Bible Questions & Discussion PAGE 98

Zechariah 3. The angel of the LORD is Jesus

6 And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,

7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.

8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.

9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the true gospel.

Hello Theodorse,

Yes. Also, a supplemental informational resource is Josephus, History of the Jews.

I want to add that many modern Bible translations have omitted things or altered things. So that's another unfortunate aspect to be concerned about.

If you lay the KJV alongside the NIV or ESV, there are many many differences. If the Catholic Church is behind it, then perhaps they are altering stuff to make their doctrine fit.

The True Gospel (part 5)

A prime example of the nature of the true gospel is the parable in Luke 16 of the rich man and a beggar named Lazarus, who laid at the rich man's gate, full of sores, and desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. On the face of it, from a physical point of view, this poor beggar Lazarus had absolutely nothing going for him. But when God rolls back the curtain and enables us to see what happens when both of these men die, we learn that Lazarus in actual fact had everything going for him, as we find him resting in Abraham's bosom whilst the rich man lies in the grave in torment, sorrowing for the fact that he can do nothing to change his circumstance.

Please visit ZionInTravail on YouTube and the web to learn more about the True Gospel and the Day in which we are living.

The True Gospel (part 4)

The true gospel is transparent to nationality or economic status or political standing. It has nothing to do with economic prosperity or with socio-political issues. When the churches become involved in political activism or social or economic issues, they forget that the task of the believers is to be an ambassador of the kingdom of God. When Jesus was placed on trial for his life at the behest of the chief priests, Jesus said to Pontius Pilate ( John 18:36)

36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Concerning political rulers, the Bible commands in Romans 13

1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

The true gospel has been emasculated in our day as the churches have become more involved with the social and physical and political issues of the day, which in themselves have nothing to do with the true gospel. Sure, Jesus fed the 5,000 who had come to hear him, but that was not his primary mission, and later we read in John 6:15

15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

Continued in part 5

The True Gospel (part 3)

Christ did not make atonement for sin to give us whole bodies, as many teach. That will only take place at the resurrection of the last day when we shall instantly be changed from corruption to incorruption, and from mortal to immortal. Our present bodies are fashioned from the dust of the ground and shall return to the dust. When mankind fell into sin, God cursed the ground from which man was formed. Surely, it can be said, if Christ died to give us physical health or physical healing, then the gospel is an abject failure, because each and every day, approximately 150,000 people on average die all over the world. They die for a variety of reasons, most of which relate to physical disease of one form or another. If they became a true child of God, are they prevented from physically dying? No. If someone who is sick becomes well again, is the faith of that person what healed him? God can heal, but God can heal in the life of one who is not saved just as quickly as one who is saved. The emphasis of the gospel is on the spiritual, not the physical. The believers who have experienced the first resurrection, namely the resurrection of their sin-sick souls, shall receive a brand new incorruptible spiritual body at the last day.

When Christ and the apostles performed miracles and healed the sick and gave sight to the blind, those were physical portraits pointing to some spiritual aspect. Once Christ went back to heaven and the apostles died, any miracles of that kind ceased. When Christ healed the sick, he did so to demonstrate that he has power on earth to forgive sins.

Matthew 9 (see also Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24)

6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

Continued in part 4

The True Gospel (part 2)

The true gospel has to do with the primary problem facing mankind, namely the wages of sin, which is death, and the penalty demanded by the law of God, which is the second death, eternal damnation. God sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save sinners. Christ, who is eternal God in every sense of the word, and who was without sin, was laden with the sins of all the elect who were given to him by the Father before the foundation of the world, which had nothing to do with their works. Christ paid the eternal penalty demanded by the law of God on behalf of the elect, and only the elect, who are just a remnant, a tiny part of the whole. Christ said, I and the Father are one.

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

1 Corinthians 15

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Continued in part 3

The True Gospel (part1)

The true gospel is circumscribed by the Bible, alone and in its entirety, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, in its original languages. The King James Version is translated from the oldest and most reliable manuscripts available, and the translators have sought to stick as closely as possible to the original text, which is in stark contrast to the modern translations that use inferior manuscripts and seek to reinterpret the original text and put it in more understandable language. That said, the KJV is far from perfect, it does contain errors, and the KJV translators were heavily influenced by the doctrines of the church, which when viewed from the superior vantage point of our day when we are very near the end of time and God is opening our understanding to many truths that were previously kept sealed ( Daniel 12:4,9), were very often faulty. Therefore, the serious Bible student should always carefully check the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek using the modern tools that are readily available, such as interlinears and concordances, which are keyed to the KJV.

By definition, any gospel that cites an authority that is outside the 66 books of the Bible, or narrower than the Bible, is false. That includes gospels that look upon other books as divinely inspired or that feature the teachings of those who claim to have received direct revelation from God, whether in a dream or a vision or tongue, as in the tongues described in 1 Corinthians 14.

Revelation 22:18-19

18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Continued in part 2

About being sealed, the Bible clearly warns throughout, to take heed lest ye fall, to guard against back sliding, and in Ezekiel talks about a righteous man,turning from righteousness, will die in his unrighteousness. In Revelation, to the seven churches, warnings of falling away, and to turn back. Also, in several books, the admonition to "return to me and I will return to you." And, we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

This is serious stuff. We can lose our salvation. Once saved always saved is a lie to lull people asleep.

Dear Mary Jay , thank you for those verses , I did think of the Apostles as being fishers of men etc when I read this question . I did also think that the person asking the question seemed a bit like a babe in Christ and was looking for a literal interpretation and so I gave him one :) . Thank you again , I'm off out right now but tonight I shall study those verses that you gave me :) . Hope you have a good day .

Thy Kingdom Come !

D aear Theodorse,

KJV is good since we feel the Spirit throwing light on the passages as equally I have been illumined many times while reading the Bible ages ago in the vernacular. I believe we confuse the Scripture being God breathed, somewhat like Mary confused the risen Christ for a gardener or somebody else. But when she heard his voice, she knew instantly her Master's voice. The word of God works with a believer not because of original MS or it is in KJV but it connects with heart a spiritual space. St Paul speaks how the Spirit helps with our infirmities in Ro.8. It is equally true with reading. Thy word is truth and it is how it speaks to man. Jesus Chrisst the same yesterday, today and forever. In John 2o Mary, "she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus." But the voice of the Word is eternal. "Jesus saith unto her, Mary." Instantly she recognized the Word become flesh. There is a difference between the man and the word become flesh. Similarly there is a difference between literal approach and letting the Spirit illumine our reading.

What is 'perfect' and should there be a controversy over it. God is perfect and it is holiness of God. Human intellect make nonsense in explaining it. God commands us, 'Be ye holy, for I am holy'. Without 'grace' it would not be possible. Truth and grace came by Jesus Christ. Perfection is rounded off in our abiding life by our Redeemer Lord as St Paul confesses to the 'power of Christ in me' (2 Co.12:9).

Thank you for sharing that Brother Michael Dorsey. I do agree with what you have written, & especially noted, "The only perfect translation You are going to find is to have the Original Manuscripts". I too have used Bible Hub for years, mainly for its Hebrew & Greek Lexicons & found it to be very good & useful in better understanding words (especially those debatable ones) giving me a fuller understanding of the passage. However, one Greek brother who comes on here sometimes, did check me on what I had once written to someone (when giving a meaning of a word). He said that in Greek, my advice given was incorrect & he went further to do research on why that word was used. Apparently, it wasn't taken from the Greek text as given in the Textus Receptus, but from another source. So I say this, as one may need to take care, seeing that Bible Hub doesn't necessarily use the TR/KJB as the source material for publishing its Greek words.

And even here on this Site, a little while ago there has been debate on the word 'perfect', as found in e.g. Matthew 5:48, Matthew 19:21, 1 Corinthians 2:6. This word 'perfect' has been used by some here to denote, 'sinlessness', that we have to be, or even now, are sinless. Not sure of your position on this, but reading the Greek, 'teleios', seems to indicate more towards 'completeness, full-grown, mature'. Now in Matthew 5:48 we have a problem, we see that Jesus gives the command, to "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." So, clearly the absolute perfection that our Father fully has within Himself, cannot be the same that we need to have/strive for on Earth: that is, not towards sinlessness, but towards maturity & completeness. So, I share this just to show how important the original languages are to assist us in understanding God's Word, and especially the KJB (17th Century) which uses language & expressions that sometimes are quite foreign to us here in the 21st Century.

Page 2.

Prior to the Cross, man stood on HIS faith & acceptable works - after the Cross, man stands without any of that - only on the Work of the Holy Spirit, regenerating the old sinful heart and giving Faith (by God's Grace) to believe ( Ephesians 2:8); the Spirit's permanent indwelling bringing continual spiritual renewal; the Spirit's baptizing into Christ's Body (adoption), and the Spirit's Seal of ownership & security. If a repenting sinner has experienced such a Work of the Spirit in his heart & life, he can have full confidence that the Spirit will always guide, keep, warn, & discipline if necessary, so that God's child would never be lost into the world - indeed would never ever desire the world & its enticements. If this Work of the Spirit of God were not ALL of God's Work alone to secure a sinner, then the Work of the Cross has failed, & we may just as well go back to following a set of rules with sacrifices (works), hoping for a good outcome.

We can be confident that if God has done this wonderful Work of Salvation in a person's life, then that Work is permanent & will never fail. If we believe that a 'believer' can one day spurn God's Love & turn his back on Him forever, then the Bible assures us that that work was not of God, but of man - for God, by His Word & Work of His Spirit can never fail. This is the God I have fully placed my trust in - if He was any less that what He has declared in the Bible & revealed personally in my life, then I will admit that I am on very shaky ground. Blessings.

Page 1.

Thank you Valmar. To respond & also I'm in agreement with you, No, the Triune God never changes - as well as His requirement of faith to please Him & be acceptable to Him. The OT folk were accepted by God because of their faith in Him for Who He was (as revealed to them) & they were confident that He would fulfill all that He had promised to them. Those who died in their sins were the disobedient & faithless & could never please Him & suffered under His Hand. So, the essential requirement was Faith & when the Law & Commandments came to them, they were to obey fully in their strength, looking unto their Maker only.

So, what changed with the coming of Jesus Christ? Faith was still the requirement ( Hebrews 11:6), but it was no longer a human faith, based on human works, to be acceptable to God. The OT faithful (looking forward) would have their sins paid for at Calvary, just as those who would believe from Israel & Gentiles post-Calvary. But now, we don't receive a set of rules to follow to please God - we don't muster up (our) faith to be acceptable - and we contribute nothing in works (sacrifices, feasts, sabbaths, washings, etc.) towards our salvation.

For this reason, I sought your thoughts on the work of the Holy Spirit, He Who was sent by Jesus ( John 15:26; John 16:7; Galatians 4:6), a Spirit that the OT faithful never received for the renewing & enlivening of their hearts - only at Pentecost such a mighty Work of God took place. God indeed has not changed, but the Cross has changed how man stands before God. To Page 2.

The geographical land of Israel has been left desolate, by God, on purpose. Punishment for rejecting Christ. If only they had known the hour of their visitation.

He will be ministering in the heavenly temple.

Valmar, U hope your

Thanksgiving is very happy, meaningful, and full of love.

Amen, Lord, bring your mighty arm against the terrorists that war against Israel.

Dear Dixiechick,

I agree with you in prayer for the salvation of all in your family. tonight I pray for your grandson who is using drugs.

Dear LORD God, we ask that You deliver this young man from drug use and heal his mind and body from the effects and bondage of drugs. We ask that You draw him near to You and soften his heart to turn to You in a cry for help and salvation. We lift up this niece who needs Your love more than anything. Deliver her from trying to get this love from people who cannot satisfy as You can. turn her heart around to You and open it up to receive Your love and grace. We lift up all of Dixiechicks family before You and ask that You bring all to saving faith soon. Restore this whole family to faith and godliness in Jesus name. Amen.

Hadassah,

Thank you for the post you have sent me, but as I mentioned earlier, I do not believe in "soul sleep." I know the Seventh Day Adventists teach this, but I do not agree with it. When my fleshly body dies, it will give the appearance of sleeping, but I will not be there. I will be with the Lord and one day, my body will be raised as a glorified body, and my soul/spirit will be reunited with a new body. If I am sleeping in the bosom of the Lord when I die, my question to you is "Where will the Lord be?"

I pray for peace in Jerusalem. Lord please protect Israel, and all the civilians. Please bring peace to Jerusalem, your beautiful city. Let it be a place of peace and recover the glory it once had. In Jesus name, Amen!

Dear sir, the Bible says we are dead to sin! When Jesus Christ was crucified, we were. When Jesus was buried, we were. When Jesus rose, we rose! When we get saved, we are (Spirit) baptized into Jesus Christ! This is all laid out perfectly in Romans 6:1-10 (Please read.) What are we to do now that we know the wonderful truth? Finish reading the chapter. We are to simply reckon it to be true, and yield are bodies to God, our precious Saviour. This is the truth of what GOD said. Believe him and rest in him! With love, your fellowservant in Christ.

Rainwalker:

Here are the commandments of God we are to live by.

Deuteronomy 8:3 ..... but by every word .....

Matthew 4:4 .... but by every word .....

Proverbs 14:15 The simple believeth every word .....

Not 10 commandments, but every WORD (all his words are commandments).

God Bless you

Jesse, when you fall asleep, you sleep in the bosom of the LORD who does not slumber or sleep. He keeps you safe in his care while you are sleeping. Then, in the morning (resurrection day) he will wake you up. Call you forth.

As a Minister I often refer to Bible Hub. I Preach out of the King James Version. But People need to understand this . It is not a perfect translation. The only perfect translation You are going to find is to have the Original Manuscripts. And be able to read Greek, Latin and Hebrew of the Ancient World. I find that the other Interpretations shed more light on the Verse without getting crazy out far from the meaning. I would recommend Anyone to Read and learn from the KJV. But as I've said the Bible Hub shows the same verse worded differently in several Interpretations. I use the descriptions of these in my explanation of breaking down the KJV. For those struggling to understand or a New Convert . There is no shame in using all the material available today to learn. If You are sincere God is going to show You how and what to follow when confusion arises. My Father in Law who passed away in 2000 . I was Saved under His Ministry. He had books and Materials by Men that were not particularly in His Christian wheelhouse so to speak. But He always said, You take Their Knowledge and You use it because They are smart Men. You are still going to believe what You believe. I think there is such a Stigma or Shame put on People if They don't go to anything but the KJV. I believe God gave it to Us . I believe it to be the Preferred Choice of Text. But I also believe People should be open to learning. It wasn't until the KJV was published that Man even really knew about Scripture. And this goes back to Moses and the Law . By keeping Man in the dark it allowed Others to hold Power over Them. Ezra built a Homemade Pulpit and taught the People and They asked Questions for the first time EVER and actually cried at hearing The Word of God. Jesus tore down The Elitist System some 2000 years ago of Pharisees and Manmade Sway . We don't need to Rebuild it again. But as soon as Christ got out of sight at Bethany. Man was already busy becoming Man again.

Reverend Michael Ray Dorsey

Ronald,

(Part 2 of 2):

Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Here, we see a gift of God being given, and that gift is eternal life. Since God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are eternal, and I receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as it says in Acts 2:38, I believe I can say I have received eternal life. I can say that I have the eternal one living in me, and He has promised to never leave me.

Eternal life for me began the day that I was born of God's Spirit, the day I received Christ. Now if Christ is not eternal, then I cannot say I have eternal life. But if Christ is eternal, and He lives in me, then I can say with confidence that I currently have eternal life. Jesus said that He would never leave me nor forsake me. So, the question I must ask is when I physically die, does Jesus also remain in the grave with me and sleep?



Ronald, my apologies if this was too long. I do thank you for sharing what you believe. We both know that we will not always agree with each other on everything, but you have shared many things that I do agree with you on, and I hope that I have done the same.

God bless you also, my brother in Christ!

Hello Ronald,

(Part 1 of 2):

Thank you for sharing your understanding on this topic. I always enjoy my discussions with you. We are in agreement that God is love. In fact, God is Agape, the highest form of love that exists. We are in agreement that God does not have pleasure in the death of the wicked. That's why He has provided a way for the wicked to be redeemed. We are in agreement that God does not want us to perish. Some take this word perish to mean cease to exist completely. Some teach annihilation. That, I do not agree with. I also don't agree that Hell is only the grave because both believers and non-believers alike are going to end up in a grave (unless the Lord comes for us first).

I agree that the bible tells in Ezekiel Chapter 18 that the soul that sinneth shall die. I believe it is the soul that makes up our entire being. Can our fleshly body exist without a soul? As far as salvation goes, did Christ come to redeem our flesh, or did He come to redeem our soul? I say that my soul has been redeemed, not my flesh. My flesh is rotten to the core! I agree that there are different degrees of punishment, but as you know, I also believe that whatever the degree of punishment is, it will be forever.

In my studies of the Greek, I have come to learn that the word for death means separation. This is why I believe that when our physical body of flesh dies, our soul will separate from our fleshly body. The body will rot and decay in the grave, not cease to exist as some say. I do not believe in soul sleep.

I do agree with you that eternal life is a promise. However, what we differ on is when this eternal life begins. For me, I believe I have eternal life right now. There are several verses in scripture that speak of eternal life/salvation being present tense ( 1 John 5:11, 1 John 5:13, John 17:3, John 10:28-30, John 3:36, John 4:14, 1 Timothy 6:12). These are just some verses that speak of eternal salvation being present, not future.

Part 2 to follow...

verse 25

"And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He hath commanded us."

Well, we know how that went. The Israelites found out that they could not, would not, and failed miserably to gain righteousness on their own because they were unable to keep from breaking God's commands. The Law shows us our sinfulness and our need for a Savior. The Israelites as a whole, must have thought that they could fall back on the sacrificial system to remove their sins when they failed God. But they could not truly say they gained their own righteousness because they could not keep the Law.

Only Jesus is righteous, completely sinless, and worthy of God's acceptance as a truly human person. His divine nature always remained divine, but His human nature needed to choose obedience to God always, and He did. His righteousness is imputed to us because He was the perfectly acceptable sacrifice for our sins. He did what we could never do, never sin, and be of such worth that His sacrifice took away all of our sins.

The Israelites grew accustomed to sinning against God, going after idols, and forgetting Him who delivered them from bondage. May we not fall into such a state. Thank God for giving us the Holy Spirit, without Whom we would not be able to continue in faith and obedience to God every day. God provides us with all we need for life and godliness through the work of Jesus for us and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us to sanctify us and empower us to desire to obey our God and Savior. He is the only One who can save us. Let always be turned toward Him, seeking Him wholeheartedly, hiding His word in our hearts, and sharing the hope we possess in Jesus, our Lord.

Thanks for your response to my post, Momsage. I was sorry to hear that your marriage ended in divorce. Living for the Lord is a daily challenge and I know the pitfalls of becoming like the prodigal son and wanting to get away and have 'fun' that this world can offer. Or I have also felt the need to start becoming slack in my service to Him. That tends to only snowball into a routine of not studying His Word or praying or assembling together with other believers. It sounds like the Spirit has gotten you back on track, so keep reading, praying and going even if you think it's no use or just the same ole same ole stuff. Remember you have to bring your body and mind into subjection to His service and not your whims. Again, thanks and have a good Thanksgiving with your family. Thanks for your time...