The Truth is in Scripture, not in « Church » doctrine. Part IV
Is believing in Gods Scripture and being member of one of the Churches compatible?
Part IV. If you didn’t read Part I, Part II and Part III please do so.
As you have seen from my previous 3 posts I go through the matter rather fast and this is for a reason. It is not my intention to provide a ready made solution to Scriptural understanding — this would be silly to even try — but to provide an onset to said understanding by providing proof Scripture says something completely different than what the ecclesiastical doctrines do. I hope it will inspire people to view Scripture with different eyes and treat it with a different attitude and most of all, treat it with the respect Gods Word deserves.
Those who go for serious Bible study must realize they will never win any popularity contests. For the masses it’s to complicated, they prefer a « simple » doctrine with hell and heaven and can’t be bothered with the truth in Scripture. When people read the Gospels or Acts and read about all the wonders being done, they can’t comprehend those have stopped to the point where they make them up as they go along, aggressively fighting those who disagree. We all know who’s behind this and he really doesn’t care if you use Scripture as long as you don’t study it yourself. He prefers the church doctrines and often people who sense there’s something wrong with it discard Scripture all together which he loves. Those who stay in the Church doctrine are non the wiser and he likes this too. Again others see the flaws in a doctrine — like Luther — and start a new doctrine with just as many flaws as the previous one only some different ones, he is OK with that as well. He just doesn’t want you to know the truth displayed in Scripture for all to see. So if you study Scripture he wants you to do it from the ecclesiastical point of view, look at the Scriptures that say what the doctrine says, so use the translation of the Church, don’t look for yourself what words mean. So they don’t want you to find out that « forever » doesn’t mean endless at all, but is a faulty translation and actually means, during a certain aion or aions.
John 8:44 says:
« 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. »
Of Satan is said he’s the god of this aion 2 Cor. 4:4, just listen to what Paul says:
« In whom the god of this world (Greek: aion) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. »
Now you might say, it says « of them which believe not » and my question than is: believe what not? The answer is the truth. We have seen in the world of today what nonsense people actually believe [in].
Covid is a terrible killer virus
The covid shots are safe and effective
The PCR test is the golden standard
The Pharmaceutical industry has « your » best interest at heart
Utopian free democracy of Ukraine invaded for no reason by violent Putin
These are just 5 items, 5 lies, the list can be much longer but they are all lies people believe, does that give them any credit? Now God knows what He said in Scripture and He also knows what people believe. Do you think that gives them any credit with God? For example, the resurrection is a gift of grace, how do you think God feels when He sees just about the whole of Christianity deny this by learning you have a immortal soul? Why then would you need the resurrection? How many times did you hear expressions like: « Grandpa is now looking down on us ». You know what they say, your soul goes straight to heaven. This is the opposite of what Scripture actually learns:
Ecc. 9:5 « 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. »
Ecc. 9:10 « Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. »
When we die — from our perspective — it’s game over. Thankfully God has the power, ability and intention to raise us from the dead and He will, but there is a price to pay for everything also for not believing the Lords Word, look at the history of Israel. It’s for a reason we live now in the dispensation of the grace, the grace that God now hands out is phenomenal. Now we can in faith go through the whole road of salvation, we can be regenerated, become a son of God and become the adult man of God in our lifetime. For this we do have to believe — and study a lot — what Scripture says in everything. For the human being this is the most difficult, most challenging, most impossible assignment they will ever face in their lifetime. And God doesn’t force you if you resist. He may gently pull you, but will never drag you. Matthew 7:14 says:
« Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. »
I feel it’s my duty to share to the world what Scripture is telling and I will do so till I no longer can.
In the previous post we talked about group 2. Child of God and group 3. Son of God. I also showed that these both groups are present and can be found in the O.T.. Paul teaches us about Sons of God in his first seven letters, this was before Acts 28:28:
After Acts 28:28 he wrote again seven letters and these are addressed tot the Adult Man of God also called the great mystery:
Those who follow Church doctrine usually deny the existence of dispensations and as always, denying the revelations in Scripture is walking down the hugely wide road to damnation. It’s a tiny narrow path to life, most don’t like the narrow path at all.
So now Paul talks about the great mystery and that is the most misunderstood part of Scripture. It is also the pinnacle of grace hence the dispensation of the mystery and the dispensation of the grace run parallel. For those who reject it, they still can come to group 3, it is all abundant grace. Below I quote again from Manifold Wisdom.
Ephesians 3. mentions the mystery of Christ and the mystery of the Body, which Paul in Eph. 5 calls the great mystery. First we read Eph. 3:1 — 7. « For this cause », namely for the in chapter 2 already to some degree being discussed of being set with Christ in the overheavenly (more on that later), « I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles; if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward, How that by revelation he made known unto me this mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, ... and now one must connect with this v. 6 and 7 ... that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and fellow-body, and fellow-partakers of his promise in Christ) ».
This mystery has never been revealed, but we find a promise in Abra(ha)m, Gen. 12:3; 17:4, 5, but here is the promise of God in Christ, of which the O.T. reveals nothing, there is nothing to be found of it, this is something that is unsearchable. What did God promise to Christ? First of all, that He would be heir of all things, Heb. 1:2. But that's not all. He also promised Him that a Body would be added to Him that would share with Him to His highest glory, that they be fellow-heirs, fellow-body and fellow-partakers with Christ. That now has never been revealed in the O.T., nor ever in the N.T. up to Paul's last letters.
Now there is still the mystery of Christ. We are reading about this in v. 4 and 5: « Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit ». This mystery is something else. It has not been revealed before as in Paul's days and concerns Christ's exaltation. It was then better understood or better known by apostles and prophets, after it was first revealed to them. However, that was not the mystery of which Paul was the unique direct recipient. Of that he says in v. 7 — 9: « ... Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the dispensation (not fellowship, same word as v. 2) of the mystery, which away of (Greek: apo) the aions hath been hid in God, who created all things ».
I will print the above text again so the parenthesis is obvious:
« For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles; if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward, How that by revelation he made known unto me this mystery; as I wrote afore in few words, — whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit — that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and fellow-body, and fellow-partakers of his promise in Christ »
Books have been written about this — read by few — and it is hardly known, yet wildly denied. Considering this is the highest spiritual revelation, we shouldn’t be surprised.
Part of the great mystery is the different type of resurrections, I’m going to quote about 3 pages from Manifold Wisdom, titled The Mystery and the Resurrection
The meaning of the Mystery with its prize can only be properly understood by those who understand the doctrine of the resurrection. This doctrine has been robbed of power by practically all Christendom through the doctrine of the separation of body and soul. What is then the need for the resurrection? Now we admit that the exposition of this doctrine is wide and offers many difficulties and it is much easier to accept the opposite view. But this leads to Scriptural rape, neglect and great inconsistency at more than one point.
With the doctrine of the mystery belongs that of the resurrection. That is why we devote a few pages to it. Our first comment in this is that one generally thinks that God has breathed into Adam an immortal soul. That is not what Scripture says. Adam has become a living soul. He did not receive it from God like that, but became a living soul.
The Scriptures also speak of dead souls. One can say that they seem to indicate corpses, it still says dead souls. And should one now say that this is terminology, then one gives the right to also interpret as terminology: her soul went out, etc.
Man consists of three « natures », of spirit, soul, and body. 1 Thess. 5:23, Heb. 4:12. The soul, in general, keeps the middle between the other two. She is the product of that. If the spirit withdraws completely, the soul dies and the body disintegrates. If the body is mutilated too much, it can no longer be the bearer of the spirit, then the spirit also withdraws and the soul dies likewise.
Neither the body nor the soul nor the spirit can exist in itself as an independent being. They are only fixed in the self. And it is this « ego » that God, in a way unknown to us, saves after death. The place where these « egos » are, is clearly indicated by Scripture: in the sea, in the hades (the great common grave) in death (in places other than those mentioned in Rev. 20:13, e.g. on mountains, on earth etc.). Christ speaks of those who are in the graves, Joh. 5:28. This word alone had to be sufficient to teach us that the dead rest in the dust of the earth (in general, exceptions are drowned, burned, etc.).
The question is: How and when do they come from sea, hades or death? The answer is: Through and at the resurrection. As Christ Himself inserts into Abraham's mouth (Luk. 16:31): If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose (so he is lying down) from the dead (thus in general, good and evil).
And that: the not believing Moses and the Prophets also in this respect either (and they did not speak of heaven or paradise, but of the sheol, they did not know of hades divided in two, but saw all the dead in one place) is still every day's business. One names the resurrection, but robs it of its power through the doctrine of separation of body and soul, while Scripture speaks of dead souls. One thing is to be kept in mind here: death is not destruction, God preserves the « I », the essence of man.
Against this doctrine comes opposition from as good as entire Christianity. Even men who have a more free manner of dealing with Scripture than the orthodox, pass here on to the line of pagan philosophy of the immortal soul. They are victims of Satan's lie: « Dying, ye do not die ». According to them, the human being dies to the body, but not to the soul, and if it is pointed out to them that the dead are asleep, they call it — bewildered as they are in the vain philosophy of Plato — the doctrine of soul sleep. They defend their doctrine with the endless repeating of quoting the text: To day shalt thou be with me in paradise (1), while the Lord has said He would be in the heart of the earth, Mat. 12:40 and the prophet Isaiah, that He should be with the rich in His death, Isa. 53:9 and Psa. 16:10, that His soul that is His entire Person would be in the sheol or hades (see Acts 2:27, 31). They always come up with Luke 16:19 — 51 as proof that the Hades is divided into two halves (2), while Job. 10:21 and 22 says that the sheol or hades — is one great grave containing all graves — is a pitch black land, without any order, that shines like the darkness. Now it must be that either Job is wrong or Luke 16 must be explained differently. In Luke 16 the rich sees Abraham and Lazarus, there is « ordination ». And not only is Luke 16 in contradiction with the traditional statement of Job. 10, but with the entire O.T. revelation in this. Job wishes to be hidden in the grave (the sheol), 14:13. Hezekiah teaches that one descends into the pit, Isa. 38:17, 18, Ethan asks who will deliver his soul from the violence of the grave (Hebrew: sheol), Psa. 89:48, David says that no one gives thanks to God in the grave (sheol), Psa. 6:5 (see also Psalm 49:15). Psa. 115:17 says that the dead will not praise the Lord. And yet it is always read that after death the believer « cheers before the throne », walks in the lanes of paradise, « flies to a better land », thus making God's word invalid by the teachings of Satan. God did not create man immortal. Eternal life is a gift of grace, Rom. 6:23. It is in Christ, not in us, 1 John 5:11. It is in promise, not yet in reality, for it is first given personally in the aion to come, Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30. The dead (not their souls) sleep in the dust of the earth, Dan. 12:2. There is no other way to life than the resurrection. All doctrine that teaches something different is pagan philosophy or blindness of Satan, who has the violence of death but inspires that one actually lives on, so — does not come into his power. One distinguishes well in this matter. In our day one has come to learn that the wicked go to the grave and the believers to paradise. The believer would thus have « eternal life ». Only then remains unexplained, why he has to die physically. And also, that 1 Thess. 4:13, 14 teaches: they which are asleep. And also that they must first stand up. « And the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them ... and so shall we ever be with the Lord ». The dead believers are thus not yet taken up (3) and not yet with the Lord. That is why the Thessalonians were lamenting as those who had no hope. For the unbelieving dead, it is even more difficult to maintain that they are alive, they certainly do not have eternal life, not even in hope. We can only briefly mention a few things. It should be noted that in the Hebrew O.T. nowhere the word « hell » occurs. That is only translation. Everywhere in O.T. « Hell » is in Hebrew: sheol, which word in other texts is translated by grave. In the N.T. it says 10 times hades, always translated by hell, but very wrongly. It also means grave, subterranean, better still: common burial place. The rich man in Luke 16 came in the hades. This hades is under the earth and the same as the sheol (see Acts 2:27 — Psalm 16:10) which is also said to be under the earth (Gen. 37:35, 42:38, Job 17:13; 21:13). In it there is no work (not even what Lazarus should do for the rich man), no redemption nor science nor wisdom, Ecc. 9:10. But the dead know not any thing, Ecc. 9:5. Luke 16 is not the appearance of reality, but the representation that the Pharisee made of the post-mortem condition and that Christ uses to smite them. The other texts that are invoked to prove a conscious life after death appear to be taken out of context or incorrect. In any case, with a view to the doctrine of the resurrection, they can be explained very well otherwise and much better. Then it appears that Scripture teaches that the dead go to the grave and lie down there unconsciously until the day of resurrection. « So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep » Thus Job. 14:12. And thus the vision of O.T. believers.
(1) The Greek text of Luke 23:43 one better reads: « Verily, I say unto thee to day: thou shalt be with me in paradise ».
(2) That would come after Christ's crucifixion and not known in the O.T.. But Luke 16 is just before the cross, and those who were addressed knew nothing about that alleged separation.
(3) The dead are in the Hades, the Lord on the right hand of God. How can they be with Him?
So it should be clear now that the dead are in the common burial place, the grave. Entirely abundant I will give a few more Scriptures:
Psa. 6:6 « For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? »
Isa. 38:18 « For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. »
Psa. 115:17 « The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. »
Job 14:12 « So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. »
Since the resurrections start first when the Lord returns and this should have happened during the Acts, but were postponed because of Israels second refusal to accept even the risen Messiah, God made known the great mystery to Paul. Which resurrections do exist in Scripture?
End of Part IV. (Go to part V)
Aristarkos