FAQ Bible Study New Testament (No. 58)

CONTENTS

The Messiah…Son of man-Only son- Begotten son-Jesus God-Prophet-Sin offering-Faith in Christ-Christ’s baptism-Only way to Father-Priest-Joshua-Others named Jesus-Pilate’s letter-Crucifixion year-Strauros-Cross-Resurrection-Physical or Spiritual-Jesus’body-Israel married to Christ-Sacrifice-Subgroup disciples-Jesus Saviour-Teaching-Vegetarian-Jesus Word/God-Arche-Angel of Revelation-Jesus/Bible

Holy Spirit…Holy Spirit person-God gives Holy Spirit-Soul/Spirit-Kingdom of God-Water/rocks

Matthew…Mat 2:2;-2:13;-2:17-18;-6:5-15;-12:50;-17:21;-20:13;-28:19

Mark…Mark 5:21-43;-7:15;-10:18

Luke…Luke 12:36;-17:11;-19:12;-23:43

John…John/Genesis-Jn 5:1-24;-5:18;-7:52;-Chapter 10;-12:12-13;-19:31

Acts…No amen-Acts 1:15;-15:24-29;-15:28:29

Romans…Rom ch.1-Rom3:20;-10:4;-Chapter 14;-16:16

1Corinthians…1Cor 5:5-6;-11:10-15

Galatians…Gal 4:9-11;-4:10

Ephesians…Eph 3:15

Philippians…Phil 2:10

Colossians…2:14;-2:16;-2:18;-4:3

2Thessalonians…2Thes 2:3-4,6

1Timothy…1Tim 4:1-3

Hebrews…Heb 7:3

James…Origin of James-James 1:17

1John…1Jn 5:7

Revelation…St John-Apocalypse-Rev 1:4;-5:6;-2:17;-2:20;-2:28;-3:7;-3:12;-4:2-6;-5:12-17;-6:2;-6:4;-6:5;-6:8;-7:14;-8:10;-chapter 9;-chappter 10;-13:18;-chapter 14;-17:5;-20:10;-20:15;-21:18;-21:1;-Jacob’s Trouble-State of earth-What happens at resurrection-first-Children know parents-Under rule of Jesus-Marriage supper-Who will attend-City of God-

Calendar…When is 3^rd hour-Equinox-New Moon-Conjunction-Crescent-False calendars-Tithe year-Evidence for conjunction-New Moon at time of Christ-Karaite calendar-Dateline-Passover: Night of watching-Omer count-Bread & Wine-Footwashing-Lord’s Supper

The Church…Christian holy days-Kingdom of God-Authority to change doctrine-Phases to becoming a Christian-Second chance-Elect-Where is God-Sabbath or Sunday: Any evidence for Sunday worship-Any support for negative case for Sabbath-Most worship on Sunday-Sunday worship/heaven-Every day Sabbath-Why Sunday now-What did original church do-Four Councils-Church Fathers God’s plan for us-

Pagan Worship: Easter-Trinity

Antichrist…Antichrist & Moses’ Law-Doctrine-Jesus accused of being antichrist.

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FAQ NEW TESTAMENT

The Messiah

Who is the Son of man? Why is he called the Son of Man?

A: There were multiple sons of God of whom Christ was one (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:4-7). Only one of those was to be born a man. That was the monogenes theos or only born god of John 1:18 and Proverbs 30:4-5.

This is the concept behind the text in Hebrews 1:8-9 taken from Psalm 45:6-7. In Hebrews it then goes on to identify that this elohim was no longer simply only one of the angelic host called sons of God. He was a new high priest as the son of man.

Look at the papers Psalm 8 (No. 14); The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243); How God Became a Family (No. 187); and The Purpose of the Creation and the Sacrifice of Christ (No. 160).

Why does the Bible say "for God so loved the world that He gave His only born (monogene) son"? How can He be the only one when there are many sons?

A: There are many sons of God as Scripture allows. However, he was the only one to be born. The others were all generated as sons in the Host. He was the Prototokos of the Creation of God and he is Arche of the Creation of God. He is also Prototokos from the dead. However he is the only born God; the monogenes theos of John 1:18.

These aspects are covered in the paper Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No. 229); and The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243).

In Psalms 2:7, Acts 13:33, and Hebrews 1:5 we read: “Thou art my Son and this day have I begotten thee,” and in John 1:14 “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” What is the meaning of “begotten”? When exactly was Christ begotten and why is he the “ONLY” begotten Son when the angels are also sons of God? Is this talking about being transformed from spirit to human and then human to spirit?

A: It is deliberately obscured by Trinitarians. There are two terms: one of “Prototokos” meaning “first begotten” and the other is “monogenes” meaning “only born.” The term that relates to Christ as firstbegotten and firstbegotten from the dead is “Prototokos.”

He is referred to as the “only born God” in John 1:18 from “Monogenes Theos.” This text was changed in the Receptus to read “only born son” or “monogenes uion” and then translated as “only begotten son.” This was done to disguise the distinction between the fact that there were many sons of God in the host, of which Christ was the “prototokos”, but only one of those sons had been born and hence, he was the only born “god” or “theos.”

These terms have been examined in detail in the papers The Elect as Elohim (No. 1) and The Angel of YHVH (No. 24); Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No. 229) and The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243).

Is there anywhere in the Bible that Jesus calls Himself God?

A: He is called God in a number of Bible texts. He does not refer to himself as God, but the texts do that and refer to him as a subordinate god. For example the text in Psalm 45:6-7 is clearly identified as Christ being anointed as God by his God with the oil of gladness above his partners from Hebrews 1:8-9. The relationship of the Great Angel of the Old Testament as an elohim is an important part of the Bible Theology.

The structure of this relationship is covered in the papers The Elect as Elohim (No. 1); The Angel of YHVH (No. 24); and The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243). The creed of Ulfilas, bishop of the Goths, discussed in this paper also explains that relationship. The paper Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127) will show you what the early Church taught and understood by this aspect.

Was Jesus a prophet?

A: Moses said that he was. He said that God would raise up a prophet like him and he was to be obeyed. He was Priest, Prince and Prophet. Look at Jesus The Christ, King, Priest and Prophet (No. 280). His words, as recorded, show prophecy, and they came true as he said. He spoke according to the Law and the Testimony (Isa. 8:20). That is the test of a prophet.

Genesis 4:7 reads: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” The Companion Bible notes sin = sin offering. Is this an indirect reference to Messiah being the sin offering from Psalm 22 and the door from Revelation 3:20 and the blood on the door-posts and lintel from Exodus 12:7?

A: Yes, this is an important text. The Hebrew puts emphasis on the first “well” and the second “if”. Bullinger states in the Companion Bible notes to the text that it marks a solemn and important alternative. The Hebrew is “chat'a” and means a sin offering as it is added in Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 4:3; 6:25; 8:2; Psalm 40:6 (cp. 2Cor. 5:21; Eph. 5:2).

The word “lieth” is masculine and the sin offering is feminine. The Hebrew reads: “at the entrance [a male] is lying, a sin offering.” Look also at Genesis 3:16 for “rule over.” Messiah, as we know, is the sin offering. Look at the papers: The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Garden of Eden (No. 246); and Doctrine of Original Sin Part 2 The Generations of Adam (No. 248).

All Christians seem to believe that they need to have faith, but faith in what? What does it mean to have faith in Christ?

A: Faith is a confident belief that God will bring about the salvation of the individual, within a plan He has determined, which will work to the betterment of all mankind. God will work to the salvation of all His creation such that no flesh should perish.

This faith was expressed in the actions of the Church through history from Adam to the present. Hebrews chapter 11 gives you a list of the key people of faith, and of their constant expectations and actions. Salvation is not through an expressed faith in Christ. Salvation, as a saint of the Church, is by keeping the Commandments of God and the Testimony or Faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12). Christ himself had faith in God who could save him.

It is faith in God that saves through the activities of Jesus Christ whom He sent (John 17:3). Many have called him “Lord, Lord” and he will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” If you love Christ, keep the commandments.

Christians are baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit but what do you think John the Baptist’s words were when he baptised Christ?

A: John’s Baptism was for the repentance of sins and for an instruction to prepare the way of Yahovah and to make his paths straight, from Isaiah 40:3 and quoted in Matthew 3:3. His baptism was not to salvation. Christ was baptised for receipt of the Holy Spirit, which he received, as had the prophets of old. His words seem to have been: “I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance but He that cometh after me is mightier than I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.”

His comments to Christ were: “Behold the Lamb of God; (which taketh away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29)) and he said I have need to be baptised of thee and thou comest unto me.

The words of the first section are the ones most likely to have been uttered by him. That is: “I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance.” Luke records that Christ was also praying there (Luke 3:21). The heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove, and God said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Mark has more or less the same account as Matthew. We are not given the exact words.

Is Jesus Christ the only way to the Father?

A: In John 14:1-6 Christ said that he was the only way to the Father. There are a number of objections to this statement, but they are all based on false theology and a misunderstanding of the Bible text.

First objection: God spoke to Moses and the Patriarchs and prophets and thus, they did not need Christ. The answer is that no man has ever seen God. The only born God, being in the bosom of the Father, spoke (Jn 1:18). The early Church taught that Christ was the Angel of the Old Testament who gave the Law to Moses and who spoke to the prophets. Justin Martyr is quite clear on that point in his “First Apology.” Look also at the paper Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127).

The structure of the resurrection of the dead ensures that no one can attain immortal life except by standing before Christ in judgment as a resurrected being. Look at the paper The Soul (No. 92); and The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143). That is why the doctrine of the Immortal Soul and Heaven and Hell is such a godless and blasphemous doctrine.

It was the true test of a Christian in the first and second centuries. Anyone who said they were Christian and that when they died they went to heaven, were not to be believed. They were not Christians. Through the physical resurrection of the dead, every knee will bow to Christ and no man can come to the Father except through him.

Besides Jesus Christ being our Messiah or Saviour, should we also consider him to be a priest, or possibly a prophet or even a king? Or could he be God Himself?

A: Yes, he is all of these things. He is priest and high priest after the order of Melchisedek. He is a prophet, as Moses said. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords by delegation from the Father.

The One True God also appointed him as god with the oil of gladness above his comrades (Ps. 45:6-7 and Hebrews 1:8-9). This was shown also in Zechariah 12:8 when the Angel of YHVH at our head was elohim as we ourselves will be elohim and Scripture cannot be broken (Jn 10:34-35). Look at: The Elect as Elohim (No. 1); The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243); The Angel of YHVH (No. 24).

Why is it that the Greek word for Joshua is translated into English as Joshua except when referring to Jesus Christ where it’s translated Jesus? Shouldn’t the same name in the Greek be translated as the same name in English?

A: Yes, it should be translated uniformly. The distinction was induced by the Greco-Romans who wished to separate the Old Testament from the New Testament so they could do away with the Law of God. The matter has been examined at length in the paper Joshua, the Messiah, the Son of God (No. 134) (see the 2nd ed.). Changes were also made to the names of Christ’s entire family in the Bible as well. Look at the paper The Virgin Mariam and the Family of Jesus Christ (No. 232).

Were there other men named Jesus besides the Jesus of Nazareth?

A: Yes, there were indeed. The name Iesous is, in fact, the Greek form of Joshua or Yahoshua. There are various forms of this name. It was a major name in Israel and thus, Joshua was common in Judah also.

Thus, Jesus was not the name of Christ. That is an English form of a Greek transliteration. Josephus, and now Schurer, records others. E.g. Jesus, son of Damnai; Jesus, son of Gamaliel; Jesus, son of Phiabi the High Priest anointed by Herod; Jesus, son of Sapphias, archon of Tiberias in the first revolt; Jesus, son of See, High Priest appointed by Archelaus; and Jesus, rival of Josephus (cf. The History of the Jewish people in the age of Jesus Christ (Vols. 1. 419, 431, 469, 489, 497; II, 180-181, 229, 232, 234).

The names in the English Bibles are translations of the Greek, and often they bear no resemblance even to the Greek, let alone the Hebrew. E.g. James was Yakob, Jude is Yudah or Judah, Joses is Yosef or Josef. Look at the paper The Virgin Mariam and the Family of Jesus Christ (No. 232) and Joshua, the Messiah, the Son of God (No. 134).

It is said that there is a letter from Pilate to Emperor Claudius making some kind of reference to Jesus. Does such a letter exist? If so, what does it say about Jesus?

A: The letter of Pilate to Claudius is contained in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus at the end of the first version. A Greek version of the letter is contained in the apocryphal gospels of Peter and Paul. You will see versions of the letters to the emperor Augustus, Claudius and the letter to Tiberius in the ANF vol viii, pp, 353, 454, 459 et seq.

Was Christ crucified on a postponement year? If not how do I prove this?

A: No, he was not crucified on a postponement year and it is easy to prove. Firstly, in 30 CE the 14th was on a Wednesday and it would have been that way no matter what system was in use. However, the main reason is that the postponement system was not in use at that time. The Postponements were initially “ad hoc” coming well after the Temple was destroyed from 70 CE. The Mishnah compiled at the beginning of the third century ca 200 plus CE shows that the postponements were not in place even then.

The system of calculation allowing for the postponements was not introduced until it was brought in by two Babylonian Rabbis in 344 and then codified and introduced under Rabbi Hillel II in 358. It was not perfected until the eleventh century. Thus, Christ was crucified over three hundred years before the postponements were invented.

The modern Jewish calendar was never used in the Temple system. You will gain insight from the paper God’s Calendar (No. 156) and the paper The Moon and the New Year (No. 213) and also The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals? (No. 195).

Why is it that in the original Greek texts of the New Testament, the word cross is never used when speaking of that which Christ was crucified on? The Greek word used is “stauros,” which does not mean cross, but rather stake. Was he crucified on a cross, or an individual stake?

A: The cross was never used in early Christianity. The closest was the symbol “chi rho.” It was understood that the “stauros” was a stake. The embellishment of the cross came later, and the crucifix after that. None of these things were placed on any Western Christian altar until this millennium. The development of the cross embellishment is covered in the paper The Cross: Its Origin and Significance (No. 39). Many Churches of God, to this day, still refuse to accept any symbol of the cross in their worship and belief.

Would you describe what the cross looked like and how Jesus was nailed to it?

A: The word used is “stauros” which is a Greek word meaning “staff” and primarily an “upright stake” (cf. Thayers New Greek English Lexicon p. 586) and originally it was a simple upright post or stake, especially a pointed one. This is its use in the Greek literature.

The Greeks and Romans borrowed death by crucifixion on a stake from the Phoenicians (ibid). The word “cross” is derived from the Latin “crux.” The development of the cross symbolism is explained in the paper The Cross: Its Origin and Significance (No. 39).

Christ was nailed to this “stauros” through his hands and feet. The object was to have the body collapse down by its own weight, unable to sustain itself. The cross bar was a later addition that prolonged the death. The speed of Christ’s death and the dating indicates the “stauros” was the traditional Phoenician and Greek stake, rather than the later cross development. The history, pre-Christian usage, and the myths are examined in the paper No. 39.

My NKJV states: “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary...”(Mark 16:9). “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary...” (Mat 28:1). Did Jesus rise early Saturday morning or on Sunday morning? As God’s day starts at sundown, if he rose anytime after sundown on Saturday that would be considered the first day of the week, wouldn’t it?

A: He was three days and three nights in the grave. He went in on what we would call Wednesday evening at sundown and was resurrected on Saturday evening at sundown.

He had to fulfil three events on this Passover. He had to be killed as the Lamb at exactly the right time for the lamb to be killed. Otherwise he was not the Passover lamb; he was just another dead man. He had to fulfil the Sign of Jonah, as that was the only sign given to his ministry. That was necessary for the judgment of Judah forty years later at 70 CE.

The next thing He had to do was fulfil the Wave Sheaf Offering. He was the firstborn of the dead and He was the firstfruits and so He had to be accepted by God as performing his functions in this regard. Thus He had to ascend to God on Sunday Morning at 9 a.m. to begin the Omer Count to Pentecost so our harvest could begin. He was the Barley Harvest and the Wave Sheaf and He had to be accepted to enable the Holy Spirit to be given on his return.

The Easter doctrine of the false gods was established for the sole purpose of obscuring this miracle and the power of God. The Triune god was also invented for the same purpose. That is why the Trinitarian structure does not keep the Wave Sheaf and denies the Sunday ascension, placing it forty days later in a misconstruction of the final ascension. That is why Satan also established so many counterfeit Christs -- to discredit the fulfilment of the Law of God in the true feast systems.

That is also why the Baal-Easter system fights so hard to stamp out the true faith and the calendar of God according to the Commandments of God. That is also why it is so important.

With what body did Jesus come (spiritual or physical) at his resurrection?

A: The New Testament accounts (cf. especially John 20) show Christ was resurrected physically on the previous evening and ascended to the Father on the Wave Sheaf, which was the Sunday morning. He returned the same day and allowed Thomas to touch him. He appears to have been able to translate from the physical to the spiritual. Look at the papers The Wave Sheaf Offering (No. 106b) and Timing of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (No. 159). His position in the Koran is also explained in the paper Christ and the Koran (No. 163) at www.ccg.org and www.logon.org where it is also available in Arabic, Russian and other languages.

Given that Jesus’ body was never found, did his physical body rise to heaven as well as his soul? I thought only the soul is resurrected, and the body is just a physical shell left behind. If so, is there a chance that Jesus’ skeleton is still around somewhere, perhaps hidden by one of his disciples? I know he was seen days later, but wasn’t this an apparition, or was he a physical body then too?

A: Jesus was risen from the dead and his physical body was risen and translated as the Wave Sheaf offering on the morning of the First Day of the week at the third hour, which was 9 a.m., and which was the time it was always made.

The translation of the body is held to follow the resurrection of the dead. Ezekiel shows it is physical. The soul doctrine is a non-biblical doctrine. The test for a false Christian in the 2^nd century was that, if they said that when they died they went to heaven, they were not Christians. The Gnostics intruded the doctrine of heaven and hell into Christianity from that time.

The matter is covered in the papers The Soul (No. 92) and The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143). Most people today who claim to be Christians and espouse heaven and hell do not know what they are talking about. Most of it is charismatic hysteria, pagan customs, and traditions.

A former organization I belonged to used to teach that ancient Israel was married to Christ. Is there any Scriptural support for this?

A: The Most High allotted Israel to Yahovah as his inheritance (Deut. 32:8) when he allotted the nations according to the sons of God. This aspect of the Old Testament text was altered, after the fall of the Temple by the Sopherim, to read “according to the number of the sons of Israel.” So Yahovah of Hosts The Most High gave Israel to Yahovah as his inheritance. We can identify the Yahovah involved, as he is the subordinate Yahovah who was made elohim of Israel.

Psalm 45:6-7 says: “Therefore God thy God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above the partners.” So the Yahovah or elohim of Israel has a God. We know that this elohim of Israel is Christ from Hebrews 1:8-9. We also know, from the text in Hebrews, that the other angels are the partners of Christ. They are also elohim from the rendering of Psalm 8, which, in the English, is also rendered as “Angels” following the Septuagint. In Hebrews, it is also “aggelos” in the Greek and followed in the English as “angels” rather than “gods” (cf. the paper Psalm 8 (No. 14)).

The being in the Old Testament who gave the Law to Moses, and appeared in the bush, and who wrestled with the patriarch, was Christ as elohim of Israel. The One True God, Eloah gave Israel to him as his betrothed and the entire nation was destined to become kings and priests of God through the Church. All throughout the Old Testament the relationship with Yahovah was one of husband and wife. Idolatry was as adultery. That is why Israel was sent into captivity as a divorce, and when she came back from idolatry she was restored. The nation of Israel continued and went into captivity. Judah was kept separate and also committed adultery with false gods (Jer. 3:8-18).

In this text in Jeremiah God says He is married to Israel and He says that He will take us, one of a city and two of a family, and bring us to Zion. He will rule from Jerusalem and the Ark of the Covenant shall be brought to mind no more. In those days, the house of Judah will walk hand in hand with the House of Israel out of the North to the land given to our fathers for an inheritance. In Jeremiah 3:14 the Lord says he does this for he has become our husband.

The text actually says: “Turn back O sons apostate says Yahovah for I am Lord over you...”. This is the Yahovah, given Israel as his inheritance, and whom we know as the Great Angel of the Old Testament who gave the Law to Moses, and was the spiritual rock in the wilderness of which Israel ate and drank the spiritual food (cf. 1Cor. 10:4). We know this being from the New Testament as Jesus Christ. This was the view of the entire Christian Church, including the church at Rome, for the first two centuries (cf. Justin Martyr First Apology LXIII). Look at the papers: Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127); The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243); The Elect as Elohim (No. 1); Psalm 8 (No. 14); and Law and the Fifth Commandment (No. 258).

Why will there be sacrifices in the Millennium if Christ’s death fulfilled the sacrifice & put an end to sacrifice in the present time? (Zech. 14:16-19; Ezek. 46:3).

A: The spilling of blood is controlled. The establishment of the system of killing at the feasts in Jerusalem is beyond doubt. The reasons for this are the control of the abattoir facilities and the holiness of the process in the plan of God. Vegetarianism is a doctrine of demons and that is why the vegetarian groups seek to establish a heavenly millennium as they do with the Seventh Day Adventists under the false prophetess Ellen G White. Look at the paper The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95). Christ was the ultimate sacrifice but the legislation for the control of the feasts and meat consumption overlaps to some extent in the physical millennial system.

Why at times does Christ “subgroup” the disciples to three men? I realize at times the disciples were sent out 2 by 2 etc. but these 3 seem to be grouped together at significant times.

A: The structure under the kingship was of the king, and the three, and the thirty. These three mighty men under David were under Abishai, the brother of Joab and the son of Zeruiah (2Sam. 23:13, 18). The structure is also seen in 2Chronicles 27:1. The host of Israel was divided into 12 divisions of 24,000 men. These were commanded by twelve of the thirty. The thirty were the inner council of the seventy.

They represented the council of the Elohim in the heavenly tabernacles. Thus, the three were the mighty of the twelve and they were commanders of the host of Israel. Peter, John, and James represent those three in the Host of Israel under Messiah. David’s 600 (1Sam 23:13) were divided into three of 200 in ten subdivisions of twenty. Each commanded by one of the thirty. The three commanded the thirty. The commander of the thirty was not one of the three. Bullinger has notes on this at n. to 27:1 and in chapter 11 and also in 2Samuel 23.

Christ had the three and the twelve but, in this case, the three were part of the twelve because the three in the millennial system represented by these apostles were of another age. Yet, their positions were understood as necessary in the activities of the ministry of Christ as king of Israel. The actual three are Abraham, Moses and Elijah. They were not all present at this time.

There are many texts in the Bible that state that Jesus Christ is our Saviour. There are also many texts that state God is our Saviour. Can we infer from this that God and Christ are one and the same being? Or maybe God has two or three parts as Trinitarians or Binitarians would have us believe? Anyway help me solve the mystery - WHO is our saviour?

A: This question is a source of confusion to many people. Yes, the Bible does say Christ is our Saviour, and it does say God is our Saviour, and it also gives us a text where it mentions both beings in context. It is from the many texts in the Bible where the terms are used that we come to understand the application and use of the terms.

This question is examined in a paper entitled God our Saviour (No. 198). Like all of Christ’s titles, it is a title conferred on him as a delegated title by God. In examining the role of Messiah, if we bear that rule in mind we can see all apparent conflict in its true perspective. Papers that help in this regard are the Role of Messiah (No. 226) and Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No. 229).

What method of teaching did Jesus use to fulfil the prophecy of Psalms? Some say Parables. I think he fulfilled the prophecy by the way he lived his life and died on the cross and was resurrected. Am I wrong?

A: You can teach by example as well as by instruction. The Bible says he taught in parables, and it was prophesied that he would teach in parables. The contention that he taught by example is also correct. In a sense, he did both, but the plain and simple answer is that he was to teach in parables, and that is what he did. There is no doubt the example of his life, death and resurrection was a powerful demonstration of the Plan of God, which is what He was here to teach.

Christ spoke in parables so that they would not understand before their time and turn and be saved: Psalms 49:4; 78:2; Ezekiel 17:2; 20:49; 24:3; Matthew 13:3-35; 21:45; 22:1 et seq. That is why so few understand the Bible today -- because they are a rebellious house.

I’ve looked for this answer in the Bible and can’t find it. My research seems to point to humans being able to be vegetarian if they choose. I recently heard that Jesus was a vegetarian. Is this true?

A: Jesus Christ most definitely was not a vegetarian. He and the apostles ate the Passover and kept the food laws and the feasts as required by God. The doctrine of Vegetarianism is a false doctrine, which entered Christianity from Gnosticism in the early centuries and has polluted Christianity ever since to greater or lesser degrees.

The entire history of the doctrine is contained in the paper Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183). As a heresy, it normally goes hand in hand with another ascetic doctrine regarding temperance and drinking grape juice and not wine. This has also been examined in the paper Wine in the Bible (No. 188). The doctrine of Vegetarianism is a direct imputation on the nature of God.

It is my innate belief that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are separate. When Jesus was on the stake and said “Father forgive them they know not what they do” wasn’t he speaking to God? If you tell people that, they say that’s what cults believe. They believe God is the word in the beginning and he is Jesus and he (God) came to earth. Are there papers and scriptures to disapprove this?

A: In the first two centuries of the Church, anyone who said Christ was equal to and eternal with God who was the Father, would have been branded as a heretic and thrown out of the Church. Look at the paper Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127). The Trinity was not formulated until 381 CE at Constantinople.

The Binitarian structure was formulated at Nicaea in 325. Modalism was introduced to the Church in the third century. In the second century everyone, even the Montanists, believed that Christ was the Son of God and not the One True God, and that the Holy Spirit was the power of God. The Church in Rome wrote to the emperor in Rome around 150-154 saying that Christ was the Angel of the Old Testament who gave the Law to Moses (cf. Justin Martyr: First Apology). Justin on behalf of the Church at Rome told the emperor that, if they came across people who said they were Christians and that when they died they would go to heaven, not to believe them because they were not Christians (Second Apology).

They were really Gnostic impostors who had entered the Church with their false doctrine. These days, if you talk to a Southern Baptist, he will tell you: “Sure he’s going to heaven and them other fellas is going to burn in hell.” The Churches of Christ will give you detailed sermons on how you’re “gonna burn up.” Then all of them, the Roman Catholic Church included, will tell you how heretical it is to not believe in the Trinity, the Soul Doctrine, and the existence of heaven and hell, and they will throw in Mary up in heaven as well. If they had said that to the bishop of Rome at the end of the first century their heads would have spun with the speed they were shown the door.

Mainstream Christianity today is a Gnostic/Pagan farce that has nothing to do with original Christianity and the Faith once delivered to the saints. That is why Christ asked the question: “When I return will I find faith on the earth?” The weeping and gnashing of teeth is from the people alive today who think they should be there with Christ, but had simply ignored his elders and prophets. They did not keep the Commandments of God themselves and killed or persecuted those who did, whenever they could. The false teachers, who are dead, will simply stay that way until the Second Resurrection. Many will not be surprised in which resurrection they find themselves. Others will be stunned. If you understand this, then it is probable that God is dealing with you. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. Give your ways to God and he will establish your thoughts. It is not the other way around. You have to act on what you are given to understand, and then you will be given more understanding. You have to find one of God’s elders and have him lay hands on you for receipt of the Holy Spirit, if you have been baptised as an adult and not into any sect or denomination. You then have to be obedient to the laws of God. Do not let these blind guides take away your opportunity to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Look also at the papers: Repentance and Baptism (No. 52); The Cross: Its Origin and Significance (No. 39); The Law of God (No. L1); The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243).

What is the meaning of the word “arche?”

A: “Arche” (SHD 746) means a commencement and hence, the beginning. In this sense, it can also mean “first” and is sometimes used in the sense of “chief” being first in the placement of the order. It is thus used then in the sense of “rule” as in John 20:20 where it is translated as “power.” This is more rare as it is usually used as “beginning,” and this is its real sense. The use as “chief” or “ruler” always means as one of the set in which it occurs. Thus, it is power or chief only in that the person is first of the set.

It is used some 43 times in the NT where it is translated as “beginning.” The use of “Arche” in relation to Christ has specific theological meaning, which is resisted by Trinitarians and has resulted in the addition to the KJV in Revelation 1, re the Alpha and Omega. This aspect is covered in the paper Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No: 229).

The NIV renders “arche” in Revelation 3:14 as “ruler of the creation of God” to get around the obvious implication of the use of this word in that text. However, Thayers Greek English Lexicon also provides commentary on this aspect and it is always in this sense as the first person or thing in a series (pp. 76-77).

Who is the angel in Revelation: “Tell the angel of the Laodicean church that I am the arche of the creation of God”?

A: Arche of the Creation of God is Jesus Christ. The situation is explained in the papers Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No. 229) and The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243).

How come Jesus didn’t write a book of the Bible himself? I would think that that book would be the best in the Bible.

A: Christ spoke to the prophets and they took down what He said. He was the one who spoke to Moses and gave him the Law. He spoke to the prophets of the Old Testament, and he spoke to the apostles of the New Testament church, and he gave them instructions and parables, which they copied down. So, we do have the Bible as an inspired work of God given to Jesus Christ who gave it to the prophets. Look at the papers The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243); and The Bible (No. 164).

Holy Spirit

Is the Holy Spirit a person, or is it a power of God, or something else?

A: The Holy Spirit is the Power of God, which enables Christ and all of the Host to be sons of God. The issue of the personality of the Holy Spirit was fixed at the Council of Constantinople in 381, which made it a third person of the Godhead. The problem in English in understanding that it is not a person, is compounded by the gender sex nexus in the English language, which is not the same in Greek or many other languages. Look at the papers The Holy Spirit (No. 117); Consubstantial with the Father (No. 81); The Gender of the Holy Spirit (No. 155); and The Development of the Neo-Platonist Model (No. 17).

Do you believe that if you ask for the Holy Spirit that God would just give it to you?

A: Yes, He would allot it to you to bring you to baptism. The problem is that you have to be obedient to retain it. It works with you until baptism and is then in you from baptism, but if you are not obedient then you will not retain it. Once you get to the stage of understanding you will be able to find one of the elders of the Church and be baptised into the body of Christ (not into a sect or denomination).

If you do not wish to act on it, do not ask, as it will not remain with you. Look at the papers The Holy Spirit (No. 117) and Consubstantial with the Father (No. 81).

Is there any difference biblically between the soul and the spirit? Are they the same things? Where does each go after death? Do they both go to heaven?

A. The Bible speaks of the nephesh (Hebrew) and pneuma (Greek). All animals had a nephesh. The nephesh of man is stated to return to God who gave it and the structure awaits the Resurrection of the Dead. In the early centuries if any said they were Christians and said that when they died they went to heaven you knew thereby they were not Christians but Gnostic imposters.

Justin Martyr said this to the Emperor on behalf of the Church in Rome in 150-4 CE. Look at the papers The Soul (No. 92) and The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143).

Just what is the Kingdom of God? How is it within us as Jesus said?

A. The Kingdom of God is within us as a mustard seed. It is the Holy Spirit given to us, and which grows so that God is all in all. We are to become elohim as the Angel of Yahovah at our head.

The structure is explained in the papers such as The Eternal Kingdom of God (No. 144); and the papers The Holy Spirit (No. 117); Consubstantial with the Father (No. 81); and The Elect as Elohim (No. 1).

There are numerous references to water and rocks, and water coming from rocks, in scripture. What is the symbolism?

A: The Rocks and water are the symbols of the Holy Spirit, which comes from the rock that is Christ, and which is the rock uncut by human hands from the mountain of Rock which is God and upon which Christ will build his church.

Christ was the rock that was with Israel in the wilderness and from which Israel drank spiritual water. The role of Christ is contained in the papers Role of the Messiah (No. 226); The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243); The Angel of YHVH (No. 24); and The Purpose of the Creation and the Sacrifice of Christ (No. 160).

Matthew

It seems many people believe there was a star shining in the east when Christ was born. Is this the case? What is the meaning of the reference to the star in Matthew 2 and other accounts of Messiah’s birth?

A: The text in Matthew 2:2 says: for we have seen his star in “anatole” and this is the “east,” but it is also the name given to Anatolia or Asia Minor. It may have meant ‘we saw his star from….’, i.e. while they were in the east or Anatolia. In fact, they were probably northeast of Judea. Numbers 24:15-19 refers to the “Star” that shall come “out of Jacob,” that was Messiah.

The tendency was to associate this as the morning star Venus, which was the symbol of the planetary ruler as the light bearer. Satan holds this rank and it is to transfer to Christ at His return. As Bullinger says, all questions are settled if it is regarded as miraculous.

It seems strange to me that one King Herod tried to put Messiah to death as an infant (Matthew 2:13), and another King Herod had James, the brother of John, put to death (Acts 12:1). Is there something in the name Herod that is symbolic in why they are against Messiah and his followers?

A: The hatred goes back a long way. Herod was an Idumean. In other words, he was an Edomite. Their entire dynasty in Judah came from their forced conversion under Hyrcanus and the Maccabees. They were spread throughout Midian, but entered southern Judah on their conversion and established the area of Hebron. The southern area of Judea was thus a mixture of Edomites and Judah while the northern area of Galilee was a mixture of Judah, Levi and Samaritans.

That is why Christ was accused of being a Samaritan by the Pharisees -- not because he was, but rather they were conscious of the non-Israelite heritage under the Hasmonean dynasty since Hyrcanus. The resentment goes back to Esau and Jacob. The birthright came via Joseph but the sceptre came via Judah, and the Hasmoneans were very much aware that they were not of the royal line of Judah. The family of Christ was also of royal lineage as we see in the NT texts and they were very much alive and well as the Desposyni who ruled the church. So the Herodians, and later the Roman prelates, all tried to exterminate them for the same reasons. From 318, the bishop of Rome tried to exterminate them for over two centuries, and more or less succeeded.

In Matthew 2:17-18, Jeremiah 31:15-20 is incorrectly quoted as prophecy fulfilled. What happened with Herod was not even close to what is described in Jeremiah. Was Matthew a false prophet?

A: No, the children of Rachel held the birthright promise. In this sense, it encompassed all the tribes including Judah. The killing of Herod was not the same as the Holocaust, but all were the same promise. It is written: “Manasseh shall feed of Ephraim and Ephraim shall feed of Manasseh and both shall feed of Judah.” Now Judah is a son of Leah, not of Rachel.

You commented that true repentance comes from prayer and fasting; I realize God does not want vain, repetitive prayers. Would you explain the main points to effective prayers? (Mat 6:5-15)

A: God established a system of prayer in the Bible. Christ gave us the outline of the prayer sequence in Matthew 6. Do not pray in the open, but go into your room and pray in secret and your Father who hears in secret will reward you openly. Do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think they will be heard by their repetition of words. Do not be like them for your Father knows what you have been doing before your ask. The Holy Spirit gives form to your utterances and groaning.

The sequence of the prayer is:

1) To God, as Our Father, who is in the heavens. Praise Him and give thanks in all things.

2) Thy kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Pray for the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of the millennial system and the kingdom of God on earth.

3) Give us this day our daily bread. Pray for your daily necessities and give thanks for them.

4) Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. This entails the structure of the law and the forgiveness of sin and debts under the Bible structure.

5) Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. You will be tempted but there will be no temptation from which you will not be given a way out. Only in the temptations of our lives can we be strengthened in character.

If you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you your trespasses. Thus, the Lord’s Prayer can be seen as a structure or prompter for the prayers of the saints. It is not a vain repetition in its own right. Look at the paper Teach Us to Pray (No. 111).

Matthew 12:50: “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” I was wondering what your thoughts were on this?

A: Based on this text, we take our obligations to each other as members of the body of Christ to the next highest level. For example, where we have an obligation to ensure that the poor are to be enabled to get to the feasts, it follows they must be keeping the feasts with you to help them.

We have to make these choices every day. For example, we receive requests for assistance from a number of Churches in India, Africa, and elsewhere. Some are from Pentecostals and some are from our own people. Obviously, the ones who are of our congregations get more assistance or are prioritised higher. While we would not do these people any harm, we may not be able to help them given our resources.

Common sense tells you that the ones who do the will of your Father in heaven get higher priority. This is a fairly easy test. If they do not speak according to the law and the testimony, there is no light in them (Isa 8:20). If you see an immediate case requiring assistance, then you render assistance as in the Good Samaritan. Where it is a case of assistance according to need, then it is family first. That family is the Church. Look at the paper Law and the Fifth Commandment (No. 258) and the Law series generally including The Second Great Commandment (No. 257).

I have found several references to fasting in the Bible, but I am not sure what it all means. Could you expound on? (Mat. 17:21)

A. The text implies different kinds of demons and this kind needed the prayers and fasting of the elect. Thus, the structure of worship had to be brought into play as it was not simply the question of obedience of a simple demon.

This text comes from the Syriac and other texts omit it. Bullinger has a note to that effect and lists the texts that omit it in his note to verse 21 in the Companion Bible. Look also at the paper Atonement (No. 138).

In the parable in Matthew 20:13 we read of one called Friend that is upset because others receive the same reward as him even though he has been around longer. Then in Matthew 22 we read about ‘one’ that shows up for the wedding without a wedding garment on. In verse 12 he is also called ‘Friend’ and then in verse 13 he is bound and cast out into utter darkness. Then in Matthew 26 we read of Christ calling Judas ‘Friend’. My question is do these Scriptures all refer to Satan?

A: The term in Matthew is “hetairos” or comrade, which is more distant that “philos.” The ‘one’ was addressed out of the group, in the same way Peter was the ‘one’ in Matthew 19:27. He has no wedding garment on and is speechless because he cannot answer the omission. There are a series of groups here. The ones bidden did not come. This represents Judah. We can also deduce that it can be held to cover the host, and they are all refused entry to the millennial system.

The weeping and gnashing of teeth is not of the fallen host. They know what they have done and what is in store for them now. But they do have a chance of salvation but as physical beings, and then as translated new beings in the kingdom. They too will be given the opportunity to be born again.

Most of the gnashing of teeth will be from those who call themselves Christian but do not keep the commandments of God and the testimony or faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12). They call him “Lord, Lord” but do nothing He did or commanded, and justify their disobedience by lies. There are many of these and, in fact, the majority will be simply stunned because their behaviour excluded them from the kingdom and they have no control over it. Either you are translated and sent to Jerusalem to Christ or you are not, and there is no discussion. You have either obeyed or you have not.

The dead know nothing, but the living will gnash their teeth because they go into the great tribulation and are not kept from the hour of trial that is to come upon the whole earth. In the third example, Judas was a representation of Judah that sold its position in the kingdom. So too did Satan, and so the adversary is represented and he will have to face the second resurrection also. The papers The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80); Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son (No. 199); and Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272) show the plan.

What is the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit in Matthew 28:19?

A: Good question. The Bible answers itself. The question is posed in Proverbs 30:4: “What is His name and what is His son’s name, answer it if you can tell”. It is answered in the very next verse: “Every word of Eloah is pure”. The name of the One True God is “Eloah.” It is His Law. The Priests worship Him and His Temple. He caused His name to be placed at Jerusalem (cf. Ezra 4:24-7:26).

Eloah is singular and He extended Himself to become Elohim. He is the “Ha Elohim” or “The God.” This was “Elahh” in the Chaldean and extended as “Elahhin” to the sons of God. Elahh became “Allah’ ” in Arabic. He is the Elyon or Most High. He is Yahovah of Hosts who gave Israel to Yahovah as his special possession (Deut. 32:8 RSV). He is Yahovih (SHD 3069) who is the God of Yahovah (SHD 3068).

These aspects are explained in the papers The Names of God (No. 116); The Angel of YHVH (No. 24) and also The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243). There are very serious problems in Sacred Names theology. Look at the paper Abracadabra: The Meaning of Names (No. 240).

Mark

Can you tell me how John the Baptist could wear clothing made of camel hair if camel is unclean and we should not touch the carcasses of unclean animals? I'm assuming it was a whole hide he was wearing, not shaved hair. (Mark 1:6)

A: His garment was not of skin but of woven camel's hair. There is no injunction against that. The injunction against dead carcasses is usually attributed to things that die of themselves. There is a note in the Campanion Bible to Mark 1:6 regarding the camels hair.

Could you please help explain the symbolism in Mark 5:21-43? Things I notice are a woman with a haemorrhage for 12 years with the faith that in touching Christ she would be healed, and also a 12-year old girl dying with a father, an official in the synagogue, having the faith that Christ could heal her. Though told the child was dead Christ proceeded to the child’s room and healed the girl and directed she receive food. Very interesting passages but what is the meaning?

A: The structure of the text is this.

Mark 5:21-43 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea. [Jairus comes]: ²²And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, [Expresses assurance of faith] ²³ And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: [I pray thee], come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. [The throng follows him (called but not chosen)] ²⁴ And [Jesus] went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. [vv. 25-28: Womans confession of faith] ²⁵ And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, ²⁶ And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, ²⁷ When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. ²⁸ For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. [Miracle of justification though faith] ²⁹ And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in [her] body that she was healed of that plague. [vv. 30-32: Holy Spirit drawn through Christ in Faith even though others not as genuine also touched him and allegedly followed him those who call him Lord Lord] ³⁰ And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? ³¹ And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? ³² And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. [Confession of the faith before Christ] ³³ But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. [Approval and acceptance of Christ] ³⁴ And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. [Next we see Jairus and the Messenger from the house: Test of Faith] ³⁵ While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's [house certain] which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? [Christ encourages the Faith] ³⁶ As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. [Only the elect apostles allowed to follow him to the priests house] ³⁷ And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. [He enters the house: Declares the Resurrection and Salvation of the maiden bride] ³⁸ And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. ³⁹ And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. [Lack of faith in Levi] ⁴⁰ And they laughed him to scorn. [Removal of the Old Order] [Christ enters: Declared choice of Israel as the mother of the woman] But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. [Taking the damsel, who is the church, before the resurrection and while not yet of marriageable age and strength] [Miracle of the Calling and the understanding] ⁴¹ And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. ⁴² And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was [of the age] of twelve years. [Astonishment of the onlookers who heard but did not hear and saw but did not see] And they were astonished with a great astonishment. [Charge of the keeping of the Mysteries of God to the Church and the care of the church in its administration and spiritual nourishment: Feed My Sheep] ⁴³ And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat. (KJV)

In Mark 7:15 Jesus said the following: “There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.” Some people use this scripture to show that no food is unclean and that all things can be eaten. What is Jesus really saying here?

A: The Pharisees were becoming concerned with handling regulations and ablutions that were above and beyond the Bible, and they were criticising the disciples. The full extent of this can be seen in the text The Works of the Law Text - or MMT (No. 104). This lost text was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls this century. Paul was also writing against this in the texts in Galatians and Colossians. Luther completely misunderstood what Paul was saying because of his vehement anti-Semitism.

Christ was saying that the Pharisees should be more concerned with what they were saying, which was destroying the law, rather than what they were worrying about might go into their mouths while they were eating. Christ and the Apostles kept the Food Laws and the Church has kept them for 2000 years. Look at the paper The Food Laws (No. 15).

My question is about Mark 10:18, which says: “Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” I wanted to know, if Jesus was Lord, then why doesn’t he want to be called good, and who is this other God he is calling Good?

A: John 17:3 answers this, as does John 1:18 in the Marshall’s Interlinear RSV and 1Timothy 6:16. John says: “And this is eternal life that they know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”

So this only True God sent Jesus Christ. To know that fact and to know them is eternal life. John, chapter 1, deals with the dispatch of Christ by the One True God and His purpose. John 1:18 says: “No man has seen God ever.” The “only born God,” that one being in the bosom of the Father spoke those words. The term “monogenes theos” or “only born god” was changed to read “monogenes uios” or “only born son” in the Receptus.

Paul also explains that no man has ever seen God, or ever can see God. He dwells in unapproachable light and He alone is immortal (1Tim. 6:16). Look at the papers On Immortality (No. 165) and The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243). Christ also explained that no man had seen God. That they had “neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His shape” (Jn. 5:37).

Who Christ is, is explained in the text at Psalm 45:6-7 and which is identified as Christ in Hebrews 1:8-9. But of the Son he says: “Thy throne (is a throne of) God; therefore God thy God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy partners.” Thus, the son is an elohim. He is identified in Zechariah 12:8 as the “Angel of the Lord” who is at the head of the household of David, who are the elect and who will likewise become elohim. It is written: “I said ye are gods,” sons of the Most High, all of you and, “Scripture cannot be broken” (cf. Jn 10:34-35).

Luke

Who are the people referenced in the Bible as brothers? Is it only the ones that have the true faith and keep the commandments of God, or are they all who have been baptised in the name of Jesus but worship in the traditions of men and not God? How are we to treat others that do not call themselves brothers, but are of this world? (Luke 10:25-37)

A: The question asked of Christ by the lawyer was, “But who is my neighbour” thus, “Who is my brother?” Christ gave then the parable of the Good Samaritan to show that the concept extended to all men. The Laws of God are within our hearts and thus no respect of persons is possible. Look at the paper Respect of Persons (No. 221) and Love and the Structure of the Law (No. 200). We are sent out as sheep amongst wolves. Love all men. However, sometimes it is better to love some from a distance.

Many people in the world believe in a rapture. I am not against it, as I rather like the idea, but I can’t find it in the Bible. If I try real hard, in Luke 12:36 I do see something that might be related. “And you yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will RETURN FROM THE WEDDING, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.” This looks like he was at the wedding, then he returns to “knock” to those who didn’t get to go into the wedding, as in the example of the 10 virgins. When is the timing for the wedding and the marriage supper?

A: Yes, Luke 12:36 is a very interesting text. 1Thessalonians 4:17 is the noted text for the rapture. That text however takes the elect to the air to meet the Lord on his way down and they congregate with him at Jerusalem as we see from the many other texts relating to this event. This is covered in the paper Trumpets (No. 136). The whole concept of the rapture is examined in the paper The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95). The term here in the text in Luke 12:36 is “turn back.”

The word used is “analuo.” It occurs only here and in Philippians 1:23 in the New Testament. It is used in the Septuagint (LXX) only in the Apocryphal books, and always in the sense of “returning back.” Bullinger says it is in the sense of “ana-kampti” (Heb. 11:15). References are in Tobit 2:9; Judith 13:1; 1Esdras 3:3; Wisdom 2:1; 5:12; 16:14; Ecclesiasticus 3:15; 2Maccabees 8:25; 9:1; 12:7; 15:28. The noun “analusis” as “a returning back of the body to dust”, as in Genesis 3:19, occurs only once in 2Timothy 4:6.

The structure of the wedding supper seems to be predicated on the first element being that of the dead in Christ being first in the structure, and then the living are sought for the second phase to be caught up in the air to be with the Lord forever. The Bible says that those who are left alive will not precede (prevent) those who have fallen asleep. They will be resurrected to the marriage supper first. This is the sense here of Messiah turning back to those who are waiting for him. Then we get to restore the planet and run it according to God’s Laws for the thousand years of the Millenium. Look at the paper Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272).

Would you please explain the significance of the parable of the 10 lepers being cleansed and why only the Samaritan gave glory to God? The account is in Luke 17:11.

A: The text says that Christ was passing between Samaria and Galilee and ten lepers approached him standing afar off. This was in accordance with the law of Leviticus 13:45-46. The Talmud later prescribes the distance at 100 paces.

The Ten tribes were originally based in Samaria. The Samaritans were Cutheans and Medes who had interbred with the small remnant of the ten tribes that had remained in Israel after the deportation under Shalmaneser in 722 BCE.

The Jews hated them and they had opposed them for centuries and refused to accept their traditions. The Northern area of Galilee was effectively a separate state from Judea. It was also comprised of Jews, Samaritans, and others. The Judeans were both Judah and Levi, and also Idumeans or Edomites converted to Judah under the Maccabees and of whom King Herod was one.

One of those cleansed, a Samaritan, returned to give glory to God for his cleansing. Christ asked, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” This refers to the fact that the majority of the tribes did not return to him.

The parable also refers back to 2Kings 17:29-35 and the removal of the Israelites and the placement of the Cutheans and those of Ava and Hamath. How God raised up lions to slay them until they asked for a priest of Israel to be sent to them to show them how to worship God. In spite of that fact, they still made their own gods. The Babylonians made Succoth-benoth, the Cutheans made Negal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, the Avites made Nibhaz, and Tartak and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammalech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.

These were the five husbands that Samaria worshipped, and were the gods of the five nations brought into the northern kingdom on the dispersion of Israel. They thus worshipped Yahovah and their own deity. This is the reason Christ said to the woman at the well, who had five husbands and the one she lived with then was not her husband, “You worship you know not what” (Jn. 4:18, 22).

She was used as an example by God of the adultery and the marriage of the Northern lands to five husbands, and they did not know God living in sin in a defacto relationship in Samaria. The woman at the well is a powerful allegory and also a lesson on marriage.

We should compare this text also with Isaiah 54:5; 23:17; Jeremiah 22:20; Hoseah. 2:10-12. The use of ten lepers was to associate the northern tribes and the Gentiles, and bring the nations into Israel and cleanse them. The Samaritan was the only one who returned to give thanks showing the small ratio of those healed who do actually repent and give glory to God. The word used for “stranger” here is “alien.”

Thus, there were also two witnesses for each of the five nations brought into the north and standing against the five Gods which had polluted their system of worship and which rendered them unclean and leprous.

A friend is in a New Testament Bible class and was asked to identify where the parable of the talents was delivered, who is the audience and what is the meaning of the text. Would you please share your ideas about the passage? What are your ideas about Luke 19:12 and the 10 pounds?

A: The parables followed the Olivet prophecy. The disciples followed Christ from the Temple to the Mount of Olives and asked him privately to tell them when all these things would happen. He gave the Olivet prophecy and then proceeded to give the parables. The meaning of the text is that each is given a degree of spiritual power and understanding, some more than others. The Church is required to band together and all of those talents, no matter how much or little, are required to support the work so that it may grow.

Those who have only the basics of the Spirit are not excused from doing the work. They are required to discern the body and place their resources at the disposal of others. If they do not, Christ will reject them from the kingdom. That is why none of us can sit at home doing nothing. The ten pounds in Luke is the same concept taken according to individual effort on behalf of the work. The faithful performance of duty is rewarded according to effort.

When Jesus was on the cross with the two thieves, one of them accepted Jesus. Jesus replies, ‘from this day forth you shall be in Paradise’ (Luke 23:43). Is Paradise the “holding place” or heaven? I don’t understand. In Genesis he says he created “heavens and earth” plural heavens, singular earth. Please clarify.

A: When Christ was on the cross He said to the man: “I tell you this day you will be with me in paradise.” It is the same expression as, “I am telling you right now, you will be with me,” etc. It has been misconstrued by the Gnostics to justify their doctrines. Christ was dead three days and three nights so, if he meant that the thief would be in heaven with him that day, he was a liar and hence not the Messiah. The creation narrative concerns a large structure of the earth and its atmosphere and from a previous initiation.

John

I am looking for comparisons between the book of Genesis and the book of John. I already have compared the word of God and the light and I have nothing else. Can you help?

A: This is an interesting topic. The Gospel of John was written after the three synoptic gospels, and rectifies the deficiency in them of the references to Christ in time sequence and the full period of his ministry. John also is concerned, as you seem to indicate, with demonstrating the position and pre-existence of Christ in relation to God. The New Testament church taught for two centuries that Christ was the Angel of the Old Testament who gave the Law to Moses. This was a key matter in understanding the role of Christ and his position in relation to God, and the doctrines of the Old Testament as they were interpreted in the New Testament. These aspects are explained in the papers: The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243); The Angel of YHVH (No. 24); Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No. 229); and Joshua, the Messiah, the Son of God (No. 134). You will find a number of papers on our web site that will explain the nature of God and the position of Christ. The relationship of the Gospel of John to the Pentateuch will be obvious from the papers.

Can you please explain John 5:1-24? Did Jesus break the Sabbath or did God give him permission?

A. No, Jesus did not break the Sabbath. The Pharisees said He did. What he broke was their forced interpretation of Jeremiah 17:21-22. The Pharisees, from this text, made the carrying of anything from a public place to a public place, and here into a private place or from the private place out, on the Sabbath unlawful (cf. Talmud Sabb. 6a).

Jeremiah is talking about the carriage of burdens into Jerusalem, or from the home, out to work on the Sabbath. Taking one’s sleeping mat home could hardly be a breach of the Sabbath, but they wanted to make it so. The Mishnah later (ca 200) went on to detail what could be placed out, in relation to sleeping materials, if for example, Atonement fell on the day after the Sabbath, which it sometimes did before the postponements were placed in effect. Christ kept the law, but he often showed the false interpretation of the law, as in this case.

John 5:18: For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. Why did the Jews understand Jesus to be saying that he was equal to the Father when, in fact, he was claiming only to be the Son of God? Those who believe in the Trinity use this text as proof that the Son was co-equal with the Father as part of a Trinity.

A: They understood that the Elohim mentioned in the Old Testament, who gave the Law to Moses, was the Great Angel who was also one of the sons of God. They understood the text at Psalm 45:6-7: “Therefore God thy God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy partners” as referring to the Messiah who was to be the Son of God.

Proverbs 30:4-5 asks a question as to what is the name of God and what is His son’s name, and then supplies the name of the One True God in the singular in verse 5, namely Eloah. In the Chaldee this was “Elahh.” The plural was “Elohim” and “Elahhin” in the Chaldee. This eastern version of the language, which became Eastern Aramaic and then Arabic, is the reason why Islam says the name of God is “Allah’”; the double h becoming h’ as an aspirant.

Where the Greek uses the word “ ‘aggelos” translated as “angel” in the English. It is used for the “sons of God” or the “elohim” in the Hebrew. It is so used in the Greek of the Septuagint (LXX) and also in the New Testament. Psalm 8:4,5,6, which is quoted as: “What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him. For thou hast made him [for] a little [while] lower than the elohim. And hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou has put all things under his feet.”

Now this word is, as we see in the Hebrew, “elohim” which means “gods.” It was translated as “angels” in the Septuagint and also from that into the Greek text in Hebrews. It retained that sense in the Vulgate, the Syriac and the Arab because it suited the Trinitarians to have it as “angels” and to omit the “for a little while” sense. The reason was that none of them wanted to acknowledge that the “elohim” were an extended order of beings.

However the text is definitely “elohim” in the original Hebrew, and the priests knew that the son of man was an elohim who became son of God as the “monogenes theos” or the “only born God” of John 1:18 (cf. Marshall’s Greek English Interlinear RSV). The notes to the Companion Bible in the texts examine these aspects.

They were referring to him making himself equal to the elohim and, as this was not spoken in Greek but in Aramaic, we get the text as “elohi” then rendered as “angels.” The sons of God were all elohim as the Old Testament texts show by their usage. These elohim were understood as “aggelos” {ang’-el-os} or “messengers” and translated as “angel” in the English and other texts. However, the Temple priests had not been hampered by the traditions of Roman pagans masquerading as Christians for a few centuries at this time, and so they understood the implications perfectly.

In John 7:52 the Pharisees rebuke Nicodemus by saying: “Look into it and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” This statement is incorrect, inasmuch as Jonah came from Galilee. Moreover, Isaiah 9:1 states: “...in the future he (God) will honour Galilee...” which leads on to verse 6 which states “For to us a child is born, a son is given...and he will be called...Prince of Peace.” How much clearer could Isaiah have been? Did the Pharisees just make a scholarly error, or were they intentionally misstating the facts, i.e. lying, to serve their own nefarious ends?

A: Yes, they were lying to serve their own nefarious ends, as ministers in the religion business today lie to serve their own ends. Mainstream Christian religion is a shambles of pagan worship, false gods, and false systems because the priests teach for hire and they have constructed a false system to fit in with the Roman Empire and pagan traditions.

Jonah and Hosea both came out of Galilee. Elijah was a Tishbite, and the Gileadites were from the east, Bullinger says he and Elisha, and perhaps even Amos, seem to have had some association with Galilee.

The real reason also is that the Galileans were all true sons of Judah, but the Judeans were of a great number of Edomites. That is probably the real basis behind the Pharisees misconstructing the Scriptures. Under the laws in practice then, Galilee was regarded as a separate country. The real nexus is that Jonah came from Galilee, and the Sign of Jonah was the only sign given to Christ’s ministry and by which Judah was to be destroyed. Look at the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13); and Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272).

In John chapter 10 Jesus Christ talks about himself being the Good Shepherd and knowing his sheep, laying down his life for his sheep etc. Verse 16 then talks about ‘other sheep,’ which are not of the fold. (1) Who is Christ referring to as the sheep of ‘this fold’ and (2) who are the ‘other sheep?’

A: These sheep are they who follow false shepherds. He also said that many would call Him “Lord, Lord,” and not do what He says. He will say, “Depart from me.” These are also those who are called but not chosen within the folds of the elect. The structure of Revelation shows that there is a false religious system, which is destroyed in the last days. This is the nature of the comments He made.

The false religions were at work trying to introduce the Baal-Easter system as early as John, who wrote of the Antichrist doctrine that separated the humanity of Christ from His divinity. This was the doctrine of Attis, where the god of the Attis system was both father and son in the same god.

This view entered Christianity as Binitarianism and then became the Triune structure. The Gnostics were the most influential with the intrusion of their doctrines of heaven and hell, prohibition, celibacy, and vegetarianism. See the papers Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183); and Wine in the Bible (No. 188).

John 12:12-13 indicates people took palm branches and went forth to meet him. Do the palm branches have anything to do with the palm trees of Exodus 15:27, Numbers 33:9 or in the temples of 1Kings 6:29,32,35, 2Chronicles 3:5, Ezekiel 40:16, 29, 32,35,41:18-20?

A: The salutations in this text come from Psalm 118:25,26. The entry of the Lord to the Temple and the praise of the crowd in Aramaic means: “help now” (Hoshi' an-na). The palm trees are of significance as they also relate to the fact of the Messiah. In Ezekiel’s temple you see it central to the two cherubim, the man and lion headed cherubim. The palm tree is the symbol of the Angel of the Presence and the tree that made the waters of Meribah accessible to Israel.

If Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, what does John 19:31 mean?

A: The day was the 14th of Abib or Nisan, which was the great Preparation Day for the Passover which was killed that afternoon when Christ died. It was eaten that night on the First Holy Day of Unleavened Bread. Note John 19:31 says:

“The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the [stauros] on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was a High Day,) sought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”

In the year Christ was crucified, which was 30 CE, 14 Nisan fell on a Wednesday. Thus, the First Holy Day of Unleavened Bread on 15 Abib fell on the Thursday beginning at evening the previous day (i.e. at night fall Wednesday). He then spent Thursday, Friday and Sabbath in the tomb. He was resurrected at the end of the Sabbath having been three full days and three full nights in the grave.

The early accounts claim a Wednesday crucifixion. Easter and Friday Crucifixions are from the cult of the gods Attis and Adonis. Look at the papers The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235); The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277). Look also at the paper Timing of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (No. 159). It will answer your questions regarding the timings and the texts.

Acts

Why do some books like Acts not end in Amen and most other books do?

A: The term “Amen” is derived from the Hebrew SHD 543 “'amen” meaning “sure.” As an adverb it is “truly” and abstractly it means “faithfulness”. It hence means, “so be it” or “truth”. The term “Amen” is used because it is a direct order of God under the law. The Greek term SGD 281 amen is a direct transliteration from the Hebrew with the same meaning. It was carried into English over centuries with the same meaning. Thus, our people are complying to this very day with the order given by God at Sinai. Both men and women are required to say it (cf. Num. 5:22; Deut. 27:15-26). It is a motion of concurrence or assent in prayer under authority. It was said in all the restoration (Neh. 5:13; 8:6). It occurs in the Psalms. It was said by the prophets (Jer. 28:6). Christ ordered it as part of the Lord’s Prayer.

It is omitted from some texts because they were simple histories. In others, it is used as an emphasis of “so let it be” because the Church is being reprimanded and it has an air of God’s Authority, whereas Acts was not an epistle requiring concurrence and action from the Church. There is a bizarre idea going around some US churches that it has something to do with the Egyptians and is derived somehow from the worship of Amun Ra. This is completely false and the fabricators of this doctrine are simply trying to undermine the Law of God which requires its utterance and which Israel and the Church have faithfully done since Sinai to the present day.

At the first Pentecost, after Messsiah’s death the 12 were gathered together at 9 a.m. and received the Holy Spirit. This might be indicative of the elect being in place to help administer God’s law? Could it be that the 120 of Acts 1:15 is indicative of the 120 Jubilees being completed fully, Satan and the fallen host bound for a “1000” years and God’s Holy Spirit will be available to the entire planet during the millenium and following?

A: Yes, This is an interesting point. We lean to the view that the three periods of forty, making the 120, were the three ages and these are reflected in the life of Moses and the Rule of the Kings. A paper will be issued in the future. The view that the 120 were necessary as a reflection of the completed harvests of God is very interesting and is a probable scenario

Acts 15:24-29 seems to be saying the gentiles don’t have to keep the whole law, but only to abstain from meats offered to idols and from blood and fornication? Were these the only “necessary” things?

Acts 15:24-29 states: Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: Then in verse 27 it states: We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

A: On this interpretation one is not bound by anything. Yes, the New Testament plainly shows they did keep the foodlaws, and they did keep the Sacred Calendar, and they did keep the Passover. In fact, the Quartodeciman Dispute split the church in 192 and the Sabbath-keeping Churches have been apart from the Roman Church ever since that date. Look at the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277).

Also there are other categories of exclusion elsewhere that are not covered here. Thus, this text must be dealing with a particular aspect for a particular purpose. This is examined in the paper The Food Laws (No. 15) and Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183).

The text was written for households in pagan situations, such as slavery to a pagan master. This made conditions very difficult for the convert. The texts later regarding the weak in the faith eating only vegetables is from the same problem. If we examine this text, and take it as read that these are the only requirements of the faith, then only two commandments are listed and a subsidiary piece of legislation regarding the eating of blood.

The sixth commandment does not even get a mention here, as well as the second only indirectly, and the third, fourth, fifth eighth, ninth and tenth not at all. So, on that interpretation, it is okay to murder, cheat, lie, steal, covet, and profane God. No one believes that, and no one interpreted that text that way either in any religion, except the antinomians of today who understand nothing. Look at the paper The Law of God (No. L1) and the Law series.

I understand that we are supposed to keep the Law of God from several references in the Bible. I was reading Acts and it says we do not have to be circumcised or keep the law (Acts 15:24).

Acts 15:28-29: "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well."

I see where they kept the Sabbaths, Holy Days, New Moons, etc. That is part of the Law. Is this verse talking about some other law; is it a forgery or mistranslation; or is there some other explanation for why they would tell them that the Gentiles did not have to follow the law?

A: The text in Acts 15:24 is a forgery inserted into the Receptus with the express purpose of undermining the Law of God among the faithful. The Companion Bible KJV has a note to the effect that the words: “Saying you must be circumcised and keep the law” are not in the ancient texts, and are not in other Bibles that deal with or are based on the ancient texts.

The issue at stake here concerns Gentiles coming into the faith within pagan households and who were being exposed to those pagan systems. Direct sacrifice to idols was to be avoided, as was the often seen practice of strangling meat. Also to be avoided was the custom of fornication, which was common in Temple rituals where blood was also consumed. The so-called “Black pudding” is a modern day leftover from these practices. This text deals with these practices and is not exclusive. Look at the papers Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183) and The Doctrines of Demons of the Last Days (No. 48).

Romans

Anyone familiar with Romans chapter 1 knows that Paul continues on from this and describes homosexuality. Paul chose the ‘feminine’ word to describe divine nature. Higher things in nature are in pairs, male and female; male goes with female, and female with male. When humanity forgot this, they began to couple male with male, and female with female. The phrase “The wisdom of God said” (Luke 11:49) is accurate. In Judaism, Wisdom was a feminine aspect of God. The Word was a masculine manifestation of God. Wisdom is to God what Logos is to God. Once again we are brought into contact with the feminine nature of God. What implications does this have for Christians?

A: The concept of Sophia, as wisdom, is feminine because the logos is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. This is confounded also by the arguments for the gender of the Holy Spirit (see the paper The Gender of the Holy Spirit (No. 155)).

This crude analogy might break down when we say Christ is given the spirit and ascends as a Son of God in power from His resurrection from the dead. It is no more inappropriate to allot the spirit to Christ in the feminine as it is to males in the church. The males have no difficulty understanding the concept being a bride of Christ and of being, at the same time, a son of God.

We understand the concept of the mysteries of God in the structure of the family. The structure of Romans is designed to show the progressive degeneration of the nature of the faith when idolatry is induced. When one takes a false God, one then begins a progressive degeneration in the Holy Spirit and in the nation. The truth is held in unrighteousness and then the wrath of God is revealed against them. They turn on one another in their own lusts.

One cannot think of a better description of the progressive deterioration of the Church over 2000 years. After the adoption of the Triune God, by the second century, the organised Church had become a degenerate organism based on sodomy and perversion; killing those who obeyed the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ; embracing doctrines of demons, and commanding those to abstain from marriage and from meats, which were ordained to be received in thanksgiving.

The various problems are examined in the papers Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183) and The Nicolaitans (No. 202).

What is the “Works of the Law” (Rom 3:20) Paul refers to in his writings?

A: The Works of the Law is a book. It was the Miqsat Ma'ase ha Torah. In Greek, this was rendered “ergon nomou” and in English it is “Works of the Law.” It was lost for 1900 years. The Dead Sea Scrolls contained a copy. That copy was translated by professors Qimron and Strugnell. A paper has been written on its significance for NT exegesis. The paper is The Works of the Law Text - or MMT (No. 104). The original text and the translations are also available from CCG.

Romans 10:4 says: 'for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes’. Did the law end with Christ? Was it nailed to the cross? If so with what are we to reconcile ourselves?

A: The entire law was pointed to Christ and the plan of God because the law proceeded from the Nature of God. That is why Christ was the end of the law. He did not do away with the law. What he nailed to the cross in Colossians was the bill of our indebtedness or the Chierogriphon. We are free because he paid the price for our indebtedness as individuals but as also a host.

He who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are of one origin as Hebrews says. We reconcile ourselves to God through Christ who qualified to be our leader. Look at the paper The Relationship Between Salvation by Grace and the Law (No. 82). The law series is important. Look at The Law of God (No. L1).

Could you explain the point Paul was trying to make in Romans 14.

A: In Roman Society many in the Church were slaves. In the Roman household they regulated their diet according to the days of sacrifice. Thus, the concept was that a person in a pagan household would eat food sacrificed to idols.

The fish were sacred to Atargatis, or Dercato or Cato, and fish were eaten on her day, hence Friday as fish day. This practice is still found today in Roman Catholicism. When asked they will say we made the decision to help the fishing industry but the sacred fish of Atargatis is where it came from. The Pinata came from there as well.

The mermaid contains within herself the new seeds of life and has to be broken for the seeds to be released: Hence, human blood sacrifices. Attis, and his eunuch priests, were associated with this Easter cult. The Church was dealing with the fact that the brethren did not know where some of the meat was coming from. So, they were judging each other and some were only eating vegetables to avoid the possibility of eating meat sacrificed to idols.

Paul was telling them not to be overly concerned. The idols themselves did nothing and if one did not know, then those strong in the faith ate meat with no consequence. In this case, the killing was correct and so the blood was not eaten. According to Bullinger, in the time of Daniel, they chose not to eat the meat because it was not killed properly (see fnn. to Companion Bible re Daniel 1).

The noting of days was for the purposes of determining what days the types of meat might be sacrificed. It was not a question of not keeping the Sabbath, as that is commanded. In this case, they were determining the sacrifices for the purpose of eating meat. The matter is mentioned in the paper Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183).

When a husband takes a bride she acquires his name. So it could be said that as the bride of Christ the church takes on his name. So, someone in the Church of Christ could claim they are the true church because they have adopted that name as per Romans 16:16. Would this be correct?

A: No, that is not correct. The Bible is clear in that the Church has a few names. The names are: “Church of God” (at Corinth e.g.) for individual churches, and “Churches of God” for the generic term over nations. They were also called “Christian” and the sect called “The Way.” Roman 16:16 says in the ancient texts: “All the churches of Christ salute you.” This in no way undermines the concept of God as the head of the Church. The head of every man is Christ and the Head of Christ is God. Christ is the body in the sense that He is the Church, and that is the way it is used in Romans. The issue has been examined in the paper Formation of the Christian Churches of God (No. 68).

1Corinthians

Is Paul talking about the feast of Unleavened Bread here?

ICorinthians 5:6-8 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? ⁷ Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: ⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

If so, does that also include keeping the Passover, as he also mentions that Christ was sacrificed as our Passover? Is that why the Passover was given to Israel in the first place in order for that sacrifice to be fulfilled by Christ?

A: Yes, he was speaking of the Feast Unleavened Bread and the Passover, which is part of it, commencing on the Preparation Day of 14 Abib. He also instituted the formal Lord’s Supper on the first meal of the evening of 14 Abib at the first Chagigah meal, which commenced the day of Preparation for the Passover the following evening, which Passover Christ was.

If one does not keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, one does not understand the purpose of the removal of sin through the sacrifice of Christ. Paul and the other apostles and the early church kept all the feasts. The separation came in 192 when the Roman bishop tried to enforce the Easter heresy and forced the split of the church. Look at the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277). There are also papers on the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Look at The Passover (No. 98); The Old and the New Leaven (No. 106a); and The Wave Sheaf Offering (No. 106b).

Some have come to the conclusion that women should wear head coverings when praying to God our Father. I thought that is why women were to wear long hair, as a covering and protection. Could you help me in this? Should women wear a covering when praying?

A: A woman should only have her head covered while praying when she has short hair, as her hair is her glory. She must have her head covered as she is subject to her husband because of the Angels (1Cor. 11:10-15).

Her hair is her covering. That is why a man is shamed if he has long hair. A woman must have longer hair for her covering thus, the length of a woman’s hair must be longer than a man’s hair. Only a man must poll his hair. If a woman is polled she must wear a covering. That is why women are shamed by having their hair cropped as we saw, for example, at the end of the war in France

Galatians

What is the meaning of the text in Galatians 4:9-11?

A: The heresy of the church at Galatia and Colossi are examined in the paper Heresy in the Apostolic Church (No. 89). It was a form of Gnostic theology dealing with the elements, and the doing of things according to times and pagan institutions. Look also at the paper Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183) for the other elements and also at The Soul (No 92) for that problem.

Satanists and Stargazers who use it as a determination of fate, and to elevate an individual above God and as a god carry on this idea. The Bible position forbids this view. Our destiny is to become sons of God, and we await the resurrection of the dead so we can become sons of God in power through the Holy Spirit, so God can become all in all (Eph. 4:6). Look at the papers The Soul (No. 92); and The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143).

What were the days, months, times, and years that the Galatians were observing that Paul admonished them not to observe?

A: Galatians 4:10 cannot be read out of context from Galatians 4:9 and the other verses. The weak and beggarly elements were the Gnostic systems. The Colossian Heresies were different. In Galatia they were propitiating the elements of the universe. The texts in Galatians has nothing to do with the dispute in Colossians 2:16 regarding the keeping of the feasts and the New Moons and Sabbaths.

In other words, these people were watching astrology for the days and the times of the year and were ruled by the signs. They were turning again to these signs. This was to the assembly in Galatia. The curtain of Herod’s Temple had signs embroidered on it (cf. Josephus). The influence of Gnosticism in the Church is examined in the papers Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183); The Nicolaitans (No. 202); and various papers dealing with the Godhead and also The Soul (No. 92).

Ephesians

Ephesians 3:15 says: "of whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named." How many families in Heaven are there? Could you enlighten me?

A: God created a family from the beginning and they were termed the sons of God (cf. Job 1:6 and 2:1) and Satan was a son of God and the anointed covering cherub.

Families is actually "fatherhoods". This is the sense in which Christ is termed "Everlasting father" in Isaiah 9:6. Look at the paper Isaiah 9:6 (No. 224) for the explanation. The structure of the Family of God is shown in the paper How God Became a Family (No. 187). The paper Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No. 229) will show how the titles of Christ come from his activity within the will of God.

Philippians

I have heard people use Philippians 2:10 to “prove” one should kneel in “church.” What is the meaning of this text?

A: Philippians 2:10 is a promise dealing with Christ’s elevation from his obedience and death on the cross. He did not seek to grasp equality with God but made himself of no account and assumed human form as He was commanded to do.

The practice of bending the knee in worship came from the system of the Baal-Easter cults, where it is still practised. For His purposes, God reserved himself a number of people who have not bent their knee to Baal. In Elijah’s day it was 7000 when Elijah thought he was alone.

This text shows that the entire system of Baal-Easter worship, which is based on this system of genuflection, will be brought under Christ and made to acknowledge him as Lord. The structure of the text is based on the word “bow” as “kampto” (Rom. 11:4 cf Isa. 45:23; Rom. 14:11).

Things bow: in heaven (i.e. the angelic host see Eph. 3:10); things in earth (i.e. the terrestrial cf. 1Cor. 15:40); things under the earth (i.e. the dead at their resurrection i.e. both Resurrections (Rev. 20) cf Rev. 5:13 and the angels and demons (1Cor. 6:3 Lk. 8:31; Rev. 9:11 and also Ps. 148.)

Instead of this being an endorsement of genuflection, it is a promise that every one who does it and endorses the Satanic Baal-Easter system of the sun cults and the mother goddess system, will be made to repent of it at the resurrection.

Look at the papers The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The Soul (No. 92); The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80); and Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son (No. 199). The question of the place of Christ is covered in the papers Law and the First Commandment (No. 253); Law and the Second Commandment (No. 254); Law and the Third Commandment (No. 255); and The First Great Commandment (No. 252). Look also at The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243) and Arche of the Creation of God as Alpha and Omega (No. 229).

Colossians

I think Colossians 2.14 sets the stage for the subject in the following verses… ‘Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross’. In Colossians 2.13 Paul talks about baptism instead of circumcision. Then 1Corinthians 5:7… ‘Purge out there the old leaven that yea might be a new lump’. Colossians 2.16 ‘Let no man judge you….’ Men are not to judge neither does Christ. So nobody can judge me as to what I eat or drink, or what Holy Days I choose to take part in. I mean really, what qualifies one as a Christian anyway?

A: What was nailed to the cross in Colossians 2:14 was the “cheirographon” or the handwriting that you get when you go to a restaurant and are given a bill for the meal. He nailed the bill of our debts under the law to the stauros, paying in full for our sins once and for all.

The Holy Days were not eliminated as we see from the conduct of the Disciples in Acts. Acts 20:6 shows that they kept Unleavened Bread. After Unleavened Bread they sailed from Philippi. So we have established that Paul and the

Philippian Church were keeping the feasts. Colossians 2:16 shows the Colossians were keeping them. Acts 20:7 says on the “mia ton Sabbaton” which is literally the “First of the Sabbaths” and Bullinger holds this to be the first perfect Sabbath of the Omer count, and not Sunday. Thus, they also kept the Wave Sheaf and the lead up to Pentecost, which we know they kept from Acts 2:1. The phrase “Day of Pentecost was fully come,” meaning that they also kept the Sabbath the day before as part of this two day festival. We know they kept the Day of Atonement and the Feasts of the Seventh Month from the text in Acts 27:9, which refers to the fast of Atonement.

So, you say in spite of the Calendar being given to us by Jesus Christ, as intermediary for God; and despite Him and the New Testament Church keeping it themselves; and despite the Church being persecuted throughout history for keeping it; you will decide you do not have to keep the Laws of God and to teach men so. Well, Christ was pretty clear in what happens to people who do that. They are counted least in the kingdom of God.

Didn't Jesus die for my sins because there's no way for me to keep the law, so now if I just believe in him I don't have to keep any laws? Didn't he do it for me and anyone else who believes in him?

A. That's the myth the antinomians would like you to believe. That is the big myth that the law was nailed to the cross in Colossians 2:14. What was nailed to the cross was the Chierographon, which was the bill of indebtedness under the law that Christ paid for us and through grace we are able to live to God in the Holy Spirit.

Not one jot or tittle passed from the law till heaven and earth pass away. It is still there and it will be for another eleven hundred and twenty-seven years at least, as we understand the word of God.

The elect are "those who keep the commandments of God and the testimony (or faith) of Jesus Christ" and that is why the dragon is wrath with us and wants to destroy us (Rev. 12:17; 14:12). The Law series will give you an insight into this aspect. Look at the The Law of God (No. L1) and all the subsidiary papers to that work.

Colossians 2:16: ‘Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days: but the body is of Christ’. And our Sabbath I might add; too hard to ignore over some man’s teaching?

A: Colossians 2:16 shows the Church was keeping all of the Sabbaths and New Moons and Holydays. It says let no man judge you as to how you keep them, not ignore them. Acts shows clearly the entire Church was keeping the feasts and the Sabbaths and here, the New Moons. We have kept them for over 1,971 years. They kept Pentecost or they would not have received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1). The Gospels are littered with references to the keeping of all the feasts by Christ and the apostles. Not one reference exists that says they were not to be kept --not one. Paul kept them and that can be interpreted from his writings (Acts 12:3; 20:6). 1Corinthians 5:7-8 explains how we are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The church kept the Day of Atonement (Acts 27:9). You cannot understand the plan of salvation without the Holydays of God. Christ was the Passover and the Wave sheaf. He commanded us to keep the Lord’s Supper on the night he was betrayed, which is on the evening of 14 Abib.

There is not one reference transferring the Sabbath, or telling the Church not to keep the Sabbaths, New Moons, and Feasts, and that includes Colossians 2:16. Paul set up an alms collection on the First Day of the week because it could not be done on the Sabbath. That is the only reference to meeting on Sunday. Even the days rendered as “First day of the week” is actually “first of the Sabbaths” in the Greek.

Please explain what Colossians 2:18 is saying in regard to worshipping angels?

A: The word “worshipping” is “religion” in Acts 26:5 and only occurs in these two places. To understand the heresies at Galatia and Colossi, one needs to understand the religious concepts of the day. These concepts have been examined in the paper Heresy in the Apostolic Church (No. 89). The propitiation of the aeonian system and the elements seemed to be part of this. The words and their meaning are in the text at reference. The messenger is not to be worshipped. This form of praying to angels has entered Christianity via other means and people think nothing of praying to angels and saints.

Could you please explain what the mystery of Christ is in Colossians 4:3?

A: The mystery of Christ here is the redemption of the Gentiles to become sons of God. Those that are without are literally bought out by the activities of the church acting in the mystery of Christ. The texts are found in Galatians. Galatians 3 shows that in Abraham all nations are blessed and the heathen are justified through faith and the Scripture says that they of faith are the children of Abraham (Gal. 3:6-7).

The Spirit preached the gospel to Abraham saying in him all nations shall be blessed (Gal. 3:8-9). Paul is countering the “ergon nomou” or the Miqsat Ma'ase ha Torah (MMT) (see the paper The Works of the Law Text - or MMT (No. 104)). He is applying that text in Galatians to the question of the curses of the law. No man is justified by the law, as the just shall live by faith (Gal. 3: 11-12; Hab. 2:4; cf. Rom. 1:17; Heb. 10:38).

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law for it is written: “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13; cf Deut 21:23). This was done so that the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ and that we might receive the Spirit through faith (Gal. 3:14).

Paul develops this argument to combat the heresy at Galatia, and also at Colossi. Look at the paper Heresy in the Apostolic Church (No. 89). In Galatians 4:3 he speaks of our bondage to the elements of the world. He is dealing with this heresy in Galatia. He says that in the fullness of time “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the sonship. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying ‘Abba, Father’” (Gal. 4:4-6).

Thus we are no longer servants but sons, and if sons then heirs of God through Christ (Gal. 4:7). In Ephesians 5:14 Paul paraphrases Isaiah 60:1-2 and speaks of the light that is given by Christ in awakening those of the dead. He uses the same phrase in Ephesians 5:16 regarding the redeeming of the time, or literally the buying out of the time as we see in Galatians 3:13 and Colossians 4:5. Urging us to walk in wisdom to them that are without, redeeming the time for the times are evil.

He speaks of giving thanks in all things and submitting ourselves one to another in the fear of God. Thus, the mystery of Christ is the redemption of the Gentiles as sons of Abraham through faith to the Church, and the sonship of God through Christ being broken from the curse of the law but able to accomplish all things by faith.

We are to walk in wisdom through faith giving thanks in all things and submitting ourselves to one another by faith in the fear of God. In that way, through the mystery of Christ, we become sons of the living God. It is written: “I said ye are Gods, all of you children of the Most High...” and Scripture cannot be broken (Ps. 82:6; Jn. 10:34-35).

II Thessalonians

With the Church being so scattered, how do you see the scriptures in IIThessalonians 2:3-4, 6 concerning the man of sin “sitting in the temple of God?” In verse 6 what exactly is it that “withholdeth?”

A: The Great Apostasy has been occurring over many centuries. It commenced in Rome and spread from the 4^th century to the entire Christian Church. This falling away from the truth has been constant. The effect has been the total persecution of God’s people trying to obey the Laws of God for centuries.

In the last days, it is given to the false system to wear out the Saints of the Most High. In a sense, this was already effected last century when the papacy declared the Pope as the Vicar of Christ and God on earth. As head of a system that follows the man of sin and son of perdition, we expect that the apostasy will continue and take over the very last of the Sabbath-keeping people, wearing them out and reducing their power.

This has happened in the last three decades with virtually the entire Church of God ministry in all branches becoming advocates of the Binitarian/Trinitarian system of the Triune God. Only a very few are left who adhere to the original doctrine of the Church established by the Apostles. Very few adhere to the Laws of God and follow Christ as the Great Angel of the Old Testament who gave the Law to Moses, as was taught by the first and second century Churches.

Paul says in verse 7: “For the mystery of iniquity does already work:”. God lets it happen “until he be taken out of the way.” Who was there and was let go until the last and “be taken out of the way”? The answer can only be one being and that is the adversary, Satan. The mystery of iniquity is the basis of this system and so, through the Mystery Cults, Satan works the apostasy that deceives, if it were possible, even the very elect.

Thus, Satan is he who sits in the Temple of God calling himself “God,” and every minister who follows him and teaches the false doctrines of the Easter system is “the man of sin” in that he is Satan’s representative on earth as part of the Sun system. Only a few people will survive in the Church in the last days to do the job and bring about the publication of affliction and the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

In that process, the restoration will occur and the conversion of Judah and the call of the people to Jerusalem will be commenced. Until that time, we have to be refined in fire. Look at the papers Calling the Peoples to Jerusalem (No. 238); The Messages of Revelation 14 (No. 270). There are two factors which also affect this process and these are covered in the papers: The Warning of the Last Days (No. 44) and Gideon’s Force and the Last Days (No. 22).

1Timothy

What is 1Timothy 4:1-3 referring to when it talks of doctrines of demons?

A: The doctrines of Demons were perpetrated as Gnosticism at the time of the early church. They taught asceticism and celibacy. Their doctrines are covered in the papers Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183); The Nicolaitans (No. 202); Wine in the Bible (No. 188); The Soul (No. 92) and The Doctrines of Demons of the Last Days (No. 48).

Hebrews

I would like to understand the exact meaning in Hebrew 7:3 “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.” This King of Salem sure sounds like my King of Jerusalem!

A: The priesthood of Melchisedek is a new and different priesthood in the Church taking after the old order of Melchisedek, which ruled from the flood. It is opened to the Gentiles and thus they are appointed on conversion and hence they are “apator” and “amator” or “without father” and “without mother.” So, it is neither a patrilineal nor a matrilineal system.

Its beginning of days and end of years was the requirement for the priesthood. Entering the Temple at 25 and leaving at 50 was the law for Aaronic priests, and teaching from 30 and continuing until incapacity outside of the Temple usually at 65-70 or so. However, no priest was in the Temple after the age of 50.

The Priesthood of Melchisedek is different and, as such, it can include the sons of Aaron as well as the Gentiles. That is why Abraham went to Melchisedek at Jerusalem. This was a Jebusite city and was Gentile. Thus, Melchisedek had Gentile priests in the office. Look at the paper Melchisedek (No. 128) for more information.

James

Would you please explain the origin and significance of the book of James.

A: The author was Jacob called James, physically the brother of Jesus Christ and Chairman of the Acts Conference. The dispute about authorship and Luther’s dismissal of the Epistle (“of straw”) is because he was vehemently anti-Semitic, and it has a distinctly Jewish character and declares the Law as the Perfect Law of Liberty.

All attempts to dismiss it stem from antinomianism and anti-Semitism. The doctrine closely follows the doctrinal tone of the Sermon on the Mount. James was the brother of the Lord (Gal. 1:19), and one of the pillars of Galatians 2:9. He was chairman and delivered the judgement at the Acts Conference (cf. Acts 15:13,19).

The Jews were still assembling in synagogues (2:2). “The Poor” (cf. John 12:8) were the inheritors of the kingdom (cf. 2:5). They were reproved according to the Law and had Abraham as their father (2:8 ff., 21). It follows Acts 3:19-21, regarding the coming “parousia” of the Lord which was at hand (5:7,8).

It is addressed to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. It was most likely written from Jerusalem not long after the activities in Acts, and perhaps even before Acts. It certainly was prior to James’ martyrdom in 63 CE, which is discussed in the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13).

We can see that the effect of this message is a powerful message regarding the faith and works issue. It is relevant today as people come to grips with the failure of Antinomian Protestantism and tradition-bound Roman Catholicism, and commence once again to look seriously at the Law of God.

James 1:17: “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.”

How is it that all flesh will be saved if different Scriptures state that fornicators, murderers and idolaters shall not inherit the kingdom of God?

A: In the second resurrection, all these people will be dealt with and they will repent. There will be no intercourse in the second resurrection. The saints who make it into the first resurrection will have not done things, or they will have repented and ceased to do those things.

All other people go to the second resurrection. There they are all brought to understanding and repentance. Look at the papers: The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143) and The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80).

1John

The three that give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. (1Jn 5:7) What does this scripture mean?

A: You are quoting from the forged text in 1John 5:7 in the Receptus that was entered into the KJV. It is not in any other Bible. It is an insertion into the text of 1John to find some biblical support for the doctrine of the Trinity. Protestantism claims the basis of “Sola Scriptura” or “Scripture alone” and so the absence of the Trinity in the Bible had to be remedied by additions to the text.

The Roman Catholic theologian C. M. LaCugna (God For Us) explains how the Triune God was imposed on the theology of the church from the Fourth Century Councils and the Cappadocians at Constantinople in 381. Augustine then concentrated the relations at the intradivine level. The Roman Catholic Church relies on the Councils of the church and thus does not need the forgeries that were inserted in the Receptus due to the requirements of Sola Scriptura. The process is explained in the paper Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127).

Revelation

I know that the book of Revelation was given to St. John the Divine, but who was he exactly?

A: The Book of Revelation is actually the Revelation of God to Jesus Christ. John says he wrote it down while he was at Patmos in exile. Christ gave it to him when he received it from God. This is an important aspect regarding the question of Omniscience and the willing self-revelation of the Father.

John appears to have been exiled ca 95 CE to Patmos and released in 96 at the ascension of the new emperor. Eusebius says John returned to Ephesus and lived until the time of Trajan (H. E. III, 18.1; 20:9; 23:4). Appollonius says he raised a dead man at Ephesus (Eusebius V, 18, 14).

Clement of Alexandria tells of how he reclaimed a robber for Christ (What Rich Man can Be Saved? 42). Irenaeus tells of his opposing the heretic Cerinthus (Her. III, 3, 4). It is said he was carried in his old age, and he repeatedly urged people with: “Little children love one another!”

Irenaeus was the direct disciple of Polycarp and Papius, and they gave him direct reports on the presence and work of John in Ephesus and its regions. Eusebius says Papius states that he himself was not an eyewitness of the apostles but got his accounts from those who were their friends (III, 39, 2). Thus, Irenaeus was trained by these men with Polycarp giving him first hand accounts, and Papius adding to it by the accounts of the other disciples. There is no conflict in this account by Irenaeus.

Tertullian says that John went to Rome and “was plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil and then exiled on an island.” (Patmos) (cf. Presc. Her, 36). Polycrates of Ephesus says John was a “priest wearing the sacerdotal plate” (Eusebius, Hist. V, 24, 3; cf. Interp. Dictionary of the Bible, John the Apostle, vol. 2, p. 954). This would suggest John was thus a son of Levi and a Cohen.

The Muratorian Fragment (II, 9-23) states that John was with the rest of the apostles when John was given to write his gospel. This means it was well prior to James’ and the other martyrdoms (ca 63 CE) and probably in Palestine. Perhaps it was even at the Acts Conference.

The tradition that John was martyred comes from the writings of George the Sinner (ca ninth century) and an eight century copy of the Chronicle by the fifth century Philip of Side (Interp Dict. ibid). However, this is against the bulk of the earlier witnesses and the Bible indicates he was not to be martyred. John wrote the five works (John, 1-3 John and Revelation) as is the accepted tradition.

Ignatius does not refer to him at Ephesus as, from his writings, there is a diversion of the faith in Rome from the original theology of the apostles based on a false interpretation of Paul. This was to compound and ultimately destroy the church with apostasy.

Eusebius holds John’s Gospel in first place even though it appears after the others. They say it was written after the three, and corrects the omissions of the other three regarding the early years of the Messiah’s ministry. Only Matthew and John are of the original apostles.

Why is it human nature to WANT to believe we are heading for a worldwide conflict? Why do some people in the world appear to WANT to believe evil will come swooping down on earth and cause havoc and hell, literally? Someone explained the fact that Revelation was written as a political protest of Nero and that fact is common knowledge. Why do some still wish to believe it is prophesy?

A: The idea that Revelation was written as a protest to the emperor Nero is a badly constructed theory by people who are trying to debunk Revelation. It certainly is not fact as some assert. John says he wrote it while in exile on the Island of Patmos. He was exiled there in 95 CE and returned on the ascension of the new emperor Nerva in 96 CE.

The Entire Church accepted that assertion as fact. Nero had been dead for decades. The activities in Revelation specifically refer to the rule of Christ with the saints for a thousand years. To assert that it is not a prophetic work is simply bizarre.

One might debate whether it is an inspired prophetic work or not, as many have done. However, to assert it is not a prophetic work simply means that such a person has not read the text or is simply dismissing vast amounts of it. The history of its place in the canon is discussed in the paper The Bible (No. 164). Many of its prophecies have come true and in detail. Many of its prophecies are yet to occur. The text certainly deals with the structure of the return of the Messiah and that has not as yet happened. The assertion that it is regarded as prophecy by people who seemingly want to see a worldwide conflict is silly.

The work itself speaks of the unrepentant attitudes of the world over the period of its entire destruction. This work is a key prophetic work of the Bible and which has been unfolding over the last two thousand years. Very soon we will find out just how real the work is. It is the Revelation that God gave to Jesus Christ who then entrusted it to his servants through John. No leader of the Church of God in the second century treated it as a historical document, and no leader of the Church even tried to assert such imbecility.

No one tried to assert it was a letter to Nero. In the ten years of the persecution of the Church between 303 and 313 it was clear what the letter to Smyrna meant.

And God said: “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.” And so it was written and so it shall be done.

I have read in Revelation about the seven spirits of God. From this I imagine that along with the Most High God, there would currently be six other members of the elohim that would be of lesser rank than the Most High. Is this correct? (Rev 1:4; 5:6)

A: The seven spirits of God are mentioned in Revelation 1:4 and Revelation 5:6. One might deduce that they are seven beings from Revelation 1:4, but the text in 5:6 shows that the Lamb has the seven horns and the seven spirits of God. Thus, they are symbols of the power and of the nature of God.

They must be the fundamentals of the Holy Spirit, which confer the capacity of omniscience on the recipient, as he acts within God’s Will under the Holy Spirit. They must be functions of the Holy Spirit within the extension of the structure of God to the elohim host.

Would you explain what is the “hidden manna” and when do we receive a new name? (Rev. 2:17)

A: Israel was fed for forty years in the wilderness on manna, which was termed angel’s food. Manna means: “what is it?” This name of itself had significance as it represented something as yet unknown to Israel in the Exodus.

The “hidden manna” was to be the Holy Spirit, which was the means by which we become sons of God and elohim. This was given to those that overcome. We were given the down payment upon our baptism, and we receive the full power of the Holy Spirit as sons of God in power from our resurrection from the dead (Rom.1:4).

The church was to be forty jubilees in the wilderness, as Israel was forty years in the wilderness of the Exodus. This was the wilderness of sin and the manna fed them while they wandered in the wilderness.

The white stone with a new name symbolises two things. The white stones were also to be used in the construction of the Temple from its foundations. The name on the stone implied citizenship in the City of God.

Thus the basis of the construction is those who overcome of the seven churches. They receive their citizenship and are made part of the Temple of God. They receive the manna from their baptism and then in power from their resurrection from the dead and their full citizenship into the City of God at the end of the Second Resurrection after their jobs have been done for the millennial reign of Christ.

Look at the papers: The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80); The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95); The City of God (No. 180); and The Day of the Lord and the Last Days (No. 192).

What do the white stone and the new name mean?

A: The stone as a name marker is the basis of citizenship in the old world. It was used to mark a citizen and indicated their standing. Bullinger says that a white stone was known to the ancients as a "victory" stone (fn to Rev. 2:17). The process of ostracism was by placing so many black markers against the name in the lists. So many black markers and it meant exile. The names of the people are all based on pagan gods and that is difficult to avoid in our society. When Messiah returns the world will be given a new and pure speech and the elect will have a new name. This is to fulfil prophecy as spoken through Isaiah 62:2 and elsewhere. The white stones also form part of the structure of the Temple of God.

Who is the woman Jezebel that is referred to in Revelation 2:20.

A: Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal who was a king of Sidon under the Tyrian empire. Ethbaal was a regicide and fratricide (Josephus A. Apion 1.18; A of J viii. 3. 1). Ethbaal was a priest of Astarte or Easter, the goddess of the Phoenician system. The name means literally “with Baal.”

Jezebel (‘Iyzebel’ meaning chaste) was a priestess of Baal-Easter. Thus the idea of “chastity” here is of dedication to the goddess. She was anything but chaste under their temple system. Israel was in alliance with Tyre and the Phoenician system from the friendship of David and Hiram. This Easter system had penetrated Israel from the Phoenicians, and it had reached the extent under Jezebel where God’s law was disregarded completely. People kept the Easter system and worshipped Baal and the groves. God’s prophets were treated with disdain.

Easter is part of the ancient system of Baal worship and is inseparable from the Mystery systems. Look also at the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222). The Phoenicians had taken it around the world in their trading system.

With regard to Scripture, the Bible should make sense, but our understanding is limited, and logic will just take us so far. Christ calls us to live by faith in Him and to love one another. He never instructed us to get all the Scriptures right. In fact, He accused the men who were the most religious and learned in the Scriptures of His day of being incorrect in their interpretations.

On the other hand, if God did inspire the Bible, it contains ultimate truth. Those who believe in Him will seek to understand His Word, and to follow its teachings to the best of their ability. We just need to recognize the limits of our own ability, and we should not, in any way, look down on those who do not seem to understand Scripture as well as we think we do. Let us walk by faith and demonstrate our love for one another.

What is meant by "I will give him the morning star"? (Rev 2:28)

A: The title Morning Star is a rank. There were many Morning stars present at the creation of the Earth as we see from Job 38:4-7. The term Lucifer relates to the rank. The title is held by the god of this world. At present Satan is Lucifer and Morning Star.

That title will be taken from him and given to Christ at his return. We as the elect will be given of that rank to rule with Christ. In other words the elect will participate in the Government of God over this planet during the Millennium and beyond. This aspect has been covered in the papers: Lucifer: Light Bearer and Morning Star (No. 223); and The Government of God (No. 174). Look also at How God Became a Family (No. 187).

What is being referred to in Revelation 3:7 in regards to the key of David? Does it tie to Isaiah 22:22?

A: Yes, that is right. The Key of the administration of the kingdom of Israel reached its height under David and encompassed its full extent. The practice was also that the entry to the tabernacle was combined in this power of the king.

Solomon, according to Judaic tradition, had the key of the Temple. Look at the paper Song of Songs (No. 145). The text in Isaiah 22:22 shows that the entire power of the kingship culminates in Messiah. The text in Revelation shows that he possesses this aspect and uses this power to make the Philadelphian church, at the Resurrection, pillars in the Temple. He gives them an open door to finish the work in the last days. This text also shows that the Philadelphians are the Pillars that support the Temple, of which we all are. They stand on the foundation stones of the Apostles and with Christ as the Chief Corner Stone resting on the rock that is God. Look also at the paper The City of God (No. 180).

What is meant by "write on him the new name of my God, name of new Jerusalem, and my (Jesus') new name"? (Rev 3:12)

A: The text in Revelation 3:12 does not say the new name of God. The text is: "I will write on him the name of my God." God has names, the use of which denote authority. As Eloah he is alone and True God. As Ha Elohim he is creator as the God of the creation, which began with the elohim.

Thus the sons of God are all elohim or theoi. He is Yahovah of Hosts and all who act for him carry the name Yahovah. That is why each of the angels in the Old Testament is all called Yahovah. He is Yehovih or the Elyon the Most High and “He causes to Be” of Ex. 3:14. His city is New Jerusalem, which is on high and the mother of us all. It comes down from heaven from God. Look at the paper The City of God (No. 180).

Eloah has no new name. It is Christ that has the new name. We are elohim as the Angel of Yahovah at our head (Zech 12:8). We are gods (elohim and theoi) and Scripture cannot be broken. Christ is given a new name and we will have that name written on us and we will act for Christ and God in power. Look also at the paper The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243).

Who is sitting on the great white throne and what is the time frame? (Rev 6:2)

A: The Great White throne is seen by John and is referred to in Revelation 4:2-6. The end structure of the millennial system is now brought to an end for the Second Resurrection. Christ shares the power of God and to him is given the Judgment of the entire world over this period of 100 years. This is the period at the Second Resurrection of the Dead, after the millennial reign of Christ and the Saints. The Holy Spirit is sent out from God and through that power the Resurrection occurs and the Judgment of all people occurs. The entire planet is brought into harmony over this period.

At the end of the 100 years, the host are also brought into harmony as the City of God. Look at the papers The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95) and The City of God (No. 180). Isaiah 65:25: “‘The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,’ says the Lord.”

Revelation 6:12-17 states:

¹² And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; ¹³ And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. ¹⁴ And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. ¹⁵And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;¹⁶ And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: ¹⁷ For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Do you think this is a prophecy? Could it be some sort of comet or asteroid impact on earth?

A: Yes, this sixth seal does indicate a series of heavenly signs caused by interference with the earth’s atmosphere, and possibly weapons from a space station. What it does herald is the coming of the Messiah. The kings of the earth are in no doubt that what the prophets told them over the last days is true: that the Messiah has come and they will face his wrath.

The parable of the sheep and goats tells you what to expect. As they have judged the saints so will they be judged. This matter is examined in the papers The Seven Seals (No. 140); The Seven Trumpets (No. 141); The Fall of Jericho (No. 142) and Trumpets (No. 136).

What does the white horse and the bow represent?

A: Revelation 6:2 mentions the white horse and the bow. The white horse is one like the lamb but it is a conquering system that has a bow (toxon). This being is not Messiah and the white horse and rider of Revelation 19:11.

This rider is false religion that acts in the name of the rider but is false and conquers with the structure of false religion. From this rider follows war, and then pestilence and disease, and then death of the other horsemen. This was the system that was set in train when false religion was set up on the planet under Satan and it still rules this planet. Look at the paper Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272) and also The Seven Seals (No. 140) and The Seven Trumpets (No. 141).

What does the fiery red horse and great sword represent and their importance? (Rev 6:4)

A: The Red horse is war. This is the conflict that came upon the world as a result of the division caused by false religion. The sword is the sword of war and division. The first leads to the second and the second leads to the third and the fourth follows. Look at the paper The Seven Seals (No. 140).

What does the black horse represent and the pair of scales and their importance? (Rev. 6:5)

A: The black horse is pestilence and disease. The balances indicate judgment and scarcity and the costs of the first two horsemen. The measurement is given according to how they measure. The oil and the wine represent the elect in the Holy Spirit that are scattered among the nations. They can be killed as witness but the core integrity and survival of the church is to be protected and the earth itself cannot be harmed until the 144,000 have been sealed and the great multitude is ready to complete.

What does the pale horse and the name of death mean? (Rev. 6:8)

A: The Pale horse of Revelation 6:8 is death and the grave that follows on from the chaos set in place by the previous Horsemen of False Religion, War, and the subsequent Pestilence and Famine of the Black Horse.

This death is the judgment of the world’s people who follow false religion and go to the second resurrection and then face the second death. Look at the papers The Seven Seals (No. 140); The Seven Trumpets (No. 141); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); and The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95).

Could you explain what is meant by the great tribulation that the saints in Revelation come out of? (Rev 7:14) Also, I heard it said that there will be 7 years of tribulation in the end times. Where does this come from?

A: The Bible speaks of three tribulations. One was 1,260 days of the woman in the wilderness, where the dragon pursued her seed and the earth helped her and swallowed them. This was the 1,260 years or prophetic days of the Holy Roman Empire from 590 to 1850. During this time, millions of the Saints were killed by the Easter and Sunday-keeping Christian Church in Europe. Look at The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170).

The Bible also speaks of a further tribulation during the Fifth Seal where the saints are told to wait until the number of their brethren are killed as they themselves had been killed. This persecution began after WWI and went until the death of Stalin in 1956. Most of the people were killed by the Lutherans and Roman Catholics in Nazi Europe. Perhaps, there were as many as 18 million of them. We will never know the full numbers, but they were killed in approximately 15,000 concentration and extermination camps throughout Europe.

We have official records of over ten thousand already and our numbers indicate some 15,000. In the last days there will be a Great Tribulation after the return of the Messiah who returns to save the Church. This last Great Tribulation is a man-made disaster, which can be prevented by repentance. The story is told on the papers The Seven Seals (No. 140); The Seven Trumpets (No. 141); and also The Fall of Jericho (No. 142).

Is there a link between Revelation 8:10 where a star called wormwood makes 1/3 of the waters wormwood (bitter), and Exodus 15:25, where the Israelites came to Marah (meaning bitter also) and the waters there were bitter until a tree was cast into the water to make it sweet? Is Revelation 8:10 to be taken literally, figuratively or, as I suspect, both ways. I understand that often times, physical events are to point towards spiritual fulfilments. Is that what we’re seeing here with the bitter waters?

A: It is our view that this comment is correct. The waters of Marah were bitter. The tree, that was Christ, was cast into them to make them palatable. This is borne out by the fact that Jesus Christ is pictured as a palm tree between the new man-headed and lion-headed Cherubim in the Temple of God in Ezekiel.

The planet will be rendered unfit and Christ has to return to save it. The new waters are sent out from the Temple Mount and enable fish and other life to exist. Look at the paper Pentecost at Sinai (No. 115).

What are the Woes and the when do the Witnesses come?

A: Revelation chapter 9 deals with the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets, which are the First and Second Woes. The Second Woe goes on through the period of Chapters 10 and 11.

Revelation chapter 10 deals with the interval between the Sixth and the Seventh trumpets. This is the Angel with the little Scroll. This is the message of the Seven Thunders. It is at this time that the mysteries of God will be fully revealed. This event and the restoration of the Law must precede the witnesses. The Sixth Trumpet and the wars of the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets are past. It is from this interval that we take up the final phase of the Measuring of the Temple and then the 1260 days of the Witnesses and their period of three and a half days in the streets. The Restoration of the Law and the Measuring of the Temple are contemporaneous (see also the paper Measuring of the Temple (No. 137).

At the end of this period that the Seventh Angel sounds and the resurrection occurs. The Seventh Trumpet is the Seven vials of the Wrath of God. With this Trumpet he begins to reign. Christ is here at this point at the precise moment of the Resurrection, which commences with the two witnesses. The Seals are opened long ago and are ongoing.

In Revelation 13:18, it states that the number of the Beast is the number of a man. His number is 666. I have done some studying of material from the SDAs and they say that the number of this man is the pope. Vicarius=112 Fil II=53 Dei=501 = 666. How do you view this interpretation? You said that it was of a system, but Revelation does state the number of a man. This makes sense to me considering that the pope is probably the leader of this anti-God system.

A: The head of the religious system of the world, based on the sun system and the mystery cults, is that person. The whole system bears its mark. It worships on the day of the sun, and has the doctrine of Anti Christ. It is based on the Triune God of the Baal-Easter system and the Golden Calf was its original system. Look at the papers The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235); The Golden Calf (No. 222); The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Garden of Eden (No. 246).

There are not many candidates for the dubious honour of being the head of this system. The fact that the title you speak of adds up to 666 merely reinforces the problem or conclusion. The mark or seal of God is that of the laws of God on the mind and hand by actions. These aspects are covered in the papers in the series The Law of God (No. L1).

The SDA systems attempt to confine the mark of the system to the Sabbath and ignore the rest of God’s Calendar, which they are not allowed to do. Look also at Law and the Fourth Commandment (No. 256). Look at the paper The Mark of the Beast (No. 25).

My family and I have done research regarding the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation. We have found some sources that suggest that the 144,000 will be those who have lived during the life of Christ and up to the end times, while other sources have mentioned that the 144,000 are from the time of creation up to end times. Can you comment on this? (Rev chapter 14)

A: The composition of the 144,000 is explained in the paper The Harvests of God, the New Moon Sacrifices and the 144,000 (No. 120). The 144,000 cover the Patriarchs, the Prophets, Judges, David and probably Solomon, and the key leaders of Israel up to the close of the Testament. The Church is then used as the primary source from Christ, and the symbols they represent are all explained in the papers. You cannot understand them fully until you understand God’s Calendar (No. 156).

The number is comprised from the council of God, or Sanhedrin of 72, which was transferred to the church (Lk. 10:1,17). The Sabbaths, New Moons, and Assemblies of God all comprise 72, and over the 2000 years they make up 144,000. The shortfall in the time of Satan and the Advent of the Messiah is made up by the Patriarchs and Prophets, and hence there are 144,000. The great multitude is the remainder of the church, which is represented by the evening sacrifice. The Morning sacrifice, which is in Ezekiel’s Temple, represents the millennial system.

How do we know who qualifies for the 144,000?

A: God determines who they are and gives them to Christ, but they are not identified to themselves until the final restoration and resurrection. The earth cannot be hurt until the final one is sealed with the baptism of the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, in the name of God.

Just who or what is the Bible referring to in Revelation when it speaks about mystery Babylon the great, mother of harlots? (Rev 17:5) I've often wondered what was being talked about.

A: It is speaking about a great religious system based upon the religious system at Babylon which relates to the Moon God Sin and also to the system of Istar or Easter as she is know in English. In ancient Israel she was Ashtoreth consort of Baal and in the mysteries she was known as Isis among the Egyptians and Venus by the Romans.

The dying god was a feature of her cult as her festival of Easter. She was also the mother goddess and her system is all over the world. That is why she is called the mother of harlots because she has a system that prostitutes itself for political power and her priests commit fornication with the kings of the earth. The systems are examined in the papers The Golden Calf (No. 222) and also in The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

I have 3 questions: 1. In Revelation 20:10 “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever”. Who is this referring to? 2. Does Revelation 20:15 refer to mankind also? How can you not be found in the book of life? 3. What is the meaning of Revelation 21:8?

A: See the papers The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80), The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); and also The City of God (No. 180). The answer to the question is found in the last part of your question. Revelation 21:8 says these people, “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the Second Death.”

Thus, it is the second death, not eternal punishment. Sinners are required to repent and the second judgment of correction deals with these people. Anyone who remains a sinner will die and be burnt. The word used in Revelation 20:10 rendered “they will be tormented,” (basanisthesontai) is based on a word for “extracting truth under duress” and “being removed”. And “to the ages of the ages” is rendered “forever and ever.” The beast is a concept and system of government, not a being.

The devil is a spirit. The “pseudoprophetes” is false prophecy and a system in general, not a particular false prophet. The Lake of Fire is “Puros” and “Theiou.” This is not fire and brimstone. Puros is “shining like fire.” The word “sulphur” here is “Theiou.” The word implies “divinity.” Thus, it is the Lake fiery and divine (cf. Thayers Lexicon). This spiritual edifice is a memorial of the false spirit removed with the physical creation. It refers to all mankind. The ones not found written into the Book of Life are the Nephilim and Rephaim (Isa. 26:13). Look at the paper The Nephilim (No. 154). The second death has power over all those in the Second Resurrection. If a person does not repent he or she could die. It is the job of Christ and the elect to see that they do not die.

I realise Revelation 21:1 states “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Are there seas in the millennium?

A: Yes, there are seas in the Millennium. The restoration under Messiah sees rivers go out from the Mount of Zion to the western sea and to the Arabah, and they will be used for fish and the collection of salt in the marshes of the Arabah.

The text in Revelation is speaking of the situation that emerges in the end of the Second Resurrection and the coming of The City of God. See the paper The City of God (No. 180). The paper The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95) deals with some false ideas about the Millennium and the correct position.

There are so many references to “seas” in

Scripture; is there any specific symbolism to keep in mind when reading about the seas? Any idea why the seas will be no more from Revelation 21:1?

A: Seas cover two subjects in the Bible. The first is literal as physical seas. The second is figurative and refers to peoples and nations. Thus, “beasts from seas” cover populaces as systems of administration or government. That of the beast is a system of democratic government where it regulates itself. In the end the seas will become spiritual. So the populace will disappear in the sense that it is a volatile and fluctuating entity as it becomes all of one city as sons of God. Look at the paper City of God (No. 180).

The earth will be purified by fire and the physical seas will be either removed or restructured. That occurs after the second Resurrection and there will be no human life left as we know it now. Look at the papers The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143).

What is meant by the term, “The time of Jacob’s trouble?”

A: Jacob is the nation of Israel. The “time of Jacobs’s trouble” refers to the nation in the Last Days. At the very end, near the coming of the Messiah, the nation of Israel goes into a time of tribulation that is orchestrated by its own administration and the evil people within it. The nation of Israel in the Promised Land at present is only two of the tribes, Judah and part of Levi.

What does the Bible indicate the planet will be like at the beginning of the Millennium?

A: The planet appears to be in a bad state due to the behaviour of modern man. The Bible says that the planet will be almost totally destroyed. The sequence goes on through the phases we understand as the Seven Seals, and then the Seven Trumpets, and the Seven Vials of the Wrath of God. The Seventh Seal is the Seven Trumpets, and the Seven Vials are the Seventh Trumpet. Look at the papers The Seven Seals (No. 140) and The Seven Trumpets (No. 141). The world can repent and stop the madness, but it will not repent. The Seven Trumpets sees a third of all trees and grass burnt, a third of all the waters turned to blood, a third of the seas dead with a third of the fish dead, and over a third of mankind killed in the wars of the fifth and sixth trumpets. And still, there is no repentance.

Messiah returns to stop the killing, but the repentance is not there and the planet goes on to destroy all trees and grass, all fish in the sea, most of mankind, and the animals. Then, we have to put a virtually dead planet back together and start again under God’s Laws. We could stop it and start keeping God’s Laws now, but we will not do so. We could preserve the environment by keeping the foodlaws but we will not do that either. Look at the paper The Food Laws (No. 15).

We had Christ’s example and the example of the Apostles and the early Church. However, the world killed all of the Apostles and the saints and invented a false religion calling it “Christianity.” It has killed every person trying to obey the Commandments of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ systematically since 590 CE. More Commandment-keeping Sabbath-keepers have been murdered this century than perhaps in any other century in history. They have been murdered by “good Christian Catholics” and “good Christian Protestants” all in the name of their Triune God, whom they worship on Sunday, killing and persecuting those who follow the commandments of God and the faith or testimony of Christ and the Apostles. It does not need to be that way, but men will do it rather than obey God.

Resurrection

Please explain what happens when someone is resurrected.

A: The entire process is explained in the paper The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143). Look also at the paper The Soul (No. 92). The process is as it was for Christ He was resurrected and then translated. He ascended as the Wave Sheaf on the Sunday morning, being presented before the throne of God as the Wavesheaf. He entered the Holy of Holies and returned with the Holy Spirit, which he breathed on the disciples (cf. Jn. 20:22).

Ezekiel shows that the resurrection is physical. The dead – those who have fallen asleep of the elect – will be resurrected to the First Resurrection. Then they, and we who are left alive, will all be translated and taken to Jerusalem to be with the Messiah. Then the great tribulation will start. The armies of the nations will be brought down to Armageddon or the valley of Jezreel. They will march against Messiah and be destroyed (see the paper Trumpets (No. 136)).

Then, the earth will be run from Jerusalem for 1000 years (see the paper The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95). At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be released and the last war will occur. The nations will again march to Jerusalem and then those armies will be destroyed. The ones who do not rebel will be translated.

The ones who do, and everyone else that has ever lived, will be resurrected for the period of 100 years. The entire planet will then be brought to conversion. Every demon who rebelled will become a human being, as did Christ, and their former identities will be no more. They will also be given the opportunity for repentance (see the paper The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80)).

Every person in the second resurrection will face the prospect of the second death if they do not repent. The First Resurrection does not face the second death as their time of judgment is now. This is the sense of Hebrews where the First Resurrection is a better resurrection.

At the end of the Second Resurrection and Judgment in 3127, the earth will be renewed with fire. The City of God will come and Christ will hand over to the Father, and all things will be in subjection to the Father and he will be all in all. Look at the paper The City of God (No. 180).

When resurrected will children know parents? Will people know anyone in the life before?

A: Yes, in the Second Resurrection all people will be resurrected and they will all be reconciled. Every foetus ever conceived is securely in the mind of God. They will all be resurrected and they will all be made known to one another.

That is the reason why many people do not like this solution. Deep down, a lot of people want grandpa to burn in hell. Also, it will be more difficult for us to deal with, for example, the women who saw their children shot and gassed in the Holocaust, than it will be to deal with the guards who did it.

It will be easier for them to repent, than for the wronged to forgive. Both are necessary to salvation. That is why the various lies have been established in the world religions. For example, reincarnation was established so that people would assume the Second Resurrection is just another reincarnation. We will have to deal with that aspect as well.

There are going to be a lot of very embarrassed priests around who have told an awful lot of lies for money and power. When we see what has been done in the past in the name of religion, and even in this century, it will stun a great many people.

I read somewhere that in the First Resurrection people will live and die as now. Does that mean that when Jesus comes back everyone living at that moment will not be resurrected? Are the people who die during the first resurrection to be resurrected in the second resurrection?

A: Yes, people will go on living, and not every one will be resurrected when Christ returns. In fact, the majority of people will not be resurrected. Only the saints who kept the Commandments of God and the Testimony or Faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12) and who were given to Christ by God will be in the First Resurrection.

The resurrection consists of two groups, the 144,000 and the Great Multitude as enumerated in Revelation 7. They will rule the earth with Christ for 1,000 years as Satan and the demons should have done for the last 6,000 years. At the end of the Millennium, Satan will be released again for a little while to deceive the nations and the final war will occur. People will go on, more or less, as life is now but all according to the Laws of God. It is referred to by the ancients as the period of Just Rule. The Second Resurrection is to deal with the entire structure of Creation including the fallen host, and after that we will all be joined to God in and as the City of God. Look at the papers: Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272); The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95); Trumpets (No. 136); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The Soul (No. 92); and The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80).

Am I to understand that those in the first resurrection will be under the rule of Jesus and everything will be the same? Will there be sorrow when someone dies, will there be homes, marriages, jobs, schools, will the earth be cleaned?

A: The world will go on for another 1000 years after Christ’s return. It will be in a state of destruction and will have to be rehabilitated. The purpose of the First Resurrection is to have a team of spirit beings under Christ who will do the tasks the demons were to have done for the previous 6000 years. This time it will be done according to God’s Laws. The planet will still have human beings and it will have families and people who will conduct themselves according to the Law. There will be a large Exodus of all the children of Israel required to be placed in Israel, according to the instructions of Christ, as priests and Levites. This is explained in Isaiah 66.

This Exodus will be greater than the first Exodus and it will be after the wars of Armageddon and the destruction of the armies of the nations. If a person is taken into the First Resurrection being baptised, and a child is left being of an age that does not permit baptism, then that parent as a spirit being will be able to do far more for the care of the child than they would have as a human. They will then be literally elohim. The children will be greatly blessed in this event. Look at the papers: The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95); and The Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272).

Marriage Supper

Could you explain exactly what the marriage supper of the lamb is?

A: In the paper Trumpets (No. 136) the two aspects of the Day of Trumpets are explained. The first section is the Advent of the Messiah and the second is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The Messiah returns after the two witnesses have delivered their message and restored the nexus of the law. They are killed and then resurrected three and a half days later.

The Sixth Seal of the Heavenly Signs precedes the Advent of the Messiah. (Look at the paper The Seven Seals (No. 140).) It is in the Seven Trumpets that we see the wars of the end and the Advent of the Messiah. See the paper The Seven Trumpets (No. 141).

When Messiah comes the dead in Christ, which are those who have fallen asleep, are resurrected first. Then those that are alive of the saints are translated into spirit beings with those dead in Christ and they all go to Jerusalem to be with Christ. He will have split the Mount of Olives in two and the elect are then with him.

The Marriage Supper is the one of the Wise Virgins. These are the elect who have kept the commandments of God and the testimony or faith of Jesus Christ and will be in the First Resurrection. See also the paper The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The Soul (No. 92) and The Millennium and the Rapture (No. 95).

The gnashing of teeth is of the Churches of this world who called Christ, “Lord, Lord” but did not obey the Commandments of God and the Testimony of Christ. They are the ones who try to go to the Marriage Supper and find they are simply not allowed the spiritual status. They do not have a white robe and they are not spirit beings. That is the cut-off point. They gnash their teeth because they realise they invented their doctrines and teachings and did not obey the literal intent of the Scriptures.

With God there is no negotiation. You obey or you do not obey. If you obey the commandments and the faith of Christ you are allowed to enter as part of the predestined, chosen, and called elect who are justified and glorified at this moment of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

The rest of the world then tries to make war on Christ, and the armies of the world are brought down to Megiddo, or the new valley of Jezreel, to Armageddon. The world will be brought into subjection and Satan and the demons are bound for the thousand years of the Millennium.

The Scriptures and the Law of God will be enforced by every one of the elect at the Marriage Supper. Those who do not keep the Feasts of God, and the Sabbaths, and New Moons within God's Calendar (No. 156), and send their representatives to Jerusalem, will receive no rain in due season and they will suffer the plagues of Egypt (Zech 14:16-19).

Look also at the paper Law and the Fourth Commandment (No. 256). Christ is coming to save those who eagerly await him. The false religions of the world’s systems will be destroyed. The false Christian system, which is the Babylonian whore of Revelation, will be destroyed by the beast itself.

The elect of the Church will be spirit beings. After they are resurrected, delegates will go throughout the world identifying the physical tribes and their descendants. Then the Great Exodus will occur and the nation of Israel will be properly and fully restored in the Middle East. The first Exodus will pale into insignificance with this Exodus (Isa. 66:18-24).

Look also at the paper Calling the Peoples to Jerusalem (No. 238). The foolish virgins are still betrothed to Messiah and will marry him, but they marry in the Second Resurrection at the end of the Millennial system. See the paper Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272). The First Resurrection is the better resurrection and the second death has no power over the elect in that Resurrection.

Would you please explain who will attend the marriage of the lamb and when will it occur?

A: The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is covered in Part II of the paper Trumpets (No. 136). Those who attend the Marriage Supper are those of the Church who are resurrected to the First Resurrection.

They are the 144,000 and the Great Multitude of Revelation, chapter 7. These are they that have kept the Commandments of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17: 14:12). They are resurrected, if they are already dead, and with those alive will be translated to spirit and taken to Jerusalem to be with Christ. They will rule the earth there for a thousand years and get it ready for the Second Resurrection.

At the Second Resurrection, all those who have ever lived will be resurrected to a physical body and they will be taught correctly and offered repentance and salvation. At the end of 100 years, those people who have not accepted the Laws of God will simply be allowed to die, and they will be burnt in Gehenna, which is the rubbish pit outside Jerusalem. In other words, the Lake of Fire is simply a means of cremation of the dead bodies of those who refuse to accept the way of God at the end of the period of the Second Resurrection and Great White Throne Judgement.

If those of the marriage supper do their job correctly, there will be no one lost. Only an imbecile would refuse eternal life under God’s Laws after seeing what the other ways have done to the universe. They will all be healed and everyone will be in their right mind.

The next phase is the union of the City of God. This results in the entire heavenly Host being placed under Christ on this planet, and then Christ handing over the entire universal Host to God forever. Look at the paper The City of God (No. 180).

So, in a sense, the marriage supper lasts for a while. The wise virgins are married first but Christ is also betrothed to the foolish virgins and they all have to enter into a marriage with him, as betrothal is a quasi-marriage. The ones without wedding garments have to go back out and earn one in order to take part in the second part of the marriage supper. That is why they are termed “foolish virgins.”

The restoration will also include the fallen host that will all be given the opportunity of a new garment and a new name. They will have to go through the same process that Christ went through. They will have to become human, die, and be resurrected, then live 100 years as humans helping all those they hindered in the creation.

Look at the papers The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The Soul (No. 92); The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80); Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son (No. 199); and Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272).

City of God

I have heard discussed that the City of God will be established after 40,000 years. I believe that is proposed based on the following scriptures: Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalm 105:8; 1Kings 3:4; Luke 1:50. The concept that was being conveyed was that God’s mercy endures 1000 generations, thereby, the 40,000 years. I thought God’s mercy would go on forever. What are your thoughts?

A: The City of God will be established immediately following the period of the Second Resurrection and the Judgment. Why would God wait 33,000 years before he came to the earth to establish the entire structure of the City of God (cf the paper The City of God (No. 180). The terminology is idealised.

However, if we look back in history to the activities of the host, they began to create almost 40,000 years ago and the Cro-Magnon date from this time. It is most probably a referral to the mercy extended to the host over their activities in earlier times also. It also relates forward to the mercy that can and will be extended to them in the Judgement, as we will judge them (1Cor. 6:3). Look at the papers The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80); Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son (No. 199); Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143) and The Nephilim (No. 154).

Calendar

In the booklet Statement of Beliefs, section 4.2, page 28, there is a reference to the third hour being 9 a.m. and the ninth being 3 p.m. I do not understand how that is. It is my understanding that the day starts at sundown and ends at sundown. If that is the case the third hour should be around 9 p.m. or so. If it is a reference to the clock of today that would be 3 a.m. Could you please explain where this comes from a little further?

A: There are two references to the day. One is the twenty-four hours as you say, but Christ also said, “are there not twelve hours in the Day?” In this sense it meant the daylight hours.

The twelve-hour day started nominally from 6 a.m. and went to 6 p.m., as we number the hours from the Roman Church system dating from the 19^th century. The night was also divided into hours but, more often, referred to as “watches.” The middle watch ran from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. in our modern time.

The normal first hour of the day is what we now understand as 6 a.m., and the first hour of the night was 6 p.m. Thus, the timing of the morning sacrifice was at the third hour, and that was why the Church was assembled at that time on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came at the time of the Morning Sacrifice. That was of great significance to all present.

That system was in effect until only very recent times. The methods of the calendar systems and timings are covered in the paper God’s Calendar (No. 156). The Moon and the New Year (No. 213) is also of interest in this matter.

You say that the spring equinox was used in determining the beginning of the first month. Does the fall equinox always fall in a certain month or time period?

A: There are only two seasons in the Bible year. These are determined by the Equinoxes. For those of you who stand on your head in the Northern hemisphere (Science is allegedly now in agreement that south is up, in terms of the universe), you would have to say spring and fall equinoxes, but for the Southern Hemisphere, it is the other way around. The 14th of the month, which begins the Passover may fall on the March equinox but may never go before it. With this rule, it usually follows that the Last Great Day of the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths falls before, and sometimes on, but not after the September Equinox. Thus, the three harvests of God are always in the Northern summer season between the equinoxes.

How do you calculate the day of the “New Moon?” I have studied many books on this. I can find nothing in the Scriptures on this calculation, even though Saul, David, and the Prophets all knew this day. I ask this because your dates are one day later than the astronomical conjunction I think.

A: No, our dates are based on the Astronomical conjunction and set according to the days as determined from Jerusalem, evening to evening. That is the way the Samaritans do it to this day, and the way it was done in the Temple system under the Sadducees.

That is why it was always known in advance. The New Moon was always able to be calculated according to the Phasis, as were the tide charts all over the world. The count on the way down determined it, as well as on the way up. It suits rabbinical Judaism to assume we were all dithering ignoramuses at that time because they do not want to keep God’s Law without traditions. In the ancient days of trade over the Temple period, latitude and longitude were calculated which we lost during the Dark Ages imposed by the Holy Roman Empire.

The crescent moon is the Finger of Ashirat. The crescent forms the fingernail of the goddess beckoning. It also symbolises the horns of the god Sin, or of Hathor as the pregnant fertility goddess. Isis is also mother goddess with Horus. Easter or Istar is also mother goddess and follows on into Attis and Adonis and so on. It was used as a time indicator by the Assyro-Babylonians and the Egyptians who worshipped the moon god, Sin, and the Easter goddess or Ashirat through the Egyptians of the middle of the second Millennium BCE.

The observances of the Triune system and the moon god, Sin are covered in the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222). The calendar details are in the papers God’s Calendar (No. 156) and Law and the Fourth Commandment (No. 256). Israel and the Church are forbidden to observe the system of Sin and the Mystery Cults.

The Feasts, New Moons and Holy Days of the Bible historically seem to have always occurred on dates calculated from astronomical events. Other calendars calculate religious observances away from the natural conjunctions, yet the organisations that arrive at the Holy Days by these methods still claim that these are God’s Holy Days. Which way should we determine these days in this age?

A: The Temple calendar was calculated by the conjunction and the Samaritans calculated it by the conjunction to this day, as do we. The records of China indicate that the conjunctions and the eclipses and other astronomical events were calculated from the third millennium BCE; in other words, from the time of Noah at least.

The festival of Rosh Hashanah is a Babylonian festival that was celebrated in Babylon and entered rabbinical Judaism in the third century of the current era. The Bible Calendar is explained in the paper God’s Calendar (No. 156) and also the New Year is explained in the paper The Moon and the New Year (No. 213). Their application to the law is explained in the paper Law and the Fourth Commandment (No. 256).

The basis of the postponements of the Hillel Calendar, and which are based on the determination of Rosh Hashanah, are all explained in the paper The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals? (No. 195).

What evidence do we have that the calendar was based on conjunctions?

A: The simple process of logic is this. The New Moon among all nations has always been the conjunction. It is recognised to this day as the conjunction by all nations and their astronomers. The earth and its system testify to the conjunctions in the tides and the movement of the seas.

The Ancient Temple system used the conjunction. The Samaritans also used the conjunction and still use the conjunction to this very day (see also The Moon and the New Year (No. 213) and the new Moon papers generally with God’s Calendar (No. 156) These matters are discussed in the papers on the subject.

The Church of God in Europe used the conjunction for centuries (see also paper The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170) and Sabbatarians in Transylvania) The problems that arose in Judaism arose from Jamnia when the Pharisees gained control and started lighting beacons on the crescents through observations based on their desire to postpone back to back Sabbaths. As a result for the first time the Samaritans began lighting beacons on the correct conjunction due to this new aberration of the Pharisees. These are the so-called misleading beacons referred to in Judaism. However the Samaritans were always in agreement with the Temple system on the conjunctions and never needed to light beacons when the temple system was run correctly. They have never changed.

The crescent is derived from pagan worship and entered both Judaism and Islam from paganism also (see paper General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122). It originally came as the finger of Easter or Ashirat or Astarte which was used as a time indicator in Egypt and the Babylonian system when they were under the influence of the Ishtar worship in its various manifestations. The conjunctions were the basis of the New Moons as far away as China on the second millennium BCE. If the astronomers failed to calculate them and the eclipses they were punished from a very early time (cf. ERE articles on the Calendar regarding China etc).

The Karaite heresy began to emerge in the Middle Ages from ignorance and it is this system that is advanced as observation nonsense now. One might ask the simple question: Other than the propaganda issued by the Rabbinical system to support postponements which the Mishnah shows were not in effect at the time of its compilation and was the reason for their introduction of the observational game and the rules disqualifying most of the population of Judea as witnesses thus increasing their control, what evidence is there for a crescent observation system other than within the paganism of the Golden Calf system?

The Almanacs (Arabic meaning the counting) brought by the Anglo Saxons from the Middle East when they came into Europe at the fall of the Parthian Empire (ca 2nd century BCE), and which still exist show that they had a fifty nine day bi-monthly system similar to the Arabs, from the New Moon nearest the equinox in March which was also the New year. The New Year in March remained so until the seventeenth century in England. God set the heavens to determine time. It does not need the observation of a small and aberrant group of Medieval Jews to determine His Calendar. It is a witness to all men for all time.

In light of differing opinions as to what constitutes a new moon, I would be interested to know on what basis the new moons were determined at the time of Christ?

A: "The third [feast] is the new moon which follows the conjunction of the moon with the sun". "Philo of Alexandria [tr. by F H Colson (Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, 1937); The Special Laws, II, XI,41]. And in II, XXVI,140: "This is the New Moon, or beginning of the lunar month, namely the period between one conjunction and the next, the length of which has been accurately calculated in the astronomical schools". (See the paper The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals? (No. 195).

Other points to note: From a study of the Gospels we can see that Christ died on a Wednesday, and was resurrected at the end of Saturday going on Sunday. We know he died at the 9th hour (3 p.m.) and was dead for 3 days and 3 nights (Mat 12:40). We also know that Mary came to his tomb on Sunday early in the morning (Mat 28:1). So counting back the 3 days and 3 nights, it is clear that he could only have died on a Wednesday. Keeping in mind that Wednesday starts the first night, and Thursday the first day, as he would only have been placed in his tomb sometime after 3 p.m. on Wednesday. There is also no doubt whatsoever that he died on the preparation day 14th Nisan, as he is the Passover lamb.

On those 2 points (i.e. he died on the 14th of Nisan, and that year the 14th Nisan was a Wednesday), and counting back we can expect the 1st of Nisan to be a Thursday, starting on a Wednesday at sunset. With that established, comes the question: was the 1st of Nisan a new moon or a crescent? In the paper Timing of Crucifixion and the Resurrection (No. 159) all the dates are given of new moon times in March and April from 28 CE to 33 CE. (Supplied from Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office). Wednesday, 22 March 30 CE @ 20:59 was a new moon, showing that Nisan 1 began at sunset Wednesday. This was a new moon day, not a crescent day. It makes good sense for 30 CE to be the year Christ was crucified because of the Sign of Jonah (which commenced in 30 CE and finishes on Nisan 1 70 CE).

The Karaite Jews say the new moon is the time of the crescent. I understood the astronomical conjunction to be more exact. How can we know, from the Bible, which one is in agreement with YHVH? We know the day begins at sunset, but for the purpose of each 1st day of each month using Trumpets as an example, is it proper to go back to the previous sunset or take the first sunset after the new moon? I think of what I have been told about the witnesses declaring it and wonder how they could see it and then say it started at the previous sunset. This whole day sunset to sunset is holy Sabbath time so I want to be sure we are worshipping on the correct day.

A: The Karaite Jews are a medieval sect of Judaism based on an ignorance of history and the Bible system in the Temple Period. All nations determine the New Moon by the Conjunction, and they did that in the Temple Period.

The Samaritans still determine the calendar by the conjunction, even though they locked the calendar into a 25^th of March equinox in the third century BCE. Our predecessors in the Church of God have determined the calendar by the conjunction for two thousand years. The disputes in the 20th century come from the Judaisation of the church and the errors of the Armstrong system.

If one goes to the bait shop and buys a tide chart, the New Moons are always according to the conjunction, no matter what country you may be in. The term “phases of the Moon” comes from the term “Phasis” which is the New Moon. The crescent is associated with the worship of the Moon God, Sin in the Middle East and whose system was the Golden Calf system. See the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222). Look also at the papers The Moon and The New Year (No. 213); God’s Calendar (No. 156); and The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals? (No. 195).

Do you know what the history is before the establishment of the dateline. I believe it is an issue that will be corrected. Too many have had their vision blurred by a man with a bottle of milk in between them and the Father rather than Christ being the only mediator.

A: We are trying to do God’s will and the history of the dateline is not of real consequence when we consider the fact of the determination of the New Moon. The New Moon is taken from the conjunction before and after twilight and so the day is determined by its relationship to the Conjunction in relation to twilight at Jerusalem, and then that day is determined from the timing. Thus, the International Dateline is really of secondary calculation. Sunset to sunset and a twenty-four period makes the day on a twenty-four hour basis within the one time frame measured as a standard day.

In trying to eliminate false calendars, is there any method to find the new moon (Abib) say in 1930 and subtract 100-time cycles (19 yrs.) to find the “possibility” of a Wednesday crucifixion? What happens to the hour that the Meton cycle is off? I’m not trying to establish a crucifixion date (year), but to find which calendar(s) could be possible...26-31AD.

A: You are correct in that the 19-year cycle is off by almost two hours. The logic in trying to use the 100 time cycles to get to the day of crucifixion (from 1931) was used by the Worldwide Church of God. They found that it was not on a Wednesday except in the April sequence, so determined the Passover was on 25 April 31 CE. It has not been that late since many centuries BCE and before the Temple period.

The reason they did that was because they decided Christ’s ministry had to be three and a half years long in order to fit in with another piece of false prophecy. This in turn was caused by their failure to locate the construction of the Temple correctly, due to the mistranslation of Daniel 9:25 in the KJV. Thus, they placed it in 31 and not 30 CE, as the Bible narrative would demand.

The actual times/dates of the Crucifixion and the calendar in 27-33 CE are in the paper Timing of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (No. 159). The correct timing of the Temple system is found in the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13).

I understand the 1st of Abib is the biblical New Year, but when considering the Jubilee year is counted from Atonement to Atonement are we to count our tithe years from the 1st month or the 7th month? For years many of us in the Churches of God have been letting our garden rest in the 7th year, but we were not doing it at the same time as the Bible instructs. We would just start the 1st year at baptism or that year’s Feast of Tabernacles for counting.

A: The tithe year is the same as normal years from 1 Abib to 1 Abib. Despite the comments in the Mishnah, the Sabbath is according to the Jubilee cycle and the last Sabbath year was in 1998 from Abib (1/1/21/40) to Abib 1999 or 1/1/22/40. The third year is a “third” tithe year in which the second tithe is given to the church for the poor and the feast is within the gates.

This series of cycles will continue on until 2026 at the Seventh month when Atonement is blown, and that year goes until Atonement in 2027, which is the Jubilee year. From the 21st day of the Seventh month of the Jubilee year all lands are restored, and the ploughing and sowing begins for the harvest of the First year of the new Jubilee at Passover in 2028. The details are to be seen in the papers Tithing (No. 161); Law and the Fourth Commandment (No. 256) and God’s Calendar (No. 156).

I believe I understand how you teach in the CCG about the Calendar, but I don’t understand how you could use the conjunction. The conjunction could last from 1.5-3.5 days in the Middle East? Also, what about the ripening of the barley (green ears) to mark the beginning of the year, aka Abib? I wish you would use the Karaite Calendar.

A: The conjunction is a precise astronomical event calculated years in advance and was calculated at the time of Noah. The Chinese annals record it as being introduced in the third millennium BCE by Hwang Ti, the one they call the Yellow emperor. The calculation of the conjunctions and the eclipses were mandatory and failure to do so was punished. There is no doubt they were used and calculated during the entire Temple period, as the same system was used there and in China, and was set up by Noah. Shem appears to have ruled as priest of Melchisedek from Jerusalem. The entire world was governed by this calendar until the rise of the sun cults. Look also at the paper Melchisedek (No. 128).

The Samaritans calculate the conjunction to this very day, as we do and as the Sadducees did in the Temple period. They controlled the Temple continuously except for nine years under Queen Alexandra when the Pharisees had control of the Temple, but they did not interfere with the calendar, as their postponements system was not in place. The church has calculated by the conjunction for 2000 years. It ignored the innovations of the Hillel calendar in 358 as Jewish heresy. The Karaite heresy of the medieval period was totally irrelevant to the church, as it is now.

The pagans are still forced to produce their tide charts according to the conjunction and moons in spite of the solar calendar, and the Karaites would not take in an ignorant fisherman. The green ears of barley are not ripe ears, but they are cut while green and parched. That is why they are termed, “green ears.” If you had ever harvested grain you would understand. The Wave Sheaf represents the first of the Firstfruits, which is Jesus Christ, cut while green and waved to commence the Omer count to Pentecost. Look at the paper The Wave Sheaf Offering (No. 106b).

The Karaite heresy stems from a desire to reject the apostate Hillel calendar, but is based on a profound ignorance of Temple history and obviously a total ignorance of the history of the Church. We have kept the same calendar for the last 2000 years including the entire Temple period. We know which calendar was in the Church at the time of the Reformation as it is recorded by Rabbi Samuel Kohn in his work The Sabbatarians in Transylvania (CCG Publishing, USA, 1998). The Judaising element moved to the Hillel calendar some time later. The Hillel calendar, with its postponement system, was introduced to the church this century. The Karaite heresy has never been accepted or followed by the true Church of God, nor will it ever be. The following papers are relevant: God’s Calendar (No. 156); The Moon and the New Year (No. 213); and The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals (No. 195).

Passover

Would you please expound on the exact time frame of the Night of Watching and what our activities should be?

A: The time of the crucifixion explains what it is. On 14 Abib, Christ and the apostles entered a temporary accommodation as was required in Deuteronomy 16:5-6. They spent the preparation meal together and established the Last Supper that evening, which the church is required to carry out on that night each year, and which it has done for almost two thousand years.

Christ was arrested, placed on trial, and he was then crucified. He died at exactly the time the Lambs were to be killed for the Passover at the end of 14 Abib. That evening began the Passover meal for which he was the substitute lamb. The Night of Watching begins with the meal of 15 Abib and the church is expected to spend that evening dressed and studying.

In the morning they are allowed to return to their dwellings and attend the services of the First Holy Day of Unleavened Bread. Some people take it to be a night spent in watching until dawn. The usual result is that if everyone stays until dawn, the Holy Day services are inundated with the snores of the less able.

It is however, quite inappropriate to go to bed early or simply to have a party. It is to be spent in anticipation and appreciation of the Messiah. The Samaritans still keep this ritual every year, and when they are able it is always kept on Mt Gerizzim.

I need to read up more on the Omer Count and the Wave Sheaf. I do not understand exactly what they are. Where would I read in the Scriptures about the exact timing of the Passover Lamb? Also to make an assumption, the verses in my KJV and NKJV are forgeries?

A: No, the verses explain things from a different perspective and Mark is not clear on this aspect. John is definitive. The key papers are: God’s Calendar (No. 156); The Holy Days of God (No. 97); The Wave Sheaf Offering (No. 106b); The Omer Count to Pentecost (No. 173); The Holy Spirit (No. 117); and Law and the Fourth Commandment (No. 256).

I am an older female who could not attend the Passover with others. Since I could not attend the Feast and have my feet washed, am I cleansed from everyday sins upon repentance? What about the symbols of the bread and wine?

A: The law requires all males to attend the three feast seasons. Females are permitted to take the Passover at home, as are the sick and elderly. However the 14th and 15th of Abib must not be spent inside ones gates in accordance with the Law (Deut. 16:5-7). You must leave your dwelling and you may return on the morning of the First Holy Day of Unleavened Bread.

The taking of the Lord’s Supper is conducted according to a service and it can be done alone. However it is preferable to get to the Passover so that the body of Christ is together and able to grow in spirit. If you are prevented by force of circumstance then you may also take the Passover the following month in the Second Month.

In the third year the feasts may be taken at home as the second tithe is given as the third tithe to the welfare of the brethren in that year. 2001 is a third tithe year. Look at the papers: Law and the Fourth Commandment (No. 256); The Passover (No. 98); Procedures for the Lord's Supper (No. 103B); The Wave Sheaf Offering (No. 106b). There are a series of papers on the Passover and Unleavened Bread.

If we are keeping the Passover as Christ did should we be washing each other’s feet? If so what does if represent?

A. Yes we should and we do the footwashing at the Passover. The term used was titheni which was the laying aside of himself to serve the brethren which is the attitude we should develop. Look at the paper Significance of the Footwashing (No. 99). This is part of the Passover series of papers.

I remember the communion of saints from my childhood; but what exactly is it and how and when did it originate?

A: The concept of the Communion of Saints originated with the Lord’s Supper on 14 Abib, where the NT church met every year to renew their positions in the Holy Spirit. This concept became extended to a weekly communion by the mid second century, and water was introduced along with the wine seemingly from the Mithras system, as was the name Father. In time, wine was excluded altogether for the Roman Catholic laity. Look at the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277) for the details of the disputes of the second century and later.

The Church

If all the holidays, celebrations and traditions of the world come from pagan origins what days are Christians to keep holy and/or observe?

A: The Bible is quite clear what days we should keep and they are the Sabbaths, New Moons and the Feasts. The Sabbath is the Seventh Day Sabbath and not the First Day of the week or Sunday, which is tied up with the same system of worship, as is Christmas, arising from the Sun cults.

Christ and the Church kept all the Sabbaths, New Moons, and Feasts (cf. Col. 2:16). The Feasts are: New Year (1Abib); Fast for the Simple and the Erroneous (7 Abib); Lord’s Supper/Passover (14 Abib); Night to be Much Observed or Night of Watchings (15 Abib); First Holy Day of Unleavened Bread (15 Abib); Wave Sheaf Offering (Sunday within the Passover and Unleavened Bread); Last Holy Day of Unleavened Bread (21 Abib); Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Sabbath Day and the Sunday Fifty days from the Wave Sheaf); Day of Trumpets (New Moon of the Seventh Month)); Day of Atonement (Tenth Day of the Seventh Month); Feast Of Tabernacles (Starts Fifteenth Day of the Seventh Month); Last Great Day (21st Day of the Seventh Month).

These are the Feasts of the Lord. We can benefit from reading the papers God’s Calendar (No.156); The Holy Days of God (No. 97); The Moon and the New Year (No. 213); God’s Feasts as they relate to the Creation (No. 227); and The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235). There are papers also written on each of the Feasts mentioned above.

What does it mean that “no man shall inherit the kingdom of God” if no man is going to heaven and everyone will be resurrected and given a second chance? Will there be more punishment other than prison in this life for rapists and murderers? I know that its God’s purpose that no flesh shall perish, but some people are evil to the core.

A: God created man in His own image. They were created that way and given free choice. Satan was the perfect anointed covering cherub. He chose to sin. No person is evil beyond redemption. That is why Christ died. Even Satan will be offered repentance.

The period of the second resurrection is dedicated to the rehabilitation of the entire human species. Only people who are able to see and forgive and rehabilitate others are fit to enter the First Resurrection. That is why Christ said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Stephen prayed that it not be held to their account. If it had been, the worst persecutor there would have been denied Salvation and half of the NT would not have been written. The prime mover in the stoning of Stephen and the official witness was Saul of Tarsus. We know him as the Apostle Paul.

The church thought he was evil to the core. Paul certainly killed or persecuted enough of them to justify the assumption. People who think others are going to burn in hell or want that to happen are not fit for the Kingdom of God. Look at the papers: Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son (No. 199); The Judgment of the Demons (No. 80); The Soul (No. 92); The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143); The City of God (No. 180).

Does the Church have any authority bestowed on it by God or by Jesus Christ to change doctrine? If so, where’s that written? Also, is the Bible the ultimate authority, or are church teachings, writings, and doctrine the ultimate authority?

A: No, the church does not have any authority to change the Commandments of God. Christ said whoever relaxes the least of these commandments will be the least in the Kingdom of God. Whosoever shall do and teach them shall be great in the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:19).

Christ established His Church and there are many administrations and many operations but only one Lord. They are given authority to determine the Church by binding and loosing but they have no authority to alter the Law of God or to relax its effect.

Would you say there are many phases to becoming a Christian and it starts with believing that Christ was born of a virgin and died on the cross for the redemption of sins?

A: A Christian saint is defined in Revelation 12:17 and 14:12. These are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Testimony or Faith of Jesus Christ. The process of becoming a Christian is listed in Romans 8:29-30. Christians are called by God.

They are predestined from His Omniscience to be conformed to the image of His Son. They are chosen and then called. Once they are called by the Holy Spirit according to the Omniscience of God they are brought to Christ and prepared for baptism. Then once baptised into the body of Christ, the Holy Spirit is placed in them as a down payment of the spirit of adoption.

They become sons of God being born again. They are justified by faith and retain their salvation, which was freely given by grace, by obedience to the Law of God in works. Faith without works is dead. They are transformed from the Resurrection of the Dead as sons of God and hence glorified. The process is explained in the papers Born Again (No. 172); The Spirit of Adoption (No. 34); Repentance and Baptism (No. 52) and The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143).

Aren't people who have been shown the truth & accepted it being judged now? If people who have put their hand to the plow, decide to defiantly walk away & go the way of the world again, (& die in this state) doesn't this constitute unpardonable sin? Does God really give this kind of second chance?

A: The Bible tells us we are given two chances. The problem also is in the choosing and the calling. David committed sin and is still king of Israel in the First Resurrection. The unpardonable sin is the rejection or blaspheming of the Holy Spirit. Those of the elect are under judgment now. If they fail they return to the second or general resurrection of the Dead. Those whom God has predestined and chosen He called then justified and glorified (Rom. 8:29-30). Thus they cannot fail because they were chosen knowing they would not fail. Many are called but few are chosen. That is the distinction. You were given free will. If you hear the calling and come but fail it is not God who causes you to fail or withholds the spirit from you. Your own free will does that. Later under a more perfect system we are all given the chance at salvation.

Called or chosen, is this the difference between the elect & the very elect?

A: No. The elect are the chosen of God. The term "very elect" means "true elect". The term "elect" has the meaning of "chosen" or "elected." God chooses and we are called based on our predestination. Some others hear the calling but are not chosen. They fall away as in the parable of the tares. God knows they will fail but gives them the Holy Spirit at their request in any case as He promised through His servants the prophets. God is not a respecter of persons. This is the entire distinction behind free will and determinism within the calling of God.

It seems that the Church of God tradition of keeping the Holy Days turns Christianity into an intellectual exercise. There is supposed to be faith, prophetic dreams, unity, joy, and victories and not just interpreting of scripture. I hear about Babylonian mysteries and I hear that demons can and do, heal. I’ve never been healed by God or demons but I have been damaged. Where are all the miraculous signs in the Church? Where is God? He is not apparent to me.

A: It can be an intellectual exercise trying to sort fact from fiction and the false statements of the Trinitarian system. That however is not what the Church does. Many of the Churches of God were there because of elitism. They failed. Many did not know what they believed and were penetrated and undermined by the Trinitarian system’s agents.

Our Church is comprised of a body of people, scattered all over the world in many countries, genuinely and diligently trying to obey God as He has revealed His will through the Prophets. Many of us have been damaged. Many of us have not been healed, and many of us have been healed. Are the ones that have been healed more righteous than the ones that haven’t been healed? Only God knows that answer. It would appear many are left the way they are as a test of the self-righteousness of others.

The Sabbath-keeping Churches have had thousands marched off to the death camps in the Holocaust because they kept the Sabbath, Feasts, and Food Laws and were classed as Jews. There was a special category for them in the camps. It was an upside down purple triangle for what was termed “Bibelforscher.” These “Bible Researchers” were to be eliminated. It was no intellectual exercise then. Only the dedicated kept the faith and died. Look at the paper The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170).

The Sabbatarians in the Bektashi simply disappeared. A million Armenians were marched out and shot. The Sabbatarians of Transylvania were persecuted for centuries and were not even allowed to own a printing press. They wrote things out by hand ten times and passed the copies on to ten others. They all did it because they loved God and wanted to obey him. When you act on what you are given to understand, God will give you more to understand.

God is not presently dealing with this world. It is still under the god of this world, Satan. You will see this world almost destroy itself before the next twenty years, and it will have to be rebuilt. That will not be God’s fault. He will allow it to show us what happens when we do not obey His Laws. The Bible is clear on one thing: Give your ways to God and He will establish your thoughts; it is not the other way around. Obey what you are given first and then you will get more understanding. Dying for the faith is anything but an intellectual exercise.

Sabbath or Sunday

What evidence is there, other than the alms collection taken up by Paul for Jerusalem in the New Testament and which seems to have been in Rome in 150 CE, for any Sunday worship in the Church in the First century?

How could this evidence be construed as a negation of the Sabbath and a move to Sunday worship?

What evidence is there in the New Testament and elsewhere to support a negative case and for the Sabbaths, New Moons and Feasts of the Bible?

A: Trinitarian Sunday worshippers usually claim that the New Testament indicates that the Jewish Christians held both the seventh day and the first day of the week as holy days. There is no doubt that Christ kept the Sabbath and the entire Feast, New Moon and Holy day Structure during the Temple period as did all the apostles. Paul preached in the synagogues on the Sabbath. It was due to the fact that he established a collection for the assistance of the Jerusalem church on the first day of the week that it was claimed that Gentile Christians met to break bread. This was by using the text in Acts 20:7. This was claimed as a second sacred day and was called the Lord's day to distinguish it from the Sabbath. Some even try to claim that it was probably the only one observed by the Gentile converts. That claim is completely false. The text in Acts 20 refers to the mia ton Sabbaton which as Bullinger says is the "first of the Sabbaths" and refers to the first week of the Omer count to Pentecost from the Wave Sheaf. It is rendered First Day of the Week because it suits Sunday academics to render it that way. The same expression is in John on the day of the Wave Sheaf after the resurrection.

Sunday worship did not enter the church until about 111 CE from Rome. Colossians 2:16 shows they were keeping Sabbaths and New Moons and Holy Days and Paul says to let no man judge them in the way they kept them. Thus it can be shown that the church at Colossae was keeping the Bible system.

Appeals are often made to the “The teaching of the Twelve Apostles” and silly claims are made regarding their early dating to establish a first century connection with Sunday worship as it speaks of the Lord's day and refers to it as a day of holy meeting and the breaking of bread (chapter 14). The “Twelve Apostles” is connected to the Apostolic Constitutions and has a probable Syrian origin. The ANF places it in the Seventh Volume with them and even the Sunday worshipping academics discuss the seriousness of the dating and links. If it were seriously considered to be of the first century it would be in volume 1. It is not because it is a late aberration in support of Sunday worship and other heresies introduced to the church.

The so-called Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians (ANF, vol. 1, p. 63) is the first example of such reference and the rhetoric of the longer form indicates it was spuriously written to establish the later practices. It shows that the Sabbath was also kept but the longer form is an attempt at introducing a plea for the Eighth day as the Lord’s Day, which is absent in the more plausible short form.

Reference is made to Pliny in support of Sunday worship; however, the church authorities themselves show that the Sabbath was kept universally. Only in Rome and Alexandria was this dual practice introduced.

Justin Martyr (CE. 150-154) describes the religious worship of the early Christians, their sacramental observances, etc., on the "first day." It is true that Justin Martyr mentions worship on the Lord's Day in First Apology (ANF I, 186) but he also says clearly they were meeting on the Sabbath as well in his Dialogue with Trypho. He says that the new law requires you to keep perpetual Sabbaths by repentance from all sin thus making each day as a Sabbath (Ch 12 ANF I 200). In the Dialogue with Trypho he shows that they are discussing the concepts of the Sabbaths and Feasts and it does appear that the argument against the Feasts came from Rome in the middle of the second century when they were introducing the pagan Easter system (ch XVIII ibid. p. 203). Sunday was introduced with that and firstly ousted the Passover in favour of Easter and then the Sabbath itself.

Justin is dealing with Trypho’s traditions such as drinking hot water on the Sabbaths. He says he does that when Trypho would not. The argument is Pharisaic traditions versus the spirit of the law in Christ. He talks about the return of the Messiah to Jerusalem and the keeping of the fast (Day of Atonement) as enjoined by Isaiah (58). The argument is the view of Judah regarding justification by the law rather than by grace in the Holy Spirit.

The Dialogue suffers from one fatal flaw and that is that Justin was hamstrung by the fact that Anicetus had adopted the pagan Easter heresy in Rome and it was at variance with the rest of the church. To make his writings more powerful he would have had to condemn in stronger terms Anicetus who was censured by Polycarp in the first of the Quartodeciman Disputes.

Only with Victor (ca 190-192) do we see that system enforced in Rome and the Quartodeciman disputes occurred, splitting the church (see the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277)). Polcrates was powerless to stop it whereas Polycarp before him had managed to prevent the schism.

Irenaeus was also in the same terrible position where, being appointed by the Smyrna bishops and trained by Polycarp who kept the Sabbath and the Feasts as did John and all the apostles before him right up to his death and afterwards, he tried to keep peace with Victor and Polycrates and that was by 192 impossible.

It is with the late second century writers that we see support for this Sunday worship develop due to the pressures placed on them from Rome. Dionysius of Corinth referred to the “Lord’s Day.” Irenaeus of Lyons is sometimes held to have asserted that the Sabbath was abolished. No reference is given to Irenaeus proscribing the Sabbath. He explains the Sabbath in ch XXIII. What evidence is there that he did not keep it? He makes distinction between two churches in Jerusalem in his text. One is correct and the other is not.

He explains its correct keeping by Christ and the apostles and the inheritance of Abraham of the faith. He refutes Marcion and explains Christ fulfilled and did not destroy the law (Adv. Haer. VIII, ANF, Vol. 1, pp. 470-471). He goes on to explain there is but one author and one end to both covenants (ibid. ch IX, p. 472). However, much work was done after the council of Nicaea to establish Sunday. A work, attributed to Justin Martyr, refers to Irenaeus referring to not bending the knee on Sunday but the authorities admit this undoubtedly refers to the Sunday at the Passover. That day was the Wave Sheaf celebration and which they erroneously called Easter in the English treatment of it (cf. ANF, vol. I, p. 569 and note 9).

The Epistle of Barnabus is used to show that the early church kept Sunday (Ep. Of Barn., ANF Vol. 1, pp. 146-147). This was used to attribute an apostolic basis to the practice. However, The Epistle of Barnabus was allegedly written by an Alexandrian Jew in the times of Trajan and Hadrian (ca. 100 CE onwards). The fact that Hadrian’s intention to rebuild the city is mooted as being hinted at in chapter 5 (ANF notes to the epistle) indicates we are dealing with a much later date than 100 CE and perhaps after the 135 CE problems. The fact that he often sounds as Gentile is greeted with surprise by the commentators in the ANF. The reason is not too hard to see. If the Christians could be discredited on aspects as simple as the Sabbath and the Law they could be dismissed as a valid religious movement as they did not speak according to the law and the testimony (Isa. 8:20). Alexandria was the home of the socio-economic basis of Gnosticism and that must not be forgotten. The Sabbath was kept faithfully in North Africa for four hundred years. Thus we see Clement of Alexandria refer to it (Strom., ii, 6, ii, 7 etc) and it is assumed to be from Barnabus, the Levite of Cyprus. So also do we see the Gnostic Origen describe it as a Catholic Epistle (Cont. Cels, i, 63), giving it status (Comm., in Rom., I, 24).

Peter of Alexandria (A.D. 300) is quoted as saying: "We keep the Lord's day as a day of joy because of him who rose thereon."

It is at this point that we see the Roman system turn from persecuting Christianity to syncretising it so it can be harnessed as a vehicle for the empires domination of the world. Constantine issued the Edict of Toleration in 314. In 318 he ordered the conference of the Desposyni. The blood relatives of Jesus Christ demanded that the Law of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ be restored. Constantine at the request of the apostate Sylvester, bishop of Rome, authorised Sylvester to order their extermination. In an edict issued in 321 Constantine honored that day, the so-called Lord’s Day, by recognizing it as one sacred to the Christians, and ordered that business should be intermitted thereon. Finally, the Council of Nicaea (325 CE) in its official proceedings gave directions concerning the forms of Christian worship on that day, and the Council of Laodicea (366) enjoined rest on the so called Lord's Day proscribing the Sabbath. Thus by imperial edict and by the councils of the fourth century Romanised Christian Church the change has been accepted and approved.

Modern Sunday worshippers argue for the distinction between the two days, Sabbath and the Lord's day: The word “Sabbath" is derived from the Hebrew "Shabua," meaning "seven," or a heptad of seven days. It was employed to designate the seventh day of the Bible week, which they refer to as the “Jewish week“ (from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday). They then argue despite the fact that Christ and the apostles kept on the Bible Sabbaths and New moons and Feasts, that under the Christian dispensation the day of rest is changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, in memory of Christ's resurrection, and its true designation therefore is neither Sabbath (which is argued as the “ancient Jewish term”) nor Sunday (which is the heathen appellation, i.e., "the day of sun"), but they then argue it is to be "the Lord's day." It is not with them, as with the Bible Sabbath, a day of rest and absolute abstention from all employment, but a day of spiritual recuperation and religious activities and a period of withdrawal from secular pursuits. Appeal is then made to the erroneous Pharisaic traditions to show why such limitations should not apply. The fact that the arguments were applied by Christ to the Sabbath and never to Sunday is completely lost on them.

The Ethiopian and Abyssinian Churches were Sabbath-keeping for centuries and their evidence might have been discussed. Sunday Worshippers do not keep God’s holy days in spite of the commandments and seem as a rule to be not interested in the truth. If we love God we would keep His commandments. The whole duty of man is to keep the commandments of God (Eccles. 12:13). The seed of the woman are those who keep the commandments of God and the testimony or faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).

The position is simple.

God is immutable. Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Thus neither change. Christ gave the law to Moses as the Angel of the Presence. Christ kept God's Law all his life. He kept the Sabbaths the New Moons and the Feasts as well as keeping them in the spirit and preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

The apostles and the early church kept all these commandments and the feasts of God. There has been a church doing this for 2000 years without fail. It has been persecuted and killed in the millions by those who keep the system based on the sun cults. Christ is going to return and he is going to enforce the keeping of the Sabbaths and the New Moons (Isa. 66:23) and the Feasts (Zech. 14:16-19). Those people who do not keep those feasts will die.

The logic is clear:

If Christ instituted them at the command of God; If Christ sent the prophets for a thousand years to admonish Israel about their keeping (cf. Amos 8:5); if Christ and the early church died to keep them, which they did; if there has been a church keeping them on pain of death for over 1970 years, which there has; and; if Christ is going to enforce them on penalty of death when he returns; and that is Scripture and Scripture cannot be broken (Jn 10:34-35): Then it follows that we as the elect should, and are required to, keep them now. The logic is irrefutable.

What about the fact that most of Christianity is worshipping on Sunday?

A: The fact that false teachers tell people they do not have to keep the commandments of God is no excuse. The head of every man is Christ and the head of Christ is God. The elect are those who keep the commandments of God and the Testimony or Faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).

God gave us the fourth commandment through his servants the prophets and fed Israel for forty years to reinforce it in their minds. Why did the earth have to hide the woman in the wilderness for the 1260 years of the tribulation mentioned in Revelation? Who was persecuting the church? The answers are provided in the papers General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122) and The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170).

Christ said many are called but few are chosen. The elect are predestined according to the omniscience of God. They are predestined, then they are chosen and called then they are justified and then glorified. That is why the Bible is spoken in parables. It is so people will NOT understand and turn and repent before they are predestined to be called. That is why when Christ comes they will call him Lord Lord and he will say I never knew you.... That is why he said: If you love me keep my commandments.

Won’t Sunday worshippers go to heaven?

A: None of these people rolling in the aisles in the "spirit" on Sundays is called. None of them will be in the first resurrection. If you wish to be in the first resurrection keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ in love as per 1Corinthians 13. Look at the paper The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143).

As the church told the emperor in Rome in the middle of the second century: “When you come across those who say they are Christian and that when they die they go to heaven do not believe they are Christians.” That view and the doctrine of the separation of the humanity and divinity of Christ as the doctrine of Antichrist was the test of a true Christian in the first and second centuries and it is still the valid test of understanding. The true Seventh Day Sabbath was one of the signs of that Church.

Generally speaking, Jesus said he was Lord even of the Sabbath and Paul said to a certain church that they should have been teachers after going to church so long and only talking about salvation and such. Now it seems to me if you study the Bible you would know and understand as much as any preacher. If you say we, that are called, are the elect then we are in Christ’s Sabbath, which then calls for us to always be ready to do God’s will as needed, such as feeding his sheep. Would you not pull one of his sheep out of a hole even on the Sabbath? It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath? Don’t you work your hardest on the day of rest? After all weren’t the priests before Christ busy slaughtering for sins and knew Jesus would become our sacrificial lamb? To me every day is a Sabbath.

A: Christ said: till heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle will pass from the law. He that lessens the least of the commandments and teaches men so, will be least in the kingdom of Heaven or of God. But he that does them will be called Great in the kingdom of God.

If Christ broke the Fourth Commandment, he is not the Messiah. He showed us how it should have been kept within the Law of God as it was made for man. The Ten Commandments are the Ten Commandments, not the ten suggestions. We are required to elevate our behaviour as though every day is the Sabbath. However, the Sabbath command stands, and on it hangs all the Law and the prophets regarding the Holy Days and worship of God (Law and the Fourth Commandment (No. 256)).

Our debate with Catholicism is not IF the commandments should be kept, but whether they had the right to CHANGE the Sabbath to Sunday. Christ kept the Sabbath, and the New Moons, and the commanded Feasts of God. These are according to God’s Calendar. The Sabbath was enshrined at the creation. The Apostles and the early church all kept them. The church of God has kept them for 2000 years and has been put to death because of that fact. Look at the paper The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170); The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277); General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122); God's Calendar (No. 156); The Holy Days of God (No. 97).

The view the antinomians espouse was first used to undermine the Sabbath from Rome, when Sunday worship came in from the Sun cults there. This view was never accepted by the Church of God. Historically, it is always presented as an attack on the Church and the Law of God. It is the view espoused by the Jehovah’s Witnesses after some of their founders under Russell broke away from the Church of God and adopted it to make it more convenient to proselytise. It is a heresy and will be punished by making those who espouse it go to the second Resurrection.

Indeed Satan has told these people no lie, in that he has told them they will go into the millennium as physical human beings. That is their doctrine and that is what will happen to those that are left alive. However, those people will be keeping the Sabbaths and the New Moons (Isa. 66:23), and also they will be keeping the feasts of God and sending their representatives to Jerusalem. Or they will receive no rain in due season and consequently will starve or be struck down by plagues (Zech. 14:16-19). That is Scripture and Scripture cannot be broken.

In reality the argument is quite fallacious and devious, as these people do not keep every day as the Sabbath. They work on the Sabbath and go to services on Sunday, which is the exact opposite of what God has told you to do.

They do not keep His Holy Days in spite of the commandments and are not interested in the truth. God is not dealing with the world at present and He is obviously not dealing with them as yet. If you love God you would keep His commandments. The whole duty of man is to keep the commandments of God (Eccles. 12:13). The seed of the woman are those who keep the commandments of God and the testimony or faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).

If Christians started out worshipping on the seventh day Sabbath, why do most churches meet on Sunday now?

A: In the second century of the current era the Easter cults were introduced from the pagan systems in Rome. This was the Quartodeciman Dispute. Look at the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277). The Sun cults were the central part of this system. Christmas was originally the day of birth of the invincible sun from the northern winter solstice. Easter is the name of the Easter mother goddess and consort of Baal as Easter, or Istar, or Astarte. The dying god was either Attis in the west at Rome, or Adonis in the East among the Greeks and their influence.

The Egyptians mourned for Osiris. This was a Friday crucifixion and a Sunday Resurrection. The resurrection on the day of the Sun was again part of the sun cult system of the Triune God. Look at the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

The Sabbath was attacked subtly at first in Rome by joint services with the communion system on Sunday, as it was in the sun cults. That is why the annual Passover had to go with the introduction of the Easter system. In 300 the council of Elvira spoke against it, and in 325 the Easter system was harmonised for the Empire and the Binitarian structure of the god Attis was formally introduced to Christianity. In 366 the council of Laodicea proscribed the Sabbath.

The history of the transition is found in the work by Sam Bacchiocchi (From Sabbath to Sunday, Pontifical Gregorian University Press Rome, 1975). In 381 the Trinity was formulated at the Council of Constantinople and by 451 at Chalcedon the system was complete. The Unitarians, especially among the Parthian horde, rejected the error and wars ensued.

With the inauguration of the Holy Roman Empire, the Sabbath was ruthlessly persecuted wherever it could be (see The Unitarian/Trinitarian Wars (No. 268)). Most religions today are the result of the collapse of truth in the persecutions of the Sabbath-keeping churches. Their history is found in the papers General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 122) and The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170). Most Sunday worshipping churches threw away the Passover, and then the nature of God. They are tied into the whole system. It is not just Sunday worship. It is Christmas, and Easter, and the Triune God. Look at the papers The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Garden of Eden (No. 246); Socinianism Arianism and Unitarianism (No. 185); Binitarianism and Trinitarianism (No. 76); Consubstantial with the Father (No. 81); The Elect as Elohim (No. 1) and Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127).

What did the original church do in worship?

A: Colossians 2:16 shows the church was keeping all of the Sabbaths and New Moons and Holydays. It says let no man judge you as to how you keep them, not ignore them. Acts shows clearly the entire church was keeping the feasts and the Sabbaths and here the New Moons. We have kept them for 1971 years. They kept Pentecost or they would not have received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1). The Gospels are littered with references to the keeping of the feasts, all of them, by Christ and the apostles. Not one reference exists that says they were not to be kept. Paul kept them and that interprets his writings (Acts 12:3; 20:6). 1Cor 5:7-8 explains how we are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The church kept the Day of Atonement (Acts 27:9). You cannot understand the plan of salvation without the holydays of God. Christ was the Passover and the Wave Sheaf. He commanded us to keep the Lords Supper on the night he was betrayed that is on the evening of 14 Abib. There is not one reference transferring the Sabbath and telling the church not to keep the Sabbaths New Moons and Feasts and that includes Colossians 2:16. Paul set up an alms collection on the First Day of the week because it could not be done on Sabbath and that is the only reference to and meeting on Sunday. Even the day rendered as First day of the week is actually first of the Sabbaths in the Greek.

Christ said unless you eat his body and drink his blood you have not part in him. On the night he was betrayed he said: This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper saying: This is the cup of the New Testament, in my blood which is shed for you (Luke 22:19-20)

How much plainer does it have to get? We keep the Lord's Supper and the Passover and Unleavened Bread because it is a commandment. We commemorate the death of the lamb at 3 p.m. 14 Nisan because we were told to celebrate the Passover out of our gates as Christ did and we remember that at this time exactly the Temple veil was split in two making it possible for us to enter into the Holy of Holies. We meet for the Wave sheaf at 9 a.m. on the Sunday morning because Christ was our firstfruits and entered before the throne of God at that time and returned with the Holy Spirit and made it possible for us to become sons of God. From this we commence the omer count to Pentecost and our harvest. We wait on the renewal of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost at 9 a.m. when we are supposed to do so. We eagerly await the Messiah from our services on Trumpets.

God demands that we refrain from fasting to afflict others, and for strife or hostility. He says he will not hear such a fast or prayers. We are to fast for the breaking of the yokes of bondage and to release us from wickedness, lies, and evil. We are to love one another and speak the truth without guile.

The fast is from evening to evening and means to take no food or water for the period of the fast. In the case of Atonement it is for 24 hours from evening to evening and if the individual does not keep this fast they are removed from the nation of Israel, meaning the Church under Christ. You cannot be a Christian and not fast on this day (unless of course it is life threatening).

The apostles kept this fast and it is mentioned in Acts 27:9. The fast is done with your face washed and clean, you well dressed, and in prayer and study before God. If you deal your bread to the hungry and lift up those that are oppressed he will hear you.

When we go before Him in humility and refrain from vanity and evil speaking of others, He will hear and increase our understanding and deal with us in kindness. Our health will spring forth and He will guide us in drought. Our people will build the waste places, and then we will raise up the foundations of many generations and we will be called the repairer of the breach: The restorer of paths to dwell in. The journey of a thousand years begins here with this first step.

See the paper Teach Us to Pray (No. 111).

It is my understanding that there were 4 councils in the early history. If I am correct, they were Nicaea, Laodicea, Constantinople, and Chalcedon. It is also my understanding that there were a lot of changes that were instituted against the beliefs of the original church at these councils. Could you briefly explain which changes were made at which councils, and how that affected the original beliefs of the church?

A: The four councils are:

Nicaea in 325: This council introduced the Binitarian Structure and elevated Christ as true God. This council also regularised the Easter systems, which had come in from the cults of Attis and Adonis and also from the Egyptian cults. The dating for the festivals differed in the East and West among the followers of Attis and Adonis. This was changed.

The canons of this council were lost and the so-called Nicene Creed is actually the creed of the Council of Constantinople of 381. Laodicea instituted at canon 29 the banning of the Sabbath day in favour of Sunday. This followed on the council of Elvira in 300, which had tried to replace the Sabbath with Sunday, but had failed after the reinstatement of the Unitarian church after 327 and the recall of the Unitarian bishops by Constantine.

In 358, the Jews introduced the new Hillel Calendar and the postponement system. In 381, after the appointment of the Spanish born Theodosius by Gratian, the Council of Constantinople was called. The Trinity was formulated by the Cappadocians and agreed on in part.

In 375, Christmas had entered the church from Syria and in 386 it was in Jerusalem and the Triune God was adopted in Christianity. In 450-451 at Chalcedon, the Trinitarian system and the structure of the new faith were agreed upon. A schism resulted with the Coptic Church but the pagan Easter and Christmas system was entrenched, and the next century saw Mariolatry introduced from this incursion.

Look at The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235); Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127); The Development of the Neo-Platonist Model (No. 17); Consubstantial with the Father (No. 81); The Holy Spirit (No. 117) and Binitarianism and Trinitarianism (No. 76).

Who were the Church Fathers? I am referring to Clement, Augustine, Athanasus, Eusebius, etc. I saw a list of these on a Catholic website and am wondering if that means they were being hailed fathers of the “Roman Catholic” Church.

A: The people listed are called fathers of the Church, in the sense that they were theologians of the church in its various branches. The Roman Catholic Church, as we understand it, did not exist until 381.

The church was termed the Catholic Church in the sense that it was universal and these “fathers” were not all in agreement with Rome, and some were not even in communion with it. Tertullian, for example, was initially in communion with Rome, but he became a Montanist and was staunchly opposed to Rome.

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, was trained by the Apostle John’s School under Polycarp at Smyrna, and was not even appointed by Rome. Athanasius and Augustine were the line that developed the Roman ideas. The doctrines of the Ante-Nicenee Fathers on the nature of God can be seen in the paper Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127). That will show you their flow of the thinking.

Pagan Worship

We cannot locate Easter in the Old Testament and so we wish to know what is the origin of this word?

A: Easter is the Anglo-Saxon form of the goddess (cf. Oxford Universal Dictionary). She is also called Istar or Ostar. In the Bible she is the consort of Baal as “Ashtaroth” (SHD 6252). Sometimes, this is also rendered “Ashteroth.” Solomon committed idolatry by keeping her festival in worship, i.e. Easter.

“Ashtar” is the root from which Easter is derived. The Anglo Saxons were exposed to this Ashtar from ancient Israel. The Austrians had their country named after her in 996, with the founding of Ostarrichhi or the kingdom of Ostar. Look at the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

Not finding Easter in the Old Testament as one of God’s feasts, we would like to know where the idea to worship on this day came from?

A: The festival of the dying God was part of the Easter system of the Babylonians. The festival was kept by the followers of Attis in the West, Adonis in the Hellenised world of the East, and Osiris, the dying god among the Egyptians. The Friday Crucifixion and Sunday resurrection was a feature of this cult. The pine was sacred to Attis on which he was crucified.

When Christianity started to become popular in Rome, the adherents of the Mystery cults, and especially of Attis, entered Christianity and adapted the Easter system. The bishops of Rome tried to enforce it in 152 CE under Anicetus unsuccessfully. But they kept it there and in 190-192, Victor introduced it and split the Church. This was called the Quartodeciman Disputes. Look at the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277).

Could it be that the Trinity is just another form of idolatry, where the only difference is that idols are not worshipped but God’s prophet? Could it be that people are just ignorant? I mean, Christians say that God is one but don’t you think they are dividing?

A: The Trinity comes from the doctrine of the Triune God. There are many people who are nominal Trinitarians in that they belong to a Trinitarian Church, but they do not believe the words of it. They still pray to the One True God, as the Father, in the name of the Son Jesus Christ, and they do not consider Christ God.

They are in fact, Unitarians. In the Presbyterian Church two hundred years ago, you might have been hard pressed to isolate a true Trinitarian. Many of the leaders in the U.S. were Unitarians. Jefferson thought he might live to see the day when the entire U.S. was Unitarian. Sadly, from those days of an enlightened questioning system, it has slipped back to a state of ignorance. The Pilgrim Fathers were Unitarian, and they were persecuted for it and their Sabbath-keeping soon after they established their colony. The doctrine, that God and Christ are part of the same God, is the doctrine of the God Attis, and anyone separating the humanity of Christ from his deity has the doctrine of Antichrist. Look at the papers on the Nature of God in the Bible Study Program (No. B1); Law and the First Commandment (No. 253) and The First Great Commandment (No. 252).

The concept of praying to other deities, or saints and relics, is pure idolatry and would never have been tolerated in the early Church. God counts the hearts of people and knows those who have not bowed their knee to Baal. The nation is protected for its common core of genuine people. The elect in the nation sanctify it. (Look at the papers Sanctification of the Temple of God (No. 241) and Sanctification of the Simple and Erroneous (No. 291).)

Antichrist

The Bible is supposed to say that the anti-christ would come back and try to institute Moses’ Law again. Could you give me the Scriptural reference to that?

A: There is none. Protestant ministers in the U.S. are saying that the Antichrist will reintroduce the Law of Moses. But, that is exactly what we would expect Christ to do from biblical texts.

For example, Christ will reintroduce the Sabbath, and the New Moons, and the feasts (Isa. 66:23). All people will send their representatives to Jerusalem each year for Tabernacles, or they will get no rain in due season (Zech. 14:16-19). That means you will keep the Law of God and His Sabbaths, or you will starve to death.

Could you tell me what the doctrine of Antichrist is? Also, do you think the Antichrist is alive yet?

A: The Doctrine of Antichrist is stated in 1John 4:1-2. The text in our Bible has been altered from the original ancient text. The correct ancient text is obtained from Irenaeus, Chapter 16:8 (see ANF, Vol. 1, fn. to p. 443).

“Hereby know ye the spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ came in the flesh is of God; and every spirit which separates Jesus Christ is not of God but is of Antichrist.”

Socrates the Historian says (VII, 32, p. 381) that the passage had been corrupted by those who wished to separate the humanity of Jesus Christ from his divinity. (Look also at the Statement of Beliefs of the Christian Faith, CCG publishing, fourth edition, p. 7 also as Statement of Beliefs (No. A1).)

The separation came from the doctrines of the Easter system and the god Attis that penetrated Christianity. The god in the Attis system was a father and son as one God, and thus the son was killed but the divinity survived. This was accepted into Christianity as the Binitarian Structure at the Council of Niacea, and became the Trinity at Constantinople in 381 from the work of the Cappadocians.

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