Warning: Mark 16:9-20 used by false teachers with intent or by ignorance to promote false doctrine in the apostasy of charismata. What is the Truth?

False doctrines such as “Baptism Saves,” “Snake Handling” and “Drinking Poison” as evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence or evidence of salvation or evidence of “Baptism in the Holy Spirit”…these doctrines of demons find their origin in Scriptural additions not authorized by the Holy Spirit.

Mark 16:9-20 is far too often used by apostates, those with an agenda seeking to obscure and deny the sufficiency of faith, alone, in Messiah Jesus as foundational to salvation, forgiveness of sin, initiation of covenant promise with the Father.

Mark 16:9-20 is far too often used by zealots seeking self-aggrandizement in “Churches” of charismata, Pentecostalism, Full-Gospel Churches, Non-denominational Churches, to promote ludicrous-dangerous behavior, demonically rooted fanaticism.

Mark 16:9-20 is an addition to the Scriptures that does NOT appear in early manuscripts. Mark 16:9-20 was most likely an addendum to Mark’s rather abrupt Gospel conclusion and most likely added as an addendum by a well-meaning Scribe who never intended for the paragraph to be absorbed into the inspired Text.

Most likely, as Mark’s Gospel was copied and recopied over time, the addendum found its way into the Text by error; therefore, do not base doctrine or Church protocol, your personal walk with Jesus, on Mark 16:9-20 and know that the better Bible translations bracket these verses and warn you that they’re not found in early manuscripts.

Mark 16:9-20 (NASB)

9 [[[c]Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.

12 Now after that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. 13 And they went away and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them, either.

The Disciples Commissioned

14 Later He appeared to the eleven disciples themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reprimanded them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen from the dead. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

19 So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.]]

[[[d]And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.]]

Footnotes

1. Mark 16:1 Or Jacob
2. Mark 16:4 I.e., its size drew their attention
3. Mark 16:9 Later mss add vv 9-20
4. Mark 16:20 A few late mss and ancient versions contain this paragraph, usually after v 8; a few have it at the end of the ch

The Christian and the Sin-Nature inherited from Adam…

Man is born into sin possessing a sin-nature (Romans 5:12; Romans 3:23)…a sin-nature that can only be redeemed by grace through faith, not striving to keep laws or ordinances (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16).

Even the redeemed in Jesus remain in a sinful body of flesh and struggle with the sin-nature, daily, though they now possess the Holy Spirit and a “new nature” (2 Corinthians 5:17) that wars against the old-nature in Adam (Romans 7:14-25).

If our eternal destiny was contingent or predicated upon our behavior, no man would be saved from Hell; this is but one reason why Jesus entered the Realm of Time, to provide us imputed – gifted righteousness, HIS righteousness, by faith (2 Corinthians 5:21) as decreed in the New Covenant by the Father (Hebrews 8:12; Hebrews 10; Jeremiah 31; Ezekiel 36; John 3:16).

It is the Holy Spirit given the redeemed in Jesus that initiates a transformation of the sinful nature to one of obedience during the daily, life-long, process of sanctification but until we rid ourselves of this body of death, we will struggle with sin as it is the nature of the flesh born of the seed of Adam (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 6; Romans 7:14-25; Romans 5:12).

Must I be baptized in water in order to be saved from death in Hell?

No…Water Baptism is a “work” of obedience that manifests subsequent faith (noun) in Jesus as Lord. A man or woman is not saved, does not enter into covenant relationship with the Father, by what they DO but in whom they BELIEVE; that is, faith-trust in Jesus Christ as Lord (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16).

Water Baptism does not save the soul from Hell but Water Baptism is a work of obedience, a sign, a public profession and declaration, to a lost and dying world of your decision to follow-trust-obey Jesus Christ as your Messiah.

Anyone who has truly trusted in Jesus as Lord will desire to be baptized as commanded by our Lord and that desire will be urgent as Jesus has commanded that we be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; therefore, the truly faithful will obey with urgency and thankfulness as their desire will be to please our Heavenly Father in all things.

A final thought…

When one refuses to follow Jesus in water baptism, though they have entered into covenant relationship with the Father by faith in the Son, they stand to lose reward and intimacy with our Lord subsequent the BEMA Judgment of Jesus Christ, a Judgment concerning the quality of works, obedience, loyalty, performed by the redeemed subsequent salvation; therefore, water baptism should be the first “work” of obedience subsequent one’s profession of faith in Jesus as their Lord.

It is written,

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28 (ESV)

In Jeremiah 17:9; Genesis 6:5, Elohim declares the human heart desperately wicked, evil; therefore, how is man made “positionally right” with Elohim?

This is the reason Jesus as Messiah was necessary and the Gospel ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-10). The Father did not leave us in our hopeless condition of sin, corruption and eternal damnation but sent His Son into the Realm of Time through the Tribe of Judah and Jesus lived a sinless, perfect, obedient, life and thereby fulfilled the righteous mandates of the Law for us and willingly gave His life as our sacrificial Lamb (1 Peter 1:19).

As a result of Jesus’ faithfulness and obedience at Golgotha, the Father, by covenant promise (Jeremiah 31; Ezekiel 36; Hebrews 8:12; Hebrews 10; John 3:16) agrees to forgive, forget, the sins of the one who trusts in Jesus as Lord-Messiah and believes that Jesus died in their place as atonement for our sin (John 3; Romans 10:9-10); in this, the Father agrees to impute-gift, by grace, the perfection and righteousness of Jesus over the life of the one who believes in Jesus as Lord (2 Corinthians 5:21) thereby making that person “positionally right” with the Father by covenant promise; effectively, the Father agrees to forgive and forget the sins of the one who agrees to enter into covenant with Him by faith in His Son and the Father provides the Holy Spirit to indwell the faithful in Jesus as the Holy Spirit is the Seal and Guarantor of that covenant relationship, forever (Ephesians 1:13-14; John 14:16-17; Ezekiel 36:27).

It is the indwelling Holy Spirit that incrementally transforms the faithful in Jesus into the obedient image of Messiah via the daily process, the life-long process, of sanctification as the Spirit prepares the faithful in Jesus for an eternity of service in the New Jerusalem (Galatians 5:16; John 16:13-14). Faith in Jesus transforms mind, body, spirit.

Death on a Cross…why?

Elohim’s primary purpose or goal through the Gospel is the defeat of Satan through self-less love as Elohim proceeds to restore holiness to His Kingdom disrupted by a covetous, rebellious, cherub angel and one-third of the angelic creation that followed that angel in the rebellion.

Elohim’s primary concern was and is the maintenance, continuation, of authentic love and relationship, a volitional love, with His faithful angelic creation that remained faithful to Him through the rebellion, a coup d’état having manifest in the Kingdom which is causation for the creation of Time, matter, the human genome, as a repository for, a response to, the cosmic, spiritual, war that rages between good v. evil. A spiritual war that rages around us, within us and through us, daily (Ephesians 6:12).

Had Elohim simply destroyed Satan and the demons/fallen angels for their rebellion, Elohim feared those who love Him would see Him as a tyrant and no longer would the angels love Him out of volition/free will but fear Him and obey in fear of tyrannical reprisal; true love, authentic reciprocal relationship, cannot exist in an atmosphere of fear and terror; therefore, what you see in the sacrifice of Jesus is Elohim’s self-less love demonstrated at Golgotha for His faithful angelic creation, angels who look upon our existence in Time and Elohim’s love for us with awe and wonder; also, we are eternal partakers of Elohim’s selfless love for His angelic creation when we trust in the Son, Jesus Christ, who is our Creator-Messiah-Warrior-Judge.

Elohim is honored and pleased and glorified through our faith in the Son, Jesus Christ, and our alliance with Him in this current Time of struggle, an alliance initiated by faith-trust-belief that will be rewarded beyond human comprehension in Eternity; therefore, fight the good fight of faith knowing that your trials and battles are for cause and your faith is not in vain (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Obedience that pleases the Father for Eternity…

Jesus taught that obedience is superior to, greater than, better than, sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22) and that obedience which truly honors the Father is only possible by first establishing covenant relationship with the Father by grace (unmerited favor-a gift unattainable through human effort) through faith-belief-trust in the Son, Jesus Christ (John 3); then, receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit as the Seal and Guarantor of covenant relationship (Ephesians 1:13-14); then, walking daily in the “new creation” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) by serving and listening and following the tutorship, the teaching, the divine guidance, of the indwelling Holy Spirit via the conscience (Galatians 5:16) via the daily process of sanctification where the Holy Spirit prepares you daily, incrementally, for an eternity of service in the New Jerusalem.

The “commands” given us by Jesus during His 3.5-year ministry are exactly what the Holy Spirit teaches through the human conscience during the daily process of sanctification; in fact, it is the Holy Spirit who brings to the human conscience everything that Jesus has taught and makes those teachings applicable to every discerning choice, decision, the Christian confronts every single day of their Earthly life and in Eternity (John 14:26).

Christians do NOT chase after letters, edicts, traditions, days, but the Christian walks by faith in Jesus and obedience to the Holy Spirit via the conscience via the daily process of sanctification (Romans 6:14; Romans 7:6; Galatians 5:16), this is the divinely ordained process of sanctification that is pleasing to the Father, all else is futility and chasing after the wind.

Confusion abounds…

There is a plethora of Christian and Israelite confusion concerning obedience, commandments, in the New Covenant, confusion that results from an absence of the Holy Spirit in one’s life or confusion that exists because one refuses to walk in the Father’s grace via the Holy Spirit while stubbornly pursuing self-righteousness in the flesh (Galatians 2:16); this is error, this is suffering, this is doubt, this is compromise with the Devil.

Walking in the Father’s will, peace…

Walk daily in complete trust and faith in Messiah Jesus and the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding will overwhelm your life and provide you direction and joy and peace that are the divine, eternal, attributes of the indwelling Holy Spirit working in a life that is completely “sold-out” to Jesus as Lord and Savior (Romans 5:1; Proverbs 3:5). Any detour from the Path of Righteousness methodically taught and administered by the indwelling Holy Spirit via the redeemed conscience is error and failure in the flesh and NOT the Father’s will for one’s life (Galatians 5:16).

Concerning the Sabbath and Israel; Concerning the Sabbath and the New Covenant…

The Sabbath, first given Israel’s children in Exodus 16, foreshadowed Messiah (Colossians 2:16) and when the fulfillment of the Sabbath entered Time through Judah’s Tribe, Israel’s children denied Him; Israel’s children mocked and blasphemed Him; Israel’s children scourged Him; Israel’s children murdered Him upon a Tree and demanded that His blood be upon them and their children (Matthew 27:25); therefore, Israel’s Sabbath was profaned by those to whom He came (Matthew 15:25); Israel profaned the Sabbath’s fulfillment in the Father’s presence.

If you love Jesus and honor Him by faith in Jesus as your Messiah, believing that Jesus died for you to pay your sin-debt, a debt you could never pay yourself, you are keeping the Sabbath and the Father is pleased and honored by your faith in His Son (John 6:29). You are doing well; therefore, “rest” in Jesus as your Lord (Romans 5:1; Matthew 11:28-30).

Did Law exist before Sinai?

Sinai’s Commandments were nothing new or novel. The Law of Conscience (Romans 2:14-15) i.e. the Natural Law, the Moral Law, existed from eternity past, initiated by Elohim in conjunction with the creation of the angels; this Natural Law was constructed, administered, by Elohim as an arbiter of free will, free will being essential for authentic love, intimacy and relationship with our Creator to exist with purity, authenticity, these being essential for an edifying reciprocal relationship.

That same Natural Law was infused within the human genome on Day-6 as human kind is created in the spiritual image of Elohim who imparted certain divine communicable attributes into humanity for His eschatological purposes (Genesis 1:26-28). Elohim, who is the perfection of law, holiness, righteousness, employed the Natural Law in righteous judgment of Satan’s sin of covetousness, defilement, that resulted in Satan’s extrication from the Kingdom and subsequently manifest in the creation of Time and matter, this Earth, as a repository for the Evil One apart from the Kingdom where nothing impure is permitted to exist (Revelation 21:27; Luke 10:18).

Why Sinai?

That same Natural Law judged the Adamic and Noahic generations of defilement, disobedience, a demonically deceived people worthy of death in judgment by water where all of humanity perished save eight; therefore, “law” existed long before Sinai, Sinai’s Commands having been given to the Hebrew Tribes specifically for Elohim’s eschatological purposes; a Law Covenant rooted and founded in Natural Law with additional specificity for Israel’s children as they were inundated by pagan tribes serving pagan gods relentlessly seeking Israel’s compromise.

Israel’s compromise with paganism would directly threaten Elohim’s eschatological plans concerning the defeat of Satan via the Gospel via the coming Messiah (1 John 3:8b) and stymie the restoration of order, holiness, righteousness, in His Kingdom….holiness, order, righteousness, that had been compromised by a rebellious cherub angel (Ezekiel 28:11+; Revelation 12) and those angels who followed him in the rebellion.

Law and the New Covenant,

If is the Natural Law of Conscience that is edified and magnified by the indwelling Holy Spirit in the New Covenant; that Natural Law working within the “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) in the life of the faithful in Jesus as the Holy Spirit employs the Natural Law written upon the heart of the redeemed and methodically walks them daily in sanctification via the conscience (Galatians 5:16; Romans 7:6)…not letters etched in stone or scratched upon parchment but a Law administered via the conscience and relevant long before Sinai.

Law and the New Jerusalem,

That same Natural Law will be extant in the New Jerusalem where free will exists by necessity and it is the Natural Law of Conscience that will never fade away.

“Christian Perfectionism” – a fallacy promulgated by the Devil and under girded by spiritual ignorance, hypocrisy, false teachers…

There are those who teach the fallacy that Christians become perfect in word, thought, deed, and therefore are no longer subject to sin and the ravages of same within the Realm of Time. This is a lie of the Devil.

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48 (ESV)

“Christian Perfectionism” is a deceptive work of Satan and false teachers…don’t fall for it. The ONLY sinless perfection, noted by Messiah in Matthew 5:48, that one can attain in this life constrained by Time, is the perfection and righteousness of Jesus imputed – gifted into our life by faith in Jesus as our Messiah and receive the forgiveness of the Father by covenant promise (John 3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 8:12; Hebrews 10).

As a result of the sin-nature inherited from our earthly father, Adam, (Romans 5:12), Christians DO sin in word, thought and deed; difference being, the redeemed in Jesus are declared “not guilty” by the Father via covenant promise, a covenant founded upon “grace” (a gift of unmerited favor) through “faith” (trust-belief) in Messiah Jesus and 1 John 1:9 is provided us as a means to maintain “intimacy” with our Lord via a cleansed conscience.

Christians don’t repent and seek forgiveness of sin to maintain salvation as our salvation is secured and guaranteed by the blood of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling us (John 10:28-30; Ephesians 1:13-14), but Christians repent and ask forgiveness to restore and maintain personal INTIMACY with our Lord as that INTIMACY and RELATIONSHIP is the most precious entity provided by Jesus through His sacrifice for us at Golgotha. Christians ask forgiveness and apologize to our Heavenly Father as we would a dear friend that we have wronged in word or deed; a true friend does not alienate you for your moment of indiscretion but your apology engenders restoration of intimacy, communication, the joy of fellowship. We apologize to our Heavenly Father for OUR BENEFIT and the benefit of our conscience.

Our Heavenly Father knows our heart, knows our weaknesses, knows our love for Him and the veracity of same; therefore, it is that love and grace of God within us via the Holy Spirit that motivates us to pursue righteousness, sinless perfection, but as long as we’re encumbered by corrupted flesh under the curse of sin, we struggle yet the Holy Spirit faithfully intercedes for us minute-by-minute in sanctification via the conscience; therefore, we’re granted peace with our Father through our faith in His Son, forever (Romans 8:26; Romans 5:1). Walk in peace with God seeking excellence in the security of covenant (Romans 8:35).

It is written and promised by the Holy Spirit,

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8 (ESV)

Understanding Isaiah 65:17: “For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.”

Will ignorance of the previous 6000-years prevail in the New Jerusalem?

“I will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). That which “shall not be remembered” by Elohim is our sin, our failures, not the relevant lessons learned via experiential relevance concerning the horrors of sin and Satan’s dominion over evil.

We will remember the ravages of sin and its horror as the previous 6000-years of devastation authored by Satan will act as a bulwark against future rebellion in the Kingdom, for both the angelic and human creation, as free will remains extant by necessity. All that Elohim, this Earth and humanity have endured at the hands of Satan will not be in vain.

We will be forever reminded of sin’s horror and devastation as we personally witness the nail scarred hands and feet, the spear-pierced side, of our Messiah, Jesus Christ. These memories will not consume us, our tears will be wiped away by our Lord, as we will exist in peace with Elohim through our faith established in Messiah Jesus (Romans 5:1; Revelation 21:4) but our memories will glorify the One who created the unfathomable beauty of the New Jerusalem and made our presence there possible (1 Corinthians 2:9; John 3).

Our Creator’s selfless love demonstrated at Golgotha in response to the horrors of sin and disobedience will be remembered and glorified and honored through our loving obedience and worship of the One who suffered and died that we could live, eternally (Revelation 4:8-11). The redeemed will never forget.