament Words.
{16} "7919. SAKAL. A primitive root; to be (causatively, make or act) circumspect and hence, intelligent:
--consider, expert, instruct, prosper, (deal) prudent(-ly), (give) skill(-ful), have good success, teach, (have, make to)
understand(-ing), wisdom, (be, behave self, consider, make) wise(- ly), guide wittingly." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee
Dictionary.
{17} "3384. YARAH. Or (2 Chr. 26:15) yara; {yaw-raw'}; a primitive root; properly, to flow as water (i.e. to rain);
transitively, to lay or throw (especially an arrow, i.e. to shoot); figuratively, to point out (as if by aiming the finger),
to teach: -(+) archer, cast, direct, inform, instruct, lay, shew, shoot, teach(-er,-ing), through." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{18} "1870. DEREK. From 1869; a road (as trodden); figuratively, a course of life or mode of action, often adverb:
-along, away, because of, + by, conversation, custom, [east-]ward, journey, manner, passenger, through, toward,
[high-] [path-]way[-side], whither[-soever]." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{19} "3289. YA`ATS. A primitive root; to advise; reflexively, to deliberate or resolve: -advertise, take advise,
advise (well), consult, (give, take) counsel(-lor), determine, devise, guide, purpose." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee
Dictionary.
{20} "5869. `AYIN. Probably a primitive word; an eye (literally or figuratively); by analogy, a fountain (as the eye
of the landscape):--affliction, outward appearance, + before, + think best, colour, conceit, + be content, countenance,
+ displease, eye([-brow], [-d], -sight), face, + favour, fountain, furrow [from the margin], X him, + humble,
knowledge, look, (+ well), X me, open(-ly), + (not) please, presence, + regard, resemblance, sight, X thee, X them, +
think, X us, well, X you(-rselves)." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary. See also Psalm 36:9; John 4:14.
{21} "4077. PEGE. Probably from 4078 (through the idea of gushing plumply); a fount (literally or figuratively),
i.e. source or supply (of water, blood, enjoyment) (not necessarily the original spring): --fountain, well." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
"phgh, a spring, a well, hence, fount, source, (occurs John 4:6 twice, 11; 2 Peter 2:17)." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 306.
To show the importance in Law of what is related here to us, the natural man admits that the source, cause and
origin of any thing is the principal thing, to wit;
"Unumquodque est id quod est principalius in ipso --That which is the principal part of a thing is the thing itself."
Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2166.
"Causa et origo est materia negotii --The cause and origin is the substance of the thing; the cause and origin of a
thing are a material part of it." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 & 1968), p. 278; Bouvier's Law Dictionary
(1914), "Maxim," p. 2127.
Note now that in John 7:38 Christ declares He is the Fountain of living water, Life itself--for the Law favors the
life of a man.
{22} In this connection it is worthy to note that the Christ is confirming what He had written before, to wit;
"The Divine Spirit is that which formed me [*see Jeremiah 1:5; Isaiah 41:4], and the breath (pneuma) of the
Almighty [*not philosophy, theology, hermeneutics, seminary morphosis] that which teaches me [*see Matthew
11:28-30].." Job 33:4 (LXX).
"The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job 33:4. (KJV)
{23} "phos=light (underived and absolute); the opposite of darkness. Used therefore specially of God (John 1:4,
5; 8:12; 1 John 1:5, &c.)." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, Appendix 130, 1.
{24} "1285. BRIYTH. From 1262 (in the sense of cutting [like 1254]); a compact (because made by passing
between pieces of flesh): -confederacy, [con-]feder[-ate], coven- ant, league." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dict.
{25} "1004. BAYITH. Probably from 1129 abbreviated; a house (in the greatest variation of applications,
especially family, etc.):--court, daughter, door, + dungeon, family, + forth of, X great as would contain, hangings,
home[born], [winter]house(-hold), inside(-ward), palace, place, + prison, + steward, + tablet, temple, web, + within(-out)." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{26} "1081. GENNEMA. From 1080; offspring; by analogy, produce (literally or figuratively):--fruit, generation."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"gennhma, that which is produced, as a child, fruits of the earth; hence, progeny, offspring." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the è English and Greek N T (1908), p. 316.
"Generation. Offspring or brood. Compare 3:7; 23:33." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1335.
"1080. GENNAO. From a variation of 1085; to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother);
figuratively, to regenerate:--bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered of, gender, make, spring."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
The ancestors or predecessors in spirit of these are those who Eve met and to whom she fell prey in Genesis 3.
See also 2 Timothy 3:6.
{27} "2714. CHEQER. From 2713; examination, enumeration, deliberation: -finding out, number, [un-]search(-able,
-ed, out, -ing)." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dict.
"r (1) searching, investigation, Job 34:24. r ]y that which cannot be sought out, Proverbs 25:3; hence used of any
thing that is innumerable, Job 5:9; 9:10; 36:26; also deliberation, Judges 5:16.
"(2) that which is known by investigation, hidden, secret. Job 38:16, ,Oh r 'the most secret recesses of the sea.'
Metaphorically Ol r Job 11:7, i.q. ta baqea tou qeou. [Professor Lee questions the propriety of this comparison on the
ground of the Hebrew construction.]" William Gesenius, Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary (1847), p. 301.
{28} "7093. QETS. Contracted from 7112: an extremity; adverbially (with prepositional prefix) after: --+ after,
(utmost) border, end, [in-]finite, X process." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary.
{29} "33. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge. So both A.V. and Rev., making depth
govern riches, and riches govern wisdom and knowledge. Others, more simply, make the three genitives coordinate,
and all governed by depth: the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge. "Like a traveler who has reached the
summit of an Alpine ascent, the apostle turns and contemplates. Depths are at his feet, but waves of light illumine
them, and there spreads all around an immense horizon which his eye commands" (Godet). Compare the conclusion
of ch 8.
"Wisdom--knowledge (sofiaj--gnosewj). Used together only here, 1 Corinthians 12:8; Colossians 2:3. There is
much difference of opinion as to the precise distinction. It is agreed on all hands that wisdom is the nobler attribute,
being bound up with moral character as knowledge is not. Hence wisdom is ascribed in scripture only to God or to
good men, unless it is used ironically. See 1 Corinthians 1:20; 2:6; Luke 10:21. Cicero calls wisdom 'the chief of all
virtues.' The earlier distinction, as Augustine, is unsatisfactory: that wisdom is concerned with eternal things, and
knowledge with things of sense; for gnwsij knowledge, is described as of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6); Christ Jesus
(Philippians 3:8).
"As applied to human acquaintance with divine things, gnwsij knowledge, is the lower, sofia wisdom, the higher
stage. Knowledge may issue in self-conceit. It is wisdom that builds up the man (1 Corinthians 8:1). As attributes of
God, the distinction appears to be between general and special: the wisdom of God ruling everything in the best way
for the best end; the knowledge of God, His wisdom as it contemplates the relations of things, and adopts means and
methods. The wisdom forms the plan; the knowledge knows the ways of carrying it out." Marvin R. Vincent, Vincent's
New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. III, pp. 168-169.
{30} "419. ANEXEREUNETOS. From 1 (as a negative particle) and a presumed derivative of 1830; not
searched out, i.e. (by implication) inscrutable:--unsearchable." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"anexereunhtoj, which cannot be traced or searched out, inscrutable, (the opposite of "SEARCH," No. 1)."
Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p.
834.
{31} "421. ANEXICHNIASTOS. From 1 (as a negative particle) and a presumed derivative of a compound of
1537 and a derivative of 2487; not tracked out, i.e. (by implication) untraceable:--past finding out; unsearchable."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"anexicniastoj, which cannot be explored, which cannot be tracked or followed out; (LXX for rqx ]ya Job 5:9; 9:10;
34:24), (occurs Romans 11:33)." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English
and Greek New Testament (1908), pp. 834-835
"Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth"
by Ethelbert William Bullinger
The following was originally published in pamphlet form in the 1800's, and has been transcribed from
The Selected Writings of E. W. Bullinger (1960) pages 33-42. This full article is available by download
from the Library (under the file name CUTSTRAT.ZIP).
"There is no subject which can rank with this as of equal importance, if we are to have a right
understanding, or even to approach a right understanding of the Word of God.
This blessed Word comes before us with various titles, and each title which God has given it brings
with its own corresponding responsibility to our hearts. If it is called "the engrafted Word", as it is in
James 1:21, we are to receive it. "Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your
souls." That comes first.
Then it is called in Titus 1:9, "the faithful Word", and as the faithful Word, it is our duty and our
privilege too, to hold it fast-"holding fast the faithful word." Just because it is faithful we can hold it fast
for our soul's peace and our heart's comfort and strength.
Then in Philippians 2:16, it is called "the Word of life." What is our duty to it as the word of life, the
life-giving word? Our duty is to hold it forth; "holding forth the Word of life", so that others may receive
that life which it reveals, and that new life, eternal life, spiritual life, which it imparts.
But then it is called in 2 Timothy 2:15, "the Word of truth"; and with regard to the Word of truth our
duty is to rightly divide it. You see how these responsibilities are divinely perfect. We are not told to
rightly divide "the faithful word". We have to hold it fast. That is all. We are not told to hold fast the
"Word of life". We are told to hold it forth that others may enjoy that life which it brought to us. And that
which concerns us as to the "Word of truth" is the right division of it. This division refers, not merely to
its inward truth, but it embraces even its outward form. Man always thinks he can improve upon what
God has done. He has always got a better way. Whatever he may say, or whatever He may do, man's
thoughts and man's ways are always the opposite of God's. Man will always attempt improvements, but his
improvements always end in his own disaster.
God has given us a way of righteousness, but man has invented a way of his own, and those two ways
are brought before us upon the very fore-front of Revelation, the way of God and the way of man-the one
which Abel took and the other which Cain invented. These are the only ways from that moment to this.
God has given us a "blessed hope" in His Word. "That blessed hope" is not enough for man. He thinks
he can improve upon that. So he has got a "larger hope". God's hope is not large enough for him. And so,
whatever department you may take (even as to God's way of holiness), whatever line you may pursue, man
thinks he can improve upon it, and he always tries to.
Now, as to the outward form of the Word, man has attempted to improve upon God's order and
arrangement. The ancient division, the right division, of the Word of God has come down to us from the
earliest times, and it has been endorsed by the testimony of the Lord Jesus Himself, as consisting of three
great divisions-"the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms." That does not do for man. Man arranges them
differently! He has made four divisions. He retains the Law-i.e. the five books of Moses, the
Pentateuch-(though he is now trying to make six books instead of five, and call it the "Hexateuch"), and
he retains the Prophets, but he has made two new divisions. He has pout the historical books together, and
what he calls the Poetical books!
And then, with regard to the books themselves, they have come down to us in a Divine order and a
Divine number. They have come down to us in twenty-four books. But man has made them into thirty-nine. Twenty-four books did not do for man, so he divides some of them up and makes them into thirty-nine. And then as to the division of the books themselves. They come down to us already divided, and may we not say, rightly divided, for those divisions form part of the text itself. What comes to us was written
almost by the finger of God, written by the agency of men, the Holy Ghost using human instruments; and
the division comes to us with the same authority as the words which are divided.
Those divisions are of two kinds. They are called Open sections and Closed sections, and correspond to
our larger and smaller paragraphs. These come to us with the text, and as part of the text itself, and I
know of no authority which gives me the right to take the one and leave the other. I know of no authority
which can authorize me to take the words and reject the form in which the words come to us. And then
there is a further division, for the Verses are as ancient as any other part of it. I mean the verses of the
Hebrew. They do not correspond to man's verses altogether. Man has got his own verses, of course. He
made them about the middle of the thirteenth century, and at about the same time he invented some other
divisions, which are called chapters, but these are all entirely human, entirely Gentile.
Then there are other divisions which are more human in their origin, but still ancient and Jewish.
These correspond with our ecclesiastical lessons: The Parashyoth and Sedarim answering to our first
Lesson, and the Haphtaroth to our second Lesson. The Parashyoth are peculiar to the Pentateuch alone,
peculiar to the Law. There are fifty-four of these divisions in the five books of the law. The name given to
them and written in most of the manuscripts "Parashyoth" is from "parash", to divide. Of these fifty-four
divisions there are twelve in Genesis, eleven in Exodus, ten in Numbers, ten in Leviticus, and eleven in
Deuteronomy.
And then you have another kind of division running through the whole of the Old Testament. It is
further divided into shorter Lessons, and these are called "Sedarim", from the verb "sadar", to arrange in
order. This is the way in which the Old Testament is arranged with a view to its being read through in
three years; while the other division, or the Parashyoth, is a division of the Law for its being read through
in one year. So you see that the idea of our Bible-reading unions that divides up the whole Bible into
certain portions for every day is no new or modern idea, though it is very different, of course, from these
ancient and authoritative divisions which we have here. There are four hundred fifty-two of these smaller
divisions called Sedarim (one hundred sixty-seven in the Law, two hundred four in the Prophets, and
eighty-one in the other books which are called by the name of the Psalms). The Lord Jesus calls them the
Psalms and they are so called because the Psalms form the first great book in that division.
You see, therefore, what we lose and suffer to-day from wrongly dividing the word of truth, even as to
its outward form. We all suffer from man's attempt at improvement in thus wrongly dividing this precious
"Word of truth". All the divisions of the manuscripts and of the printed Hebrew text faithfully followed
the divisions which have thus come down to us, and it was not until the year 1517 that the Jews first
adopted the Gentile or so-called "Christian" chapters, and disfigured the Hebrew Bible by the pernicious
practice which has been adopted in all subsequent editions. The Complutensian Polyglot was the first to
notice the chapters, but then only in the margin; and the next great edition of the Hebrew Bible, by Felix
Pratensis, marked them in the margin only. He still kept the text in its integrity. It was left for Arias
Montanus, who, in 1517, in a Bible printed in Antwerp, was the first to actually break up the Hebrew text
and to make it conform to the order and to the divisions which man had imposed upon it. This was the
work of Gentiles, and was certainly not "rightly dividing the Word of truth", with which men were
dealing.
But however important the right division of the outward form of the word may be, the right division of
the inward truth is of infinitely greater importance. Just because it is "the Word TRUTH" it is important,
and I believe that just in proportion as we rightly divide it, in that proportion we arrive at the "truth". If
we, as students of this Word, differ in our apprehensions of the truth of God, it arises from the fact that we
do not divide it in the same manner-that not one of us divides it altogether rightly. It is only in that
measure in which we divide it rightly that we can approach the truth. It is "the Word of TRUTH": it is the
fountain of "truth". It not only contains the truth, but it is the truth itself-not merely "the Word" as a
whole, but "the words" which go to make it up. We have the authority of the Holy Ghost for his in
Jeremiah 15:16, where Jeremiah says by the Spirit, "Thy WORDS were found, and I did eat them, and
Thy WORD was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart". And so with our blessed Lord Himself. You
remember in John 17, the closing words of His earthly ministry, the words in which he delivered up His
office of Prophet, when he had finished His work, there was the same three-fold reference to the Word of
truth that you have in the opening of His ministry; for His first ministerial words, the first words of His
office as Prophet, were these: "It is written it is written it is written"-three times repeated. And in His last
words, in which He gave up His office of Prophet, and could say, "I have finished the work which Thou
gavest Me to do," He says, in the seventeenth verse (John 17), "Thy word is truth"; and in the fourteenth
verse, "I have given them Thy word"; and in the eighth verse, "I have given unto them the words which
Thou gavest Me". So I say we not only have to deal with the Word as a whole, but with the words which
make up that Word, and therefore we see the wonderful importance of "rightly dividing" it.
This precept is especially addressed to God's workmen. In verse fifteen of this chapter (2 Timothy 2) we
have God's "workman", and these are the instructions given to God's workman. The "workman" of verse
fifteen corresponds in the structure of the passage with Jehovah "servant" at the end of the chapter. God's
workman has his instructions, and the Lord's servant has his instructions also. He is not to strive with
words with those who oppose themselves. Those who oppose themselves need instruction, and so it says,
"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." If they knew a little more they would not oppose.
And, therefore, the Lord's servant has to be encouraged in instructing those who oppose themselves. But
God's "workman" is to be guided by the great principle of "rightly dividing the Word of truth". In
consequence of this and in immediate connection with it in the context, you have those "who, concerning
the truth, have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already"; so that they did not divide the truth
rightly, you see, with regard to the doctrine of the resurrection.
This word is addressed to God's "workman" for two reasons; first, that he may be approved unto God,
"Study to show thyself approved unto God", to please God; and, secondly, that he may attain to the truth.
Therefore it follows that, if we do not divide it rightly, we can neither find the truth, neither can we please
God as His workmen. Hence you will perceive the wonderful importance of this great and blessed subject.
The phrase "rightly dividing", occurs nowhere else in the whole of the New Testament, and only twice
in the Greek of the Old Testament. As it occurs only twice, you may as well have the passages, because
they will throw light upon the meaning of the word. The first is in Psalm 119:128, where you see the inner
force and meaning of it. "Therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right", i.e. "I
esteem as right all Thy precepts concerning all things", which means I rightly divide off Jehovah's
precepts from the precepts of man. The precepts of man may or may not be right. Jehovah's precepts,
therefore, must be rightly divided and separated off from all other precepts, and they are divided rightly.
Again, in Proverbs 3:6, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct" (the word is thus
translated here), i.e. "He shall rightly divide thy ways". They will only be rightly divided, and they will
only be right, and they will only be pleasing to Him, when they are thus rightly divided off from all other
ways.
So I repeat that we have here more than a hint that, if we do not rightly divide the word, we shall not
find the truth; neither shall we please God in our dealings with that truth; and certainly we shall not be
"approved" unto Him as workmen, but on the contrary we shall be very much ashamed of ourselves. It
says, "a workman that needeth not be ashamed"; and if we do not rightly divide the word, we shall have
great reason to be ashamed.
Now when we come to add the New Testament to the Old, we perceive other phenomena with regard to
the right division of it. The moment you put the New Testament, as we call it, to the Old, you have these
two great divisions. But we have no business with the word "Testament", either as the "Old Testament" or
the "New Testament". Testament is a Latin word and has no connection whatever with the word
"Covenant". When you put the two so-called "Covenants" together we have the whole Bible-the whole
Word of God; and when we look at it as a whole, we notice that all through there is one great subject
running from the beginning to the end, and that is the coming of the Coming One. From Genesis 3:15, the
coming of "the seed of the woman" is the one great subject which develops into the promise and prophecy
of the coming King and His Kingdom. Then in the Gospels we have not so much the beginning of the
New, but we have the completion of the Old Testament. We have the fulfillment of the Old Testament
promise and prophecy, the story of the coming of the King, and the proclamation of the kingdom. We
have, alas! something more-we have the rejection of both. This is the sum and substance of the historical
records of the four Gospels!
And then passing on and over to the Apocalypse, you have the same King and the same kingdom set up
and established with Divine power and judgment, and the fulfillment, too, of all those Old Testament
prophecies concerning the King and the kingdom. But this division, if it is aright one, leaves a large
portion of the New Testament unaccounted for. Hence we have the Epistles coming in between the
rejection of the King and the establishment of the kingdom; and filling up a great gap, a great parenthesis
between the rejection of the kingdom and the establishment of the kingdom in Divine judgment and
power. Further, we have in the Acts of the Apostles, the transitional history between the rejection of the
King in the Gospels and the establishment of the church of God among the Gentiles.
It is customary with most readers of the Scriptures, and the very great majority of Christians, to take all
the Bible as referring to all time and to all persons. They make no division whatsoever! The result must,
of course, be error and confusion, and it cannot be truth. How important, for example, is that we should
divide it according to the three great subjects of the word which concern one or other of three great
divisions of mankind. What God hath separated and divided we must not join together, any more than we
may separate what God has joined together. You have that which concerns "the Jew", that which concerns
"the Gentile", and that which concerns "the church of God" (1 Corinthians 10:32). Now, if we read the
one into the other, and take that which is addressed to the one as though it was addressed to the other, the
result must be confusion, because we are not rightly dividing the great subject matter of the Word. And
then, again, unless in our reading we distinguish between the two covenants, the covenant of Mount Sinai
and the covenant of Mount Sion, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, there must be
confusion. If, in our reading or hearing publicly such Scriptures as the Book of Deuteronomy or the
Prophet Ezekiel we interpret them of ourselves, and do not rightly divide them, we put ourselves
immediately under the covenant of works. We lose sight of our standing in Christ; we lose sight of our
standing in grace, and of all that grace has done for us, and all that grace has given us; and then we get
into confusion as to the truth and into distress as to our peace.
Hence we have to distinguish between the Scriptures even of the New Testament, those that speak of
our "standing", and those that refer to our "state"; those that refer to the position that God has given us in
Christ, and those which relate to our walk before men in this world. If we mix them together, or if we read
the one into the other, there is confusion, there is error, and there is not truth; and we suffer because we do
not rightly divide the Word. Still more important is the error that arises from not rightly dividing the
Word as to its dispensations-as to its times and seasons. Of course this refers only to interpretation, not to
application. Truth is eternal; it is written from the beginning, for example, "I will never leave thee nor
forsake thee"; that is eternally true of God to all His people, and, therefore, though that promise refers, by
interpretation, to the person or persons to whom it was said at the time, there is an eternal application of it
to the very end of time for all who have the Lord for their God; but all application of God's Word must be
governed by the analogy of truth, and we must not take a portion that refers to one people, spoken at one
time, and interpret it as though it referred equally to another people at another time.
Take, for instance, the Sermon on the Mount. What great confusion is caused among Christians, and
especially among infidels, who are never tired of bringing before us the Sermon the Mount. You see, they
do not know any thing about rightly dividing the Word. The so-called "Sermon on the Mount" was spoken
during that part of the ministry of the Lord which was occupied with the proclamation of the kingdom.
But the King and the Kingdom were rejected, and, therefore, those precepts are in abeyance. Precepts
must always be interpreted with reference to the occasion when, and the persons to whom they were given;
and they may be applied to other occasions and persons only so far as may be consistent and in harmony
with them. For example, other precepts given by our Lord during His ministry were abrogated even before
the close of it! He told His Apostles when they proclaimed the kingdom (Matthew 10:7-10), "Provide
neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in you purses; nor scrip for your journey; neither two coats, nor yet
staves"; but after the kingdom had been finally rejected and the King was about to be crucified, He said
(Luke 22:36), "But Now, he that hath a purse let him take it, and likewise his scrip; and he that hath no
sword, let him sell his garment and by one". This proves beyond all controversy that those precepts given
in the Sermon on the Mount refer to the period during which the kingdom was being proclaimed, and will
apply again only when the time shall come to preach, "the Gospel of the Kingdom" (Matthew 24:14).
Meantime they are in abeyance, while the kingdom itself is in abeyance. When the kingdom is on the
point of being set up, what does it matter to the proclaimers of it whether they have two coats or one,
purse or no purse, scrip or no scrip? All will be theirs directly when the King is enthroned.
Our lot is cast during the days when the kingdom is rejected, and therefore the precepts which refer to
the period of its proclamation must not interpreted of ourselves. We have our special precepts as members
of "the church of God", given us by the same Lord and Christ after He had ascended up into glory in the
Pauline Epistles and addressed to the churches. We, therefore, who have our standing in Christ, have
nothing to do with that Sermon on the Mount, by way of interpretation. All the truth and all the Divine
principles which are in it we can apply, of course, to ourselves, but all the special precepts are in abeyance
until the kingdom shall be again proclaimed. So that if we are to obey the words of Christ, we are directed
to hear, not those words in the Sermon on the Mount (which are now postponed), but the words which the
Spirit has specially addressed to the churches in the Epistles especially sent and written for their
instruction and guidance.
And so with other passages: with Matthew 24, for example, which refers to the great Tribulation. If we
read that into the present dispensation, and take what is said there as being for our guidance, there will be
only confusion and error. We must not read a subsequent revelation into a previous revelation which is
perfectly complete without it, which can be perfectly well understood, and which was perfectly well
understood by those to whom it was addressed. And if we do read a subsequent revelation into a previous
one, we only introduce both confusion and error.
And now, of course, time fails to illustrate the way in which this important principle may be applied to
such a subject, for example, as the Resurrection; rightly dividing what is said concerning the resurrection
of "Christ, the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming, and then the end"; utterly doing
away with the modern and erroneous idea of a so-called "general resurrection", which assumes that all
who have died will rise at one and the same time.
Rightly dividing also what it says with regard to the JUDGMENTS in 2 Corinthians 5, in Matthew 25,
and in Revelation 20, which each takes place under different circumstances, and at different times; and
with regard to different persons, with different rewards and awards. You can see how far-reaching and
how important is the great principle involved in "rightly dividing the Word of truth."
And it is a dividing word, dear friends, as well as a word to be divided. It is a word which divides us.
We have not only to rightly divide the Word, but this Word rightly divides us. It pierces even to the
dividing asunder of joints and marrow. It divides us in ourselves; it divides us collectively amongst one
another. That is true of us to-day, as it was true in the days when our Lord was upon earth. It says, "There
was a division among the people because of Him".
The Spiritually Dead
and the tools of their trade
Part Four
written solely by the Grace of God in and through our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
by John Joseph and Randy Lee
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are at the end of this article)
If men needed only hermeneutics (the letter, and not the Spirit), theology and seminary morphosis,
what was the cause for Christ's revelation (not conjecture, theory, speculation, interpretation,
presupposition, ad nauseam) of Him? For what cause would the Christ have sent the Comforter to guide
us? Bear witness, if you can. The Spirit witnesses, to wit;
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.Who
hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?" Job 38:4 & 36.
See also Jeremiah 31:33.
"Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Tell Me now, if thou hast knowledgeAnd who has given to
women skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery?" Job 38:4 & 36 (LXX).
"Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it." Job
40:2.
"Will any one pervert judgment with the Mighty One? and he that reproves God, let him return it for
answer." Job 39:32 (LXX).
"Because the foolishness{1} of God is wiser than men [*and their philosophy, hermeneutics, theology and
seminary morphosis]; and the weakness{2} of God is stronger than men [*and their philosophy,
hermeneutics, theology and seminary morphosis]." 1 Corinthians 1:25.
Further, the Spirit of God witnesses that hermeneutics, theology, and seminary morphosis are dead and
quench the Spirit, and not to be used by the bondman in Christ, to wit;
"Who also hath made us able{3} ministers {4} [*executors{5}] of the new testament; not of the letter{6}, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life [*see also Hebrews 4:12; John 6:68]." 2 Corinthians 3:6.
It is God Who makes His ministers--not seminaries. See also John 1:12.
"who also made us competent servants [*executors] of a new covenant; not of letter, but of Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens [*see also Hebrews 4:12; John 6:68]." 2 Corinthians 3:6 (Berry).
Note the glaring lack of seminary certificates, diplomas, or qualifications to be a competent minister
(executor) of the Word of God for Him Who calls, for all called and chosen by Him are His ministers--not
those who graduate with consciences seared in the fires of Molech evidenced by sheepskins burned with
letters, (Th.D., LL.D., D.D., Ph.D., ad nauseam) on them. What letters did Peter and John present to the
Sanhedrin when they were brought before it? The Spirit witnesses, to wit;
"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned{7} and
ignorant{8} men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus [*not
with the ways of the world]. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that
they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all
nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the
sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard [*Bear witness of the hermeneutics or theology used in this simple answer].
So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them,
because of the people: for all men glorified God [*see Matthew 5:16] for that which was done." Acts 4:13-20.
What degree did or does Christ give you? And note that they could not prove they had knowledge of
any thing in particular. But Peter and John could prove that the Pharisees had knowledge of God and the
Christ, for they were with the Christ when He testified against them, and that they had studied the
Scriptures. There is always joinder in Law through the Word of God that no man escapes. And, this is the
Achilles heel of those who are of the world because they cannot escape the Testimony of God. See Romans
1:16-20--"for they are without excuse."
Further, the Word of God corroborating the Spirit, witnesses, to wit;
"It is the Spirit that quickeneth [*see also Hebrews 4:12; 2 Corinthians 3:6]; the flesh [*and its works of
scholasticism, philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, and seminary morphosis] profiteth nothing [*see also
Galatians 6:8] the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit [*not philosophy, hermeneutics, theology,
reason, theory, logic, ad nauseam], and they are life [*and give Life not death]. But there are some of you that
believe not [*the theologicians, schoolmen, those seminary morphosed of His day and our day]. For Jesus
knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him." John 6:63-64.
"The Spirit it is which quickens, the flesh profits nothing [*see also Galatians 6:8]; the words which I
speak to you, Spirit are and the life are; but there are of you some who believe not. For Jesus knew from
beginning who they are who believe not, and who is he who shall deliver Him up." John 6:63-64 (Berry).
The Spirit of God witnesses that hermeneutics, philosophy, theology and seminary morphosis are vain
babblings and confusion, to wit;
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a
reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." Ecclesiastes 9:5.
"In Thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion." Psalm 71:1.
"Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow{9} [*that which has
appearance of Truth] of Egypt your confusion [*that builds the prison of sin]." Isaiah 30:3.
And those who put their trust in such dead convolutions are just like those dead convolutions, the Spirit
bearing witness, to wit;
"our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the
work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears,
but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they,
but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is
every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the LORD [*not in theology, hermeneutics--all
divinations--the ways of the heathen]: He is their help and their shield." Psalm 115:3-9.
"The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not; eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their
mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them." Psalm 135:15-18.
The Christ also chided the hermeneutically sound theologians and the seminary morphosed of His day,
the Word bearing witness, to wit;
"And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in
the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest
thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings thou hast perfected praise?{10} And He left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and He
lodged{11} there." Matthew 21:15-17.
And He shortly thereafter bore witness that they were spiritually dead;
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites{12} for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which
indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." Matthew
23:27.
And He also exposed their spiritually dead seminary doctrines, to wit:
"While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, 'What think ye of Christ? whose
Son is He?' They say unto Him, 'The Son of David.' He saith unto them, 'How then doth David in spirit call
Him Lord, saying, 'The LORD said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy
footstool?' If David then call Him Lord, how then is He is Son? And no man was able to answer Him a word,
neither durst any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions." Matthew 22:42-46. See also Mark
12:35-37; Luke 20:41-45. Note the number of this account--three.
And again, He bore witness that their hermeneutically sound theological doctrine is and was without
power, and therefore, dead, to wit:
"And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?
But they held their peace. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to
save life, or to kill?{13} But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with
anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he
stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway
took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him." Mark 3:4-6.14
"Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful{15} on the sabbath days to do good{16},
or to do evil{17}? to save life{18}, or to destroy{19} it? And looking round about upon them all, he said
unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored{20} whole{21} as the other.
And they were filled with madness{22}; and communed{23} one with another what they might do to Jesus
[*the Way, the Truth, and the Life--John 14:6; and the light of the world--John 9:5]." Luke 6:9-11.
In other words, the pharisees witnessed that their philosophy, hermeneutics, and theology were opposed
to the Word of God.{24}
And again, He bore witness that they were thieves of God's inheritance and that those in and of Him did
not and do not hear them;
"All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them [*and their
hermeneutically sound theological doctrines of death]." John 10:8. [*See also Ezekiel 34:1-3; Matthew 23:14
(devour widows' houses); 2 Timothy 3:5-7].
And again, He bore witness that they were blind leaders knowing nothing, having only a smattering of
knowledge, not of God, but of men, and therefore not the Truth,
"Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but
whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and
swallow a camel." Matthew 23:16 & 24.
And again, He bore witness that they hounded the flock of Christ to make merchandise of them, by
destroying them, and to create more theologically-correct seminary morphosed Pharisees like themselves,
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and
when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell{25} than yourselves." Matthew 23:15.
And again, He bore witness that they were of the evil one sowing bad seed of philosophy, hermeneutics,
and theology; and that they were leading others to their destruction, through their hermeneutically sound
Spiritually dead theology, the Word bears witness, to wit;
"Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they
heard this saying? But He answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall
be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Matthew 15:12-14.
And again, He bore witness that their doctrine was adulteration of the Word of God, and that we His
bondmen are to avoid their ways, to wit;
"Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the
Sadducees.How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not
beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." Matthew 16:6, 11 &
12.
"And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of
Herod{26}." Mark 8:15.
"In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that
they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the
Pharisees, which is hypocrisy{27}." Luke 12:1.29
And again, He bore witness that they had not the witness of God our Father either in their works or in
them because they never heard Him, to wit;
"And the Father Himself, which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of Me. Ye have neither heard{28} His
voice{29} at any time, nor seen His shape{30} [*for God is a Spirit--they were natural men not having
received the things of the Spirit of God--see 1 Corinthians 2:14]." John 5:37.
How do we know the pharisees were seminary morphosed hermeneutically sound theologians? The
Spirit through our Brothers writing the Glad Tidings witnessed the Trial of our Master before the chief
priests of the Sanhedrin composed of them, and later before Pilate. Also, the Spirit speaking through
Brother Stephen bears witness, to wit;
"Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians,
and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to
resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned{31} men, which said, We have heard
him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
"Then said the high priest, Are these things so?Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host
of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts
and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch{32},
and the star of your god{33} Remphan{34}, figures which ye made to worship them [*philosophy,
theology, theory, speculation, presupposition, opinion, dogma, ad nauseam]: and I will carry you away
beyond Babylon.When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with
their teeth." Acts 6:9-11 & 7:1, 42-43, 54. See also Amos 5:26-27.{35}
Dead hermeneutics, theology, and seminary morphosis are not knowledge in and of God; they are a
smattering of or pretension to knowledge--sciolism. Who, then, will be entering the kingdom of God?
The Word witnesses;
"And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3.
"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me: for of such is the kingdom of
heaven." Matthew 19:14.
"But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in
my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the
second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the
will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the
publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of
righteousness [*not philosophy, theology, hermeneutics, and seminary morphosis], and ye believed him not:
but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye
might believe him." Matthew 21:28-32.
"Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the
will of My Father which is in heaven." Matthew 7:21. [*See also Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35; Romans 8:29.
When was it our Father's will to follow the ways of the heathen?]
Those who put their faith in such fables, tales, fictions, ipsal dixal, vain babblings, Irish evidence,
absurdities, vulgarities, pretensions and smatterings of knowledge found in hermeneutics, theology and
seminary morphosis are cut off from the Promise, the Spirit and the Word witnessing, to wit;
"And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them." Isaiah 3:4.
"A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." Jeremiah 17:12.
"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions [*see Genesis 1:28], and over all the
power of the enemy [*philosophy, theology, hermeneutics, seminary morphosis]: and nothing shall by any
means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice,
because your names are written in heaven. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight." Luke 10:19-21.
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour [*through the acceptance of the things or
ways of the world--philosophy, theology, hermeneutics, seminary morphosis], wherewith shall it be salted? it
is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." Matthew 5:13.
Not those who put their faith in dead philosophy, hermeneutics, theology and seminary morphosis--the
ways of the heathen--again the Word witnessing,
"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness{36} shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes{37} and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:20.
"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing
forth the fruits thereof." Matthew 21:43.
"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them
and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation [*KJV marginal note: outward
show--morphosis]:" Luke 17:20.
This is the deadly record of philosophy, hermeneutics, theology and seminary morphosis--powerless to
give Life and therefore it is death being of sin. See Romans 14:23 and Romans 6:23 because it is from the
forbidden tree--Genesis 2:17.
"Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see [*by divinations,
i.e. philosophy, hermeneutics, theology, theory, sciolism, prognostication, speculation, dogma,
presupposition, ad nauseam]; therefore your sin remaineth." John 9:41.
What was the sin Christ referred to? Their empty and deceitful self-righteousness, the mark of Cain
(see Genesis 4). The Spirit and the Word bearing witness, to wit:
"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain{38}; for the LORD will not hold him
guiltless that taketh His name in vain." Exodus 20:7. [*See also Deut 5:11].
"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be
heard for their much speaking." Matthew 6:7.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence
make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation." Matthew 23:14.
"And He said unto them in His doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing,
and love salutations in the marketplaces, And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost
rooms at feasts: Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall
receive greater damnation." Mark 12:38-40.
Therefore, place not your faith in the ways of the heathen, i.e. divinations, a.k.a. hermeneutically sound
theology, which the natural man learned during the days of captivity in Egypt, Babylon, and later under
the Romans (see Pages thirteen and fourteen).
In all the reading and searching the Scripture, we have never found where God's people ever had
seminaries. We have read where the pagans had seminaries and places of worship; the bondman of Christ
Jesus needs none of them, for he and his brethren, His Body, are the temple of the Holy Ghost of God and
the Spirit dwells within them, not in or from places made with the hands of men. See Acts 7:48; 17:24;
19:26; 2 Corinthians 5:1.Hebrews 9:11 & 24.
"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am
the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:31.
"Ye shall not attend to those who have in them divining spirits, nor attach yourselves to enchanters,
to pollute yourselves with them: I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 19:31 (LXX).
Endnotes
{1} "3474. MOROS. Probably from the base of 3466; dull or stupid (as if shut up), i.e. heedless, (morally)
blockhead, (apparently) absurd:--fool(-ish, X -ishness)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{2} "772. ASTHENES. From 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4599; strengthless (in various applications,
literal, figurative and moral):--more feeble, impotent, sick, without strength, weak(-er, -ness, thing)." Strong's Greek
Dictionary.
{3} "2427. HIKANOO. From 2425; to enable, i.e. qualify:--make able (meet)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"hikanow, to make sufficient, or fit, to make competent, to qualify." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical
Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 19.
{4} "1249. DIAKONOS. For which see DEACON and Note there on synonymous words, is translated 'servant' or
'servants' in Matt. 22:13 (RV marg., 'ministers'); 23:11 (RV marg., ditto); Mark 9:35, KJV (RV, 'minister'); John 2:5,
9; 12:26; Rom. 16:1." William Edwy Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
"1249. DIAKONOS. Probably from an obsolete diako (to run on errands; compare 1377); an attendant, i.e. (genitive
case) a waiter (at table or in other menial duties); specially, a Christian teacher and pastor (technically, a deacon or
deaconess):--deacon, minister, servant." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{5} "Testament is an appointment [*see John 13:18 & 15:16] of some person [*bondman in Christ], whom we call an
executor, to administer them for him after his death. For without naming executors, or [*168] if they all refuse it, it is
no will at all;therefore executors represent the person of the testator [*note John 10:30]." Finch, Law or a
Discourse Thereof (1767), pp. 167-168.
"Things accessory [*His bondmen] are of the nature of the principal [*the Christ in whose name they are sent].
Finch, Law, b. 1, c. 3, n. 25." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1957 & 1968), p. 1650.
{6} "gramma, a picture, literally, the written, i.e. something written or cut in with the stylus in the ancient manner of
writing, a letter of the alphabet; hence, any thing written, a writing, a bill, bond, note, letter." Ethelbert William
Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 451.
{7} "62. AGRAMMATOS. From 1 (as negative particle) and 1121; unlettered, i.e. illiterate:--unlearned." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
"Unlearned (agrammatoi). Or, very literally, unlettered. With special reference to Rabbinic culture, absence of
which was conspicuous in Peter's address." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies.
{8} "2399. IDIOTES. From 2398; a private person, i.e. (by implication) an ignoramus (compare 'idiot'):--ignorant,
rude, unlearned." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"Ignorant=obscure. Greek idiotes. Literally unprofessional. Only here, 1 Corinthians 14:16, 23, 24." Ethelbert
William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1584.
"Ignorant (idiwtai). Originally, on in a private station, as opposed to one in office or in public affairs. Therefore,
one without professional knowledge, a layman; thence, generally, ignorant, ill-informed; sometimes plebeian,
common. In the absence of certainty it is as well to retain the meaning given by the A. V., perhaps with a slight
emphasis on the want of professional knowledge. Compare 1 Corinthians 14:16, 23, 24; 2 Corinthians 11:6." M. R.
Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies.
In light of the foregoing, the Pharisees knew that,
"Ignorantia praesumitur ubi scientia non probatur--Ignorance is presumed when knowledge is not proved."
Ballentine, Ballentine's Self-Pronouncing Law Dictionary (1948), p. 394.
{9} "6738. TSEL. From 6751; shade, whether literal or figurative:--defence, shade(-ow)." Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee
Dictionary.
{10} See the Septuagint (LXX) for this quote--it does not read this way in the KJV. Did the Christ establish
the KJV by this quote?]
{11} "Lodged=passed the night (in the open air)." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1356. [*This
implies a temporary location--not a residing].
{12} "5273 HUPOKRITES. Hypocrite. Corresponding to the above, primarily denotes 'one who answers'; then, 'a
stage-actor'; it was a custom for Greek and Roman actors to speak in large masks with mechanical devices for
augmenting the force of the voice; hence the word became used metaphorically of 'a dissembler, a hypocrite.' It is
found only in the Synoptists, and always used by the Lord, fifteen times in Matthew; elsewhere, Mark 7:6; Luke 6:42;
11:44 (in some mss.); 12:56; 13:15." William Edwy Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
"Hypocrites (upokritai). From uJpokrinw, to separate gradually; so of separating the truth from a mass of
falsehood, and thence to subject to inquiry, and, as a result of this, to expound or interpret what is elicited. Then, to
reply to inquiry, and so to answer on the state, to speak in dialogue, to act. From this the transition is easy to assuming, feigning, playing a part. The hypocrite is, therefore, etymologically, an actor." Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1891), vol. I, p. 150.
{13} The question of the Christ is a familiar one to the natural man. The natural man knows from his own maxims
that,
"La ley favour la vie d'un home--The law favors the life of a man." Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed., 1957 & 1968),
p. 1014.
Therefore, the issue before the pharisees was the same one in Genesis 3 and the one James presents to us in his
epistle: "Show me your faith without your works [*a pretension of faith], and I will show you my faith by my works
[*a working living faith in Spirit and Truth]." Because the pneuma of God is life, Christ was showing us here that
theology has not life and is incapable of giving life because it opposes God, the Giver of all Life. Christ also testifies
to us that,
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they
might have it more abundantly." John 10:10.
Theology, then, is a tool of a thief. See also 1 Kings 18 and Acts 19.
{14} Christ was fulfilling what the Pharisees of His day and our day could not and can not by their doctrines of
vanity, to wit,
"Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the
LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with
strange vanities? The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved [*note the fig tree where Christ
passed by seeking fruit!]. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken
hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my
people recovered?" Jeremiah 8:19-22.
{15} "1832. EXESTI. Third person singular present indicative of a compound of 1537 and 1510; so also exon {ex-on'}; neuter present participle of the same (with or without some form of 1510 expressed); impersonally, it is right
(through the figurative idea of being out in public):--be lawful, let, X may(-est)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{16} "15. AGATHOPOIEO. From 17; to be a well-doer (as a favor or a duty):--(when) do good (well)." Strong's
Greek Dictionary.
{17} "2554. KAKOPOIEO. From 2555; to be a bad-doer, i.e. (objectively) to injure, or (genitive) to sin: --do(ing)
evil." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{18} "5590. PSUCHE. from 5594; breath, i.e. (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient
principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from 4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the
other from 2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the
Hebrew 5315, 7307 and 2416):--heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"5590. PSUCHE. gen. psuches, fem. noun from psucho (5594), to breathe, blow. Soul, that immaterial part of man
held in common with animals. One's understanding of this word's relationship to related terms is contingent upon his
position regarding Biblical anthropology. Dichotomists view man as consisting of two parts (or substances), material
and immaterial, with spirit and soul denoting the immaterial and bearing only a functional and not a metaphysical
difference. Trichotomists also view man as consisting of two parts (or substances), but with spirit and soul
representing in some contexts a real subdivision of the immaterial. This latter view is here adopted. Accordingly,
psuche is contrasted to soma (4983), body, and pneuma (4151), spirit (1 Thess 5:23). The psuche, no less than the sarx (4561), flesh, belongs to the lower region of man's being. Sometimes psuche stands for the immaterial part of
man made up of the soul (psuche in the restrictive sense of the life element), and the spirit pneuma. However animals
are not said to possess a spirit; this is only in man, giving him the ability to communicate with God. Also breath
(Sept.: Gen 1:30; Job 41:12), and in the NY, usually means the vital breath, the life element through which the body
lives and feels, the principle of life manifested in the breath." Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the
New Testament (1992), pp. 1494. [*Compare Strong's Hebrew-Chaldee Dictionary number 5315 (w, nephesh).
Accordingly, the soul is the receiver of the Spirit of God through Christ; or the spirit of Satan through anti-Christ].
{19} "622. APOLLUMI. From 575 and the base of 3639; to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or
figuratively:--destroy, die, lose, mar, perish." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{20} "600. APOKATHISTEMI. From 575 and 2525; to reconstitute (in health, home or organization): --restore
(again)." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{21} "5199. HUGIES. From the base of 837; healthy, i.e. well (in body); figuratively, true (in doctrine): --sound,
whole." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{22} "454. ANOIA. From a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and 3563; stupidity; by implication, rage: --folly,
madness." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{23} "1255. DIALALEO. From 1223 and 2980; to talk throughout a company, i.e. converse or (genitive case)
publish:--commune, noise abroad." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
{24} Note the following from Job, and this is why the Christ was angry with them,
"How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?" Job 26:2. [*An
arm that has no strength is a withered arm].
This exposes their non-execution of His righteousness and the execution of their self-righteousness and self-aggrandizement. Clearly hermeneutics, theology and seminary morphosis are powerless to execute His Testimony.
See also Ezekiel 34:4.
{25} "1067. GEENA. Of Hebrew origin [1516 and 2011]; valley of (the son of) Hinnom; ge-henna (or Ge-Hinnom),
a valley of Jerusalem, used (figuratively) as a name for the place (or state) of everlasting punishment:--hell."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"geenna, Gehenna. [Greek for cntyn, Ghi-Hinnom, or valley of Hinnom, Joshua 15:8, where was the scene of the
Moloch worship tpt (tophet, i.e. abomination.) 2 Chronicles 33:6; Jeremiah 2:23; 7:31; 19:6 &c. Hence desecrated by
Josiah, 2 Kings 23:10. The name was not derived from the worship of Moloch, but from the later use of the burning
of carrion, by means of ever-burning fire, Jeremiah 31:40; Isaiah 66:24; Malachi 4:1, with Luke 17:29, 30; Matthew
13:40,) for the notion of a devouring judgment fire, which was current prior to the possible employment of Gehenna
in this sense, (Leviticus 10:2; Numbers 16:35; 2 Kings 1, &c.)]." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 367.
"1067. HELL. Noun. Geenna. Represents the Hebrew Ge-Hinnom (the valley of Tophet) and a corresponding
Aramaic word; it is found twelve times in the NT, eleven of which are in the Synoptists, in every instance as uttered
by the Lord Himself. He who says to his brother, Thou fool (see under FOOL), will be in danger of 'the hell of fire,'
Matt. 5:22; it is better to pluck out (a metaphorical description of irrevocable law) an eye that causes its possessor to
stumble, than that his 'whole body be cast into hell,' v. 29; similarly with the hand, v. 30; in Matt. 18:8, 9, the
admonitions are repeated, with an additional mention of the foot; here, too, the warning concerns the person himself
(for which obviously the 'body' stands in chapt. 5); in v. 8, 'the eternal fire' is mentioned as the doom, the character of
the region standing for the region itself, the two being combined in the phrase 'the hell of fire,' v. 9. To the passage in
Matt. 18, that in Mark 9:43-47, is parallel; here to the word 'hell' are applied the extended descriptions 'the
unquenchable fire' and 'where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.' That God, 'after He hath killed, hath
power to cast into hell,' is assigned as a reason why He should be feared with the fear that keeps from evil doing,
Luke 12:5; the parallel passage to this in Matt. 10:28 declares, not the casting in, but the doom which follows,
namely, the destruction (not the loss of being, but of well-being) of 'both soul and body.' In Matt. 23 the Lord
denounces the scribes and Pharisees, who in proselytizing a person 'make him two-fold more a son of hell' than
themselves (v. 15), the phrase here being expressive of moral characteristics, and declares the impossibility of their
escaping 'the judgment of hell,' v. 33. In Jas. 3:6 'hell' is described as the source of the evil done by misuse of the
tongue; here the word stands for the powers of darkness, whose characteristics and destiny are those of 'hell.' For
terms descriptive of 'hell,' see e.g., Matt. 13:42; 25:46; Phil. 3:19; 2 Thess. 1:9; Heb. 10:39; 2 Pet. 2:17; Jude 13; Rev.
2:11; 19:20; 20:6, 10, 14; 21:8. Notes: (1) For the rendering 'hell' as a translation of hades, corresponding to Sheol,
wrongly rendered 'the grave' and 'hell,' see HADES. (2) The verb tartaroo, translated 'cast down to hell' in 2 Pet. 2:4,
signifies to consign to Tartarus, which is neither Sheol nor hades nor hell, but the place where those angels whose
special sin is referred to in that passage are confined 'to be reserved unto judgment'; the region is described as 'pits of
darkness.' RV." William Edwy Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
"GEHENNA. The Greek transliteration of the Aramaic gehinnam, which itself goes back to the Hebrew ge
hinnom: 'Valley of Hinnom' (also 'valley of the son (sons) of Hinnom'; cf. II Chr. 28:3; II Kings 23:10, etc). Original
reference was to a valley to the south and west of Jerusalem. Near where this valley joined the Kidron Valley, on the
south and east, was Topheth, early site of Baal worship and the abominable practice of sacrifice of children to Molech
(cf. II Kings 16:3 and 21:6 for involvement respectively of Ahaz and Manasseh; and II Kings 23:10 for condemnation
by Josiah, the reformer king). In Jer. 7:32 and 19:6 is the prophecy that this place of shame will become the place of
punishment by God.
"Because of such associations, by the first century B.C. gehenna came to be used metaphorically for the hell of
fire, the place of everlasting punishment for the wicked. This understanding is discernible in Jewish apocalyptic
literature (e.g. II Esd. 7:36). Talmudic literature abounds in references to gehenna with fascinating opinions, e.g., that
the depth of gehenna is immeasurable or that the sinner is relegated to a depth commensurate with his wickedness.
References to a fiery hell are found in both Philo and Josephus and also in the Qumran literature.
"Of the twelve occurrences of gehenna in the NT eleven are in the Synoptic Gospels and one in James. All the
Synoptic references are to words of Jesus and have the same meaning as above. In addition to the word itself, scholars
agree that there are several occurrences of the concept, e.g., Matt. 25:41 and Rev. 20:4. Gehenna shares some
common ground with Hades/Sheol; however, the latter is more consistently the interim abode of both good and bad
souls after death prior to judgment, while gehenna is the final and everlasting place of punishment for the wicked
following the last judgment.
"The numerous references to gehenna tell forcefully against a doctrine of universalism. Attempts to soften or
ignore this material concerning the lot of those who refuse to repent of sin constitute distortion of the biblical witness.
V. CRUZ. See also ETERNAL PUNISHMENT; HELL; HADES; SHEOL. Bibliography. H. Bietenhard, NIDNTT, II,
205-10; L. Blau, Jewish Encylopedia, V, 582-83; H. Buis, The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment; L. Morris, The
Biblical Doctrine of Judgment." Elwell's Evangelical Dic tionary.
"HINNOM, VALLEY OF. Known also as the valley of the son of Hinnom or of the children of Hinnom. A valley
at Jerusalem, near the gate of potsherds (Jer. 19:2, R.V. marg.; not east gate as in the A.V.). The boundary between
Judah and Benjamin passed from En-rogel to the valley of the son of Hinnom to the s. side of Jerusalem, and thence
to the top of the mountain which faces the valley of Hinnom from the w., and is at the outermost part of the vale of
Rephaim (Josh. 15:8; 18:16). If the term 'shoulder of the Jebusite (the same is Jerusalem)' includes the hill on the w.
of the Tyropoeon Valley, and not merely the Temple hill; in other words, if the term denotes the plateau which juts
out s. between the great encircling wadies, and which was not only crowned by the citiadel of the Jebusites, but also
occupied by their dwellings without the walls and by their fields, then the description in the Book of Joshua identifies
the valley of Hinnom with at least the lower part of the valley which bounds Jerusalem on the s., and is now known
as the wadi er-Rababi, near its junction with the ravine of the Kidron. At the high place of Tophet, in the valley of
Hinnom, parents made their children pass through the fire to Molech. Ahaz and Manasseh were guilty of this
abomination (2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6). Jeremiah foretold that God would visit this awful wickedness with sore judgment,
and would cause such a destruction of the people that the valley would become known as the valley of slaughter (Jer.
7:31-34; 19:2, 6; 32:35). Josiah defiled the high place to render it unfit for even idolatrous rites and thus to stop the
sacrifices (2 Kings 23:10). From the horrors of its fires, and from its pollution by Josiah, perhaps also because offal
was burnt there, the valley became a type of sin and woe, and the Heb. name Ge ben-Hinnom (in Ge-Hinnom),
corrupted into Gehenna, passed into use as a designation for the place of eternal punishment." Westminster Bible
Dictionary (1944), p. 247.
"the child of hell=a son of Gehenna. A Hebraism=Gehenna's people." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion
Bible, p. 1362.
This is the prison that Isaiah 61:1-3 refers to and from which all who have received Him and do His Will are set
at liberty, their righteousness being of Him alone, and not the dead of the Valley of Hinnom and its hermenutically
sound seminary morphosed.
{26} "2264. HERODES. Compound of heros (a 'hero') and 1491; heroic; Herod, the name of four Jewish
kings:--Herod." Strong's Greek Dictionary. [*This says it all concerning "hero-worship"=Herod worship].
{27} "5272. HUPOKRISIS. Hypocrisy. Primarily denotes 'a reply, an answer' (akin to hupokrinomai, 'to answer');
then, 'play-acting,' as the actors spoke in dialogue; hence, 'pretence, hypocrisy'; it is translated 'hypocrisy' in Matt.
23:28; Mark 12:15; Luke 12:1; 1 Tim. 4:2; the plural in 1 Pet. 2:1. For Gal. 2:13 and anupokritos, "without
hypocrisy," in Jas. 3:17, see DISSIMULATION." William Edwy Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
{28} "191. AKOUO. A primary verb; to hear (in various senses): --give (in the) audience (of), come (to the ears),
([shall]) hear(-er, -ken), be noised, be reported, understand." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"akouw, to hear, intransitive, to have the faculty of hearing; transitive, to hear, perceive with the ears; to give ear,
listen; to hear, i.e., to learn by hearing, be informed." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 360.
{29} "5456. PHONE. Probably akin to 5316 through the idea of disclosure; a tone (articulate, bestial or artificial);
by implication, an address (for any purpose), saying or language:--noise, sound, voice." Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"fwnh, a sound, a tone, as given forth or uttered; hence, a voice, a cry." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 850.
{30} "1491. EIDOS. From 1492; a view, i.e. form (literally or figuratively):--appearance, fashion, shape, sight."
Strong's Greek Dict- ionary.
"eidoj, the thing seen, external appearance, form, shape." Ethelbert William Bullinger, è A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 690.
"Voice-Shape. Not referring to the descent of the dove and the voice from heaven at Jesus' baptism, but generally
and figuratively to God's witness in the Old Testament Scriptures. This is in harmony with the succeeding reference
to the word." M. R. Vincent, Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1888), vol. II, p. 960.
{31} "SUBORN. hupoballo 5260, "to throw or put under, to subject," denoted "to suggest, whisper, prompt";
hence, "to instigate," translated "suborned" in Acts 6:11. To "suborn" in the legal sense is to procure a person who
will take a false oath. The idea of making suggestions is probably present in this use of the word." Vine's Expository
Dictionary of Biblical Words.
{32}"Molech. Always has the article (except 1 Kings 11:7, which is probably a copyist's omission) denoting the king,
or the king-idol." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 159.
"IDOLS OF THE MIND. The four idols distinguished by Francis Bacon are the idols of the tribe, den, market, and
theatre. Idols in this sense are eidola, the transient, and therefore to Bacon erroneous, images of things. (I) Idols of
the tribe are general tendencies to be deceived, inherent in our nature as human beings. They include uncritical
reliance on sense perception, and tendencies to over-generalize or jump to conclusions and ignore countervailing
evidence against our views. (II) Idols of the den are distortions arising from our particular perspectives (the metaphor
is that of Plato's myth of the cave); the corrective is to remember that whatever our mind 'seizes and dwells upon with
peculiar satisfaction is to be held in suspicion.' (III) Idols of the market-place are errors that come in the course of
communication with others: misunderstanding arising through abuses of words. (IV) Idols of the theatre are the errors
introduced by theories: the abstract schemata of Aristotelianism, and the introduction of theological notions into
science. Bacon here compared philosophical and religious systems to theatrical, and therefore fantastical,
representations of the world." Oxford's Dictionary of Philosophy (1994), p. 186.
{33} "the star of your god, or, your star-god." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1239. (B)
{34} "REMPHAN, Acts 7:43, and CHIUN, Amos 5:26 have been supposed to be names of an idol worshipped
secret ly by the Israelites in the wilderness. Much difficulty has been ocasioned by this corresponding occurrence of
two names so wholly different in sound. The most reasonable opinion seems to be that Chiun was a Hebrew or
Semitic name, and Remphan an Egyptian equivalent substituted by the LXX [*Septuagint.]. This idol corresponded
probably to Saturn or Molech. The mention of Chiun or Remphan as worshipped in the desert shows that this
idolatry was, in part at least, that of foreigners, and no doubt of those settled in lower Egypt." William Smith, Smith's
Bible Dictionary, p. 561.
"CHIUN. The Egyptian or Greek equivalent was Remphan (Sept. Raiphan; anothe r spelling preserved in the Sept. and in Acts 7:43)." Ethelbert William Bullinger, Companion Bible, p. 1239.
{35} The avoidance of religion keeps the church as it is meant to be:
"CHURCH. The word church and its synonyms. The church is designated in Scripture sometimes by the Greek term
ecclesia (hence French eglise), sometimes by figures of speech. Ecclesia was current in the Hellenistic world for the
regular assemblages of a particular social group or even of the whole population (cf. Acts 19:39f.). But ecclesia was never used by the Greeks in a religious context. For religious meetings they employed other terms, not one of which is retained in the New Testament to signify the church.
"For the mission of the church is not that of withdrawing from the world [*aion--the age] but of being present
within the world to con- è vey to it the summons of God. The church is by definition the opposite of a sect of the
Pharisaic kind [*creeds, confessions, articles of faith, ad nauseam]." Vocabulary of the Bible (1958), pp. 50-51.
{36} "dikaiosunh, the doing or being what is just and right; the character and acts of a man commanded by and
approved of God, in virtue of which the man corresponds with Him and His will as His ideal and His standard; it
signifies the sum total of all that God commands and approves. As such it is not only what God demands, but what He
gives to man, and which is appropriated by faith; and hence it is a state called forth by God's act of justification, viz.,
by judicial deliverance from all that stands in the way of dikaioj." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon
and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 648.
{37} "1122. GRAMMATEUS. From 1121. a writer, i.e. (professionally) scribe or secretary:--scribe, town-clerk."
Strong's Greek Dictionary.
"grammateuj, a writer, a scribe (latin) lxx. for rpc, the king's scribe, Secretary of State, 2 Samuel 8:17; 20:25.
Military clerk, 2 Kings 25:19; 2 Chronicles 26:11. Later, in lxx. and New Testament a scribe, i.e. one skilled in the
Jewish law, an interpreter of the Scriptures, a lawyer. They are also called nomikoi, nomodidaskaloi. Compare Mark 12:28 with Matthew 22:35. So, lxx. for cyrp]c, 1 Chronicles 27:32; Ezra 7:6; Nehemiah 8:1. Hence, one
instructed, a scholar, a learned teacher, (occurs Acts 19:35--townclerk)." Ethelbert William Bullinger, A Critical
Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (1908), p. 670.
{38} "7723. SHAW; this masc. noun is probably derived from the same Hebrew root as sho (7722). It means
nothingness, emptiness, vanity, any thing which disappoints the hope which rests upon it (Job 15:31; Ps 31:6; Mal
3:14); falsehood (Job 31:5; Ps 12:2; 41:6), lying, vainness, 'in vain' (Jer 2:30; 4:30; 6:29), sin wickedness, iniquity
(Job 11:11; Is 5:18); calamity, destruction (Job 7:3; Is 30:28). The term designates any thing which is
insubstantial, unreal [*pretence, fiction or lie], or worthless (whether materially or morally [*full of dead men's bones]). Taking the name of the Lord 'in vain' (Ex 20:7; Deut 5:11) is a very serious matter in deed. Not only does
shaw mean profanity or swearing falsely, but it also includes using the Lord's name (reputation) lightly or without
thinking (cf. Matt 12:31, 32, 36, 37). It could even mean habitual, rote, verbal expressions used in prayer (cf. 'meaningless repetition,' Matt 6:7). The Sept. translated it as epi mataio [1909, NT]; mataios [3152, NT],
'thoughtlessly.' It is interesting that two meanings are found in the same verse (Job 15:31)." Zodhiates, Complete
Word Study, Old Testament (1994), p. 2371.
"7723. DECEIT. Saw 'deceit; deception; malice; falsity; vanity; emptiness.' The 53 occurrences of saw deceit are
primarily in poetry.
"The basic meaning of this word is 'deceit' or 'deception,' 'malice,' and 'falsehood.' This meaning emerges when saw
deceit is used in è a legal context: 'Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness' (Exod. 23:1).
Used in cultic contexts, the word bears these same overtones but may be rendered variously. For example, in Ps. 31:6
the word may be rendered 'vain' (KJV, 'lying'), in the sense of 'deceitful' (cf. Ezek. 12:24). Eliphaz described the
ungodly as those who trust in 'emptiness' or 'deception,' though they gain nothing but emptiness as a reward for that
trust (Job 15:31)." William Edwy Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament Words.
The Unincorporated Church so-called
Part Two
by Randy Lee
"Many wait on the favour of rulers; but justice comes to a man from the Lord." Proverbs 29:26
(LXX).
We must first point out that when our Lord was offered, by Satan, the glory and powers of the
kingdoms of the world, recorded for our edification at Luke 4:5-8, the word for world written
down by the Spirit of God there, in the Greek, is oikoumenh, or oikoumene (oy-kou-men'-ay),
meaning the Roman Empire, to wit:
"3. oikoumene=the world as inhabited. It is from the verb oikeo= to dwell. It is used of the
inhabitable world, as distinct from the kosmos. Hence, it is used in a more limited and special sense of
the Roman Empire, which was then predominant. See Luke 2:1; 4:5; 21:26." The Companion Bible,
Appendix 129, page 162.
"Luke 4:5, the world (phn oikoumenh). Lit., the inhabited (land). The phrase was originally
used by the Greeks to denote the land inhabited by themselves, in contrast with barbarian countries;
afterward, when the Greeks became subject to the Romans, the entire Roman empire." Vincent's
Word Studies on the New Testament, page 266.
And Satan revealed whose domain the glory and power of the Roman Empire belongs to and is
dispensed by:
"And the devil said unto Him, All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them: for that is
delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it." Luke 4:6
And we must remember our Lord's response to the offer:
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind Me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Luke 4:8
Therefore, it is mandatory that we, just as He has shown to us by example, must refuse and
avoid the things of the world; those self-designed and self-gratifying glories and powers of the
Roman Empire.
In this portion on the subject of The Unincorporated Church (so-called), we will evidence the
fact that if and when a particular "Church" or "individual" partakes of the commercial modes and
instruments (sorceries, see Isaiah 47 and Revelation 18) "created" by the Babylonian and Roman
merchants of the earth (their created purpose always being "for the sake of personal profit"), it
gives that necessary "appearance of evil" which the State, (knowingly or unknowingly) being God's
rod of correction, looks for in its regulating capacity.
The intrusion by the State into the affairs of the subject "Church," or in their language,
"religious society," is justified under the world's lex mercatoria; for the esoteric modes and
instruments (sorceries) of that system of man's law are private in nature, being an abomination
unto the Lord and the partakers of them ultimately destroyed by Him (see Isaiah 23 & 47,
Ezekiel 27, Hosea 12, Nahum 3, Zephaniah 1, and Revelation 18).
The lex mercatoria's sorceries are from the natural man (Satan's ministers), and are therefore
foreign law to the Law of our Father:
"FOREIGN LAW. The laws of a foreign country, or of a sister state. People v. Martin, 38 Misc.Rep.
67, 76 N.Y.S. 953; Bank of Chillicothe v. Dodge, 8 Barb.(N.Y.) 233. Foreign laws are often the
suggesting occasions [*from the whisperer] of changes in, or additions to, our own laws, and in that
respect are called 'jus receptum.' Brown." Black's Law Dictionary (4th. ed. 1957), pp. 775-776.
Being received and accepted modes and instruments (sorceries) of the world, they are already
under the regulation of the State previous to being partaken of; for, as Luke 4:6 shows us, it is
Satan's domain. When used, the user automatically becomes regulatable according to the ways of
the world. Until it is understood that those modes and instruments (sorceries) belong to, and are
regulated by, a private law, the partakers of them will continue to err in their ways.
The following short example of the history of the law merchant may give a helpful insight into
its origins and the implications of using its dead tools. For a more detailed account of its history,
see Issue the Thirty-ninth of The Christian Jural Society News:
"THE LAW MERCHANT. Although much of the present law of sales, partnerships, insurance and
bankruptcy is derived from the customs and usages of the law merchant (lex mercatoria), the law of
negotiable instruments was, undoubtedly, the most remarkable development of the law merchant. The
Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law to this day provides that "In any case not provided for in this act
the rules of the law merchant shall govern." (Section 196, N.I.L.)
"The law merchant, or mercantile law, was the comprehensive body of privately administered
rules and customs enforced as law by merchants throughout the medieval commercial world, and,
especially, in the Italian city-states. Each market, fair and seaport had local merchant courts where a
jury of merchants would settle controversies with efficient dispatch upon the basis of mercantile
custom. From Italy, the law merchant spread to England, where it gradually underwent a
centralization." Teevan and Smith, Business Law (1949), vol. II, p. 329-330.
And we find in its history that it is a product of the Roman Empire:
"The merchants of the Italian city states and of the cities that were members of the Hanseatic
League rejuvenated general European trade in the 12th and 13th centuries following its almost total
abandonment after the Fall of Rome. These traders took precepts from the ancient law of the Roman
Empire, adapted them to their times, and created customs of trade and ways of doing business, that
became accepted among the merchants of all Europe, and hence this body of business or commercial
law obtained the name Law Merchant.
"The law of agency, sales, negotiable instruments, insurance, carriage, debt, guaranty, stoppage in
transit, liens, partnership, and bankruptcy was made by these traveling international private
merchants." Stone, Smith, Frank, Romig, Fundamentals of Business Law (1950), p. 8.
We are told, not in the King James version, but in the Septuagint, that:
"Evil ways are before a man, and he does not like to turn away from them; but it is needful to turn
aside from a perverse and bad way." Proverbs 22:14
And again from Proverbs, and again conspicuously missing from the King James, we are
warned:
"If thou sit to sup at the table of a prince [*Satan is the prince of this world], consider attentively the
things set before thee: and apply thine hand, knowing that it behoves thee to prepare such: but if thou
art very insatiable, desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life." Proverbs 23: 1-3 (LXX)
As stated in last month's article on this subject, some of the insatiable desires, or major
sorceries partaken of in that false life are:
Bank accounts, check writing, debt based credit, receipts, employees, and salaried pastors.
These are just a few of the major engagements that are condemned by the Word of God. Why?
Because they all represent "wants," not "needs." Only the discontented partake of the insatiable
desires of their "wants":
"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be
content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:11-13
And without the poetic license of the King James, we see, through the literal words in the Greek,
a clear spirit:
"Not that as to destitution I speak; for I learned in what I am, content to be, And I know to be brought low, and I know to abound. In everything and in all things I am initiated both to be full and to hunger, both to abound and to be deficient. I am strong for all things in the Christ Who empowers me."
The "wants" attempted to be satisfied by the ways of the Roman Empire's law merchant all
represent allegiance to the ways of the world, and are not representative of "the old paths," which,
at Jeremiah 6, we are admonished to walk in. And also at Proverbs we are warned:
"Become not surety from respect of a man's person. For if those have not whence to give compensation, they will take the bed under thee. Remove not the old [*eternal] landmarks, which thy fathers placed. It is fit that an observant man and diligent in his business should attend on kings, and not attend on slothful men." Proverbs 22: 26-29 (LXX).
[For a short example of how the old paths have been abandoned in modern times by the
slothful, see Pages fifteen and sixteen in this Issue]. And,
"(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not
see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:" Roman 11:8-9.
Table; at Romans 11:9. Put by Fig. Metaphor for material prosperity." The Companion Bible, page
1684.
And we are instructed on the nature of one who reverences and attends on the slothful men of the
lex mercatoria:
"He that shares with a thief, hates his own soul; and if any having heard an oath uttered tell not of
it, fearing and reverencing men have been overthrown, but he that trusts in the Lord shall rejoice. Ungodliness causes a man to stumble: but he that trusts in his Master shall be safe. Many wait on the favour of rulers; but justice comes to a man from the Lord." Proverbs 29: 24-26.
(LXX)
-------------------------
We will now evidence the relationships that are created through partaking of the sorceries of the
lex mercatoria, and the resulting repercussions:
Bank Accounts
Again, it is recorded for our edification in the books of Matthew, Mark, and John, our Lord
revealing to us the true nature of those who engage in business for personal profit, one of them
being banking, to wit:
"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple,
and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." Matthew 21:12-13 (see also Mark 11:15-17 and John 2:13-16)
It must first be noted that those whom He engaged in this account were a "den of thieves
(robbers)" before they entered the Temple; bringing their activities inside of the Temple only
transferred the den from the outside, to the inside.
To evidence that "the den of thieves" are, in fact, the bankers and their banks, we see the first
word above that is highlighted is "table," the original word in the Greek being Trapeza, (trapeza)
meaning:
"5132. Trapeza, (trapeza) a table, an eating table, Matt. 15:27; Mark 7:28; Heb. 9:2; by impl. a
meal, feast, Rom. 11:9; 1 Cor. 10:21; a table or counter of a money changer, Matt. 21:12, a bank,
Luke 19:23; by impl. pl. money matters, Acts 6:2." The New Analytical Greek Lexicon, p. 411.
"5132 trapeza (trap'-ed-zah); probably contracted from 5064 and 3979; a table or stool (as being
four-legged), usually for food (figuratively, a meal); also a counter for money (figuratively, a
broker's office for loans at interest): Strong's Concordance.
The second (set of) words highlighted above is "money changers," the original word in the Greek
being kollubisthj, (kollubistes), meaning:
"2855 kollubisthj, -ou, o, (fr. kollubuoj (i.q. a. a small coin, cf. koloboj clipped; b. rate of
exchange, premium), a money-changer, banker: Mt. xxi. 12; Mk. xi. 15; Jn.ii. 15." Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, page 353.
"1.kollubistes (kollubisthj, 2855), from kollubus (lit., "clipped), "a small coin or rate of change" (koloboo signifies "to cut off, to clip, shorten," Matt. 24:22), denotes "a money-changer," lit., money-clipper, Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15." Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, page 96.
Concerning John 2:14, Vine adds:
"In the court of the Gentiles, in the temple precincts, were the seats of those who sold selected and
approved animals for sacrifice, and other things. The magnitude of this traffic had introduced the
bankers' or brokers' business, <John 2:14>." Ibid.
And in Matthew, a second Greek word meaning money-changer is:
"5133. Trapeziths (Trapez-it-hs) A money changer, broker, banker, who exchanges or loans money for a premium, Matt. 25:27." The New Analytical Greek Lexicon, p. 412.
And the same connection of the "den of robbers" is recognized in the secular dictionaries:
"Bank. n. 1. Orig., the table, counter, or place of business of a money changer; now, the building or
office used for banking purposes." Webster's New International Dictionary (1935), page 178.
And we must note the difference between thieves and robbers:
"Mat. 21:13, Thieves. Correctly, robbers. In classical usage mostly of cattle. The robber, conducting
his operations on a large and systematic scale [*the Federal Reserve System], and the aid of bands
[*member banks], is thus to be distinguished from the thief who purloins or pilfers whatever comes to
hand. A den would be appropriate to a band of robbers, not to thieves." Vincent's Word Studies on the
New Testament, Vol. 1, page 215.
Considering the above, we see that our Lord revealed to us for our instruction, edification, and
comfort, that "the den of robbers," or more specifically, "the bankers," are an abomination unto the
Father, and therefore are never to be allowed within the Temple--that new Temple being His
body, His assembled:
"Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the Temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the Temple of God is Holy, which Temple ye are." 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
The defilement of His Temple by those who partake of the ways of "the den of robbers" becomes
obvious when we see the relationship created thereby:
"The relation between a bank and a depositor therein is that of debtor and creditor." Bank of Marin
v. England, Cal., 385 U.S. 99.
"It has been said that a certificate of deposit amounts to a loan by a depositor to the bank for an
agreed period of time at a specific rate of interest." Spratt v. Security Bank of Buffalo, 654 P.2nd 130.
"A deposit creates a contract." Petersen v. Cartensen, 249 N.W.2d 622
"A signature card constitutes a contract." Western Assur. Co., Inc. v. Star Financial Bank of
Indianapolis, C.A(Ind.), 3 F.3d 1129
"Contract. A promise or set of promises constituting an agreement between the parties that gives
each a legal duty to the other..." Lamoureux v. Burrillville Racing Ass'n, 91 R.I 94.
But we are warned and instructed by the Spirit of God to:
"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."
Romans 13:8-14
And, it has also been written:
"Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts." Proverbs 22:26
And:
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as
God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My
people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
But, when consorting with the den of robbers, we further see that:
"The relation between a bank and a depositor therein is generally not that of agent and principal,
although it has also been said that the bank discharges its obligation as a debtor subject to the rules
obtaining between principal and agent, and that a bank's authority to receive money on behalf of a
customer derives from its authority to act as the customer's agent." Department of Retirement Systems
v. Kralman, 867 P.2d. 643
The condemnation of the above, and the hardness of the hearts of those who love in vain the
things of that world and reject the Suretyship of the Sure Foundation, is clearly seen:
"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement;
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our
refuge, and under falsehood [*that false life] have we hid ourselves:
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a
precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
And your covenant with death shall be disannuled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand;
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." Isaiah 28:15-18
We will now look at evidence showing the lawlessness of the lex mercatoria's
employee/employer relationship disclosed to us by the natural man, and the implications created
thereby when a bondman in and of Christ or an area church becomes either an employee or an
employer. These disclosures also apply to a salaried pastor:
"The relation of employee and employer is that which arises out of a contract of employment,
express or implied, between a master or employer, on the one hand, and a servant or employee, on the
other." Ohio Casualty Ins. Co. v. Capolino, 65 N.E. 2d.
When that express or implied contract is entered into, the State becomes the regulating master
through their Imperial decrees:
"It is one of the functions of the State to decree the legal consequences that shall attach to a
contract of employment made within the state, regardless of a stipulation of the parties" Miller v.
National Chair Co., 22 A.2d 804.
"The relationship of employer and employee is substantially the same as that of master and servant."
Pennsylvania Cas. Co. v. Elkins,70 F.Supp. 155.
"In its broadest sense the term "servant" includes any person over whom personal authority is
exercised (Toronto v. Hattaway, 122 So. 816) or who exerts himself or labors for the benefit of a
master or employer (In re Caldwell, 164 F. 515); and anyone who works for, and under the direction
or control of, another for salary or wages." Kiser v. Suppe, 112 S.W. 1005.
"In a more restricted sense a servant has been defined to be a person employed to labor for the
pleasure or interest of another; especially, in law, one employed to render service or assistance in some
trade or vocation, but without authority to act as an agent in place of his employer (Rendleman v.
Niagra Spray Co., 16 F.2d 122); one who is employed to render personal service to his employer
otherwise than in the pursuit of an independent calling and who in such service remains entirely
under the control and direction of the other, who is called his master." Brosius v. Orpheum
Theater Co., 60 P.2d 156.
When entering into a contract of employment, both the employer and employee also enter into a
contract with the police State, and are thereby militarily bound by the benefit/duty relationship
between them and the State:
"Statutes that preclude a contract for personal service are for the benefit of the employee, and are in the nature of police regulations or expressions of public policy." Shaughnessy v. D'Antoni, 100 F.2d
422; Hill v. Missouri Pac. Ry. Co. 8 F.Supp. 80.
In America, the prerequisite for a police regulation to apply to a given situation stems from "the
permanent state of national emergency" instituted by F. D. R. in 1933, which made all "persons"
within the U. S. government's territory "alien enemies" and therefore subject to the Trading with the
Enemy Act. But the behavior of those "persons" must align with certain criteria for the Act to take
effect in a given situation:
"Residence or doing business in a hostile territory is the test of an 'alien enemy' within meaning of
Trading with the Enemy Act and Executive Orders thereunder. Executive Order March 11, 1942, No.
9095, as amended, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix 6; Trading with the Enemy Act 5 (b)." In re Oneida Nat.
Bank & Trust Co. of Utica, 53 N.Y.S.2d 416, 420, 421, 183 Misc 374.
From the above, we see that residency is a major factor in the State's police regulating capacity
against persons. But what constitutes residency:
"There are three concepts of especial importance in connection with the presence of a person within
a state: residence, domicile, and citizenship. Residence implies something more than mere transient
visitation. It involves a more or less fixed abode but ignores the intent of continuance or political
affiliation.
Every natural person has a domicile. A domicile of choice is acquired by the concurrence of
physical presence (usually residence) and an intent to make the place his more or less permanent
home."The National Law Library, published by Collier, Volume III p. 358 footnote.
From the above, we see that one who resides is deemed to be a natural person (natural man).
The determination of residency is based on the prerequisite of a permanent home. What is a
home?:
"Home: That place or country in which one in fact resides with the intention of residence, or in which he has so resided, and with regard to which he retains either residence or the intention of residence." Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), p. 1449.
"Home: That place in which one in fact resides with the intention of residence, or in which he has so resided, and with regard to which he retains residence or to which he intends to return. Place where a person dwells and which is the center of his domestic, social and civil life." Restatement of Conflicts, Second, 12.
And in the State's taxing scheme, we find that business and residency are of utmost importance:
"Since travel expenses of an employee are deductible only if the taxpayer is away from home, the
deductibility of such expenses rests upon the definition of 'tax home.' The IRS position is that 'tax
home' is the business location, post or station (military terms) of the taxpayer." Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Ed., page 1461.
Next month, by the Grace of God, we will continue this subject, and look into
alternatives to banking, employee/employer relationships, residency, etc.
The Power of His Word
by Joseph Robert
Our Brother, Joseph Robert, now sojourning in the area of Washington state, or thereabouts, sent us
the following three accounts of his encounters while sojourning in a place called The State of Arizona in
previous times. We hope and pray that all are edified by the testimony given, showing that the Power of
the Word does, in fact, slay the principalities and powers of the world.
In 1976 "my world" as a "human being" was falling apart. So I "hit the highway" as a "hitchhiker." My
biggest fears (remember the story of Job in the Old Testament) were perverts and thugs in uniform.
Perverts were easy, I simply said "the next stop is mine" and got out of the car. Police, well, they were
something else. I hitchhiked from 1976 until 1994, at which time I stopped asking men for a ride, and
began to ask God, who has, without a doubt, always provided me with the spiritually correct ride.
Over the years I never went to jail or got roughed up, but I did get intimidated and was left feeling
"emotionally raped." Something wasn't right; I could just feel it in my bones.
By 1994 my relationship with God was beginning to truly develop, and as such I began to ask Him for
more advice and information on this "legal" dilemma that was troubling me, which was about "I.D." and
its "law." At first I tried to "travel" without any "I.D." (and sometimes not), but I was always being
confronted by Johnny Good Boy only to end up never completely satisfying their curiosity; for they were
never satisfied. Always, they wanted to know more. They were just like a machine: how old are you?
when were you born? what's your address, etc. I then tried getting them to agree up front by asking them
if they would be content with just the name?
Then in 1996, no doubt in response to my prayers to the Lord to help me with this matter, a ride
opened my eyes with knowledge and information about "sovereign citizen" stuff. He was associated with
the "freemen" of Montana at the time. At first it seemed to work, but right away I was beginning to find
flaws in their "system." Besides, you had to carry a lot of paperwork quoting codes, rules, and regulations.
Still in search of the truth, I was directed by this same man to the Jural Society in California. Once I
discovered the true nature of I. D., through them, I set out to test it by going to my nemisis, the State of
Arizona.
Arizona has, in my book (and in the book of the local people there), the epitome of the Gestapo
resurrected in the United States. Arizona has on its statutes a bazaar "law" that says in effect, that when
an officer asks for I.D. and you don't present it, they can arrest you, even if you're doing everything else
"legal" according to their "law." To accommodate them, I generally remain behind the "No Pedestrian"
sign located on the freeway on-ramps; or, as is the case of the account in Oro Valley (read on), I walk
facing the traffic on a busy street.
The following are accounts of recent dealings with Johnny Good Boy and Jilly Good Girl of the
Arizona Highway Patrol and the Oro Valley Police and Sheriff near Tucson, Arizona.
-------------------------
In the seventh month of the one thousand and nine hundred and ninety eighth year of our Lord and
Savior Jesus the Christ I was waiting for my ride on the on-ramp of Dysart Road and Interstate ten, about
twenty miles west of Phoenix, when hear came two Johnny Good Boy's in the guise of the Arizona
Highway Patrol. As they stepped out of the car I could see one was the senior officer and the other
appeared to be a young rooky in training, and I had the feeling that I was supposed to be his next lesson.
"Good morning," said the senior officer.
"Greetings and salutations in the name of our sovereign Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ," I said.
"Do you have any I.D.?" was his response in a gruff voice.
So that we all knew we were talking about the same thing, I begin by defining what it is the man was
looking for.) I said:
"Identification: that which is used to describe the status of the holder as a citizen, resident, driver--
(they were starting to nod their heads),-- operator, passenger, pedestrian-- ("yeh, yeh," he murmured),--
hitchhiker-- ("got any," he said?);-- none of which I am; and for me to have such a thing would falsely
describe me and disparage my father God. But, I do have something better..."
"What's that?," again in a gruff voice.
I continued, "I have here the Holy Scriptures which describes me as a good and lawful Christian."
"Where are you going?" said one.
"Wherever my Lord and Master leads me," said I. At which point, the senior officer turned to the junior
officer and said:
"We're not going to get anywhere here." Then turning to me he said:
"Have a nice day sir," and they turned to walk away. Halfway to their car, the senior officer turned to
me and said:
"And don't go beyond that sign (pointing to one of six "NO PARKING" signs along the ramp, not
realizing I was already standing at the "NO PEDESTRIANS" sign.
I do believe he was left a little confused by my responses.
-------------------------
It was the fourth month of the one thousand nine hundred and ninety ninth year of our Lord and Savior
Jesus the Christ.
Oro Valley, Arizona.
A blessed and comfortable warm day, and Johnny Good Boy was out in force stopping people left and
right. So in hopes of being left alone, I decided to walk facing the traffic. And no sooner thinking that I
didn't want to be harassed, here she came, Jilly Good Girl with red and blue lights aflashin'. When I saw
her coming, I got out my glasses and Bible and waited for her.
"Good morning," she said.
"Greetings in the name of our sovereign Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ," said I.
Her response - "Do you have any I.D.?"
My response - "Identification: that which describes the status of the holder as a person, resident,
citizen,-- (she began to nod her head)-- driver, operator, passenger....
"Yeah," she said as I continued.... pedestrian, hitchhiker... "Yeah," she said again, "do you have any..."
and I continued, "none of which I am."
Her chin fell to her chest with mouth wide open. As she stood there with her mouth agape, I said:
"But I do have something better..."
"What's that," she said.
"The holy scriptures (holding up my Bible) describes me as a Good and Lawful Christian, are you?"
"Yes," she said.
With this being her answer, the Spirit of God put the following response on my lips:
"Good, maybe you would like to sit down and discuss the Scriptures for a moment.
With her heart being hardened to this, she said, "Some other time. What's your name?"
At that time, there was only one answer to such a question:
"Name: the note, mark, or symbol of something given by those in authority only to those in subjection,
and I am only in subjection to my Lord and Master Jesus the Christ. Only my Father knows my name, for
it is written in His book of Life; but if you call me Joseph Robert, I will respond.
"Well Joseph Robert, what's your last name?"
Standing fast in the Word, I could only respond-- "No, no. You don't understand. I don't have a
name, but if you call me Joseph Robert, I will respond.
For the next several minutes she kept pounding away at this "name" thing. Finally, she said, "Well you
had a family name at one time, didn't you?" To which I had to honestly say, "yes."
"What was it?" she asked.
"Emmett," I said. "And that's with a colon between the "Joseph Robert" and the "Emmett."
By now, a second Jilly Good Girl had arrived and was standing next to the first one. This second one, I
thought at first, was a supervisor of some kind.
Their military noose began to tighten:
"If you don't show me some I.D. I'm going to have to arrest you."
Again, our Shield and Buckler was with me-- "You do what you must. I can only tell you what our
Lord and Master has said."
"What's that?"
With the Lord beginning to open her heart with this question, I was moved to say, "Not to fear those
who can harm the body, but fear only Him who has the power to cast both body and soul into hell."
By this time, a third officer, a Johnny Good Boy, had arrived and sat on the front fender of the lead car
observing the goings on.
At that point, our "Good and Lawful" Christian "girl" asked me, "Is there anybody here (in Tucson or
Oro Valley) who can verify who you are?"
Again, the Spirit of God bearing witness, "My Father knows me, and if you knew my Father as you say
you do, then you already know me, for he sends me. The Holy Spirit knows me, and all of the saints of
heaven bear witness and I bear witness of myself. Which, even you must admit, makes it a majority.
Without showing any "emotion," she continued to pound away, "Where do you live?"
"Wherever our Lord and Master sends me."
Unrelenting, she asked, "Where did you sleep last night?"
"In the bushes," said I.
"What bush? There's lot's of bushes around here."
"Would you like to see?," I asked.
"No. Just tell me where."
With no purpose to conceal, I said, "Near the local shopping center."
Having satisfied her curiosity, she moved on to, "How old are you?" The only answer being, "I don't
know."
"Well," she continued in a perturbed tone, "when were you born?"
Again, the only answer being, "I don't know, I wasn't exactly conscious at the time, and my Father has
never told me. Besides, in your law, that's hearsay and irrelevant."
She, of course, tried to convince me otherwise but I wasn't going to volunteer to be the fiction she
wanted me to be, so I remained in the Truth.
At this point, she left me with her "sister" officer and went back to her car and the other officer to call
in for advice, no doubt, and to see if there was something to arrest me for, other than just being one of
their "usual suspects" walking down the street minding the Lord's business.
During this break in the "action," I turned to the "sister" and ask her, "What's this all about? I don't
quite understand. Even in your law I was doing no wrong, so why all of the hoopla and commotion?"
In typical bureaucratic fashion, her response was, "I don't know, you'll have to ask the initiating
officer." (With this, I knew she was not a supervisor).
I said, "Well, I'm here to execute Christ's Testament and bear witness to somebody, so perhaps you're
here for that purpose. Her eyes got real big when those words were spoken. So I continued:
"How are you with the Lord?
"Oh, I'm ok," she said in a low voice.
"Well, that doesn't sound too enthusiastic," said I. "Do you go to "Church" or something?
"No," she said, "I don't have time. I'm a working single mother with two jobs and a seven year old
boy."
For the next couple of minutes her and I developed a good rapport and were in good spirits when the
first officer returned.
"Well, you can go Joseph Robert," she said.
"Of course," said I, and turning to the second "sister" standing there, I said, "be sure and take some
time to study, if not for yourself, then for the boy's sake."
Wishing them a Good day in the Lord, they left, and I continued on to go where the Lord led me.
-------------------------
The next day...
About twenty five miles north of Oro Valley in a deserty place where the nearest house is about two
miles away it was just me and the jackrabbits having a long wait on a blessed day for the next ride, and
along came another Johnny Good Boy from the sheriff's patrol.
On went the flashing lights.
Out came the Bible.
He got out of his car and started with "good morning," which is always their way of getting you off
guard.
"Greetings and salutations in the name of our sovereign Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ," said I.
And, of course, he said "Got any I.D.?"
And, of course, I said "Identification, that which describes the holder as a citizen, resident, driver,
operator-- (his head was beginning to nod)-- passenger, pedestrian, hitchhiker--
"Got any?"
--none of which I am, and for me to have such a thing would falsely describe me and disparage my
Father God, for it is written, thou shalt not bear false witness. But, I have something better."
"What's that?"
"I have here the Holy Scriptures which describe me as a Good and Lawful Christian. Are you?"
"Yes. What's your name?"
And again, "Name: a name is a note, mark or symbol of something given by those in authority only to
those in subjection, and I am only in subjection to our Lord and Master Jesus the Christ. My name is
written in the Book of Life, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and known only to my Father God. However, if you
call me Joseph Robert, I will respond.
And again, "Well, Joseph Robert, what's your last name?"
"As I have said, I don't have a name, but if you call me Joseph Robert, I will respond."
This officer could not get past "the name thing," and finally used his radio to call in to see if there were
any warrants. While waiting, he had the audacity to say to me, "I'm not here to harass or hurt you."
I could only bite my lip and say, "right."
I was tempted to say more but thought otherwise under the circumstances. The radio dispatch said, "we
have no warrants or wants for Joseph Robert, but we do have one for a Joseph Robert Davis." The officer
looked at me with a sardonic grin and said,
"Well, Joseph Robert Davis..."-- thinking that he had me. But I simply said, "nope, not me."
He was a little puzzled but had nowhere to go with it, made a few notes on his pad, and said "have a
nice day," and left the scene.
I do not mind telling you that each one of these experiences has had my heart pounding in my chest and
my knees, and sometimes my whole body shakes. Everything shakes but my neck and mouth which are
calm and smooth. I usually continue to shake for five or ten minutes after the incident. I attribute all of
this shaking to the movement of the Holy Spirit through me. Each one of these experiences has left me
with the stark realization that the Word, and Work, of God does "slay the enemy." His Word is powerful
and is the only way to keep the "land sharks" at bay.
In the past, each encounter with Johnny Good Boy usually lasted up to twenty or thirty minutes. Now,
they're usually out of my face in five minutes or less. This is a testimony for the remarkable Testament of
our Lord and Savior, to whom I attribute all good that has come out of these encounters, and all other
experiences in my life. Hallelujah, and Amen. Glory be to God forever.
Non-Statutory Abatement
Update
by Randy Lee
With the completion date of the Fifth Edition of the Book of the Hundreds being uncertain and
somewhat distant at this time, we have been led to present the newest update of the abatement
process for those in need of it at this time.
In the continuing effort to strengthen the abatement process in its current form, which has been
one of our duties here in the past six years or so, we present the following Non-statutory
Abatement and Default on Pages five through thirteen.
What is presented hereafter is the diligent labors, in the Christ, by many Brothers and Sisters of
His Body too numerous to detail here. Without their vast and continuing fellowship, exhortation,
and knowledge concerning His Word and the power thereof as it relates to the abatement process,
the following update would not be presented here.
It must also be said that, through their trials and tribulations related to the process of setting the
record in our Fathers court for His judgment and pleasure, they have evidenced for all to see, as we
all should, one way in which the running of the race to "be diligent to present thyself approved to
God, a workman not ashamed, straightly cutting the word of truth" can be achieved.
To most of those that are familiar with the previous forms of it, this newest update may appear
to be a "radical" change from the earlier editions. We do not consider it radical, but one further
step on the long road back to the old paths where all of the Christ's called-out ones must return, all
for His purposes and for His glory; and not their own.
Various Changes
One. The first notable change is the placement of the seals and signatures. They have been moved
to the top in accordance with the ancient writs which were always signed and sealed before the
Law and Facts were presented. In this way, His court's process also remains separate and distinct
from the modern commercial modes which are signed after the fact.
Two. The process is issued through the area assembly for the purpose of "covering" the accused
Brother or Sister.
Three. It is made clear to all receiving the Abatement process that it is being issued in our
Master's court, thereby avoiding any accusations of issuing "false" process. Though no one to our
knowledge has ever been prosecuted for doing so, as it relates to the abatement process, their have
been many statutes passed at the State level as a deterrent.
Four. All reference to "the church" has been eliminated, and replaced with the true descriptions of
the Branches on His Vine, i.e., His ekklesia, the Christ's Lawful assembly at .................., His
Lawful assembly at .................,etc. These are interchangeably used throughout the process so that
their is no misunderstanding about who the process is issued by. This also eliminates any
presumption of legal personality.
Five. The process is no longer served through the mails, but is now served by two Brother's as
messengers from the area assembly. They are to also return on the Rule Day to receive an answer
from the Defendants. At that same time, if there is no answer, they can serve the Default. This
mode has been found to be very effective, and also eliminates any presumption of evil as to the use
of the commercial "U.S. Postal Service" for serving Lawful process.
Six. The prosecuting attorney, or District Attorney, has been added to the Defendant list in all
cases. This has now been found to be of utmost importance, for he or she is as much a party to the
action as all of the other Defendants. We have even had confirmation in one case from the judge,
stating that, "if the District Attorney had been made a Defendant and served with the process, the
warrant would never have been re-issued."
Seven. Since it is a fact that our Lord and the Apostles quoted the Septuagint directly, and not the
6th century A.D. Masoretic text of the King James version, all Scripture quotes in the abatement
and default pertaining to "the Old Testament" are taken from the Septuagint. In addition, "Amen"
has been replaced with "So be it, so be it," which is also the Septuagint terminology.
Eight. All periods (.) have been eliminated and replaced with colons (:), semi-colons (;), and
commas (,) to avoid any break in the continuous spirit of thought, as is found in the original Greek
texts of Scripture.
Nine. "Nom de guerre" as it relates to the Accused has been replaced with "legal fiction," which,
technically, describes a name in all capital letters. A name in all caps is also a persona designata;
therefore that term has also been retained to describe the legal fiction.
Ten. "It has been written from the beginning" now precedes Scripture verses in place of "it is
written" in order to make it clear to all that God's Word is from the beginning and for everlasting,
and that anything the natural man invents has no standing, even according to his own maxim of
law, "first in time is first in right."
Eleven. There is no longer a "dating" of the process. All current calendars used by the natural man
are in error, therefore it serves no purpose to use them. Additionally, using his dating system, to
some extent, allows a presumption of recognition of him and his ways, and approval of his error.
For those who are without an assembly in their area, the previous method of issuing the process
on your own through the mail can still be used, but we have found that the newest procedure is a
much more effective method.
For those that have been led to seek others of like mind in their local area, or within a larger
area, please let us know here and we will try to put you in contact with others that are seeking the
same thing.
Additionally, for those that are led to use this process, and have any questions on its
use, please call or write for fellowship any time.
(Updated Non-statutory Abatement)
By the Authority and Power delegated to us solely by the Grace of God, in and through
our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, in accordance with His
Commandments, Precepts, Judgments, Statutes, Ordinances, and Testimonies in and of
His Holy Writ, solely by and under the Leading of His Warrant in Law and by His Will, do
we in and of His Body issue this Non-statutory Abatement in His court:
Locus sigilii ekklesia:
(signature and right thumb print of a member here), a bondman of Jesus, the Christ
(signature and right thumb print of a member here), a bondman of Jesus, the Christ
Sealed under Authority of the Christ, by His Direction of our own hands on this
Glorious day of His Eternal Reign:
Comes Now, His Lawful assembly at Los Angeles, grateful to Almighty God for our
Liberty in the Christ, to humbly Extend Greetings and Salutations to you from our
Sovereign Lord, Saviour and Testator Jesus, the Christ, and ourselves by Visitation, to
exercise His Ministerial Powers in this Matter, in His Name, by His Authority, under
Direction of His Warrant, Mandate and Will contained in His Holy Writ, revealed from the
beginning both in His Testament written of Him in Holy Scripture and in Him everlasting:
superior court
at Los Angeles
the Christ's Lawful assembly at Los Angeles,
Demandant
-
J. Robertson, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY
PATROL Officer, I.D. #14858; and,
James Cane, PRESIDING JUDGE,
SAN FERNANDO MUNICIPAL COURT; and,
THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA
Defendants.
|
|
Non-statutory Abatement
By the Christ's Lawful assembly at Los Angeles:
In the accusation of our Sister: Abandoned paper marked with the numerals BC255231
and the dead in Law legal fiction and persona designata EDNA JANE ALBERTSON:
Be it Known and Remembered by All to Whom These Presents Come, and May
Concern:
Declaration of Authority
By Authority of all Power in Heaven and earth being given from the beginning unto our
Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, Who died and rose again that He might be
Lord both of the dead and living; and, all things having been delivered of God our Father
to Him; all Power over all flesh having been given unto Him; all Judgment having been
committed unto Him by God our Father, for it has been written from the beginning, The
Kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the Governor among the nations; and, all government is
upon His shoulder and of the increase of His Government there is no end; and it has also
been written from the beginning, His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all powers
shall serve and obey Him; and,
Page One of Six
By and through His sanctification, having sent His ekklesia into the world to bear
Witness of Him to the world, and delegating to all who sojourn in Him power to tread on
serpents and scorpions, and over all power of the enemy, our Sovereign Lord and Saviour
Jesus, the Christ by and through His Lawful assembly at Los Angeles proclaims:
This Non-statutory Abatement is issued by and under the Ministerial Power and
Authority vested solely in and appertaining to the Ministerial Office of the Christ,
established from everlasting and forever in Truth by the Grace of God through the Christ,
Who is the Foundation of Law, in and among all those sojourning bondmen and servants
in and of Him, being co-Heirs and appointed co-Executors of His Testament governing
His Estate brought into being by His original Act sworn to by Him in His Testament in and
from the beginning, and in Lawful execution of His Judgments, against J. Robertson,
CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL Officer I.D. #14858; and Harvey Steinberg, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY; and James Cane, PRESIDING JUDGE,
SAN FERNANDO MUNICIPAL COURT; and THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA, having proclaimed by their acts that they are enemies of, and alien to, our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ for Whom we minister and serve. Said
Defendants are attempting to plunder His Body in the nature of a Praemunire, imperium
in imperio, using unproven strange and alien purported process not recognized by, but
outside, the Law of our Sovereign Master:
The aforesaid unproven strange and alien purported process is outlawed in His
Kingdom because it disturbs His Peace that He bestowed upon His Lawful assembly at
Los Angeles, and it conflicts with His Law He put into our inward parts: for it has been
written from the beginning, This is My covenant which I will make with the
house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will surely put My Laws into their mind,
and write them on their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a
people; and,
It has been written from the beginning, All shall know Me, from the least of them to the
greatest of them; for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no
more; and,
It has been written from the beginning, In that day a man shall trust in Him that made
him, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And they shall not at all
trust in their altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made, i.e., the legal
fictions EDNA JANE ALBERTSON, THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF
LOS ANGELES, for it has been written from the beginning, The workman made them,
therefore they are not God; and,
Conflicts with the Law of the Land are not acceptable, for it has been written from the
beginning, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; and the Christ is before
all things, and by Him all things consist;
Wherefore, it has been written from the beginning, The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation;
Therefore, the Law He put on our inward parts, known by all to be the lex non scripta,
is the jus publicum and lex et consuetudo regni in His Lawful assembly at Los Angeles,
for it has been written from the beginning, That which may be known of God is manifest in
them; for God hath shewed it unto them, so that they are without excuse; and
It has been written from the beginning, For where two or three are gathered together in
My Name, there am I in the midst of them; and, I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no
man cometh unto the Father, but by Me:
Non-statutory Abatement
Discourse:
Chapter one:
Return of abandoned paper and expurgation of record; and Averments
Your abandoned paper is invalid for Cause, and is herewith returned and the purported
record is to be expurgated because it is irregular and unauthorized, based upon the
following, to wit:
Your abandoned paper and purported record contain the following Marks of Deceit:
First:
Mark: Your abandoned paper is a corruption of Law having no thing in and is
distinct and separate from, and strange and alien to, the Law we minister in the Name and
by the Authority of Our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ; nor does your
abandoned paper have corroboration of Witness by the Spirit of our Father in His
Creation and in our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, and cannot apply to our
Sister, whom God our Father in the Christ knew before she was formed in the womb, was
sanctified to Him before she came forth from the womb, whose spirit is quickened in His
Image and Likeness, and who has fulfilled the Perfect Law by loving the Brethren in Him; and,
Page Two of Six
Second:
Mark: Your abandoned paper alleges violations of an unproven purported law,
alien and strange to the Law governing the Venue in which our Sister is found, and which
our Sister occupies solely by the Grace of God in the Christ; and your abandoned paper
has no Oath, Vow, Promise, or Law attaching our Sister to, or bringing her within, your
alien and unproven purported venue from which it originates; and,
Third:
Mark: Your purported agency, its fiduciaries, and the nom de guerre J.
Robertson, are created and established by an entity dead in Law because it has, and they
have, no breath of Life breathed into it by the Spirit of God and therefore have no lineage
or right to the Tree of Life and are persona non standi in judicio, for, all those who trust
in such spiritually dead entities are like those dead things; and,
Fourth:
Mark: Your abandoned paper has no foundation in Law; for Cause: One, it is not from
an office in Law having lineage from the Tree of Life establishing it in and by the Law in
and of Him and His ekklesia at Los Angeles, because God our Father in the Christ knows
it not, and therefore we know it not; and Two, it is from a purported agency which is of
the same nature and constitution of its principal, that of an entity dead in Law having not
the breath of Life from the Spirit of God in the Christ, and therefore is of the same
capacity of persona non standi in judicio; and,
Fifth:
Mark: Your abandoned paper lacks jurisdictional facts, if in Truth and deed the
spiritually dead can obtain jurisdiction, attaching to our Sister, who abides, lives, moves,
and has her being in the Christ, and not in the darkness of your unproven purported
venue, your aforesaid unproven purported venue being dead in Law and sans recognition
in the Law and Testament of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ; and,
Sixth:
Mark: Your abandoned paper is unintelligible and unfamiliar to us and our Sister,
and is alien to the Law and Testament of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the
Christ, for Whom we minister and serve, based upon the following: It is not written in the
language ordained and established by our Father in His Kingdom, which evidences its
strange and alien origin; being such, the purported law governing it must be laid and
proven in His court in which our Sister is found, before it can be noticed and acted upon in
and by His Lawful assembly; and, it fails to apprise us and our Sister of the nature of any
matter alleged, if any matter alleged therein has standing in Law; for He has not said He
knows it, nor that He knows the legal fictions J. Robertson, EDNA JANE ALBERTSON,
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA or THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, nor that your
purported process is Lawful, nor that it originates in and is of Him; therefore it violates
the Law in the Will of Our Sovereign Lord; and has no force, effect, or operation outside
the venue of darkness from which it originates; and,
Seventh:
Mark: Your abandoned paper fails to affirmatively show, upon its face, Authority
in Law for your presence in the Venue of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the
Christ, in Whose Peace our Sister rests from her own labours and self-will, doing all things
solely by and under His Leading and Direction in an anointed Ministerial capacity,--all
doctrine, dogma, ethics, expediency, morality, moralisms, morals, necessity, orthodoxy,
opinion, philosophy, sciolism, sophism, or other traditions originating in the vain
imaginations of men in legislative deliberation or dispensation not with standing in Law in
and of the Christ and His Lawful assembly; and,
Eighth:
Mark: Your abandoned paper fails to affirmatively show, upon its face, any
Lawful Warrant or Lawful Cause, --all belief, reason, conjecture, supposition,
presumption, speculation, opinion, probability, hearsay or other vain imaginations of men
not with standing in Law, --for your invasion of His Dominions and the disturbance of
His Peace Inherited through Him by our Sister according to His Testament, for it has been
written from the beginning, "as many as received Him, to them gave He power to
become the sons of God, even to them that
Page Three of Six
believe on His Name," which we have been delegated that aforesaid Ministerial Power
appertaining to the High and Sacred Office of the Christ to minister the aforesaid
Inheritance in His Name and by His Authority, for His Glory and Majesty; and,
Ninth:
Mark: Your abandoned paper fails to affirmatively show, upon its face, your
Authority or Warrant in Law to assault, violate, or disparage the High and Sacred Office
of the Christ which we have been Commanded and Warranted from the beginning by Him
in His Holy Writ to hold, occupy and minister till He comes; and,
Tenth:
Mark: Your abandoned paper does not evidence any Warrant or Authority in
Law, has no evidence of standing in the Law we execute and minister pursuant to His
Writ, Command, under Lawful Warrant of the same; and,
Eleventh:
Mark: Your abandoned paper is not sealed with Authority evidencing lineage
through His Body traceable to the Tree of Life, and is, therefore, a Trespass into the
Dominions and a breach of the Peace of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ,
in a vain attempt to circumvent His righteous Judgment upon the world and its darkness;
and,
Twelfth:
Mark: Your abandoned paper, which appears to tender some purported issue, fails to
disclose or establish any Lawful connection between our Sister and your purported office
or agency; and,
Thirteenth:
Mark: Your abandoned paper, upon its face, lacks sufficient evidence of Warrant
and standing in the Law we minister, because it does not speak according to His Law and
Testimony; and, it has no Light originating in and coming from Him; and, there is no Law
commanding the Living to join themselves to the dead, or, the children of Light to be
unequally yoked with unbelievers who are dead to Him and stumble in darkness;
Chapter Two:
Firstly:
Whereas, the Law in and of Him and His Lawful assembly is one and the same, for
it has been written from the beginning, The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given
them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may
be made complete in one; and,
Whereas, by the Law in and of Him governing His Estate, said enemies alien to
Him and His Lawful assembly at Los Angeles cannot Lawfully invade His Dominions with
defective and nugatory paper designed for the aggrandizement and lusts of said aliens and
their father; and,
Whereas, said alien enemy agents through their alien agencies are tempting our
Sister to move from the protection in and of Him through His Lawful assembly at Los
Angeles, contrary to the mandate given to all men, for it has been written from the
beginning, Thou shalt not pervert the sentence of the poor in his judgment; and to subvert
a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not; and an unjust witness kindles falsehoods and
brings on quarrels between the brethren; and,
Whereas, His Peace and Inheritance is the Law in His Lawful assembly, for it has
been written from the beginning, For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and
the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the
increase of His Government and Peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,
and upon His Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from
henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this;
Now therefore, your abandoned paper and purported record is attempting to
usurp His Authority, are a disturbance of His Peace, and are a Trespass upon Him and His
Lawful assembly at Los Angeles;
Secondly:
Whereas, all Estates originate in and are of Inheritance vested by the Testament of
our Sovereign Testator Jesus, the Christ, because it has been written from the beginning, By Him all things
consist; therefore, His Act establishing the original Estate and state is the highest in Law,
for all other inferior estates are derivative from and
Page Four of Six
dependent upon His original Act, for it has been written from the beginning, In the
beginning God created the Heaven and the earth; and His Cause for bringing His Estate
into being always governs all within and every part derived from His Estate which He
created, and any act done against His Cause is not Lawful, for His Law by which His
Estate is created governs all within and is derived from it, for it has been written from the
beginning, He is Perfection, and in Him is no corruption, evil, error, or sin; and,
Whereas, in His original Act, there is no Precept, Provision, or Warrant for a
person dead to Him, to have any Inheritance or any part in the Estate which is formed by,
in, or from His original Act, for it has been written from the beginning, Blessed are they
that do His commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in
through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers,
and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie; and,
Whereas, it has been written from the beginning, The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell in it; wherefore no executor can convey that
which he or she does not possess, because there is no provision or Warrant in the
Testament of our Sovereign Testator the Christ of which we are several joint-Heirs and
appointed co-Executors, for it has been written from the beginning, Our God is a jealous
God and He will not give His Glory to strangers; and,
Whereas, we can ratify no engagements that prejudice either our Testator, His
Testament, or His Estate of Inheritance therein, which bind either Him or us to any
obligations with any natural persons dead to Him, for said natural persons have not the
right to the Tree of Life, not knowing the Law of God in the Christ, because it has been
written from the beginning, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned; and,
Whereas, all engagements outside Him are void, and your purported consideration
is un-Lawful, because any purported contract which is of the fruit of the poisoned tree of
morality has no standing, force or effect in, of, or from our Sovereign Lord and Saviour
Jesus, the Christ, for Whom we minister and remain in at all times and places; and,
Whereas, contracts commercia belli are condemned by His righteous Judgment
from the foundation of the world, for it has been written from the beginning, Get thee
behind Me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve; and,
Whereas, those persons created or established by a purported law made with man's
hands, and which from its own record is created by acts contrary to the Law of the Estate
established by the original Act of our Sovereign Testator; and partakes of the same, are
dead to Him, for it has been written from the beginning, The dead know nothing, and
there is no longer any reward to them; for their memory is forgotten; and,
Whereas, actions by nobody are odious in Law; and,
Whereas, the Law revealed in the Christ is witnessed both by and in His Creation
and His Word, and is the general Law in His Lawful assembly and state: only that Law can
be invoked and moved, legal fictions and other lies having no standing in His court, for it
has been written from the beginning, Many wait on the favour of rulers; but justice comes
to a man from the Lord; and,
Whereas, the lex mercatoria, or mercantile law, moral law, natural law, and
international law, are only like or similar to Law, for it has been written from the
beginning, He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress;
Therefore those creations made with man's hands and privately administered as law, are
alien to the Christ's Lawful assembly and state;
Now therefore, your abandoned paper and purported record, and their purpose,
are righteously Judged by our Master to be dead to Him and His ekklesia at Los Angeles,
and to be of no force because of His condemnation of them:
Thirdly:
Whereas, your abandoned paper contains the alien and strange symbols or images,
such as Nov 16 1999, 12/10/99, 12/13/99, which symbology appears to denote time, but is
unfamiliar to us for Cause: we Measure time in years of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus, the
Christ, in accordance with His Glorious Reign; for it has been written from the beginning,
The fourth beast shall think to change times and Law; and it has also been written from the
beginning, At that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that is written in the Book;
and He has declared, It is finished; and,
Whereas, it is has been written from the beginning, No man can serve two masters;
and by Him we are forbidden to partake of the things of the world, for it has been written
from the beginning, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit
the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world; and,
Page Five of Six
Whereas, your abandoned paper and purported records contain scandalous and
libelous matter all to the harm His Lawful assembly in general, and to our Sister in particular, who is one of and
with us in the Christ, for it has been written from the beginning, Whether one member
suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice
with it,
Now, therefore:
The Law of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ righteously Judges,
and has righteously Judged your abandoned paper and purported record to have nothing
in Him, His Lawful assembly at Los Angeles, and our Sister; and, to be without Him,
without Life, without Law, and without Truth; and, we shall, henceforth, by the Grace of
God in fulness of faith in and to the Christ our Sovereign Lord and Saviour, Lawfully
avoid you, your unproven, strange, alien purported process; for Lawful Cause: they are
irregular, unauthorized, misnomered, defective in Law upon their face, and are, herewith,
abated for being destructive of His Lawful assembly at Los Angeles and His Inheritance
herein; and to be one of several works of darkness:
There appear to be no factors which would warrant adjustment of the Abatement,
due to a conflict of Law, for it has been written from the beginning, God divided the light
from the darkness and the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not:
Therefore, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand, and thereafter lay and prove in His
Lawful assembly at Los Angeles that you bear the Seal and Testimony of the Most High in
the Christ;
Chapter three:
Ordering Clause;
"Every direction of a court or judge, made or entered in
writing, and not included in a judgment, is denominated an order."
His Lawful assembly, in the Name and by Authority of our Sovereign Lord and
Saviour Jesus, the Christ, so orders the said Defendants to abate the matter of their
abandoned paper and purported record marked with the numerals BC220231, which
proposes to impose suretyship upon our Sister, through the attempt of an unlawful
attachment to her, of a dead in Law legal fiction and personal designata EDNA JANE
ALBERTSON, within ten days of the ordering of this Non-statutory Abatement, or show
Cause in the Law in and of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ why this
Abatement should not lie--belief, reason, necessity, presumption, speculation, opinion,
morals, morality, moralism, philosophy, sophism, or sciolism not with standing. Any and
all written response must include a detailed factual statement and supporting
documentation, having standing in His Law. If more time than ten days is needed to
respond, it may be granted on written request to this Lawful assembly's messengers on the
Rule Day.
Because it has been written from the beginning that, All are without excuse, failure
to obey this Lawful order of and from this His Lawful assembly or failure to respond in the
time prescribed, herein, will result in Default and Judgment.
All remittance of this instant Cause should be given over to His messengers in His
Lawful assembly, sent with Letter of Appointment in hand by Him through us, on the
Rule day of this Non-statutory Abatement.
For the next eight weeks concerning this instant Lawful Cause, to edify in
particular all our Brothers and fellow-bondmen sojourning in and with our Sovereign Lord
and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, and for public viewing in general, a Public Notice of this
Non-statutory Abatement and Default Rule day is posted, in the Public Record, in the
general post-office at Diamond Bar, Pomona, and Walnut, in California, and in other
places for all our Brothers and fellow-bondmen in His Body to Witness, Record, and have
Knowledge:
Attachment: abandoned paper of: THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS
ANGELES;
Our Sister who sojourns among us solely by the Grace of God in fulness of faith and
love to the Christ shall continue to do so, unless and until such Lawful Cause is laid before
and proven in Law to the Christ's Lawful assembly at Los Angeles that she did in deed do
evil in the eyes our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, for it has been written
from the beginning, Prove all things; and she shall maintain The Law of Peace in Him, and
shall stand upon the grounds set out above, for it has been written from the beginning,
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid; So be it, so be it.
Page Six of Six
-------------------------
(Updated Default)
By the Authority and Power delegated to us solely by the Grace of God, in and through
our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, in accordance with His
Commandments, Precepts, Judgments, Statutes, Ordinances, and Testimonies in and of
His Holy Writ, solely by and under the Leading of His Warrant in Law and by His Will, do
we in and of His Body issue this Default Judgment in His court:
Locus sigilii ecclesia:
(signature and right thumb print of a member here), a bondman of Jesus, the Christ
(signature and right thumb print of a member here), a bondman of Jesus, the Christ
Sealed under Authority of the Christ, by His Direction of our own hands on this
sixteenth day of the first month, in the two thousandth Year of His Sovereign Reign:
Comes Now, His Lawful assembly at Los Angeles, grateful to Almighty God for our
Liberty in the Christ, to humbly Extend Greetings and Salutations to you from our
Sovereign Lord, Saviour and Testator Jesus, the Christ, and ourselves by Visitation, to
exercise His Ministerial Powers in this Matter, in His Name, by His Authority, under
Direction of His Warrant, Mandate and Will contained in His Holy Writ, revealed from the
beginning both in His Testament written of Him in Holy Scripture and in Him everlasting:
superior court
at Los Angeles
the Christ's Lawful assembly at Los Angeles,
Demandant
-
J. Robertson, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY
PATROL Officer, I.D. #14858; and,
Harvey Steinberg, LOS ANGELES COUNTY
DISTRICT ATTORNEY; and,
James Cane, PRESIDING JUDGE,
SAN FERNANDO MUNICIPAL COURT; and,
THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA
Defendants.
|
|
Part Two of this Matter contains the following, titled: One, Notice of Default; Two,
Default Judgment; and, Three, Praecipe:
To: SAN FERNANDO MUNICIPAL COURT, THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, and all above named Defendants, jointly and severally:
By the Christ's Lawful assembly at Los Angeles:
In the accusation of our Sister: Abandoned paper marked with the numerals BC255231
and the dead in Law legal fiction and persona designata EDNA JANE ALBERTSON:
Page One of Three
Be it Known and Remembered by All to Whom These Presents Come, and May
Concern:
This Notice of Default, Default Judgment, and Praecipe is issued by and under the
Ministerial Power and Authority vested solely in and appertaining to the Ministerial Office
of the Christ, established from everlasting and forever in Truth by the Grace of God
through the Christ, Who is the Foundation of Law, in and among all those sojourning
bond-servants in and of Him, being co-Heirs and appointed co-Executors of His
Testament governing His Estate brought into being by His original Act sworn to by Him in
His Testament in and from the beginning, and in Lawful execution of His Judgments
against J. Robertson, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL Officer I.D. #14858; and
Harvey Steinberg, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY; and James
Cane, PRESIDING JUDGE, SAN FERNANDO MUNICIPAL COURT; and THE
JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA, that have proclaimed by their acts that they are
enemies of, and alien to, our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ for Whom we
minister and serve. Said Defendants are attempting to plunder His Body in the nature of a
Praemunire, imperium in imperio, using unproven strange and alien purported process
not recognized by, and outside, the Law of our Sovereign Master;
One. Notice of Default
Take notice that Demand of our Sovereign Testator, in His Name, by His Direction,
Mandate, Will, and Testament, and under Warrant of the same, through His Lawful
assembly at Los Angeles was heretofore Lawfully made upon you and each of you to
answer or otherwise make supplication in this Lawful assembly to the plaint on file herein,
a copy of which has been served upon you, and each of you, and of which you, and each
of you, have knowledge and personal knowledge of the matter or matters therein
contained; and,
Take further notice that your failure to answer, make supplication in His Lawful
assembly, or otherwise perfect the Record in Law in response to the foregoing notice and
plaint served upon you, within the time stated, the Demandant will forthwith cause your
Default to be entered and moves for Judgment against you personally and officially for the
relief demanded on the plaint;
Two. Order for Entry of Default and Default Judgment:
The Non-statutory Abatement in this Lawful Cause having been personally served upon
Defendants J. Robertson, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL Officer I.D. #14858; and
James Cane, PRESIDING JUDGE, SAN FERNANDO MUNICIPAL COURT; and
Harvey Steinberg, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY; and THE
JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA by messengers sent by the Christ's Lawful
assembly at Los Angeles on the third day of the first month, in the two thousandth Year of
the Glorious Reign of our Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, and the Record showing no
answer or other supplication to the plaint having in any manner been made on or before
the Rule Day to His Lawful assembly at Los Angeles by said Defendants; and,
It appearing from the Record, without evidence standing in Law to the contrary, the
aforesaid Defendants have abandoned prosecution in Truth of their accusations against our
Sister, a Ministerial Officer by the anointing of the Christ, by Him in His Testament and
Will, thereby bearing witness that their accusations are false, and of themselves that they
have no Light in them, for it has been written from the beginning, To the Law and to the
Testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in
them; because our Father is not in all their thoughts, therefore they walk in darkness
bearing no True witness against our Sister; for, the Christ has declared, I am the Light of
the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of
Life; and,
It appearing from the Record, without evidence standing in Law to the contrary, the
Defendants have admitted all matters of Law well pleaded in the plaint of the Demandant
commenced by and under Direction of the Christ, thereby bearing witness of themselves
that they are not our Brothers in Christ and that they are not of His Lawful assembly, for it
has been written from the beginning, Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but
judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brothers
way; and it has also been written from the beginning, He that saith, I know Him, and
keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him; and,
Page Two of Three
It appearing from the Record, that the lineage of the purported process bears witness
that the Defendants are outside His Body; and, it appearing from the Record, without
evidence standing in Law to the contrary, that the Defendants aforesaid bear witness of
themselves that they have acted in an evil and Lawless manner in and by showing and
displaying contempt for this Honourable court, its Sacred Law, and its Blessed Judge, a
manner inconsistent with the Mark of the Holy Spirit sealing and bearing True Witness of
a serving sojourner in the Christ having, possessing, and executing Truth established in
Law, thereby condemning themselves; for it has been written from the beginning, For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him
might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of the only Begotten Son of
God. And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil
hateth the Light, neither cometh to the Light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he
that doeth truth cometh to the Light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are
wrought in God;
Now, therefore, on motion of the Demandant, in accordance with the Law of this
Honourable court, and by Direction of its Blessed Judge:
It is ordered that the clerk of this Lawful assembly shall be, and is hereby, directed to
enter the Default of the aforesaid Defendants, and Default Judgment nihil dicit in favor of
Demandant and against Defendants for the relief demanded in the plaint, and as follows:
That all records and purported process containing the dead in Law legal fiction and
persona designata EDNA JANE ALBERTSON, and all information they contain, be
expurgated from all systems for the Lawful Cause given in the plaint; and,
That a true and correct copy of this Judgment be posted for the next three weeks in all
places where this Body gathers itself together from time to time under direction of the
Christ; and,
That all who have been edified and have knowledge of this Lawful Cause mark that man
and have nothing more to do with him that he might be ashamed and let not that man think
that he shall receive any thing of the Lord and His Lawful assembly, for it has been written
from the beginning, Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the
doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them; and,
That a true and correct copy of this Judgment be sent to all said Defendants, and the
same be sent to our Brothers abroad for their edification and knowledge of this Lawful
Cause;
Let Judgment prayed for enter accordingly:
Three: Praecipe:
The clerk of said court will please enter the Default of the Defendants aforesaid; and
Default Judgment nihil dicit against the aforesaid Defendants in the above entitled cause
for the following Lawful Causes established by Record in Law through conduct of the
Defendants:
One, Defendants J. Robertson, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL Officer I.D.
#14858; and Harvey Steinberg, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY;
and James Cane, PRESIDING JUDGE, SAN FERNANDO MUNICIPAL COURT; and
THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA failure to respond in Law on the Rule
Day of the fourteenth day of the first month, in the two thousandth Year of the Glorious
Reign of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ; and,
Two, the abandonment of prosecution by the Defendants to lay, evidence, and prove in
Law before this Honourable Court the Truth of their accusations against our Sister; for the
Law is the same in regard to matters not shown as to those which do not exist; and,
Three, the admission by the Defendants to all matters of substance in Law well pleaded
by the Demandant; for it has been written from the beginning, We can do nothing against
the Truth but for the Truth; and,
Four, the failure of the Defendants to evidence, lay, and prove before the Christ's
Lawful assembly at Los Angeles the lineage of their purported process to the Tree of Life;
for the Law is the same in regard to matters not shown as to those which do not exist;
and,
Five, the Record of the willful and Lawless contempt by the Defendants towards this
Honourable court, its Sacred Law, and its Blessed Judge; for he who contemns the Law
contemns the Giver of it; So be it, so be it.
Page Three of Three
Another Daniel in the Lion's Den
Commentary by Randy Lee
Of God's merciful power shown at Daniel 6:22, our Brother Daniel said to king Darius:
"My God has sent His angel, and stopped the lion's mouth, and they have not hurt me: for uprightness was found
in me before Him; and moreover before thee, O king, I have committed no trespass."
The trespass he was "accused" of was for making supplication to our Father, and not to king Darius.
In the following "court record," we can see that there is truly "nothing new under the sun." Our Daniel
of today fails to make supplication to the secular kings of the municipality, and is therefore thrown into
one of today's lion's den, the County Jail. For "failure to appear" on a "traffic violation," they came with
guns and dogs on a Friday night to the house where he was staying, and arrested him. This was the first
time that he had ever been in jail, though he has had a long running spiritual battle within the
municipality concerning other "violations" which he had not "satisfactorily complied with."
Our Brother here having previously abated and defaulted the "warrant for arrest," and the
municipality thereafter having recalled the "warrant," reissued it three weeks later. It appears that they
reissued it because he had failed to serve the District Attorney; at least that is the excuse they used.
In the following "record," we have changed only the names and places, but the discourse is unchanged
from the original transcript. Randy Lee's comments are in bracketed italics. The comments are not a
criticism of our Brother's noble and blessed witness of the hope that is in him, of course, but strictly for
the edification of those that may at one time or another be confronted with the same type of situation.
While reading the following spiritual warfare, keep in mind while in that lion's den, he was awakened
by the jail-keepers every hour during the weekend to deprive him of sleep before he was brought before
"THE COURT."
-------------------------
COURT: Daniel __________.
DANIEL: You say that I am.
[*Comment: He here leaves the presumption of who he is, in the judge's mouth. All responses to anything
said should be directed to the prosecuting attorney, not the judge.]
COURT: I am sorry. I didn't hear you.
DANIEL: You say that I am.
COURT: "Daniel -- --," that is what the name says here. I don't know if that is a true name or
not. You are charged in Case 0532 in Count I with resisting, obstructing or delaying a police
officer. Count II reflects the charge of being an unlicensed driver. How do you plead?
[*Comment: To further rebut the courts presumption, and to clarify what the court "doesn't know is true
or not," he could have pointed out that the "name" was in all capital letters, and therefore could not be
him.
The "obstructing or delaying a police officer" was for not answering the "officer's" questions the way
he wanted them answered.]
DANIEL: For the record, greetings in the name of my Sovereign Lord Jesus, the Christ, who all
power - - it is written - -
[*Comment: The judge interrupts him as soon as he fails to enter a plea or speak the words of the world.]
COURT: I will go ahead and enter a not guilty plea on behalf of Mr. Daniel. Mr. Daniel, the issue
here is whether or not I am going to release you on your own recognizance. Why don't you tell me
some information on your behalf which would give me a good reason why I should release you on
your own recognizance. Do you have community ties? Do you live in the area?
DANIEL: For the record, I am a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is written that thou
shalt worship the Lord Jesus Christ, and only Him thou shall serve.
[*Comment: This is the correct initial response. It sets the state of the forum, and ignores the "benefit of
discussion" that the court has offered him to enter into. He could have continued with, "and also for the
record, I am not a 'Mr.' or a'sir,' for those are pagan and heathen titles of nobility." (If they continue to
use those designations, it doesn't matter, for you have rebutted the presumption that you are one of their
pagan entities). Since he had already abated the court, he could have also added, "and for the record, the
issue here is not about me, but about whether or not this is a Lawful court.]
COURT: Sir, the question I have is: Do you live in Beastly, and how long have you lived in
Beastly? The address here on the file reflects a Beastly address.
[*Comment: The court is trying to establish 'residency.']
DANIEL: I live where ever I have to be at the moment.
[*More precise is "I live, move and have my being in Christ Jesus.]
COURT: You do? Why don't you have a seat for just a minute.
COURT: Mr. Daniel, would you stand up, please.
[*Comment: These two commands (sit down, stand up) were probably issued to establish a response to the
'name', and thereby 'presumed' jurisdiction.]
DANIEL: You say that I am.
[*Comment: Having responded to the 'name' by sitting down and standing up at the direction of the
judge, "you say that I am" is no longer a valid response. The judge now 'presumes' that 'you and the name
are one and the same,' due to the obedience shown to the commands.]
COURT: All right. Mr. Daniel, the Court has entered a not guilty plea. After taking a look at the
motion that you filed today, it is clear to the Court that you intend to plead not guilty to the
charges. Is that correct, sir?
[*Comment: A motion was not filed with the court. Here, the judge attempts to reduce the previously
served abatements to 'a motion.' The proper response would be, "A motion was not filed with this court,
but all defendants concerning this matter have been abated.]
DANIEL: If you say so. I would like to address the Prosecutor.
COURT: I am sorry.
DANIEL: I would like to address the Prosecutor.
COURT: Do you want to represent yourself on this matter? I need you to answer "yes" or "no"
out loud...
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: ...so the reporter...
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: ...can take down what you are saying on the record. You would like to speak with the
Prosecutor and have a conference on this matter at this time? Is that what you want to do, have a
conference on the matter with the Prosecutor?
DANIEL: With you present.
COURT: On the record. Go ahead. What do you have to say?
DANIEL: Greetings in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Sovereign Lord. I am one
of His bondservants and ministers, and I possibly - - all - - it is written that all power and authority
in heaven and earth has been given unto Him, and I would like to see a record in law establishing
this court under His authority leading to the tree of life, which is the - - Jesus, the Christ. I could
not possibly be willful in this thing that I am accused of because I do the will of my Father, God,
who is in heaven, and nothing about Him is willful or evil. It is written that thou shall worship the
Lord thy God, and only Him thou shall serve. It is also written no man can serve two masters; for
he will hate the one and love the other, or he will despise the one and cleave unto the other.
[*Comment: He is standing with the Sword of the Word, and he clarifies and improves upon some of his
earlier statements. Again, the judge interrupts.]
COURT: Mr. Daniel, can I just stop you for a moment here? That is typical if you were having a
conference and you were represented by an attorney. You have entered a not guilty plea. After
hearing you speak today, I at this point - - and based upon your motion, because you are repeating
a number of things in the motion, I don't know - - did you file the motion with the District
Attorney's office or just with the Court?
DANIEL: It was served... it was served by two men...
[*Comment: He should have said, "It was not a motion, and it was not filed. It was served.]
COURT: Okay.
DANIEL: ...on a man from the Beastly police department named K. Predador and also Judge
Faracy.
[*Comment: Judge Faracy was the judge on the case, but was removed from it after being served with the
abatement.
Since Daniel never rebutted that it was not a motion filed with the court, the judge reiterates the
following for the 'record':]
COURT: All right. The motion that was filed with the Court is in the court file and was filed. I
think the People are entitled to read it as well because it is a legal motion that you have filed. And
based on - - the other question that I want answered - - what are you doing, basically, is having a
pretrial conference. This is normally not the pretrial stage. When you failed to appear in court at
your arraignment day, I am going to assume, for - - based on what you have said, that that was not
a purposeful failure to appear, but that is what resulted in the bench warrant being issued. I would
like to set this for another pretrial conference so that we can - - you can continue this conference on
the record with the District Attorney, who is present. However, right now it is five minutes after
noon. The Court needs to take a recess. And I just need an assurance from you that you will
return on the court date so that you can continue with the conference with the District Attorney. So
why didn't you appear? Is it just because you don't...
DANIEL: Can I continue... no, I respect the law above everything else.
COURT: If I order you to return, would you return?
DANIEL: Could we continue this in the afternoon...
COURT: Do you want to...
DANIEL: ...so we can settle it today?
COURT: You want to settle the case today?
DANIEL: Well, I would like to speak about what happened.
COURT: Okay. We can continue it for settlement conference this afternoon if you think that would
be... This is the question I have: Are you... do you think you would be willing to plead to either
of the charges?
DANIEL: I have been... as I said, I was... I could not possibly be willful in this thing that I am
accused of.
COURT: The one charge, which is the unlicensed driver charge, just is a charge that reflects that
you were not - - that your license had expired, and if... that doesn't require any willfulness. It is
not a charge that requires any specific intent to, quote, unquote, do bad or harm. It is just a
licensing charge by the Department of Motor Vehicles, and that law says you are supposed to be a
licensed driver to drive.
DANIEL: On the 18th day of the 12th month in the year of our Lord, 1999, I was arrested by a
man from Beastly Police Department, K. Predador, and I asked this man for some information,
and he told me he wasn't a public servant, that he was an employee of the City of Beastly. Now, it
is written, I believe, in your law that an officer of the law is appointed, and you don't become an
officer of the law by having an employment contract with a dead corporation. I believe it is written
in your law, also, that corporations, such as the city of Beastly, State of California, are - - have - -
it is said that they have no soul. Therefore, they are dead, and the dead cannot be sued. Is there
any law - - can you show me any law that says the living must be joined to the dead? It is written
that whosoever shall believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall have everlasting life.
[*Comment: Brother Daniel is doing very well at this point. He is quoting their maxims (not codes, rules
and regulations) and is staying with the Sword of the Word.]
COURT: I am not sure what the point is. You are charged with driving a car without a license,
and how do you want...
DANIEL: I told...
COURT: Mr. Daniel, we can finish... Mr. Daniel, it is going on into the lunch hour now. At
this point in time, we can take a break. What would you offer if Mr. Daniel wanted to plead to the
charge? [*speaking to Ms. Argot, the prosecutor.] What charge would you want him to plead to?
How many days have you been in custody, Mr. Daniel?
DANIEL: I have spent four days in chains.
COURT: You have spent four days in custody. Okay. Based on the... based on my reading of
the police report, my indicated sentence, if you wanted to plead to either charge, would be four,
credit four. The question is: What charge would the People be willing to accept if Mr. Daniel
were to plead no contest? Or we can take it up this afternoon if you want to.
MS DA: Yes. Let me think about it.
COURT: This is what we are going to do, Mr. Daniel. Ms. Argot also just received the file. I
want her to have an opportunity to take a look at the motion that you have filed and reflect upon
your comments this morning. We will resume at 1:45 this afternoon. At that time we can continue
with the conference, and then Ms. Argot can make you an offer in terms of the charges.
DANIEL: I believe I spent time in jail due to contempt of the law.
[*Comment: This comment creates confusion. It would have been better stated that, "This whole process
has evidenced contempt for the Law.]
COURT: Okay. All right. Thank you very much, sir. Why don't you have a seat, and we will
trail the Daniel matter until this afternoon.
COURT: Daniel will trail until this afternoon.
AFTERNOON SESSION
COURT: Sir, you wanted to... did you want to continue, with the District Attorney, having a
pretrial conference? We are back on the record on the Daniel,,, matter, Case 0534. We put it
over this afternoon. Mr. Daniel requested we put it over, as well as Ms. Argot, the Deputy District
Attorney in the case, for purposes of seeing if the matter could be resolved. Mr. Daniel, if you
want to continue, go ahead.
DANIEL: Is it not written in your law that the law does not compel a man to do the impossible,
and, also, any law contrary to the law of God is no law at all? I would like to go back to the 18th
day of the 12th month in the year of our Lord, 1999. I had told K. Predador that I was exercising
my duty of movement upon the common ways. My warrant for doing that is written in the word of
God. It is - - go ye unto all the world and teach the gospel to every creature, also visit the widows,
and feed the orphans. And it is also written I can do all things through Christ which strengthens
me, and it is also written that I can do all things lawfully, but not all things are expedient.
[*Comment: Somewhat refreshed after the break, Daniel goes for the throat here. It is an excellent
discourse, reconfirming what was said in the abatement process, and ultimately has an effect on the judge
and prosecutor.]
COURT: Okay. Mr. Daniel, I am wondering, for purposes of determining whether or not we can
resolve this matter... there was something that you said this morning that caught the Court's
attention, and that was in response to the question that I had. You did sign a citation that you
would appear in this court - - and that is, essentially, a promise to appear... on January 27th. I
note that the warrant that was issued was on that date. And I would also note that you did file...
or I believe you said you had two persons file on your behalf the eight-page motion, that I have
read, in this court. And as you commented this morning that... you made some statement about
the failure to appear in this matter, and the question is whether or not you would be willing to
acknowledge that you failed to appear in this matter. Because there is a... in the Penal Code,
which this is the book containing the laws of the State of California... I believe it is 853... What
is that section?
CLERK: 853.7.
COURT: 853.7, and that is a violation of a promise to appear. Let me just look at this. "Upon a
written promise to appear... let me just take a look and read the section if that actually applies.
MS DA: Okay. As I recall, Mr. Daniel, you... we were talking to you about the four days you
had done in custody. You said you felt that was... that was for contempt. Okay.
DANIEL: Go to the 24th day of the first month of the year of our Lord, 2000.
COURT: You want to talk about that day now?
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: So January 24th of this year?
DANIEL: Yes. I... on or about January 24th...
COURT: Okay. Go ahead.
DANIEL: ...two men served the abatement on K. Predador and the presiding judge, Judge
Faracy, and ten days later, they came back for an answer or request for extension of time, and
there was no answer, or extension of time asked for, and they promptly served a default... a
default notice, and default judgment was then posted at the local post office and also in several
places at Beastly of the default judgment.
[*Comment: He continues to stay on point. The efforts of the judge to sidetrack him have failed. He now
forces the judge to enter into discussion of the abatement and default, which shows us that the court does
recognize the abatement process, but still calling it a 'motion.']
COURT: You did that?
DANIEL: No, I didn't do that.
COURT: Who posted the default judgment?
DANIEL: The church did.
COURT: And that was because of a failure of the Court to respond to your motion?
DANIEL: The abatement is... abatement is abating an unlawful persona designata or misnomer or
nom de guerre, and until the defects are corrected in the paper work, nothing can proceed. The
case can't proceed. So it went into default, and there was a default judgment.
COURT: Now, see, I read the motion, and I didn't see anything in the motion... because on a
criminal matter, and you are charged with a misdemeanor, the law requires that you personally
appear in the court on the date so ordered. In other words, unlike a civil... unlike a civil law case
where you can file motions in writing and deal with it that way, in a misdemeanor case, such as the
case we are dealing with here, when you sign the citation promising to appear, you personally need
to appear in court. In other words, if you... if it was your understanding that it was up to the
Court to then respond and failure of the Court to respond in writing to your motion, then that was,
I would say, a misunderstanding on your part of the way that the criminal justice system works.
The people weren't served with the motion. The Prosecution is the entity prosecuting, not the
Court, and the People are entitled to be served with the motion, and then if there were to be a
written response, it wouldn't be from the Court, but it would be from the Prosecution from the
District Attorney's Office, and because the People weren't served with the motion, then there was
no response.
So I think the question that I have for you is whether or not the People would be willing... well, I
should ask this to the District Attorney.
Is there anything that you would be willing to offer by way of an attempt to resolve this matter?
I think that is what Mr. Daniel wants is to try and resolve this case, and so... yes. Go ahead, Ms.
Argot.
DANIEL: May I say one more thing?
MS DA: Sure.
COURT: Go ahead.
DANIEL: On the fifth day of the fifth month of the year 2000, I was again arrested by K.
Predador and two other... or three other officers from Beastly Police Department, and he said to
me mockingly that, "I received your eight-page manifesto, but I don't know what to do with it" or
"What am I supposed to do with it?" And I believe that... and then I spent the four days in jail. I
believe that was... it is written in your law that... let me see... that that was contempt of the law,
unlawful process, and it is written in your law that...
COURT: So... Mr. Daniel, I want to understand what you are saying. You are saying that the
fact that you were arrested on Friday, which would have been May 5th, was actually an unlawful
process? In other words, you don't believe that you were subject to arrest? Is that what you are
stating?
DANIEL: Because he had been served with lawful...
COURT: I understand.
DANIEL: ...abatement.
COURT: I understand what you are saying now.
DANIEL: And he had contempt for... he had contempt for the law and, I believe, my Master and
Lord Jesus Christ and for the church themselves because it is written when one member suffer, all
members suffer, and less a contempt for me...
COURT: All right.
DANIEL: And it is written ignorance of the law is no excuse, especially in those trying to execute
the law.
So I believe that he was served the lawful process, according to the abatement.
COURT: All right. Let me just respond because some of the issues that you have raised are...
pertain specifically to the Complaint, which has been filed by the District Attorney, and perhaps...
and, with all due respect, perhaps ignorance of the law of the State of California on your part, and
that is that when you were served with the citation to appear in court, you must appear in court,
and then the...
Let me just explain the procedure to you, and that is that when you do fail to appear, a warrant
is issued for your arrest. And that is what happened. A bench warrant was issued on January 27th,
which was the date that you were to appear in court. And then when you are arrested, as you tell
me that you were on Friday, then you must be brought to court, as you are today.
And so, Mr. Daniel, here is the question... and there are a couple of different ways to go on
this. If you want to resolve the matter today, I think the People would be willing to offer a charge,
which is a failing to appear in court as promised. Now, that hasn't been added yet. I am not going
to ask the People whether or not they want to add that charge at this point in time until I hear from
you whether or not you are willing to acknowledge... or plead to any charges at all.
If you don't want to plead to any charges, that is fine. You enter a not guilty plea. I will set the
matter over for a pretrial date. Based on the fact that you appear to have not come to court and that
your failure to do so, according to what you have told me, comes from your understanding that the
Court needed to respond to you, and by failing to do so, it was actually the Court that defaulted on
this case, I would go ahead and release you on your own recognizance. You would be released this
afternoon. I would set another date in the case, and you would need to appear on the date that I
selected, and I will pick a date that would be convenient with your calendar.
If you want to resolve the matter...
Would you be willing to offer any counts for Mr. Daniel to plead to?
This is the typical pretrial conference that we are having now. Usually, the People offer...
MS DA: In order to resolve the case, that would be a much less serious count for Mr. Daniel.
COURT: The 853.7, which is a failure to appear as promised to in court?
MS DA: Yes.
[*Comment: All of the convoluted diatribe that has just been spoken is for the purpose of covering up the
compromise that the court is offering. Note that Daniel has not yet been charged with 'failure to appear,'
though that was what he was supposedly arrested for. They will add that charge and drop the 'obstruction,
unlicensed driver, etc.' charges. At this point, the combination of the words spoken by Daniel and the
served abatements have sent the court into a 'negotiation' mode. They have 'tried the spirits,' and found
him to be who he and his Father says he is.]
COURT: That is what the People's offer is. Do you want to accept that offer and resolve the case
today, or do you want to go ahead and put the matter over for another conference?
DANIEL: I believe that... that my Lord was transgressed upon, and I was also. And I have been
four days in jail and have a wife and three small children.
COURT: Okay. Do you want to take a moment.
DANIEL: I would like...
COURT: Do you want to take a moment to think about it?
DANIEL: I would like it, maybe, dismissed.
[*Comment: This declaration has to be firm. Not 'maybe.' And not 'I would like,' but 'if this court is truly
interested in justice, this case should be dismissed.' This puts them on the defensive.]
COURT: Are the People willing to dismiss everything?
MS DA: No. We can't dismiss everything in this case, I don't think, Your Honor. I would be
willing to offer a lesser charge to Mr. Daniel that would resolve it, and that would be over. It
would not affect his...
COURT: The charge the People, basically, have indicated that they would add is a Count III,
which is a violation of... a failure to appear on a written promise, and that is just your failure to
come to court as you promised you would do by signing the citation. It is, basically, a plea
disposition.
You would be willing to dismiss the charges that he was actually cited for on December 18th?
But it is your choice to make, to make sure, and if you want to plead not guilty, I will release
you on your own recognizance today.
MS DA: I should say. I am sorry. I should say, also, I think that... I am offering that today. I
can't guarantee that another prosecutor would offer that later on.
COURT: Okay. All right. But it is up to you, Mr. Daniel. It is your choice. If you are not sure
what you want to do, in any event, I assure you I will release you on your own recognizance. I
will set another date. If you want to think about whether or not the People... to accept the People's
offer, I can pass this matter. I have another matter that I can attend to now, and I can bring you
back out when we are through with the other court matter.
DANIEL: I would like you to bring me back out.
COURT: Do you want to think about it? Okay. Let me just clarify what is being offered here. The
People would add a Count III, a violation of 853.7, violation of a promise to appear. The sentence
would be four days, credit four, no fine, no probation. Basically, the time that you have spent in
custody would be the sentence in the case. That would be it. If you don't want to accept that offer,
that is fine. That is your choice. I would release you today on your own recognizance. I would set
another pretrial date.
MS DA: But those charges would remain that are on.
COURT: The charges would remain. You could come back on another date. You would be out of
custody, assuming you come back as ordered. You could discuss the matter again with the District
Attorney further, if you would like to do that.
DANIEL: What were the charges?
COURT: The two charges here are resisting, obstructing or delaying a police officer. That is Count
I. And Count II is... alleges that you were an unlicensed driver. Those charges are alleged to have
occurred on December 18.
DANIEL: And you said those are going to remain?
COURT: If you do not accept the People's offer to plead to what they are offering, which is a
Count III, a violation of 853.7, failure to appear in court as promised. If you accept that offer, they
will dismiss Count I and II. If you don't accept the offer, Counts I and II will remain pending
another pretrial date, a future court date. You could discuss the matter with the People at a future
court date.
[*Comment: What we see here is, the court will not let everything 'slide.' They must have a conviction on
something, to justify the arrest. By accepting the offer and compromise, the abatement stands (the
original 'violations' are dropped) and the 'failure to appear' charges stand for the court.]
DANIEL: Are not codes, rules and regulations arbitrary and capricious and, therefore, not law?
COURT: Excuse me?
DANIEL: Are not codes, rules and regulations arbitrary and capricious and, therefore, not law?
MS DA: They are not arbitrary and capricious.
COURT: That is the People's response. "They are not arbitrary and capricious" is the People's
response to your inquiry.
Mr. Daniel, do you want to... a few moments to think about the offer?
[*Comment: Note that the prosecutor never challenged whether they are law or not.]
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: All right. We will have one more brief conference this afternoon. If you haven't decided
by that time, I will take it as a not guilty plea, we will go ahead and release you, and you can come
back on another date, okay, sir?
-------------------------
COURT: All right. Mr. Daniel, we have... we just concluded the other matter, and... so have you
thought about the offer...
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: ...which is to plead...
DANIEL: I am willing to accept your offer.
[*Comment: This is the proper response to the situation. This lets the court off of the hook, and allows
you to continue with your life outside of the lion's den. What has been accomplished is, Daniel has done
his duty of, "let shine your light before men, so that they may see your good works, and may glorify your
Father Who is in the heavens." ]
COURT: Now, this is the People's offer because, just for clarification, Mr. Daniel, it is the District
Attorney's Office that makes the decision on charging, and that is why, as I explained before, when
- - although, I know, you did serve the Court and, apparently, Officer Predador as well, the District
Attorney's Office did not receive a copy of the filing.
(speaking to MS DA) And that is why you didn't respond . Because it would be the District
Attorney's Office to respond.
But as I understand it, this is the offer, and that is that the People will be willing to amend to
allege a Count III, a violation of Penal Code Section 853.7...
CLERK: Yes.
COURT: ...and if you would plead no contest to that, the Court does sentencing, and I would...
the sentence would be four days, credit four. It would be a time served sentence. And then the
People would be dismissing the resisting, obstructing, delaying arrest and would be dismissing the
unlicensed driver charge. Is that what the offer is, MS DA?
MS DA: That is correct.
COURT: And you are willing to accept that offer?
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: Okay. Mr. Daniel, there is one more issue that I want to cover with you, and that is that I
am a court commissioner, and in order for me to go ahead and sentence you in this case, you would
agree to... I would need to have you agree that I can impose the four day-credit for sentence. Is
that agreeable with you?
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: ...that I impose the sentence?
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: I am going to do oral waivers.
CLERK: Okay.
COURT: Mr. Daniel... First of all, is there a People's motion to add a Count III, a violation of
853.7? And that is a failure to appear in court as promised on the citation.
MS DA: Yes.
COURT: Okay. That is the charge. Mr. Daniel, you do have the right to have an attorney in this
matter, and if you cannot afford an attorney, I would appoint an attorney for you free of charge.
Do you understand that right, sir?
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: And do you give up that right in order to represent yourself on this matter?
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: You have the right to a jury trial or a court trial, the right to confront and cross-examine
witnesses, the right to present a defense in your own behalf and the right to remain silent. Those are
your Constitutional rights, according to the United States Constitution. Do you understand those
rights?
DANIEL: Yes.
[*Comment: He could of at this point said, instead of 'Yes' , "I never have and do not now claim any
Constitutional rights, but whatever rights the court 'presumes' I have, the court can also presume that
they are waived.]
COURT: How do you plead to Count III, which is the amended count that was just added by Ms.
Argot. And that is a violation of Penal Code Section 853.7, failure to appear.
DANIEL: No contest.
COURT: Okay. A no contest plea has the same force and effect as a guilty plea. You are
convicted on the plea. It just cannot be used against you in a civil court. Do you understand this?
DANIEL: Yes.
COURT: Okay. Sir, I find that you have expressly, knowingly, understandingly and intelligently
waived your Constitutional rights. I find that your plea has been freely and voluntarily made with
an understanding of the nature and consequences thereof and that there is a factual basis for the
plea.
At this time I will impose the sentence of four days, credit four. The $100 restitution fine is
waived because of the time that Mr. Daniel has served in County Jail. There is no fine, no
probation. That is it Mr. Daniel. Thank you very much. And are Counts I and II dismissed on
People's motion...
MS DA: Yes.
COURT: ...in the interest of justice?
MS DA: Yes.
COURT: Counts I and II are dismissed. Sir, that resolves this matter. Thank you very much, sir.
DANIEL: I want to thank you both very much, and may God richly bless you both for your
compassion and your respect to the law.
MS DA: Thank you. Same to you.
COURT: Thank you, sir. I appreciate your comments. Good luck to you, sir.
From the Beginning it was Not So
Part Three - The State's "church"
Introduction by Randy Lee
In this final Part on the modern lord of the Church, we will allow Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary (one
of "the Church's own") to fully reveal who the lords of the Church have been since its inception during the
second century A.D.
Also keep in mind that the Hegelian dialectic used by the Masonic sciences of, "Separation of Church
and State," creates two separate secular institutions, and the institution with the most guns and lawyers
becomes the master of all.
Church and State
(pages 233-237)
"The phrase refers to an ancient differentiation between two kinds of institutions that have structured
and defined the lives of human beings. In this arrangement one of these authority structures, the State, has
been primarily concerned with temporal life as an end in itself, while the other, the Church, has been
concerned with temporal life as a means to spiritual ends. Moreover, "church and state" designates a
certain kind of tension implicit in any society that contains these two institutions, even in those in which
there is no attempt to separate them.
The issue of the most desirable relationship between church and state is older than the Christian faith,
and has been a persistent theme in its history. Jesus clearly taught the principle of separating the two
realms. His dictum to "render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that
are God's" (Matt. 22:21) marked the beginning of a new epoch in the history of relations between religion
and the state. For the first time, a formal distinction was made between the obligations owed to both.
Unfortunately, Jesus did not indicate where the exact line of demarcation lay; consequently, since at
least the fourth century Christian theologians and other scholars have argued over where it should be
drawn. The resulting discussions stretching over the centuries since that time constitute an almost
impenetrable historical-theological swamp. The debate continues in the Christian world today and is
especially intense in highly pluralistic societies like the United States.
Historical Background. Christian thinkers made no attempt to formulate a theory of church-state relations
until Christianity became a state religion in the fourth century. Before that time, even though they had no
legal right to exist, believers generally followed Paul's admonition to "be subject to the governing
authorities" (Rom. 13:1) except when that subjection conflicted with explicitly understood commands of
God or the preaching of the gospel (Acts 5:29). Moreover, the duty of obedience to civil rulers was always
qualified by the condition that these authorities were doing their work of restraining evil and seeking
peace and safety (cf. Rom. 13:1-7 and Rev. 13).
Widespread persecution of the early Christians was frequent, beginning at least as early as the reign of
Nero in the mid first century. The final effort to eradicate Christians from the Roman world took place
under Diocletian in 303. It failed, and with the Edict of Milan in 313 Christianity became an officially
recognized religion in the Roman Empire. Moreover, by the end of the century the Roman rulers had
decreed that Christianity was the sole official religion of the empire.
This new arrangement created a need for closer definition of the relationships between church and
state, but such theory developed only gradually. For one thing, it was during this period that the church
became an institution in the modern sense. For another, the Emperor Constantine I, in keeping with
previous custom, regarded himself as the religious leader of the realm (pontifex maximus) and assumed
the right to intervene in church affairs. Later rulers gave up this title but continued to consider themselves
responsible for directing church activities.
The removal of the capital from Rome to Constantinople (Byzantium) in 330, among other factors, led
to a different conception of church-state relations in the East than that in the West. In the Eastern Roman
Empire (later the Byzantine Empire) and consequently in Eastern Orthodoxy the prevailing theory and
practice came to be caesaropapism-that is, supreme authority over the church exercised by the secular
ruler, even in doctrinal matters. In the West, the church had more freedom from direct control by the civil
authorities.
Partly because of the ineffective political leadership in the Western Empire and partly because of the
inherent authority accorded the church in Rome, the Roman bishops had to take responsibility for judicial
affairs, military defense, and other secular matters. It was in this context that Bishop Gelasius I initially
stated the doctrine of the two swords in 494: "There are two powers by which this world is chiefly ruled;
the sacred authority of the popes and the royal power. Of these the priestly power is much more important
because it has to render account for the kings of men themselves at the divine tribunal....You know that it
behooves you, in matters concerning the reception and reverent administration of the sacraments, to be
obedient to the ecclesiastical authority rather than to control it."
During the Middle Ages (ca. 500-1500) the theory of the two spheres, the spiritual and the temporal,
was generally accepted, but the question of supremacy remained undefined. To be sure, the state was
universally considered a Christian institution in this period, obligated to nourish, protect, and further the
faith. Church law held that the state was obligated to punish heretics, and this obligation was accepted by
the state. But there was also endless debate among theologians and canon lawyers over the real meaning
of Gelasius's two swords theory. The text of his statement was analyzed and the etymological significance
studied in order to deduce the implications of spiritual supremacy for temporal affairs. Eventually the
concept of a single society with two aspects, each with its own responsibilities, was worked out. However,
it was a painful and slow process.
During the early Middle Ages the church struggled to free itself from intrusion by secular rulers. For
example, after the sixth century, emancipated from direct control from Byzantium, the popes increased in
prestige and power, in both the spiritual and temporal realms. But an important event in church-state
relations took place in 800 when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor. Charlemagne had tried
to revive the empire in the West and held views close to caesaropapism. He would have liked to limit the
role of the pope to purely spiritual affairs, but he had no competent heirs to continue his policies. For their
part, later popes used the precedent of Charlemagne's coronation to show that emperors received their
crowns from the papacy. On the other hand, later emperors claimed the right to approve those elected to
papal office. Thus, by the eleventh century the elements of a major confrontation between pope and
emperor, church and state, were present.
When Pope Gregory VII, an advocate of reform, challenged the right of Emperor Henry IV to appoint
the Archbishop of Milan, the investiture controversy ensued. In 1075 Gregory issued a decree forbidding
lay investiture and asserted that popes had the power to depose emperors. After considerable maneuvering
by both parties, including Gregory's dramatic but temporary triumph at Canossa in 1077, a compromise
was worked out by the Concordat of Worms in 1122. Bishops in the empire were to be chosen according
to canon law but invested with their insignia by an ecclesiastical officer. The practice was copied
elsewhere and tensions eased somewhat.
However, the issues of the right of the popes to depose kings and the role of the secular rulers in
selecting appointees to high church offices were worked out only gradually over the decades, the papacy
eventually becoming dominant. This trend culminated in the reign of Pope Innocent III (1198-1216), the
most powerful pontiff in Christian history. Under Innocent, and for about a century thereafter, it was clear
that royal power was subordinate to pontifical authority. The thirteenth century was the zenith of papal
power in terms of church-state relations. However, the aspirations of kings to consolidate their national
strength and the discrediting of the papacy during the period of the Babylonian Captivity of the Church
(1309-77) and the Great Papal Schism (1378-1417) which followed led to the curtailment of papal
influence and prestige.
These factors and the growth of the Renaissance papacy in the fifteenth century further weakened the
papal office and helped set the stage for the coming of the Protestant Reformation.
The Reformation and Its Aftermath. The Protestant Reformers challenged the authority of the church in
general and the papacy in particular, in both the spiritual and political realms. This further diminished the
ability of the church to control and/or intervene in political affairs. Moreover, in place of the late medieval
theory of ultimate pontifical authority in church-state matters, the Reformers posited a variety of different
approaches. Martin Luther sharply distinguished the temporal from the spiritual but considered many
ecclesiastical functions, such as administration, as nonessentials. Therefore, most of the Lutheran states
developed an Erastian territorial system in which the princes supervised church affairs. John Calvin tried
to make a clear distinction between the spheres of church and state, believing that it was the duty of the
latter to maintain peace, protect the church, and follow biblical guidelines in civil affairs. In general,
Geneva and the Reformed churches of Europe attempted to follow his views and avoid civil domination.
The Church of England adopted an Erastian position by substituting the king for the pope as the head of
the church and by designating king and Parliament to regulate ecclesiastical government, worship, and
discipline.
However, the Anabaptists and other Radical Reformers insisted that the correct biblical emphasis was
to separate completely the spheres of church and state. Their position seemed so anarchical at the time
that they were severely persecuted by all other parties, Protestant and Catholic alike. In turn, the
Anabaptists passed on their views on church and state to related movements in seventeenth century
England, Baptists, Quakers, and Independents.
More than any other religious group in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, those of Baptist views,
John Smyth, Thomas Helwys, Leonard Busher, John Murton, John Bunyan, John Clarke, Roger Williams,
Isaac Backus, and John Leland, among others, championed the concept that the logical corollary to the
doctrine of religious liberty was the principle of the separation of church and state. On the basis of such
Scriptures as Matt. 22, Rom. 13, and James 4:12 they argued that this was the only way to safeguard
religious freedom and the priesthood of the believer. By this they meant that the state had no right to
interfere with the religious beliefs and practices of individuals or congregations, and that the church for its
part had no claim upon the state for financial support. To receive public money was to invite government
control and the loss of religious identity.
Also in the eighteenth century Enlightenment natural rights theorists such as John Locke and Hugo
Grotius popularized the view that civil government was rooted in a social contract rather than in God's
appointment. Armed with this concept the emerging national states tended to make the church subservient
to the common good of society and came to expect institutional religion to steer clear of political issues.
However, the development of this concept in Europe and the remainder of the world was uneven, and
attempts at state control of the church recurred. Only in the newly created United States of America did
the government clearly agree to a new system that sought to guarantee religious freedom through
separation of church and state.
The American Experiment. Conditions in the American colonies prior to 1776 were not favorable to the
establishment of a single church. To be sure, during most of the period many of the individual colonies
had an established church, Congregationalism in New England and the Church of England in most other
places. However, there was no state church in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware,
while in many other places large numbers of Baptists and Quakers opposed those that existed. Numerous
dissenters and the need to attract settlers regardless of religious persuasion made it difficult to enforce
establishment. By the time of the revolution, when the new states wrote their constitutions, most of them
disestablished their churches. Gradually all would abandon the concept. Vestiges of an establishment
lingered in Massachusetts until 1833.
The U.S. Constitution forbade religious tests for public office and its First Amendment provided that
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof." A new experiment in church-state relations had been inaugurated with the strong backing of
Baptists, Mennonites, Quakers, and most Methodists and Presbyterians, all of whom were Bible-believing
Christians who wanted to protect the freedom of the churches and individual consciences from the state,
and the support of the founding fathers, most of whom were rationalist deists who wanted to protect the
state from clerical domination. Moreover, there was the practical matter of the prevailing denominational
pluralism in the new nation that made it impossible to agree upon which church to establish.
Although the original intentions of the founding fathers and their supporters are now debated, it
appears that Thomas Jefferson and his party and the vast majority of evangelical Protestants, the dominant
religious group of the early national period, assumed that there was a "wall of separation" between the two
institutions which should be maintained at all costs, for the good of the republic and the health of true
religion. They considered that government best which governed least, regarded religion as primarily a
private affair between an individual and God, and saw no reason for conflict between politics and religion.
Although they wanted a strict separation of the institutions of church and state, they did not try to
segregate religion from national life
General references to the majority religion were acceptable in what was then a largely homogeneous
nation. This common view dominated church-state relations in America throughout the nineteenth
century.
However, there was also a minority view, expressed by John Adams and others, that the main concern
of the First Amendment was to keep the federal government from interfering with religious matters so that
each state could handle such questions. Some eventually extended this to a claim that the goal was to
make the United States a Christian nation, but neutral in respect to particular denominations.
As America became more religiously and culturally heterogeneous in the twentieth century, the
dominant nineteenth century view of a rather rigorous separation of church and state was increasingly
challenged. Many now argue that there was actually no unanimity among those who voted for the First
Amendment and that it is impossible to determine their original intent. This has resulted in a sharp
division in interpretation, with some arguing for a veritable "Berlin Wall" of separation that would clearly
secularize society by excluding anything religious from national life and others arguing for a more porous
wall that would allow for the flow of a virile civil religion into the stream of national affairs.
Historically speaking, this new period of church-state relations began in the 1920s when the old
Protestant establishment committed cultural suicide in the internecine fundamentalist-modernist
controversy. Theologically speaking, it dates from the wave of theological liberalism that engulfed
Protestantism in the first quarter of the twentieth century, thus diminishing the ability of American society
to resist the encroachments of secular humanism and to assimilate the great waves of new immigrants
which came to America in this period. Legally and politically speaking, it stems from 1940, when a
landmark decision by the Supreme Court (Cantwell et al. vs. State of Conn.) resulted in a dramatic shift in
church-state cases from state to federal jurisdiction. Since that time the court has dealt with a number of
critical religious issues related in some way to the First Amendment: laws governing business on Sundays,
taxation of church property, religion and prayers in the public schools,
public support for parochial education, church lobbying, conscientious objection, abortion, pornography
and censorship, and resistance to war taxes. Currently in the offering are other questions concerning
church and state, such as the status of military chaplains and legislation to limit the activities of so-called
cults.
In the period since 1940 several principles have been established by the Supreme Court in dealing with
church-state matters. For example, it invoked the "child benefit theory" in 1947 (Everson vs. Bd. of Ed.,
N.J.). In 1971 (Earle vs. DiCenso and Lemon vs. Kurtzman) it established the principle of "evidence of
excessive entanglement" of church and state. Nevertheless, it has been difficult for the Supreme Court to
decide what is and is not equivalent to "an establishment of religion" in twentieth century America and to
determine where the freedom of an individual or group conflicts with the freedom of others or with
obligations to the larger good of the community. Moreover, the competing forces of diverse religious and
ethnic groups along with a lack of a clear national consensus on moral values have made it difficult to
reach decisions on church and state acceptable to a clear majority of Americans.
Theologians, historians, and other scholars have not contributed a great deal to the discussion of
church-state issues since World War II. The monumental work of Anson Phelps Stokes and Leo Pfeffer is
an exception and provides the beginning point for any analysis of current church-state relations in
America. James E. Wood, Jr., and the Journal of Church and State have also provided vigorous leadership
in this area, and such organizations as Americans United for Separation of Church and State remain in
the forefront of such discussion and analysis. But even AUSCS, long an advocate of the "wall of
separation," appears to be less "united" on the issues than it once was. Finally, there is considerable
evidence that the increasing number of adherents of authoritarian religious cults and denominations and
the presence of the new religious right in America will have a profound role in altering the meaning of
"separation of church and state" in the years to come,
probably in the direction of more government involvement in religion.
Conclusions. Islam, Hinduism, and most of the other major religions of the world have not produced a
doctrine of separation of church and state comparable to that championed by evangelical Protestants and
Enlightenment rationalists and eventually implemented in the United States. For example, in many
Muslim countries there is no separation of church and state in the Western sense. In others there is formal
separation of the institutions but a close link between them in terms of favored treatment and
anticonversion laws.
On the other hand, the validity of the principle of church-state separation has been increasingly
recognized all over the world in the twentieth century. Nearly every European country has disestablished
former state churches, and in some nations, such as France, a radical separation has been effected. Even in
most Marxist states, such as the Soviet Union and China, church and state are constitutionally separated,
not in order to ensure religious freedom but in order to make certain that religious groups stay out of
government affairs and to keep them under supervision.
In one sense the concept of separation of church and state has come almost universally to have
normative value. Most secular governments prefer to have some kind of line demarcation between the
sacred and the profane, at least in terms of institutional expression. On the other hand, the principle has
not yet been definitively articulated, not even in its American homeland. Moreover, there are emerging
movements, such as Islamic republicanism in Iran, which renounce any attempt to separate the
institutions. In America growing numbers of people appear to have abandoned the more traditional
emphasis on a "wall of separation" in favor of some kind of bland civil religion that will allow for more
open-ended cooperation between the two institutions. It remains to be seen if people today can distinguish
between the impossibility of separating religion from politics, on the one hand, and the desirability of
keeping church and state on their respective sides of the religious-political wall, on the other."
Myths of the Patriot Movement
Part Three
by Randy Lee
(from Issues the Ninth and Twenty-fourth)
Over the past ten years, the so-called Patriot Movement has been inundated with countless myths of
law, which as a result of 'buying' into them, has cost many their Life, Liberty and Property on a large
scale. This is a result, to a large degree, of not looking to The Word of God through Jesus the Christ for
the answers to their problems, but putting their faith in the 'follies' of natural persons and human
beings----known as constitutions, codes, rules and regulations.
These myths include, but are not limited to:
'The Right to Travel,' 'common law courts,' 'getting un-taxed,' 'U.C.C. 1-207,' 'Constitutional Rights,'
'state Citizen,' 'sovereign Citizen,' 'Title 42 lawsuits,' 'commercial liens,' 'UBO Trusts,' 'Bill of Particulars,'
etc., all of which are secular concepts attempting to be "godly." Their "concepts" place the users into a
commercial jurisdiction controlled by infidels, pagans, secular humanists and others of like kind.
These various concepts, for the most part, are a result of what has come about since Lincoln's War,
when the so-called Roman Civil Law was gradually put into place and implemented during the time of
Reconstruction. The combination of many different changes in society in general, after this period,
changed the spirit of law favoring the commercial aspects of things.
The purpose of this article is not to criticize or judge anyone, but to expose, with documentation, the
erroneous concepts that have brought many down a painful path. It is my hope and intention to help
correct these errors by sharing all information I have on these subjects with my fellow-servants. It is
suggested, as always, that you do additional research in these areas in order to feel confident that the
information herein is totally accurate. By doing so, with all writings and processes by whomever, the
mistakes of the past will not be repeated.
"The Right to Travel: 'Within the meaning of 'a right to travel', means migration with intent to
settle and abide.' Strong v. Collatos, D.C. Mass., 450 F. Supp.1356,1360.
"Migrans jura amittat ac privilegia et immunitatates domicilii prioris, or, One who migrates or
emigrates will lose the rights, privileges, and immunities of his former domicile. Maxim of Law,
Black's Law Dict., 6th Ed., page 992.
'Basic constitutional right exemplified in case of persons applying for welfare assistance in a state in
which they have not resided for a prescribed period of time. It is said that to deny such a right to such
persons is to inhibit their right to travel and hence to deny them equal protection of the law.' Shapiro
v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 89 S. Ct. 1322.
"Nom de guerre--a war name; an assumed traveling name; a pseudonym." Webster's New Twentieth
Century Dictionary, Unabridged (World Publishing Co., 1969), "Dictionary of Foreign Words and
Phrases," p. 1202.
"The sovereign authority can extend only over those who are subject to it; it cannot, therefore,
regulate the rights of foreigners. But if they come within its territory, either to reside or travel, they
are considered as submitting themselves to the authority of the laws of the country, and they are bound
by them. This is perfectly reasonable, for during their stay in the country they are protected by its
laws." 1 Bouvier's Inst. of Law (1851), p. 38.
"Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergencyUnder
the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control the
means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and
control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict
travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens."
"A majority of the people of the United States have lived all of their lives under emergency rule. For
40 years, freedoms and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have, in varying
degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by states of national emergencyfrom, at least, the
Civil War...in important ways shaped the present phenomenon of a permanent state of national
emergency." Preamble from Senate Report 93-549, 93rd Congress, November 19, 1973, Special
Committee On The Termination Of The National Emergency United States Senate.
Note: When on the road, or anywhere else, you should be doing only one thing, which is, 'living,
moving, and having your being in Christ Jesus.' This one action is for purely spiritual sustenance, which
in turn, all things are provided. Those things provided by Him do not include worldly desires such as a
night on the town, disturbing the peace by doing 90 miles an hour because you like 'the thrill of speed,' or
you're late for an 'appointment,' etc. The bondman in and of Christ Jesus does not have a "right to travel."
According to our Father's Word, we have only the "right to the Tree of Life."
"Love not the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone should love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him; because all that which is in the world, the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the
eyes, and the vaunting of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world; and the world is passing away,
and the lust of it: but he that does the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John 2:15-17
Common Law Courts: There is not and never has been such a thing as a 'common law court.' There are
courts of common pleas, courts at common law, courts Christian, but no 'common law court.' It will go
down in history as a 'gimmick court,' operating out of necessity (Maxim of Law: Necessity knows no law,
therefore these 'courts' are utterly lawless).
Getting un-taxed: First, there is not a word such as 'un-taxed,' that exists in the English language. This
is one more 'gimmick' to sell a $1,000 - $2,000 package to desperate, uninformed victims. When a person
engages in commercial activity in America, that person is liable for the tax on it, if there is a record of
such activity. Note: only 'persons' engage in commercial activity. This tax is nothing new, to wit:
"The power, in a State, is necessarily limited to subjects within its jurisdiction. These are persons,
property, and business,--whatever the form of taxation, whether as duties, imports, excises, or
licenses. The power may touch property in every shape: in its natural condition, in its manufactured
form, in its transmutations. It may touch business in any of its infinite forms--in professions,
commerce, manufactures, transportation. The amount is determined by the value, use, capacity, or
productiveness. Unrestrained constitutionally, the power of the State as to the mode, form, and extent
is unlimited, provided the subject be within her jurisdiction.' A Dictionary of Law, by William C.
Anderson (1893), page 1009, based on numerous court cases.
Note: 'provided the subject be within
her jurisdiction,' is limiting, when it comes to the bondman not engaging in the benefits, privileges
and immunities of the State, but instead, living in Him.
U.C.C. 1-207: This 'gimmick' was created by 'the codemakers' in order to appear legitimate. When
reserving your 'common law' rights with a commercial code, and with commerce and the lex mercatoria
being part of the common law of England, you are only reserving what that code has jurisdiction over;
commerce. In essence, what you are saying when you sign U.C.C. 1-207 is that you reserve your rights to
engage in commercial thievery in their system (see, The Dark Side of the Common Law). The current code
system is designed from The Roman Codes of Justinian which were based on The Babylonian Codes of
Hamarabi (Note: A plaque of Hamarabi hangs in the House of Representatives in D.C.). The U.C.C. is
private law between merchants, codified from the Law Merchant. It is not something a anyone should
attach himself to. It is:
"One of the Uniform Laws drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State
Laws and The American Law Institute governing commercial transactions (including sales and leasing
of goods, transfer of funds, commercial paper, bank deposits and collections, letters of credit, bulk
transfers, warehouse receipts, bills of lading, investment securities, and secured transactions). The
U.C.C. has been adopted in whole or substantially by all states [*and it is copyrighted]." Black's Law
Dictionary, 6th Edition, page 1531.
Constitutional Rights: Constitutional Rights consist of natural, civil, and political rights. All of these
rights are for natural persons, human beings, citizens and subjects of the secular state; not the bondman
(see Issue the Sixth, To Be or Not To Be: a Human Being). When one clings to constitutional rights
instead the protection of our Loving Father through Our Lord and Saviour Jesus, the Christ, the result is:
"Get behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence to Me: for thy thoughts are not the things of God, but
things of men." Matthew 16:23
According to Blackstone,
"the rights of persons considered in their natural capacity, are of two sorts, --
absolute and relative; absolute, which are such as appertain and belong to particular men, merely as
individuals or single persons; relative, which are incident to them as members of society, and standing in
various relations to each other." 1 Bl. Comm. 123.
If you believe that 'humans' have constitutional rights under the current de facto government, re-read S.
R. 93-549.
state Citizen and sovereign Citizen: Again, secular concepts, for persons, designed to subject the
bondman of Christ Jesus to Roman secular law, to wit:
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are
citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." 14th Amendment, U.S. Constitution.
"Citizen: A member of the civil state entitled to all its privileges." Cooley, Const. Lim. 77.
"Citizen: One of the sovereign people. A constituent member of the sovereignty, synonymous with
'the people'." Scott v. Sanford, 19 How. 404.
Note: Who are 'the people'? The U.S. Government, which is a corporation, claims to be sovereign. 'The
people,' then, are those with power over their 'human subjects,' who wish to be God walking on earth.
Their motto is, 'I can do all things in myself and be perfect' (humanism)).
Title 42 Lawsuits: All U.S. Titles and Codes are for natural persons, corporations, etc. Natural persons
are God-less entities presumed to be living in a state of nature (see Issue the Sixth, To Be or Not To Be: a
Human Being).
When a anyone files a Title 42 lawsuit in the de facto secular courts, he is saying in essence, "I am one
of your pagan followers, and you, as my Master have violated my 'Civil Rights (rights you gave me).' I
want revenge, and I want to be judged by the un-Godly, as long as my greed and revenge produce some
money for me." Those promoting and using such lawsuits walk arm in arm with Mercury and Mars to wit:
"We are all agreed that the First and Fourteenth Amendments have a secular reach far more
penetrating in the conduct of government than merely to forbid an 'established church,' ....We renew
our conviction that 'we have staked the very existence of our country on the faith that complete
separation between the state and religion is best for the state and best for religion." Justice Felix
Frankfurter and Co. in Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203.
Commercial Liens: Again, designed by the secular mercantile world for the promotion of revenge, greed
and the furtherance of their jurisdiction. Many who have filed these in recent years have landed in jail.
Those who are not in jail are still trying to 'monetize' these liens, but to no avail. Such money making
'promotional gimmicks' as, "you can sell them to brokers on the world market," have been found by many
to be bogus and fraudulent. The recent Schweitzer/freeman activity in Montana, California and other
States are typical examples of the danger and futility of getting involved with such anti-Christ behavior.
UBO Trusts: Better known as 'common law trusts,' never existed in common law. Just another money
making 'gimmick' by commercial promoters. Trusts, like all other instruments that create a commercial
fiction, are and have always been repugnant to the Truth. The information on trusts being so numerous,
I'll try to keep it simple.
-First, a trust carries with it an equitable duty, a benefit (commodity) and limited liability.
-Second, a trust reduces your legal title in property to an equitable title, thereby entering that property
into commercial activity. An equitable title cannot be defended in a court-at-law or with a Non-Statutory
Abatement.
-Third, when receiving the benefit as the beneficiary of the trust, from the trustee, the beneficiary
surrenders a legal right, and joins the secular commercial world on record, to wit:
Trust beneficiary: "A person named in a trust account as one for whom a party to the account is named as trustee." Uniform Probate Code 6-101. "Person for whose benefit property is held in trust." Restatement, Second, Trusts 3.
For those outside of the commercial world can use a 'settlement,' which is a trust style document. It is
based in substance, not fictions, and is for inheritance purposes, not business. It is a simple document and
can be written and published by yourself.
The Pitch
The so-called Patriot Movement and the religion it practices can be said to have a predictable monthly
tithing call to its worshippers and worshippers-to-be. It is, "Come join The Silver Bullet of the Month
Club." The echo of its bark seems to bounce off the walls of the carnival temple in which it
preaches--those paid commercial ads within various 'patriot' magazines, books, literature, and talk radio.
Taken to exaggerated levels, the huckster's pitch is resonant:
"Come and get it! Yes, it's the all new, only-one-of-its-kind, step-by-step, you-can-beat-'em-at-their-own-game, 'Pro Se Litigation' package,"
"Get it here. Become a 'sovereign sentient human being' with our super special one-size-fits-all
eight hundred dollar 'state citizenship' package,"
"Don't miss this one. Let us make you 'safe and secure' with our 'super-duper, guaranteed not to
fail,' twelve hundred dollar 'Pure-Common Law-Offshore Trust' package,"
"Come one, come all! Get this just-released, new and improved, Hot! Hot! Hot!, world renowned,
teach-'em-a-lesson, get rich weapon of revenge, 'Title 42 Lawsuit' package,'
"Extra, extra, read all about it. Get your land back with our newly released, 'Allodial Title'
package,"
"New & Improved!! Get yourself out from underneath the thumb of the I.R.S with our special, time-tested (twenty year prison term) 'Un-Tax' package."
And of course, we can't forget the Recision packages, Right to Travel packages, Comptroller Warrant
packages, Commercial Lien packages, Common Law Court packages, Social Security packages, Flag of
Peace packages, Civil Death packages, Statute Staple packages, Bill of Particulars packages, Bill of
Annulment packages, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.
"Come unto me, for I will get you out of your desperate situation, protect you and make you safe and
secure (if you can afford it)," is their spiel. They become the gods and gurus of 'law.' The victims cry,
"more, more, give us more; just one more Silver Bullet," and these 'law gods' reply, "more, more? yes, we
have more, if you have more, more, more money!!!"
And of course, "the more it costs, the 'more powerful' it must be."
Surely, the snake oil salesmen of the 1800's would be proud, and today's T.V. ad exec's would excitedly
quip, "it's the triumph of the human spirit at its finest."
The truth of the matter is, there are no Silver Bullets, except in the fictional world of The Lone
Ranger and Tonto.
Ironically, the follies of the 'sovereign' human mind become quite clear when you find out what a
'patriot' really is:
"PATRIOT. Mistakenly (with possessive) as if = upholder, devotee: mid-C 17. Weever, 1631 'A
Patriot of Truth.' O.E.D." A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1961), p. 610.
Self-righteousness = self-destruction. The self-righteousness of man's legalism results in his own self-destruction.
The fact that humanist America has truly come to the chasm of self-destruction becomes more and
more evident each day. The 'patriot gods' and their 'disciples' are part of that evidence. These 'sheep' exist
because they prefer to look to the creations of man for their safekeeping, rather than their Loving Father.
They either forgot or don't know (or don't want to know) that He said "I will never leave you nor forsake
you," and that, "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep
the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
The hirelings that concoct the 'silver bullets' are simply the end result of fictions of fallen minds
wandering in the dark without the Christ and His Word.
Those who know the Truth, know that only God Almighty is "Sovereign," that His protections and
blessings bestowed upon the Executors of His Testament are protections and blessings that cannot be
surpassed with anything that the 'gods of government' can offer, or the 'gods of the patriot movement' can
claim to offer. They know that real Law comes from The One True God alone, to those who do His Will,
not their own will.
The Myths and Heresies of The Patriot Movement are the same Myths and Heresies of the
ancients--Egypt, Greece, Rome and their Mother of Whores, Babylon-- with a 'new and improved' face
of confusion through their love for codes, rules and regulations of man-made 'law.'
How many have thrown their hands up in the air and said, "I give up. I've tried all of the packages and
I'm more confused now than when I started." Why is this? When you put your faith for earthly salvation
in the Babylonian creations of the secular commercial world, you reap what they sow -- a harvest of
confusion, desolation, and damnation.
"Truly the hills and the strength of the mountains were a lying refuge: but by the Lord our God is
the salvation of Israel. But shame has consumed the labours of our fathers from our youth; their sheep
and their calves, and their sons and their daughters. We have lain down in our shame, and our
disgrace has covered us: because we and our fathers have sinned before our God, from our youth until
this day; and we have not harkened to the voice of the Lord our God." Jeremiah 3:23-25
Just as the corrupt traditions of the elders become the introduction of universal confusion, which makes
man like the fishes of the sea, so too does the idea that every man can, outside of the Law of God, avenge
himself through the hands of 'private persons.' These private persons; these hirelings; these sons of Adam,
again say, "Come unto us, for we will be your gods, and you will be our sheep."
The Way, The Truth, and The Life
"Jesus said therefore again to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, that I am the door of the sheep.
All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door: by Me if anyone enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out, and
shall find pasture.
The thief comes not except that he may steal and may kill and may destroy: I came that life they
might have, and abundantly might have.
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep: but the hired servant,
and who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep,
and flees: and the wolf seizes them, and scatters the sheep.
Now the hireling flees, because a hired servant he is, and is not himself concerned about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and know those that are Mine, and am known of those that are Mine. John
10:7-14
P e r f e c t i o n ?
Part One
by Randy Lee
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is faithful, instructing
babes. The ordinances of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is
bright, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments
of the Lord are true, and justified altogether. To be desired more than gold, and much precious
stone: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. For Thy servant keeps to them: in the keeping of
them there is great reward." Psalm 19:7-11
In noting that the Epistle from the Christ's assembly at Maine on Pages one through three concludes
with Matthew 5:48, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect," it is
important for all of us to understand exactly what this translation from the King James version originally
meant in the Greek, thereby avoiding the long history of "theological" errors and divisive traps of the
natural man's Christian religion.
The purpose of this multi-part written discourse is to investigate not only the history of the confused
doctrines concerning "perfection," but more importantly, it will be mandatory for us to look into the vast
treasures of His Word, beginning "in the beginning" and along the way, taking into consideration all of
the "elements" that pertain to "perfection." The question is: "What does His whole Word say?" In that
way, we will be able to see exactly what His Word and His Spirit tells us, and thereby avoid looking to our
own understanding, which seems to always be the case with the philosophies and doctrines of the so-called "Church fathers."
What is written, and that which may be written in this series, is not put forth as "doctrine," (in the
sense of "religious dogma") but is simply written for His ekklesia to consider in accordance with the
simplicity of His Word. Any revelation found hereinafter is, in accordance with His orderly arrangement,
from God, not from me; and any error that may be found would be from me alone.
As stated above, many false doctrines have been based on this verse (Matthew 5:48) and other such
verses that have the words perfect and perfection within them, resulting in the various "perfectionist"
doctrines over the last nineteen hundred years.
In this Part, we will begin by taking a look at an incomplete, but telling, history of such goings-on to
give us an overview of the case, first from Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology:
"Perfection, Perfectionism. The quest for religious perfection has been an important goal throughout Judeo-Christian history. Both biblical and theological evidence reflects this continuous concern. Although
interpretations have varied with reference to methods and chronology of attainment, most Christian traditions
recognize the concept.
Theological Issues and Historical Heritage. The Command of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, "Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48), is central to the issue of human
perfection. This text has been variously interpreted and even rejected as inauthentic in the attempts to arrive at
theological understanding.
Christian Platonism. Clement of Alexandria and the Christian Platonists sought for perfection in the
transfiguration of earthly life, a hallowing of the secular. Faith and knowledge lifted some believers to an
experience of religious perfection in which the purposes and desires of the soul were harmonized in love. In his
Miscellanies, the ideal was the attainment of uninterrupted communion with God. Paradoxically, Clement
insisted on God's unlikeness to man while insisting on the possibility of the perfected Gnostic's becoming like
God. Thus perfection was obedientiary, not absolute, and was attained through obedience to God in prayer and
keeping the commandments. The weakness in Clement's view follows from his Platonic tendency to view God as
apathetic and without predicates. Although God was active for the salvation of men, Clement emptied both
Father and Son of emotions. This hellenization of God is somewhat incongruous with his view of God as the
Father persevering in love. His view of perfection, then, emphasizes that the 'Christian Gnostic' rises above
human emotions by contemplation of God and is 'translated absolutely and entirely to another sphere.'
Clement's illustrious pupil, Origen, proposed a view of perfection which explicitly reflected the presuppositions
of Platonic philosophy. He separated faith and knowledge, with faith being the basis of salvation and knowledge
being the means to perfection. A prerequisite to perfection is an ascetic rejection of the external world and all
human emotions. His approach was basically humanistic, even though he asserted that human effort must be
assisted by grace. Also, his Platonic negative evaluation of the human creature required that perfection be
essentially a victory over the body, and more specifically over the sex drive. Furthermore, he anticipated the
monastic emphasis of perfection through asceticism and a distinction between the ordinary and the spiritually
elite Christian. This tendency toward a double standard of morality reflected the influence of Gnosticism on early
Christian thought in that ordinary Christians lived by faith while the enlightened elect lived by gnosis. This dual
level of spirituality became more pronounced as the chasm between clergy and laity widened in the medieval
period.
Monasticism. One of the most extensive attempts at attaining Christian perfection is found in monasticism.
Leaders such as Antony of Egypt and Pachomius went into solitude to practice their disciplines with the aim of
achieving spiritual perfection. They were overwhelmed by the sense of their own unworthiness and by the
increasing worldliness of the church. The attaining of their goal involved renouncing all encumbrances of the
world, taking up their cross, and praying without ceasing. The ideal of perfection became socialized as expressed
in the rules of Basil and Benedict. Monastic communities developed which not only sought perfection by
resignation from the world and asceticism, but also attempted to transform the world through extensive
missionary efforts and the preservation of spiritual, aesthetic, and intellectual life.
Some of the most profound spiritual insights are found in the Fifty Spiritual Homilies of Macarius the
Egyptian. Greatly admired by William Law and John Wesley, Macarius stressed the worth of the individual
human soul in the image of God, the incarnation as the basis of the life of the soul, moral purity, and love as the
highest measure of the Christian life. His stress on union with Christ is commendable, but his goal of perfection
still is a retreat from reality into ecstasy, lacks a relevant ideal for common humanity, and is excessively
individualistic.
Gregory of Nyssa was one of the greatest Eastern leaders in the struggle for perfection. He saw Christ as the
prototype of the Christian life in his On What It Means to Call Oneself a Christian and On Perfection. The
responsibility of the Christian is to imitate the virtues of Christ and to reverence those virtues which are
impossible to imitate. Gregory saw the truth of the participation in Christ, which results from rebirth 'by water
and the Spirit.' In this interpersonal sharing the Christian perfects the resemblance to Christ which comes through
the continual transformation into his image.
Augustine and Pelagius. In the fourth century the reaction against perfectionism was typified by the
controversy between Augustine and Pelagius. Although Augustine affirmed an ideal of perfection, the summum
bonum, it was a perfection attainable only in eternity. He felt that human perfection was an impossible moral
ideal in this life because of the sinfulness of mankind resulting from the fall.
Pelagius attributed the moral laxity of the church to the kind of blasphemy which told God that what he had
commanded was impossible. He rejected the concept of original sin and asserted that persons are born with the
free capacity to perfect themselves or corrupt themselves as they choose. Sin is simply a bad habit which can be
overcome by an act of the will. Since sin is avoidable, however, Pelagius tended to judge severely those who fell
into the slightest sin.
The response of Augustine was that neither education nor human effort could lead to perfection and the only
moral progress persons could make in this life was solely the result of God's grace. He tended to equate sinfulness
with humanness in general and with concupiscence in particular, and saw the path to perfection as one of
celibacy and virginity. While rejecting the attainment of perfection in this life, Augustine made great
contributions to spirituality with his emphasis on contemplation, although he tended to diminish the humanity of
Christ because of his aversion to the physical. He was certainly correct in his rejection of Pelagius's exclusive
emphasis on moral effort and in his emphasis on grace, but his tendency to identify sinfulness with the physical
world is an unnecessary vestige of Greek philosophy.
Aquinas. Often called the 'Angelic Doctor,' Thomas Aquinas has greatly influenced Roman Catholic theology.
He was convinced that although Adam lost the gift of divine grace which enabled mankind to enjoy God fully, the
free grace of God can restore humanity to God's favor and enable the Christian to follow God's precepts in perfect
love. Final perfection and the beatific vision of God were reserved for the life to come, but through contemplation
a perfect vision of God and perfect knowledge of truth can be enjoyed in this life. His concept of perfection,
however, involved a disparagement of the world and an understanding of the desires of flesh as evil. Thus the
elimination of bodily desires was a prerequisite to perfection, and in this aspect he equated perfection with
renunciation. Furthermore, he saw perfection as carrying with it human merit, and thus he contributed to the idea
of the treasury of merits from which the imperfect can draw at the discretion of the church. Finally, he formed a
hierarchy of the state of perfection which corresponded to the levels of the religious orders. Although he did not
deny the possibility of perfection for all persons, religious vows were certainly the shortcut to meritorious
perfection. He thus perpetuated the spiritual dichotomy between clergy and laity.
Francis of Sales. The possibility of perfection for all Christians was emphasized by Francis of Assisi and the
Friars Minor, and Francis of Sales presented this doctrine with clarity in his treatise On the Love of God. He
rejected the banishment of the devout life from the experience of common people, and opened up the benefits of
spiritual contemplation to all Christians.
Francois Fenelon. Amid the profligacies of the court of Louis XIV, Fenelon taught his followers to live a life
of deep spirituality and introspection. He saw perfection as totally a work of God's grace, not meritorious human
effort. The perfect life is carefree and Christlike loving fellowship with others. In Christian Perfection he
presented single-minded devotion to God as the ideal in attaining perfect love. This perfect life is the imitation of
Jesus, and its main obstacle is egocentricity, which must be overcome by an inward act of sanctification by God's
Spirit. Thus Fenelon moved the quest for perfection away from its preoccupation with renunciation of the physical
and its monopoly by the elite, and focused on God's work of grace which is universally available to the seeker.
The Reformers. Both the Lutheran and Calvinist Reformers reflected the Augustinian position that sin remains
in humanity until death, and therefore spiritual perfection is impossible in this life. Calvin explicitly stated that
while the goal toward which the pious should strive was to appear before God without spot or blemish, believers
will never reach that goal until the sinful physical body is laid aside. Since he saw the body as the residence of the
depravity of concupiscence, perfection and physical life are mutually exclusive.
Luther also retained the connection between sin and the flesh. However, he did emphasize a new center of
piety, the humanity and work of Jesus Christ . While the previous seekers after perfection focused on the
knowledge and love of God which was grasped through contemplation, Luther focused on the knowledge of God
through God's revelation in Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ therefore brings an imputed perfection which truly
worships God in faith. This true perfection does not consist in celibacy or mendicancy. Luther rejected the
distinction between clerical and lay perfection and stressed that proper ethical behavior was not found in
renunciation of life, but in faith and love of one's neighbor.
The Pietists. With the pietists arose a Protestant rejection of the pessimism with which the Lutherans and
Calvinists viewed the quest for perfection. Marked by the quest for personal holiness and an emphasis on
devotion rather than doctrine, seventeenth century leaders such as Jakob Spener and A.H. Francke stressed
personal holiness marked by love and obedience. Perfection was reflected in works done solely for the glory of
God and in the ability to distinguish good from evil.
While tending toward narrowness and provincialism and often deteriorating into a negative scrupulosity, the
pietists developed strong community contexts for nurture and motivated extensive missionary endeavors.
The Quakers. Inspired by a desire to return to the attitude of the NT, George Fox taught both personal
responsibility for faith and emancipation from sin in his doctrine of the inner light. He declared a doctrine of real
holiness rather than imputed righteousness. This perfection was relative in that it dealt with victory over sin rather
than absolute moral development. Fox believed that as a result of the new birth into Christ by the Spirit the
believer was free from actual sinning, which he defined as transgressing the law of God, and is thus perfect in
obedience. This perfection, however, did not remove the possibility of sinning, for the Christian needed constantly
to rely on the inner light and must focus on the cross of Christ as the center of faith. Fox tended toward fanaticism
with his teaching that a Christian may be restored to the innocency of Adam before the fall, and could be more
steadfast than Adam and need not fall. William Penn and other Quakers qualified the doctrine to guard it from
such overstatement.
The strength of Fox's emphasis is that the center of perfection was in the cross of Christ. The cross was no dead
relic but an inward experience refashioning the believer into perfect love. This is a celebrating of the power of
grace. While his refusal to be preoccupied with sin was a needed corrective to the Puritan pessimism over the
profound sinfulness of man, Fox did tend to distrust the intellect and to suspect all external expressions of faith
such as the sacraments. His refusal to be satisfied with sin and his concentration upon a perfection of life through
grace found direct application in commendable attempts at social justice. This message of renewal and hope for
the poor and disenfranchised was certainly motivated by the conviction that the quality of life and faith is not
predetermined by a radical sinfulness which is resistant to actual moral transformation by grace.
William Law. The author of A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life and Christian Perfection, William Law
was an eighteenth century Anglican nonjuring cleric who influenced John Wesley and was admired by Samuel
Johnson, Edward Gibbon, John Henry Newman, and many others. Positively, he affirmed the necessity of divine
grace for performing the good and the importance of taking up the cross of Christ. He called for absolute
dedication of one's life to God and complete renunciation of every aspect of the world. He saw Christian
perfection functioning in common ways of life. He rejected the need for retirement to the cloister or the practice of
a particular form of life. The whole life is rather an offering of sacrifice to God and praying without ceasing.
Christlikeness is the ideal of perfection, and this is accomplished by performing one's human duties as Christ
would.
The weaknesses of Law's system are in his somewhat unrealistic ideals for human achievement, his failure to
see meaning in actual life itself, and his tendency to see grace as a means of supplanting nature rather than
transforming it. Furthermore, he tended to deprecate religious fellowship and all institutional religion.
The Wesleyans. John Wesley was inspired by the perfectionist themes of the early saints and by the devotional
literature of Thomas Kempis, Jeremy Taylor, and William Law. Seeing self-love, or pride, as the root of evil,
Wesley taught that 'perfect love' or 'Christian perfection' could replace pride through a moral crisis of faith. By
grace, the Christian could experience love filling the heart and excluding sin. He did not see perfection as
sinlessness, nor did he understand it to be attained by merit. He thus combined some aspects of the Catholic
emphasis on perfection with the Protestant emphasis on grace.
In contrast to Augustine's Platonic view of sin as being inseparably related to concupiscence and the body,
Wesley saw it as a perverted relationship to God. In response to God's offer of transforming grace, the believer in
faith was brought into an unbroken fellowship with Christ. This was not an imputed perfection but an actual or
imparted relationship of an evangelical perfection of love and intention. In this life the Christian does not attain
absolute Christlikeness but suffers numerous infirmities, human faults, prejudices, and involuntary
transgressions. These, however, were not considered sin, for Wesley saw sin as attitudinal and relational. In A
Plain Account of Christian Perfection he stressed that Christian perfection is not absolute, nor sinless, nor
incapable of being lost, is not the perfection of Adam or the angels, and does not preclude growth in grace.
In removing from the idea of perfection any idea of meritorious effort, Wesley resisted any tendency to
exclusiveness and elitism. His relational understanding of sin resisted the hellenistic equation of sin with
humanity. A reform of personal and social morality resulted to a large degree from the spiritual renewal which
accompanied his work. Thus perfection for Wesley was not based on renunciation, merit, asceticism, or
individualism. It was instead a celebration of the sovereignty of grace in transforming the sinful person into the
image of Christ's love.
Wesleyan perfectionist thought was, however, not without liabilities. Although Wesley defined sin as
involving relationships and intentions, he did not adequately guard against allowing it to become understood as a
substance or entity which was separate from the person and which must be extricated. Some of his followers did
tend to develop this substantialist understanding of sin and a resulting static concept of sanctification. He also
tended to narrow sin to include only conscious will and intent. Consequently, some of his interpreters have been
led to rationalize serious attitudinal aberrations as expressions of unconscious or unintentional human faults.
Finally, Wesley expressed an inward asceticism which tended to derogate the aesthetic, and his emphasis on
simplicity was too easily distorted by his followers into a legalistic externalism.
Wesley's emphasis on perfection has been preserved in some circles of Methodism, and continues to be
promoted in the denominations associated with the Christian Holiness Association.
Heterodox Sects. In addition to the Gnostic dualism of the early centuries, perfectionism has expressed itself in
varying forms on the fringes of Christianity. The second century Montanists taught that men could become gods.
In the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries the Albigensian heresy contended that the human spirit was
capable of freeing itself from the flesh in order to become one with God. The late medieval period also saw the
condemnation of the Brethren of the Free Spirit, who believed that man could advance in perfection beyond God,
who then became superfluous. The English Ranters saw it as logically impossible for perfected man to sin. Other
communal approaches such as the nineteenth century Oneida community sought for ways of reconciling perfected
sinlessness with the impulses of the flesh.
All these heterodox expressions of perfectionism contained forms of antinomianism and egoism. They were
condemned by orthodox Christianity with varying degrees of severity. Characterized by utopian views of human
ability and by mystical practices, they tended to ignore divine grace and ethical integrity, and deteriorated because
of their own inherent weaknesses." Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (1997), pages 839-843.
It seems that the pure truths of His Word are not sufficient for these "leaders." We can see from the
above that when man looks to his own understanding, and not to the Truth of the Word, he ends up with a
multiversity of doctrines that can leave everyone that looks to them in a complete state of confusion, and
therewith, division. With that division, the Christian religion has developed what is known today as
"denominationalism." Their question is: "Which slice of the religious pie appeals to you; choose this day
which one you will serve?"
To further understand the long history of this spiritless quest for "religious perfection," we have from
The Westminster Dictionary of Church History, the following:
"Perfectionism. A doctrine that sinlessness has been or can be attained during the earthly life. In the early
church the Biblical roots were intertwined with influences from Hellenistic or Gnostic sources, as in Clement of
Alexandria, whose doctrine of the "Christian Gnostic" is typical of much perfectionism. At a time when the
church was threatened by crowds of people whose moral level was low and by the Gnostics with their claim of
spiritual superiority, Clement urged Christian believers to go onto a true Christian perfection of love, which he
designated by the problematical term "knowledge" (gnosis). Origen developed this idea in the direction of an
ascetic renunciation of the world tending toward monasticism.
Perfectionism emerged as a social movement in Egypt when earnest Christians, disturbed by the debauchery of
Alexandria, fled to the isolation of the desert caves to the west of the Nile. There such men as Antony of Egypt (c.
250-356 A.D.) pioneered the monastic ascetic pattern of perfectionism in which sanctification is sought in
physical isolation from urban society. Under Antony and others, hermitic monasticism was replaced by cenobitic
or communal monasticism, in which perfection was sought in a community under discipline. Monasticism has
remained the dominant perfectionist ideal in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Churches, the vows of poverty,
chastity, and obedience being termed "counsels of perfection" (Thomas Aquinas).
In medieval theology, ascetic perfectionism was linked with a Platonic and Aristotelian idea of contemplation,
accentuating a mystical cast to the notion of perfection. In this period particularly, the histories of perfectionism
and of mysticism merge.
The Reformers tended to associate the notion of perfection with an ascetic works salvation and thus
emphasized the sinfulness of the believer. Perfectionist concerns were expressed, however, by Anabaptists and
Christian humanists in the tradition of Erasmus. An evangelical view of Christian perfection was adumbrated by
the Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius (d. 1609), who distinguished between perfection "according to rigor" and
"according to clemency." He followed the Reformers in rejecting the first and the early fathers in affirming the
second. A similar distinction was made by John Wesley, who differentiated between "Christian" and "absolute"
perfection, the latter being an evangelical perfection of love, conditioned only on faith, available only to the
believer both as growth in love and as a "second blessing" of entire sanctification. The Wesleyan emphasis on
Christian perfection became a central feature of Methodism, although the rigor of primitive Methodism has often
been tempered by neglect or by preoccupation with the ideal of social holiness. A rigorist and individualist
version of Wesley's position has been promoted in and out of Methodism by the Holiness movement since the
mid-19th century. Charles G. Finney also promoted a revivalistic perfectionism.
Protestant social perfectionism has taken many forms, such as the violent Munsterite kingdom of 1525, the
gentle society of Nicholas Ferrar at Little Gidding (17th century), and the American communitarian experiments
of the Rappites and the Oneida Community (19th century).
Both personal and social perfectionist impulses contributed to the moral rigor and the optimism of the more
recent Social Gospel movement. The postliberal theological reaction of Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr, among
others, revived the Augustinian and Reformation emphasis on sin in believers in opposition to both the older
perfectionism and piety and the newer evolutionary perfectionism of society." The Westminster Dictionary of
Church History (1971), pages 649-650.
Now that we have a slight overview of the "evolution" of the natural man's spiritless and vain
"theological" imaginations, we can begin to look into the meaning of the word "perfect," and whether or
not the King James translators used that word properly to describe the original word in the Greek
transcripts, teleioj, or teleios; and if they did, what does "perfection" mean according to the Word of God.
At the time that I began to look into the full meaning of this Greek word, I did not anticipate where He
would lead me. From the study of this one word, I was led all the way back to "the beginning."
Firstly, it has been assumed by many that Genesis 1:26-27 is speaking about Adam and Eve only (male
and female), and that those who were "begat" through and after them were simply a "by-product" of the
first man and woman, and that at some point in time, their souls and spirits are joined with the physical
body.
With a thorough and diligent study of Genesis in the Septuagint and several chapters and verses
elsewhere in His Word, it can be revealed to us that all men (male and female) were "made" inclusive on
the sixth day of creation. His making of them included their souls, bodies and spirits (without form); and
they were all made according (in accordance with, conformed)to Their image and likeness on that day
("Let Us make man according to Our image and likeness." Genesis 1:26, LXX ). On that day, all of the animals were made also.
We can see this due to the fact that during the six day creation, all the animals were "made" previous to
man being "made" (male and female), whereas the first man (Adam) was "formed," then the animals were
"formed" and named by Adam, and then Eve was "formed" from Adam's rib. If "made" and "formed"
meant "exactly" the same thing, then God's order would be disorder--which it is not.
Now, according to the natural man's scientific and spiritually dead "thought," to "make" and to "form"
must mean the same thing, because, to them, you can't "make" something without the immediate result of
something "formed." To this, and to all questions resulting from natural man's limited understanding, the
answer is already in His Word:
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your
thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
And He has told us that "made" and "formed" are two separate and distinct events, to wit:
"But now hear, Jacob My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus saith the Lord God that
made thee, and He that formed thee from the womb; Thou shalt yet be helped: fear not, My servant
Jacob; and beloved Israel, whom I have chosen." Isaiah 43:1-2.
The point of view of so-called "creation theology" (through the use of the KJV Masoretic/Hebrew text),
is that Genesis 1:26 (the sixth day) speaks of the physical creation of Adam and Eve in order to combat
the vain imaginations of the "evolutionists" whose position is that 1:26 is saying that there were men
walking on the earth before Adam was formed at 2:7. With the two above "theories," the world has
received the Hegalian dialectic known as "creation verses evolution," the synthesis being, as always, "a lie
verses a lie equals a lie that appears to be the truth."
We will not bother addressing the vain imaginations of the evolutionists. But, the premise of the
"creation theologians" is based on what is written in the KJV concerning the end of the sixth day, Thus
the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, and that on the seventh day, God ended
His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
Therefore, their premise is that the account of the six day creation (1:1 to 2:1) is just an overview of the
specifics written about from 2:4 to 3:1, which they say were written by a different writer than Chapter
One.
But when we go to the Septuagint, we see concerning the end of the sixth day, And the heavens and
earth were finished, and the whole order of them, and that on the seventh day, He ceased from all His
works which God began to do.
We see here that during the six day creation, the heavens and earth were finished and the whole order
of them (Let there be... (1:3, 6, 14), Let the... (1:1:9, 11, 20, 24), Let them... (1:15), Let Us... (1:26). But
we do not find that God "formed" any "living" thing until Genesis 2:7, wherein the text reads that He
"formed the man" (Adam) and "the man" became a living soul. Note that at 1:26, it does not read "Let Us make the man [*singular]...." It is, "Let us make man [*plural]..."
Preceding the forming of Adam at 2:7, we see at 2:4-5:
"This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when they were made, in the day in which
the Lord God made the heaven and the earth, and every herb of the field before it was on the earth, [*before it was formed] and all the grass of the field before it sprang up [*before it was formed], for God had not rained on the earth, and there was not a man to cultivate it." [*no man was yet formed]
From these verses we see that during the six day creation (the day), God "made" the herb and the grass,
but He had not yet "formed" them. He had sown the seeds of them (1:11-12) but they were not yet
"formed" on the earth. He had "made" man, male and female (1:26-27), but "the first man (Adam)" was
not yet "formed," and had not yet received the breath of life from God (not a man to cultivate). That
occurs at 2:6.
What is important to note here is that during the account of the six day creation, all of the animals were
"made" (1:20-25) before man (male and female) was "made" (1:26-27). But when we come to the
"forming" of them, we see that at 2:7 Adam was "formed," at 2:19 the animals were "formed," at 2:20
Adam named the animals, and lastly, at 1:22, Eve was "formed" from Adam's rib.
We see then that the sequence of "making" the animals and man (male and female) does not follow the
sequence of the "forming" of them, and therefore "making" and "forming" was not the same act, for God
is not a God of disorder and His Word is true.
And again, after the flood, we see the covenant (established at Genesis 6:18) remains with "all men."
To be continued next month.
A Study concerning
Death and the Grave
or
Where will I go when I die?
Part Two
by Steven Milton
In Part One it was mentioned that if the Lord willed, I would share with you more concerning the rich
man and Lazarus. It will be my attempt to do so at this writing.
But first I would like to address a couple of items in the introduction of Part One. It was mentioned that
this study is in no way to be put forth as doctrine. I support this because I do not want to attempt to be
trying to create any doctrine; however, we need to be constantly mindful that the Scriptures tell us at 2
Timothy 3:16 that:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine (teaching), for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"
Even though I espouse no doctrine, each one of us need to stay alert and examine all things for
teachings that Jesus and the Scriptures talk about. So, how do we do this? One method to search for sound
teaching is the clear use of Scripture. If any of the verses in Part One were out of context, or there was an
overwhelming amount of Scripture to a contrary understanding on your part, please correct me so that we
may all understand the correct teaching of Scripture. Another point to remember about doctrine (teaching)
is that when Jesus spoke, He spoke sound teachings (see Matthew 7:28 and 22:33, John 7:16-17, Mark
4:2), and since He quoted Scripture [*the Septuagint) much of the time, we know His teaching is of God
{*"I and my Father are one." John 10:30]. This area of study may be very hard for us to accept, because it
opens doors to all types of other conflicts, yet this is not true conflict due to one overwhelming thing; the
study is based wholly in Scripture.
While we were sharing this newly revealed information with a fellow "believer," I was stunned when
we met with resistance. Why would anyone want to argue about what was so clear? Then I received the
answer. We were told that we sounded like a "Jehovah's Witness" or some other "cult." I was surprised
and unaware of this because I had not studied different groups of "religious" people for some time. Much
of the material studied from Matters concerning His Lawful assembly has shown me that even those of
the "mainstream religions" may be, in fact, cults, or at least not of Christ due to their allegiance with evil
men and God-less governments, and as such are due careful examination of their "teachings." Why not
then carefully examine them as well as those we call "cults"?
The idea that we die, but the soul does not, was what I had been taught while attending two mainstream
bible colleges, yet I had no real clear evidence in Scripture for this "doctrine." And we must remember
that Paul warns us at 1 Timothy 4:1-2:
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience
seared with a hot iron;"
For many, the question we have raised falls into the 'scary" area of doctrine, and in America it has little
or nothing to do with their "Christian" life. The spiritless intellectual mood of these times erects a barrier
against searching the Scriptures, in contradiction to Acts 17:11:
"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."
...and a barrier against progress and seeking truth described at II Thessolonians 2:10-13:
"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth:"
As followers of Jesus the Christ, we cannot afford to be lethargic. The stakes are too high. Easy going
compliance with "what we have always believed" may be the signal that our God given powers of
discernment have been dulled. Jesus recognized. Believing falsehoods, doctrinally or otherwise, is
dangerous, and false teachings are especially threatening. Schaffer said, "the battle for our minds lies in
the world of lies." Is it possible that those "dottiness and teachings" we have been taught for hundreds of
years have strayed from the truth of Scripture?
We have never seen the Christ compartmentalize true teachings or our daily walk. For Him, truth
mattered supremely. We will either believe what is true, or what is false. and it requires effort and
investigation to establish truth to best of our abilities; so let us join the Bereans and search the Scriptures
for true "teachings" (Acts 17:11.)
Now, back to "death" and the idea of "the immortal soul." In Part One, I mentioned the rich man and
Lazarus. At this point I will offer a very interesting bit of material from Flavius Josephus [*A.D. 37-c.100].
As I understand it, he was not a follower of the Christ [*son of a Jewish priest, he became a Pharisee at 19
years old]. The following was considered to be his (Josephus') teachings on the subject of death, and I am
sure others taught him [*Talmudic teachings]. It is from his "Complete Works of Josephus," page 637, on
a "Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades":
"1. Now as to Hades, wherein the souls of the righteous and unrighteous are detained, it is
necessary to speak of it. Hades is a place in the world not regularly finished; a subterraneous
region.... This region is allowed as a place of custody for souls....
2. In this region is a certain place set apart, as a lake of unquenchable fire, wherein we
suppose not one has hitherto been cast....
3. ....With whom there is not place of toil, no burning heat, no pearcing cold, nor any briars
there;....while they wait for that rest and eternal new life in heaven.... This place is called the Bosom
of Abraham.
4. This is the discourse concerning Hades wherein the souls of all men are confined until a
proper season, which God hath determined, when he will make a resurrection of all men from the
dead.... for while you believe that the soul is created, and yet is made immortal by God, according to
the doctrine of Plato,...."
So we see that Plato was claimed to be the one who the Greeks followed with this idea of the immortal
soul [*"immortal soul" does not appear in Scripture], and Josephus taught it with his own rendition as
true. We should be immediately concerned. Do we follow after the teachings of men who are not led of the
Spirit, or are we now going to say that God will teach us through spiritually dead men. If we are to do
this, what will be our outcome?
The idea that a man not filled with and led by the Spirit of God could teach us sound doctrine does not
settle well with true followers. My hope is those that read this study will be concerned enough to go back
to basics after accepting those ideas we have grown up with or believing something to be true just because
we always have in the past. Don't we need to be searching the Scriptures for truth; not someone's "ideas"
from his book?
We would do the Word of God a great disservice unless we examine the whole setting in which our
Lord spoke. We have discovered that when one just takes a few verses to prove any "idea" or "doctrine,"
one can come up with many false doctrines like "obeying evil men and governments." So let's look at the
context in Luke 15. It starts out:
"1 Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him.
2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them."
Who did Jesus come to preach to? We are told that He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel
(Matthew 15:24). Were the sinners spoken of in these verses Gentiles? No! They were the outcasts of
Israel who were hated by the Pharisees. Jesus responded to them with the parables of the lost sheep, the
lost coin, and the lost son (Luke 15:4-7, 8-10, 11-32). These explained His purpose. The people of Israel
knew well the love for their sheep. The coin parable followed closely for emphasis; and when the
Pharisees clearly saw that they were the older brother [*of verses 25-32], they murmured when the
younger "sinners" wanted to return. If the Pharisees had possessed the love of the Father, they would not
have protested the receiving of the publicans and sinners.
Our Lord continued His rebuke in Luke 16:1-8. Would anyone commend an employee that was so
unfaithful? It is clear that this is still a parable, and the Pharisees who were called the "children of light"
understood it. In verse 9, we see Jesus telling them something that is quite ironic; to love mammon. This
will not give you anything in eternity, will it? Verses 14-18 starts with the Pharisees attempt to scoff at
Jesus and to deter Him from the subject, but He had just told them that they were an abomination. Herein,
we see their corruption of the Law and that it was not going unnoticed by our Lord. Now, to Luke 16:19-31:
"19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously
every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of
sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the
dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the
angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in
water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is
comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my
father's house:
28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this
place of torment.
29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though
one rose from the dead."
As the chapter closes, we are still in the same setting. Jesus is still speaking to or about the Pharisees,
and they are still receiving His rebukes. He has exposed as false, their self-righteousness, their doctrines,
and their unforgiving attitudes towards sinners and publicans. The rich man is descriptive of the
Pharisees. The purple they wore was a sign of royal position. They wore fine linen and assumed the place
as priests in authority.
The beggar is representative of the sinners; those that had been outcast by the Pharisees. They hungered
not only for physical food, but also in the spiritual food that they had been deprived of due to the Pharisees
false doctrines. They lay at the gates of the Pharisees, who could, but would not, help him. The poor in
need were to be provided for in accordance with Scripture, but the Pharisees had devised ways to change
God's Law because of their covetousness and jealousy of the poor who sought to return to the One True
God. The beggar, Lazarus, was full of sores and was being licked by dogs. Dogs were always a
representation of the Gentiles. Since the Pharisees were not going to lift a hand to help him, he had no
where to turn but to the Gentiles for work and survival. Cornelius, in Acts 10, appears to be one of these
Gentile dogs.
The only information on publicans and sinners that we can find is that they were of Israel, as in the
cases of Zaccheus. There are many passages that show that publicans and sinners met with and ate with
Jesus (Matthew 9:10-11, 11:19, Mark 2:15, Luke 5:30, 7;34). As stated before, Jesus came for the lost
sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 5:24. But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel); therefore, we would more than likely not find Him spending time with
Gentiles.
As shown before, the "belief" of Abraham's bosom was one that came from the Jewish leaders. One
source says that the Pharisees taught a reversed version of the rich man and Lazarus, and as would be the
resultant effect, they held the keys for entering into the Bosom of Abraham. With the contrived "power" to
excommunicate anyone who did not obey their edicts or tithe appropriately, they must have "appeared" to
be "the door" for many. They were using this "doctrine" as a whip against those publicans and sinners, of
Israel, who could not "buy" their place in Abraham's Bosom. Do you ever see this same thing happen in
"Churches" today?
The Christ came, and reversed their parable, and left them squirming in their Hades. Consider their
outrage! This is the only place in Scripture that Abraham's Bosom is found, and therefore must be a
parable considering its context [*of Christ raising Lazarus from the dead, at John 11:43]. There is no
Bible study that can show that it is anything else. It appears that the gulf was so great between the
Pharisees and the publicans and sinners due to the ungodly attitude of the Pharisees. They placed the
sinners completely out of there reach so that they would not be obliged to help them. Our Lord's direct
rebuke of the Pharisees ended with verse 31:
"And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though
one rose from the dead."
He had answered their murmurings, and received sinners; He denounced their corrupt doctrines, their
neglect of the poor, their covetous ways, and their changing the Word of God for their power, and their
"making it of none effect."
According to the ways of the Pharisees, all we need to do to develop non-biblical doctrine is use:
1.Philosophy. 2. Theology. 3. Reason and Logic. 4. Words of the world. 5. History and traditions of men.
Have you noticed that there is truly "nothing new under the sun"? This is evident today.
There is no reward in death.
Can anyone find reward at the time of death in Scripture? In all cases, judgment comes after the time of
death, not at the time of death. Hebrews 9:27-28 tells us:
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
To receive a reward or judgment, it appears we need to have conscious thought. This would imply a
resurrection [*for "the dead know nothing," see Ecclessiates 9 (LXX)]. We see that the dead are not in any
manner thinking, and are without thoughts. Remember in Part One, it was seen that dead men in the
grave do not experience anything good or bad; they simply sleep. All must await the resurrection. [*And
they sleep until Satan has been bound for a thousand years (see Revelation 20)]. Those that are His
faithful and obedient followers [*which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had
received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands] will live and reign with Christ a thousand
years. Resurrection from death is our hope, not death itself:
"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Corinthians 15:55
Jesus said:
"And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work
shall be." Revelation 22:12
Neither shall those that are not written in the Book of Life get a pre-taste of the punishment to come,
for they will face the second death on the final judgment day. All of us will lie down in death together, or
put another way, 'to sleep." Resurrection remains a time of reward for those that are "good and faithful
servants," and for others, a time of weeping.
Our final concern in this discourse is that we all need to be diligent to seek the correct answers and
teachings of Scripture, for there is not one man or one institution that is not without error. Let us not
display pride or fear to anyone showing the error we may have, because no one wants to be found to be
one of these:
"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall
add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this
book." Revelation 22:18-19
I welcome comments on this subject. Let us keep the Unity of the Spirit as we search the Scriptures
with diligence. God Bless you all.
[*Editor's note. For those that are unfamiliar with Josephus who is quoted in this article, the following synopsis
of his life and works may be of assistance in further understanding the background of today's "Judeo-Christian
religion":
"Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37-c.100) is the author of what has become for Christianity perhaps the most
significant extra-biblical writings of the first century. His works are the principle source for the history of the
Jews from the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes (B.C. 175-163) to the fall of Masada in A.D. 73, and therefore, are of
comparable value for determining the setting of late inter-testamental and New Testament times.
Josephus, born the son of a priest, was named Joseph ben Matthias (Joseph, son of Matthias). Being of a
priestly family and a descendant of the Hasmoneans, he was well educated and rose to a respected position in the
Jewish community. After a short association with the Essenes and a somewhat longer period as a disciple of an
escetic hermit named Banus, he decided at the age of nineteen to join the Pharisees. When he was twenty-six
(A.D. 63) he traveled to Rome and successfully pleaded for the release of some fellow priests who had been sent
there to be tried by Nero. As a result of the visit, he returned profoundly impressed by the power of the empire
and strongly opposed the Jewish revolt against Rome in A.D. 66 -- being convinced of its ultimate futility and
fearing the consequences for his nation.
Being unable to restrain the rebellion, he reluctantly joined it and assumed a command in Galilee where he
fortified a number of cities, stored up provisions, and trained his army in anticipation of the arrival of Vespasian
and his forces. By the spring of A.D. 67, Josephus and the little that remained of his army had been forced to
retreat to the fortified city of Jotapta where he eventually surrendered. During this subsequent imprisonment, he
became directly acquainted with and gained the favor of Vespasian.
When Vespasian became emperor in A.D. 69, Josephus was freed. He returned to Jerusalem with Titus,
Vespasian's son and future emperor, where he served the Roman commander as interpreter and mediator. Faced
with the inevitability of the Roman forces' ultimate victory, Josephus attempted to convince the Jews holding
Jerusalem to surrender and thus save the city. He was, however, unsuccessful and in A.D. 70, the city fell to the
Romans and was demolished. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Josephus returned to Rome with Titus and
settled there as a client of the emperor on an imperial pension -- gaining the rights of a Roman citizen and
adopting the emperor's family name, Flavius -- and began his literary endeavors.
His works include The Wars of the Jews (general history of the wars from the time of the Maccabees to the
destruction of Jerusalem), The Antiquities of the Jews (a history of the Jewish nation from earliest times to his
own time), The Life of Flavius Josephus (defense of his war record against criticism from Justus of Tiberius),
and Against Apion (an apologetic for the Jewish faith in contrast to Greek thought)." Introduction to The
Complete Works of Josephus (1987), translated by William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers.)
A Second Epistle
concerning the Spiritual Gifts of Faith and Works,
to His whole assembly throughout His Kingdom
from the Christ's assembly at Maine
(Footnotes ( {1} ) are found at the end of this article)
The following Epistle comes to us again as it did last month, by the Grace of God, from the
Christ's Lawful assembly at Maine. Again, their qualifying preface to this Epistle reads as
follows:
"All Scripture references are from the King James version unless otherwise stated in the
footnotes." And "Although we have omitted quotation marks, we do not take (nor accept) any
credit for the words or thoughts contained herein."
We, being unprofitable servants of God our Father and His Son Jesus, the Christ, wish not to offend
you but would have you to know, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but
they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin [*this is
not a literal "dead," but rather ye have overcome the flesh in all aspects]; but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness.{1}
As Moses, Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of
sin for a season;{2} so we also! Knowing, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but
grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised [*i.e., nurtured] thereby.{3}
Though He [*the Christ] were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; And
being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him;{4} He came
unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.{5}
Believing on His name does not mean that you honor Him with your lips but your hearts are far from
Him, for this is in vain that ye do worship Him teaching strange doctrines, Having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses,
and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able
to come to the Knowledge of the truth."{6}
Study [*be diligent] to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more
ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker [*i.e., gangrene]...; Who concerning the truth have
erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the
foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every
one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.{7}
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."{8} If that which was
sown corruptible is not raised incorruptible, ye can in no wise enter in.
Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.{9}
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?{10} Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead [*the old man) is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with Him [*in newness of Spirit]: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth
no more; death hath no more dominion over Him [*or us]. For in that He died, He died unto sin once:
but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,
but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that
ye should obey it in the lusts thereof."{11}
We are grieved by the thought of some, knowing that, If we say that we have fellowship with Him,
and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:{12} Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if
any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth.{13}
This brings us to remembrance when, Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself
to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said,
Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide
me?{14}
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the
first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat
belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil.{15}
We have talked to many and said, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."{16} But some have
said, "For God so loved the world"; And we say Christ says, Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.{17} If this
is not your thought on the Divine Love, then all that can be said is, For His counsels are not your
counsels nor are His ways as your ways, saith the Lord.{18}
And He saith, If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth not
bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple."{19} In other words, if we compromise with
things or people around us to the point where we are kept from doing what we are commanded, we are
not disciples of the Christ.
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us,
and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.{20} Till we
all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:{21}
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the
vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:{22} Put off concerning the former
conversation [*life, manner of] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness."{23}
All that can be said to what sounds like justification is what has already been said from the
beginning: Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.{24}
It has been said "His grace and mercy is renewed everyday." As it has been written from the
beginning, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of
persons.{25} And, Thou shalt not have respect persons in judgment; thou shalt judge small and great
equally; ye shalt not shrink from before the person of a man [*i.e., pastor, policeman, president, pope,
etc.]; for the judgment is God's: and whatsoever matter shall be too hard for you, ye shall bring it to Me,
and I will hear it.{26} Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in
faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?{27} Have ye not heard
Him say from the beginning, If ye love Me, keep My commandments.{28} And again He has assured us
from the beginning, He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he
that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.{29} If
ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do
not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art
become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of
liberty. For He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth
against judgment. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?
can faith save him?{30} Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say,
Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith
by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and
tremble.{31}
Ye may still say in your mind, "His grace and mercy is renewed everyday." But the Christ sayeth, If
any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.{32} We
must all remember that it has been written from the beginning, He that covereth his sins shall not
prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.{33}
And what will become of those that love the world: And after a time there shall be no green thing in it
because of the grass being parched. Come hither, ye women that come from a sight: for it is a people of
no understanding; therefore He that made them shall have no pity upon them, and He that formed them
shall have no mercy upon them.{34}
The Lord spoke unto Moses and said, I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.{35}
All that can be said concerning those who continue in their hypocrisy is: It has been written from the
beginning, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as ye tempted Him in the temptation.{36} For ye have
need of patience [*endurance], that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.{37}
Which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning His Son [*and sons]
Jesus Christ [*the Spirit of God upon man, Logos] our Lord (Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is
come, He will guide you into all truth:{38}), which was made of the seed of David [*which is by
interpretation 'well beloved'] according to the flesh [*manifested in the flesh]; And declared to be the
Son [*and sons] of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness [*manifested in the Spirit of
holiness], by the resurrection from the dead:{39} [*But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is
Christ not risen, And if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also in vain.{40}
God forbid.]. By Whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all
nations, for His name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:{41}
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were
Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols [*looking to the "man" Jesus Christ to take away your sins
is Idolatry] [*That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.{42}]
[*Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full
reward.{43}], even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the
Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy
Ghost.{44}
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.{45}
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Giving no offence in any
thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of
God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in
tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by
kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the Word of Truth, by the power of God, by
the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil
report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As
sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all
things.{46}
I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers.{47} Search the scriptures; for in them
ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.{48}
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained [*i.e., Reverends,
Pastors, Evangelists, etc.] to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness [*licentiuosness] and denying the only Lord God, and
our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the
Lord, having mercy on the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed
not.{49}
Therefore thus saith the Lord: Since ye believe not My words, behold, I will send and take a family [*
"family" is singular in the Septuagint, plural in the KJV] from the north, and will bring them against this
land, and against the inhabitants of it, and against all these nations round about it, and I will make them
utterly waste, and make them a desolation, ahissing, and an everlasting reproach. And I will destroy
from among them the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice
of the bride, the scent of ointment, and the light of a candle. And all the land shall be desolation: and
they shall serve among the Gentiles seventy years.{50}
(Our) Father, if this cup may not pass away from (us), except (we) drink it, Thy will be done.{51}
And finally brethren, whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus [*the
Christ], giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.{52}
So be it, so be it.
Endnotes
{1} Romans 8:5-10 Please read all of Chapter 8 of Romans.
{2} Hebrews 11:25
{3} Hebrews 12:11 Please read all of Chapter 12 of Hebrews,.
{4} Hebrews 5:8-9
{5} John 1:11-13
{6} 2 Timothy 3:5-7
{7} 2 Timothy 2:15-19
{8} 1 Corinthians 15:53-54
{9} Romans 6:4
{10} Romans 6:16
{11} Romans 6:6-12
{12} I John 1:6
{13} John 9:31 Please read all of Chapter 9 of John.
{14} Acts 8:29-30a
{15} Hebrews 5:12-14
{16} I John 2:15-17
{17} John 3:16
{18} Esaias 55:8 (LXX)
{19} Luke 14:26-27
{20} Ephesians 5:1-2{21} Ephesians 4:13
{22} Ephesians 4:17-18
{23} Ephesians 4:22-24
{24} James 4:4
{25} James 2:1
{26} Deuteronomy 1:17 (LXX)
{27} James 2:5
{28} John 14:15
{29} John 14:21
{30} James 2:8-14
{31} James 2:17-19
{32} Luke 9:23
{33} Proverbs 28:13
{34} Esaias 27:11 (LXX)
{35} Exodus 33:19 (LXX), Romans 9:15
{36} Deuteronomy 6:16 (LXX), Matthew 4:7
{37} Hebrews 10:36
{38} John 16:13
{39} Romans 1:2-4
{40} 1 Cororinthians 15:14
{41} Romans 1:5-6
{42} John 3:6
{43} II John 1:8
{44} 1 Corinthians 12:1-3
{45} Colossians 2:8
{46} 2 Corinthians 6:2b-10
{47} Philemon 1:4
{48} John 5:39
{49} Jude 1:4-5
{50} Jeremiah 25:8-11 (LXX)
{51} Matthew 26:42
{52} Colossians 3:17
