Wake Up!

[RR]

A great Light once came into a dark world. But it did not shine long: Jesus died on a cross. Soon afterward His disappointed friends were filled with joy at the news of His resurrection. They learned that He had given His life as a sacrifice for sins, and that His death was the basis for their salvation. Jesus' free gift enables salvation for all who shall ever believe. And earnest light-bearing followers continue to show forth that Light.

Not long after His death, unrighteous teachers assumed authority. They ignored the moral lessons in Hebrew Scripture. They invented theological language through which to conceal their own subtle changes and deceptions. Councils developed creeds through which they taught unholy errors, and those errors are still only too often accepted as authoritative truths. These councils demanded agreement with their creeds from all who wanted permission to speak from the pulpit in God's name.

Creed-taught error continues today. Evangelical crusaders and fundamentalist campaigners unknowingly misrepresent the true and loving God. When sincere, religious people express opinions which oppose God's revealed purpose, darkness only increases, masquerading as Christianity.

Many have not learned that man is a soul (Gen. 2:7). Instead, they believe what the serpent told Eve, "thou shalt not surely die." They have not learned that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:4). Many do not understand that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23), or that death means non-existence.

God's mercy, the Bible says, "endureth forever," yet He is perceived as a God who reserves unending conscious punishment with literal fire for the unsaved. This idea obscures God's expressed intention to bless with resurrection all of the dead--both the just and the unjust.--Acts 24:15

Christians are told to love their enemies (Matt. 5:43-48). Having commanded us to love our enemies, would God then burn his? "God is love" (I John 4:16). Love motivated Him to offer His only Son for a depraved and sinful world (John 3:16). One with such love would surely not torture those same people even for one minute!

Many have not learned that God's judgments are intended to teach people about righteousness (Isa. 26:9). His judgments are also intended to destroy transgressions, evil, and evil doers (Psalm 39:8-10). Surely His mercy would ensure that no more than necessary punishment is exacted.

[Albert]

I agree with you 100%. A lot of the bad doctrine that you are talking about crept in from other cultures and paganism. Maybe it's because I'm a Sir Isaac Newton-like time freak, but I do get hung up (maybe more than I ought to) about the Sabbath and Feast Days of Leviticus 23. Unlike some churches that observe them, I won't make it a salvation issue, but not knowing them and what they are about IMO cripples certain aspects of Christian understanding of God's redemptive plan (and prophecy) contained therein. I won't push them on anyone - that's just me who wants to be aware and observe those times. That said, I noticed that more and more Christian churches are starting to adopt recognition of these feasts and how they play a major role in prophecy. 40 years ago, a person as myself would have been considered strange at best, and a heretic at worst. But like I said, I am noticing more and more churches adopting this and some of the things you are saying. I'm also seeing in Christian news about revivals all over the world. I can see there's a move of God, so let's just pray (and help out where we can) and let God do the rest, akin to Paul's statement "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." But I promise that the next few years just around the corner are not going to be boring spiritually.

[Kenneth]

Why blame unbiblical doctrine on Creeds and Confessions? If the Creed is unbiblical prove from the Scripture how/why it is!

Look for instance at the doctrine here that you espouse. I'll point out only one point you make. You give us your opinions without bringing into harmony ALL the verses having to do with particular doctrines. You speak of man being a soul that dies, but you speak nothing of that part of our living soul that dies is flesh & bone, because the spirit that completes a living soul, returns to God who gave it. (Ecc. 12:7) Nor do you make any effort to prove what the state of being the spirit of man that returns to God in? If the soul that dies continues to be a spiritual body of believers in heaven after physical death, does the soul that shall die also include the spirit of man who dies in faith? (1Cor 15:44-49)

My understanding from Scripture shows me the outward body of flesh & bones of mankind is mortal, and therefore is destined to die, but the spirit within mankind that makes them complete living soul, that dies in faith (is born again) returns to God possessing the Spirit of Christ within. Because we have Christ's promise that we who have His Spirit within shall be eternally alive through Him until our body is physically resurrected immortal and incorruptible. (Eph 1:12-14) If the life we have through Christ's Spirit in us is eternal, and it is, when the outer body of man's soul that shall die, that death does not take the eternal spiritual life we have through His Spirit within our spirit.

Armed with this understanding, we have more clarity and greater knowledge of what Christ means when Scripture tells us the soul that sinneth shall die, does not mean that after the body of saints dies there is no longer life through our spirit that returns to God who gave it. If the soul that sins shall die means the spirit given us by God also ceases to have life after physical death, why does Christ promise us that whosoever lives and believes in Him shall NEVER die?

So the soul that is the body of flesh & bones indeed does die, for every man is destined to death, but the life we receive through Christ's Spirit within our spirit continues to give eternal spiritual life to that part of man's soul that is spirit, that in Christ shall never die. It is for this reason that John writes of "souls" being alive in heaven after physical death. Not all souls, but those who have partaken of the first resurrection through the resurrection life of Christ.