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I. Laying the Foundation

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 22:00:19 -0500

Since GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is all man needs to be saved; since GOD’S RIGHT- NESS is what he lost in the Fall; since the restoration to GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is
offered to every man everywhere; since man is going to be judged in RIGHTEOUS-
NESS; the first and most important priority of every man is the pursuit of GOD’S RIGHT- EOUSNESS!

Open your heart to this infallible truth: GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ALL YOU NEED AND IS THE ONLY ANSWER TO LIFE’S GREATEST PROBLEMS! Consider:

1) GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is the ONE AND ONLY WAY that all men in every nation, in every philosophy, religion and church can come together in perfect unity and full fellowship before the RIGHTEOUS GOD. It does so by taking men back “to the beginning” before these philosophies, religions or churches ever existed and did their destructive work of dividing men into warring divisions.

“In the beginning” there were no “Holy Scriptures” (The Vedas, Upanishads, Koran, Philosophies inspired by holy Muses, Book of Mormon, Dianetics, Ten Commandments, Old Testament, New Testament, or any other writings), written in a “Holy Language” (Sanskrit, Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, etc.), by a “Holy Man” which a seeker must learn and read in order to be saved and be a true disciple, avoiding a “second class status” among his fellows.

All the so called, “Holy Books written in Holy Languages by Holy Men” came hundreds or even thousands of years after God created man Holy, RIGHTEOUS and Perfect like himself and gave man everything he needed to continue Holy, RIGHTEOUS and Perfect in this life. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this truth, yea the inescapable conclusion is: MAN, “IN THE BEGINNING, ” DID NOT NEED ANY “HOLY BOOKS” WRITTEN IN A “HOLY LANGUAGE” BY A “HOLY MAN” IN ORDER TO BE SAVED AND MADE RIGHTEOUS OR TO CONTINUE SAVED AND RIGHTEOUS IN THIS LIFE. AND THE SAME “WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS” THAT SAVED MAN “IN THE BEGINNING” BEFORE THESE BOOKS WERE WRITTEN, MUST SAVE MAN TODAY, AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN!

Read religious and spiritual books if you must. Buy and fill your house with them. But know this one infallible truth: Even if you were able to read every book ever written, when you finished the last page of the last book you would be in exactly the same place as that illiterate person who never read one of them. If you chose whichever book you believed to be a “Holy Book from God” (The Vedas, the Koran, some ancient Philosophy, the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Miracles, etc.), and memorized every verse, you would have to do exactly what that person who has never memorized one verse of any book has to do: choose THE WAY OF RIGHT- EOUSNESS or THE WAY OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, for these are the only choices available to every man, everywhere, and the only choices that matter.

FOR GOD, WHO LOVES EVERYMAN, EVERYWHERE, HAS MADE SALVATION AVAILABLE TO EVERY MAN, EVERYWHERE! How exactly did he do that? By making Salvation a matter of the HEART, RATHER THAN A MATTER OF THE MIND, INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE, EDUCATION OR THE LETTER OF ANY “HOLY BOOK!” While every man, everywhere, has a HEART that chooses light or darkness, good or evil, RIGHTEOUSNESS OR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS every moment of every day: every man, everywhere, does not have access to education, information or “Holy Books” and never will! And if God did not make his Salvation available to Every Man, Everywhere, He could not be a Loving God or s Just God!

So Salvation is a matter of the Heart, and that person that has never seen or heard one word of any “Holy Book” or been visited by any prophet, holy man, apostle, evangelist or missionary, but “hungers and thirsts after RIGHTEOUSNESS, shall be filled” (Mt 5:6), and is “not far from the Kingdom of God!” For Salvation is nothing less, and nothing more, than choosing God’s Will instead of Self Will, every moment of every day and that choice is the same for every man.

And that Letter (which killeth and is called a “ministration of death and condemnation”) has not, and will never, reach every man, everywhere. But that Spirit (which giveth Life and is called a “ministration of the Spirit and RIGHTEOUSNESS”) can and has reached every man, everywhere! So God says to all men, everywhere, every moment, “Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart,” (Ps 95:7-8; Heb 2:7, 15).

So today, this very moment you are reading this, God calls you to hear his voice and choose His Will. Since today is the only day you have, would you be wiser to choose God’s Will right now, or spend a week reading a book about God’s Will, or spend countless hours memorizing verses from whichever book you consider “Holy?” Is there really much wisdom or value in spending months and years learning Hebrew, Greek or Latin, when the only thing God requires of every man, everywhere, is already available to every man, everywhere, IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE: namely, choose RIGHTEOUSNESS rather than UNRIGHTEOUSNESS?

Has history taught you nothing? Is it not obvious that a perfect knowledge of Hebrew,
Greek and Latin did not enable those that possessed it “to see” or “identify” the Word in their day, or prevent them from crucifying Him? Is it not obvious that that same knowledge today has no more power now than it did then?

Did you ever discover, or were you ever taught, that God speaks to every man, every moment, of every day? Do you know that if you would listen to that voice and obey it, you would become “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” like Job, without ever reading a word of any “inspired scripture,” much less any book produced by uninspired writers? For Job, who had none to read, was God’s “poster child,” of what God requires of every man. He discovered this truth: God would speak to him every moment of every day and show him THE WAY if he would HEAR HIS VOICE AND OBEY IT. This truth set him free and kept him free, and can set you and me free and keep us free as well! Listen to that “perfect, upright” man:

“What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him EVERY MORNING, and try him EVERY MOMENT?” (Job 7:17-18). “All the words of his mouth are in “RIGHTEOUS- NESS” and only by hearing that voice and obeying it is there any hope of being made RIGHTEOUS (Prov 8:8). If you will retire into silence and listen for God’s voice, “Thine
ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isa 30:21).

Consider the “strange position” of the “professing church” today:

It is a great, unforgivable offense to most “professing Christians” to affirm that God speaks to his children today or makes them REALLY RIGHTEOUS in this life. Even worse to affirm that ONLY by hearing and obeying God’s voice can anyone be restored to REAL RIGHTEOUSNESS in this life like Job.

I’ve heard one Bible teacher in a prominent Austin church respond with rage at such an affirmation, shouting, “God does not speak to people today! The Bible is God’s Word and that is the only way anyone can even know God,” all the while denying that God, the Bible, or anything else can make a man REALLY RIGHTEOUS in this life! And those same “professing Christians” that deny that God really speaks to his people today without the Bible, and deny that he makes them REALLY RIGHTEOUS in this life, have no problem believing and teaching that the Devil is always speaking to us today without the Bible, is always tempting us to “enjoy the pleasures of sin,” making us REALLY UNRIGHTEOUS in this life, all the while assuring us that if we eat the poisonous fruit of sin, “You shall not surely die!”

What are the only indisputable truths we can learn from those “professing churches and professing Christians” that deny God really speaks to his people today and deny that God makes man REALLY RIGHTEOUS in this life?
(a) God does not speak to them!
(b) They are REALLY UNRIGHTEOUS!
(c) They do not possess the cure for all the lost, UNRIGHTEOUSNESS
people in the world!

2) GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is the only way a man can come into “oneness” with his wife and have a real marriage instead of living as “roommates” until frustration, boredom, depression or hopelessness drives them to unfaithfulness or divorce. Sadly, most of those that escape divorce never escape a joyless marriage based more on convenience than love. RIGHTEOUSNESS is absolutely essential for trust between two people, and every marriage without trust is an ever painful nightmare of suspicion and guilt.

3) GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is the only possible way parents can bond with their children and remove the “generation gap” that separates them and makes it impossible to genuinely “touch” or “connect” with each other. Without RIGHTEOUSNESS parents can only experience life as “childless,” and children can only experience life as “orphans.” How many books and movies have described a lifetime of desperately trying to find and connect with one’s parents or children? Gabriel Garcia Marquez described this almost universal malady in his A HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE, and won the Nobel Prize For Literature for diagnosing the “human condition” so accurately.

4) GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is the only way anyone can have a real relationship with friends or neighbors rather than a mere “form” of a relationship. RIGHTEOUSNESS is the only door providing an escape from living in the world of “forms” (a. the form of knowledge, b. the form of truth, and c. the form of godliness; Rom .2:20, II Tim. 3:5), and entering the world of reality where God gives man the real thing. An empty life of “Role Playing” is the only possibility one has without RIGHTEOUSNESS.

5) GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is the only thing that enables man to “love his enemy” and forgive those that sin against him. It is the only hope of “overcoming evil with good,” for nothing less than GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS has the “power” to love all and forgive all! Without real love and real forgiveness there will never be the possibility of real peace between individuals or nations, and real love and real forgiveness are not possible without real RIGHTEOUSNESS!

6) Finally, walking in the WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS is the only way of knowing that what you are doing is “good” in the eyes of the Lord, for, “There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Pro. 14:12). Many will be shocked to find that what they thought were “good works” were in the eyes of the Lord, “works of iniquity” (Mt. 7:23). That is because “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” they eat of can only produce UNRIGHTEOUSNESS and death. “Imitation,” even of the good works of righteous men, is NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS: RIGHTEOUSNESS is always and only, obedience! For man, in every moment, can ONLY obey:
a) GOD’S WILL, which is the only possibility or source of RIGHTEOUSNESS, or,
b) SELF WILL, which is the only possibility or source of that “righteousness called
filthy rags” (Isa 64:6). (Note that Self Will and the Serpent’s Will are the same
thing.) There are no other possibilities in every thing we say or do!

You might as well “build an ark” as “feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, cast out demons or preach the gospel” or do any other “strange or good work” described in the Bible, if God did not speak to you and command you to do it! Building an ark was “RIGHTEOUSNESS” for Noah but would have been “UNRIGHTEOUSNESS” for every other man living at the time of Noah!

HAS GOD “OPENED YOUR UNDERSTANDING SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND” THIS MYSTERY?:

The VERY SAME WORK done by one who was told by God to do it (here the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD is revealed in the believer by “the obedience of faith” (Rom 1:5, 17; 16:26), IS INIQUITY in all those that do the VERY SAME WORK by imitating the RIGHTEOUS (MT 7:21-23). This is also true of all those that claim AUTHORITY for their work or ministry by QUOTING this or that SCRIPTURE. Jeremiah said concerning all those that prophesied without hearing God speak to them and send them, even if they spoke words of “inspired scripture” written by true prophets, that GOD WAS AGAINST THEM and they were guilty of “STEALING MY WORDS every one from his neighbor” (Jer 23:21, 30). So “inspired, infallible truths” are lies in the mouth of those that speak to others what God has never spoken to them!
“And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they SWEAR FALSELY” (Jer 5:2).

UNDERSTANDING THIS MYSTERY BRINGS WONDERFUL BLESSINGS FROM THE LORD:

a) It sets you free from every preacher, teacher, or leader in every philosophy,
religion or church that holds his power over you by manipulating you through the
use of guilt or shame; usually by quoting the words of this or that “holy book.”
Listening to God instead of man will set you free from that oppression that drove
you to join this or that ministry, teach this or that class, “witness” weekly, tithe to this
building program or any other project dreamed up by man. For only God can
speak perfectlly “to your condition” and bring you into “the glorious liberty of the
Children of God” (Rom 8:21). Only God can set you free from all “religious tyrants
and churches” that want to control you, your family or your finances!

b) Operating in God’s Will is the only way to escape the pride of self righteousness.
For that person that operates in Self Will chooses his own ministry or works and
feels good about his successes. He needs little encouragement to stand before the
church and give his “testimony.” On the other hand, that person that hears God
speak, does His work by His power, and his only concern is to “quit his
conscience,” that is, obey His word faithfully. Such a person has nothing to boast
about, knowing that “It is God that worketh in him, both to Will and to Do of his
good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).

7. What, exactly, is GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS, and how is it obtained? GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is nothing less than GOD HIMSELF, and can be obtained in no other way than by God being “BORN IN YOU.” Why is this so? Because only God is Righteous and there is no RIGHTEOUSNESS apart from him or independent of him, unless there is more than one God! Because GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is a Person and not a doctrine about a person, it cannot be packaged like a can of corn and passed out to those who need it.

Note carefully: GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS can only come by a birth (and this is true of every other virtue mentioned in the Bible). Understanding this profound truth, which seems to have been lost to the churches and “professing” Christian authors, and you will never be deceived by any fiction about a “Declared Righteousness;” that invented doctrine that teaches that ‘you must and can only live all your life in Unrighteousness,’ (since its advocates teach that being really Righteous in this life is impossible) but that we will be “considered Righteous” by God.

On the one hand, Declared Righteousness is the denial of faith in an Omnipotent God, and on the other hand, a hopeful, hiding place for all those that love the wages and pleasures of Unrighteousness and have no intention of giving them up.

Such “wishful thinking” has killed its thousands and continues to be about the only doctrine all the “professing churches” can agree on. This doctrine of Declared Righteousness is precious to the “professing churches” and underlies all they teach and practice. Question this and you will find yourself on the outside of whichever church you now attend and branded a “works salvation” heretic or a false teacher. But those that have “ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” can see clearly that “Declared Righteousness” is just another way to say what that old Serpent, the Devil, said to Eve “in the beginning.” Namely, “In the day you choose Unrighteousness (for “all Unrighteousness is sin,” I Jn 5:17), You shall not surely die, for God will “consider you Righteous” or see you as “positionally Righteous” in Christ!”

There is no way to escape the following conclusions:

a) The All Powerful God either makes men really Righteous or he doesn’t.
b) If he does there is no place or need for Declared Righteousness.
c) If he doesn’t he has less power than Satan whose only power is to make us
Unrighteous.

If the God you worship is not making you Really Righteous; if he cannot or will not make you Really Righteous in this life, you are worshiping a false God, for salvation is nothing less than being restored to GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS, which was lost in the FALL, and which is the only thing that can possibly save you when God “judges the world in RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

For this reason God tells us that every man must be “BORN AGAIN,” “BORN A SECOND TIME,“ if they would become SONS OF GOD!” Being born, “not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, BUT OF GOD” (Jn 1:13). For “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and, “Except a man be born of water (ie. his first, natural birth) and of the Spirit (ie. his second spiritual birth) he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh (and can never rise to anything higher); and that which is born of the Spirit (ie. of God himself) is spirit” (Jn 3:3-6).

Here God’s Righteousness comes as a “birth within” man. Here the “least of all seeds” is planted in the heart, “but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree,” (Mt 13:31-32). Here that “godly seed” (Mal 2:15), that “holy seed’” (Ez 9:2), grows up into “trees of RIGHTEOUSNESS, the planting of the Lord, that he might be gloritied, (Isa 61:3).

What exactly is that “godly seed” or “holy seed” planted in the heart? Peter explains all this with blinding clarity! After telling us that we “must be Holy” because “God is Holy,” he explains how that is possible:

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by THE WORD OF GOD, with liveth and abideth for ever,” (I Pet 1:23).

So the “godly seed,” the “holy seed,” the “incorruptible seed” is THE WORD OF GOD Himself, and that SEED planted in the heart can only produce fruit “after his kind.” For , “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit,” (Mt 7:18).

This truth, that a seed can only produce “after his kind,” is repeated 11 times in the first chapter of Genesis yet seems totally lost to the “professing churches.” For they preach a “Declared Righteousness” rather than a REAL RIGHTEOUSNESS produced from that “holy, incorruptible seed” planted in the heart, which “SEED” is THE WORD OF GOD HIMSELF, and which Seed is the Only Seed that can produce “good fruit.

The doctrin of “Declared Righteousness” completely circumvents “being born of God” and teaches that a corrupt tree, born of corruptible seed, can produce incorruptible, good fruit! But Only that person “BORN OF GOD” has GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS “in him,” or put another way, GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS can only exist where God takes up residence in a man. And God only takes up residence in man by planting his “holy seed, the WORD OF GOD” in his heart, or by a “birth” within man’s heart, which is the same thing. For, only God is RIGHTEOUS, and it is just as impossible for GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS to exist where God is not BY A DECLARATION, as it is for a corrupt tree to produce fruits of Righteousness!

As stated above, GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is God himself! GOD’S RIGHT-
EOUSNESS is a person and that person’s name “in the beginning” was “The Word.” That Word created all things; in that Word “was life, and that life was the light of man.” That “Word” was “the True LIght which lighteth EVERY MAN THAT COMETH INTO THE WORLD.” That “Word” which created man in RIGHTEOUSNESS, HOLINESS AND PERFECTION, was made flesh in order to save man by restoring him to RIGHTEOUS- NESS, HOLINESS AND PERFECTION. He does this by giving “power” to become sons of God by being BORN AGAIN. The name of “The Word” on earth is JESUS CHRIST, who alone is THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, as well as the Wisdom of God, the Power of God, Sanctification and Redemption (I Cor 1:30, 24).

So the ONLY way to possess GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS is to possess Christ, who alone is the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. And the only way to receive Christ is by a birth of Christ within, for “Christ in you is the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).

This Jesus, who alone is the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, who created man “in the beginning” as “The Word of God,” is that “True Light” which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (Jn 1:9). As the “Light and Life” of every man, he is as close to the Moslem, the Budhist, the Hindu, the infidel, to every man in every philosophy, religion or church as he is to the “professing born-again Christian.” And every man in every “nation, kindred, tongue and people” that would be saved and made RIGHT-OUS, must do what every other man must do when “THE LIGHT” visits and shines in his heart, namely, believe in the Light, love and embrace the Light, walk in theLight, that “ye may be the children of Light,” (ie. be born of the light).

Now that person who is saved and made RIGHTEOUS by becoming a “Child of Light” may do so without ever hearing or seeing the name “Jesus.” For the “Light,” the “Life,” the “Word,” the “RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD” that saves us is a PERSON, not a word or a series of letters! And the ‘TRUE LIGHT’ that alone saves, is manifested in every man while the name or word ‘Jesus,’ which can save no one, is not made known to millions while on earth. And that person, in every “nation, kindred, tongue and people,” that has never seen Jesus or heard his name but LOVES THE LIGHT, loves that same Jesus seen and known by name by his disciples.

If you are having trouble understanding or accepting these biblical truths, consider the following:

It is irrefutably true, that a child that has never seen or heard the word “milk,” can be nourished and given life by drinking his mother’s milk. For the only nourishment and life of “milk” is the “milk” itself. And that “milk” that nourishes and gives life to the child needs no name or series of letters or a scientifically correct definition of milk to do its saving work. In the same way it is irrefutably true that a man that has never seen or heard the word or name ‘Jesus’ may be saved and made RIGHTEOUS by Jesus, the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. For Jesus can do his saving work without a name, a word, or a series of letters being known by the one he saves!

IS THERE ANYONE, ANYWHERE, THAT WOULD LIKE TO STEP UP AND DEFEND THE PROPOSITION THAT A MAN THAT HAS:
“Believed in the Light, Received the Light, been Born Again of the Light and received every blessing of the Life, Crucifixtion and Resurrection of the Light, walked in the Light, being cleansed of all sin and unrighteousness, is going to be Lost and Damned because he has never seen or heard the name, Jesus?”

WE WELCOME YOU TO CONTINUE WITH US IN PURSUIT OF“THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Know assuredly that God has promised everyone that does so will receive of him, everything else they need in life (Mt. 6:33). Only in “THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS” is there any hope of certainty, peace, life or that freedom called, “the glorious Liberty of the Children of God! GOD’S INVITATION TO EVERY MAN, EVERYWHERE, IS:

“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David” (Isa 55:1-3).

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II. Man's Condition

Sun, 8 Oct 2006 10:40:50 -0500

Paul makes it perfectly clear what man’s problem is before God, his maker; namely, “There is none righteous, no not one (Rom. 3:10).” This truth carries with it several other truths that are impossible to argue successfully against.

1) If God is a Righteous, Just and Loving God and if he is going to “judge the world in righteousness,” he can only do so because he created man righteous and gave him everything essential to maintain that righteousness. For it is a self-evident, self-validating truth that a God who judges, rejects and damns a man eternally for something he never made available to man or possible for man, can’t be a Righteous, Just or Loving God, but is rather a cruel, murderous, tyrant, unworthy of worship or praise.

2) It also shows those “who have ears to hear” that there are only two possible ways for a man to walk in this life: a) THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and b) THE WAY OF UNRIGHTEOUNESS. There are no other possibilities! This truth understood and embraced brings one to “the simplicity that is in Christ” which can remove the clouds of confusion and controversy found in the religions and churches of the world. If you long for certainty in your relationship with God and real freedom from those thousands of voices and books all claiming to be the only way to be saved, rejoice: God has come to teach his people himself! And the TRUE GOD is not the author of confusion! Choosing RIGHTEOUSNESS in every situation is all God requires of anybody!

Could any other conclusion come from the creation story? God creates man holy, righteous and perfect, that is, “in his own image and likeness,” which is holy, righteous and perfect. He places him in the garden called Eden and puts two trees in the midst of the garden: a) The Tree of Life (which can only produce “after its kind,” that is, LIFE), and 2) The Tree of Death, called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, (which can only produce “after its kind,” that is, DEATH). These two choices are the only choices available to man in every moment and in every situation. These two choices are ALL MAN NEEDS TO BE SAVED! These two choices are made available to every man, everywhere, in every moment of his life. Moses, who wrote the creation story, affirms this truth in these words:

“See, I have set before thee this day, LIFE AND GOOD, and DEATH AND EVIL....I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING AND CURSING: THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE, that thou and thy seed may live,” (Deut. 30:15, 19).

These words of Moses to the Israelites are nothing more than a repetition and paraphrase of what God said to Adam and Eve in the garden. And when the priests, the pastors, the prophets and the people of Israel had forsaken God to follow Baal, God asked Jeremiah,

“Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, THAT CAN HOLD NO WATER,” (Jer. 2:11-13).

God’s response to this horrible apostasy?

“And unto this people thou shalt say, ‘Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you THE WAY OF LIFE AND THE WAY OF DEATH, (Jer. 21:8).

Once again, these are the only two choices man has in every moment and in every situation. God eliminates all confusion and controversy and makes unmistakably clear what the simplicity of the Everlasting Gospel and essence of salvation is; a choice between:

1) THE WAY OF LIFE AND THE WAY OF DEATH
2) THE WAY OBEDIENCE AND THE WAY OF DISOBEDIENCE
3) THE WAY RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE WAY OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS
4) THE WAY OF GODLINESS AND THE WAY OF UNGODLINESS
5) THE WAY OF HOLINESS AND THE WAY OF UNHOLINESS
6) THE WAY OF FAITH AND THE WAY OF UNFAITH (UNBELIEF)

Of course, all these WAYS are the same thing and constitute ALL MAN NEEDS TO BE SAVED! For it is a self-validating truth that no one who chooses LIFE, OBEDIENCE, RIGHTEOUSNESS, GODLINESS,HOLINESS AND FAITH will be LOST, and no one that chooses DEATH, DISOBEDIENCE, UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, UNGODLINESS, UNHOLINESS AND UNFAITH will be SAVED! So everyone is either walking in the way of ENDLESS LIVING WATERS OR THE WAY OF ENDLESS THIRST.

(NOTE: The Mystery of why God called the Tree of Death, “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”, rather than its obvious name is a topic of another “opening”.)

God created man FREE, (that is, with FREE WILL), and if you have “ears that hear,” in “the nature of things” that is the ONLY WAY A FREE GOD COULD HAVE CREATED MAN “in his image and likeness,” that is, “after his kind.” Eliminate FREE WILL and of necessity, you eliminate the inspired truth that man is made in God’s image and likeness, after his kind. God could have created man without FREE WILL but “in the nature of things” man without FREE WILL could never be said in truth to be created “in the image and likeness of God, after his kind.” Eliminate FREE WILL and you are left with an UNRIGHTEOUS GOD who judges UNRIGHTEOUSLY by condemning man for his choices without giving man freedom of choice. For it is impossible for God to be a RIGHTEOUS JUDGE if he judges man’s choices without giving man freedom to choose!

Because the EVERLASTING GOSPEL is preached to all that dwell on the earth, “and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6), it makes no difference what a man calls himself religiously; whether he is a Christian, a Jew, a Moslem, a Hindu, a Buddhist, an Infidel, an Atheist, a Catholic, a Protestant, a Pentecostal, a member of one of the mainline churches or a member of a cult. All men must answer to God for which WAY they chose to walk in this life, whether they acknowledge his existence or not. And that Judgment will be “without respect of persons” for every person in every nation and in every religion and the basis of that Judgment will be whether a person chose THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS or THE WAY OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS which the RIGHTEOUS GOD makes available to every man!

The good news of the EVERLASTING GOSPEL is that the CREATOR GOD is LOVE, and he created man in love and for love and gave him everything necessary to live in perfect unity and harmony and love with his heavenly father and his fellow man. So that, when God blessed Adam and Eve, and commanded them to,

“Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28),

He that had “ALL POWER” gave them “POWER” to do what he commanded them! For it is obvious and irrefutably true that if he that created man did not give him everything necessary to fulfill his created purpose, such a god would be neither Just nor Good and unworthy of worship and obedience by his creatures. And when God,

“...commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17), God gave man everything needed to not eat of that tree. There was never a necessity of eating of it, for God planted a garden eastward in Eden and filled it with every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food and placed the “Tree of Life” in the midst of the garden. Man could “freely eat” of all these trees and keep his “freedom” (that is, FREEDOM FROM SIN AND SINNING which is the ONLY MEANING OF “FREEDOM,” OR “THE GLORIOUS LIBERTY OF THE SONS OF GOD” in the Bible). Neither Satan (the serpent) nor the Gates of Hell could have forced man to eat of this tree; for God created man to have “dominion” over the serpent rather the serpent having dominion over the man! (Little children, Be not deceived: A GOD THAT DOES NOT, WILL NOT OR CAN NOT BRING YOU INTO DOMINION OVER THE SERPENT IN THIS LIFE IS A FALSE GOD! FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, THE ONLY THING YOU NEED, IS NOTHING LESS THAN DOMINION OVER THE SERPENT, EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME!) Consider the following:

1) “All UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IS SIN....” (I Jn. 5:17).

2) “Jesus answered them, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever COMMITTETH SIN IS THE SERVANT OF SIN” (Jn. 8:34).

3) “He that COMMITETH SIN IS OF THE DEVIL for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (I Jn. 3:8), WHICH ONLY WORK IS TO GET MAN TO SIN, that is, to choose THE WAY OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS! HE HAS NO OTHER WORK!

4) “In this THE CHILDREN OF GOD are manifest, and THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL: WHOSOEVER DOETH NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT OF GOD, neither he that loveth not his brother” (I Jn. 3:10). Once again God makes it clear that there are ONLY TWO possibilities for man:

a) THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS which the CHILDREN OF GOD choose, and

b) THE WAY OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS which the CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL choose. There is no third way!

5) “Little children, let no man deceive you: HE THAT DOETH RIGHTEOUSNESS IS RIGHTEOUS, EVEN AS HE (CHRIST) IS RIGHTEOUS” (I Jn. 3:7). It follows with absolute certainty that, “HE THAT DOETH UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IS UNRIGHTEOUS, EVEN AS HE (THE DEVIL) IS UNRIGHTEOUS!”

6) “For when ye were THE SERVANTS OF SIN, YE WERE FREE FROM RIGHTEOUSNESS” (ROM. 6:20). It follows with absolute certainty that, “when ye SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS YOU WERE FREE FROM SIN!”

7) “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves SERVANTS TO OBEY, HIS SERVANTS YE ARE WHOM YE OBEY; whether of SIN UNTO DEATH, or of OBEDIENCE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Rom. 6:16). Note: everyone in every religion serves one or the other and that is their ONLY SALVATION OR DAMNATION.

8) The apostle Paul, who understood these things perfectly, said to those at Corinth that had accepted Christ as their savior, had been baptized into his name, had received the seal of the Holy Spirit but continued to sin, walking in THE WAY OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS: “AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND SIN NOT; FOR SOME HAVE NOT THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD: I SPEAK THIS TO YOUR TO YOUR SHAME” (I COR.15:34).

So the serpent, who at this point, was still “under the dominion” of the man, proceeded the only way he could: he “beguiled Eve through his subtlety and her mind was corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (II Cor. 11:3). He tempted her with evil and she was drawn away of her own lust and enticed. Then when Eve’s lust conceived it brought forth sin, and when that sin was finished it brought forth death (James 1:14-15).

Eve’s dominion over the serpent was guaranteed as long as she chose THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, which Paul calls “the obedience of faith” (Rom 1:5; 16:26). And “the obedience of faith” means hearing God’s voice and obeying it rather than hearing and obeying the voice of the serpent. Eve, and everyone today, have nothing to fear from the serpent as long as they cleave to God and walk in THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. For then as now, whatever power the serpent possesses, he is no match for God (Christ) who possesses “all power in heaven and earth,” whose “hand formed the crooked serpent” (Job 26:13), and limited his power. Even the serpent’s “limited power” can only be used against man by God’s permission (Job 1 & 2)!

(NOTE: The Mystery of how and why Adam and Eve and the Holy Angels FELL, if they were created PERFECT, RIGHTEOUS AND HOLY, will be “opened” in a later section, Lord willing.)

In summary of Section I, it is absolutely, infallibly true that man’s condition and ultimately his only problem is a lack of RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE A RIGHTEOUS GOD WHO CREATED MAN RIGHTEOUS AND GAVE HIM EVERYTHING HE NEEDED TO CONTINUE IN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. God has promised he is going to judge all that dwell upon the earth, “every nation, every kindred, every tongue and people in RIGHTEOUSNESS” regardless of their religion or church or philosophy of life.

This truth gives rise to several queries:

1) Dear Reader, do you know what RIGHTEOUSNESS is and how it may be obtained?

2) Are you in THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS or THE WAY OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS?

3) Do you even believe that TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS is possible and available in this life? (Be aware that 99% of the churches deny this possibility and with the “subtlety of the Serpent” substitute “declared or positional righteousness” invented by man, which will save no one, for the TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, freely revealed “from faith to faith” IN ALL who believe the EVERLASTING GOSPEL and walk by faith!).

4) Does the God you worship promise to make you RIGHTEOUS in this life or in the next life? And does your God make you feel comfortable in your present condition by assuring you that Christians sin everyday, “in word, thought and deed?”

5) Is your church (or religion) “A FRIEND OF ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS” or an “ENEMY OF ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Acts 13;10)? Three of the large, prominent, main line churches in Austin called the police and removed two persons that sat quietly in their chairs, speaking to no one, simply because they knew these two believed God gave TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS to the faithful today, and a third for respectfully affirming the same in a Bible class. The embarrassed police apologized for removing them for “no disturbance of any kind,” but the churches and their leaders never did.

6) Is your preacher (or teacher) “A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS” like Noah, and does he PREACH RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE GREAT CONGREGATION like David (II Pet. 2:5; Ps. 40:9), or does he carefully explain with a great show of scholarship that RIGHTEOUSNESS is not possible in this life as long as we are in the “flesh.?” (The only thing such “scholarship” really reveals is an ignorance of the use of the word “flesh” in the Bible!)

7) Dear Reader, wouldn’t it be wise to take a little time and determine whether or not you are worshipping the TRUE GOD or whether you have been deceived? Jesus said concerning his God, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Mt. 19:26). Do you not find it strange that Satan (the serpent), a mere “creature” with limited power, can with that power call men into UNRIGHTEOUSNESS in this life, but God, with unlimited power, cannot call men into RIGHTEOUSNESS in this life?

8) Is it not clear to you that anyone that believes that it is not possible to be made RIGHTEOUS in this life have a religion in which their SATAN is more powerful than their GOD? Do you worship such a God; impotent before your mighty Satan? If so you worship a false God. Thankfully there is a test for the TRUE GOD: If you have worshipped your God for years and are stilled plagued by anger, lust, resentment, unforgiveness, etc., you need to “Awake to righteousness and sin not” (I Cor. 15:34), for you have not the knowledge of the TRUE GOD who makes his people RIGHTEOUS, which is the only thing absolutely necessary for salvation! Does it really make any sense at all that God’s ”redeemed children” are to live out their lives “sinning every day in thought, word and deed?”

9) Do you know the test for deception? “Know ye not that the UNRIGHTEOUS shall not inherit the kingdom of God? BE NOT DECEIVED” (I Cor. 6:9). Be assured of this one unassailable truth; “If your philosophy, religion or church is not, day by day, setting you free from UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; from sins you’ve never been able to overcome, your philosophy, religion or church is not doing you any good!

10) Dear Reader, in the fear of God, consider the following inescapable truth: If you are not walking in the “Way of Righteousness” (II Pet 2:21), you are not “BORN AGAIN!” for:

“Whosoever is born of God DOTH NOT COMMIT SIN; for his seed remaineth in him: and he CANNOT SIN, BECAUSE HE IS BORN OF GOD. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not RIGHTEOUSNESS is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother,” (I Jn. 3:9-10), and,

“If ye know that he is RIGHTEOUS, ye know that every one that doeth RIGHTNESS IS BORN OF HIM,” (I Jn. 2:29), and,

“Little Children, let no man DECEIVE you: he that doeth RIGHTEOUSNESS is RIGHTEOUS, even as he (ie. Christ) is RIGHTEOUS,” (I Jn. 3:7).

11) Can you discern between the “Voice of God” and the “Voice of the Serpent” in the following statements?

a) The RIGHTEOUS God, loved the world so much, that he gave his Righteous Son so we could be “born again” and live in UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; sinning every day in thought,word and deed.

b) The RIGHTEOUS God, loved the world so much, that he gave his Righteous Son so that we could be “born again” and live in RIGHTEOUSNESS every day in thought, word and deed.

EVERY PERSON IN EVERY PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION OR CHURCH IS DEFINED BY ONE SIMPLE THING AND BELONG TO ONE OF TWO GROUPS BECAUSE OF THAT ONE, SIMPLE, DEFINING TRUTH: NAMELY,

“THE DESIRE OF THE HEART; WHATEVER THE HEART HUNGERS AND THIRSTS AFTER, THAT DEFINES THE MAN!” WHAT YOU ARE TODAY, AND WHERE YOU ARE TODAY, AND WHICH STATEMENT YOU WILL CHOOSE TODAY, DEFINES WHO YOU ARE TODAY, AND WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY IF YOU CONTINUE AS YOU ARE!

Do you have FAITH in the ONE, TRUE, RIGHTEOUS GOD that promised to all men, everywhere, in every philosophy, religion and church;

“BLESSED ARE THEY WHICH DO HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS: FOR THEY SHALL BE FILLED?” (Mt. 5:6).

FOR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, “IN THE NATURE OF THINGS,” FOR A RIGHTEOUS GOD TO PRODUCE CHILDREN, “AFTER HIS KIND,’” THAT ARE NOT RIGHTEOUS!

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