Theological question: How can we recognize false teaching today? Justify, please.
You won’t automatically recognize “false teaching” lest the Holy Spirit indwells you (Ephesians 1:13-14; John 14:16) and He, the indwelling Holy Spirit, discerns for you the words of deceit; therefore, unless you are born again by faith in Jesus as your Messiah, you have no realistic hope of discerning what is true and what is false with consistency.
In order for the Spirit to guide you in Truth, you must first take the initiative to input that Truth into your mind and your spirit through reading, study, reciting, listening, to the Scriptures and this allows the Spirit to bring to your memory, to the forefront of cognition, what our LORD has said, its context, its relevance in your life (2 Timothy 2:15).
Much like a modern day computer’s hard drive and stored data; lest you input the data of Scripture, the Holy Spirit has nothing from which to draw upon and provide you insight and discernment.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Actually, the Torah is but a mere fragment of the comprehensive spiritual law (Romans 2:14-15), the spiritual law having been infused within human kind on Day-6 as a bulwark against unrestrained narcissism as the spiritual law is arbitrated by the human conscience. It is that same spiritual law that judged Satan of covetousness before the creation of Time and that same law judged the Adamic and Noahic generations of defilement with the demonic resulting in the extinction of all mankind save eight.
When Elohim speaks of writing His laws on the heart of mankind, He speaks of the New Covenant where the indwelling Holy Spirit, given to all who trust in Messiah Jesus as Savior; these who have trusted, believed in Jesus are granted the Gift of the Spirit to dwell within them (Ephesians 1:13-14) and it is the indwelling Holy Spirit who becomes the Arbiter of the redeemed, enlivened, conscience, the new man (2 Corinthians 5:17), and the Spirit walks the new man and new woman in daily sanctification producing divine fruit through them that fulfills all law (Galatians 5:23); both, codified and spiritual, and this divine fruit (Galatians 5:16-23) actually pleases the Father and proves one to be a disciple of Jesus (John 15:8).
If Torah were written upon the heart void the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit to Arbitrate the redeemed conscience, Torah would be as impotent concerning righteousness with the Father as it was in the Old Covenant (Romans 8 ).
Hebrew Roots asked: “Why are those seeking to follow God’s laws called Judaizers?”
It’s theologically acceptable and a beautiful endeavor to seek to honor Elohim’s laws as long as that “attempt” to obey Torah does not convolute the purity of faith, alone, in Jesus, alone. Problem is; concerning Hebrew Roots and many Messianic Judaism parishioners, they place one foot in Torah Law and one foot in the New Covenant and this perversion of Elohim’s will concerning the sufficiency of the Son to redeemed apart from works results in death in Hell for the compromised.
If you’re a Hebrew Roots or Messianic Christian, your salvation and your walk in the Spirit is rooted solely in faith in Jesus, alone. Your works, your efforts at obedience to days, letters, diets, traditions, feasts, play ZERO role in your salvation…as salvation is by grace (unmerited favor apart from human input or works) through faith, trusting, believing, in Jesus as Messiah…this is the KEY to unlocking the door to salvation.
If you seek to enter New Covenant relationship with the Father through faith in Jesus and add water baptism or Torah Law obedience or speaking in tongues or church attendance or Mass participation or receiving the Sacraments or paying your indulgences or praying the rosary or seeking to venerate Mary or walking door-to-door spreading the doctrines of your particular religion…you have nullified the sufficiency of Jesus’ blood to atone for your sin by faith, alone…you are a Judaizer…you are a CULT…you are a deceiver of Truth concerning the Gospel (Romans 4:4-5).
Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
Islamist inquiry: My question is, Why Jesus himself can not do this but ask you humans to do so? No deflection.
If one understands causation for the Genesis creation narrative, they acknowledge the truism that WAR is the reason for our existence in this temporary realm of Time and the primary focus of Jesus having entered Time was to complete the declaration of war proclaimed in Genesis 3:15 via the battle strategy, the Gospel, first pictured in Genesis 3:21; in fact, the primary reason Jesus entered the temporary Realm of Time was “to destroy the works of Satan” (1 John 3:8b).
An overwhelming majority of human kind is blind, blatantly ignorant, to the war that rages around them and through them via the Spiritual Realm. The Old Testament of Scripture graphically articulates the horrors of this Spiritual War having manifest partially within the physical Realm of Time…what you see and what horrifies some readers of Scripture is the DEATH and suffering that extends across the pages of Torah. This horror and suffering is expected when one knows and understand the battle before us.
Islam and Satan,
What I find rather comical is the fact that the Muslim, the Islamist, will take portions of the Old Testament documentation of this Spiritual War and attempt to blaspheme or disparage Elohim the Father, Elohim the Son, Elohim the Holy Spirit, for their tactics against our enemy, Satan, and his demons, when it is the Islamist that serves our enemy, Satan, who is Allah masquerading as an angel of light via the Arabic moon god and it is the Islamist that is Satan’s warriors within the Realm of Time. The false prophet Muhammad being a 7th-Century nomadic, demon possessed, child rapist, murdering, thief, who plagiarized the Torah to construct the Quran, Satan’s book of demonically rooted battle strategies.
Soon, Satan via Islam/Iran-Russia-China will come against Jerusalem, Israel in a limited nuclear war (the Book of Revelation) and this will trigger Messiah’s 2nd-Advent to Mount Olivette and the initiation of the Millennial Kingdom…this is simply a continuation of the spiritual war prophesied in Genesis 3:15 involving Satan v. Jesus…nothing new here…simply Elohim’s battle strategy to right the wrong initiated by an anointed cherub in the Kingdom of Elohim before the foundation of the World (Luke 10:18; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 12:3-9).
The Universe, specifically, this Earth, was created as a temporary repository for the Great Kingdom War initiated by a rebellious, covetous, anointed cherub angel (Luke 10:18; Revelation 12:3-9).
Elohim the Father initiated the creation narrative and delegated authority to Elohim the Son as Creator (Genesis 1; John 1; Hebrews 1; Colossians 1; John 3:35) who took elements from the unseen Spiritual Realm and fashioned those elements into matter, atoms, that can be apprehended by a life-form subject to Time and physics (Hebrews 11:3). It is also interesting to note that Elohim the Holy Spirit is first introduced as the Logistical Overseer of the Creation Narrative in Genesis 1:2.
This is but one reason why Satan, an anointed cherub angel (Ezekiel 28:11-15), is the first creature introduced subsequent Elohim forming Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from the rib of Adam. This is why a formal declaration of war is proclaimed by Elohim in Genesis 3:15, a war that would involve Satan and an anointed One who would enter Time through the seed of the woman and do battle with Satan, Jesus our Messiah.
Immediately following this proclamation of war in Genesis 3:15, Elohim pictures His battle strategy, the Gospel, by which He would destroy the works of Satan (death-Hell-the grave); the Gospel is first pictured for human kind in Genesis 3:21 with the shedding of innocent blood by Elohim, Himself, to cover Adam and Eve in a gifted, imputed, robe of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) while Elohim rejected Adam’s self-righteous attempt to cover and conceal his sin with fig leaves of human righteousness (Ephesians 2:8-9); in fact, the primary reason the Son of God, Jesus our Messiah, entered Time was “to destroy the works of Satan” (1 John 3:8b). Jesus fulfilled the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 via the battle strategy pictured in Genesis 3:21 some 4000 years later on a Roman Cross outside of Jerusalem on a mount called “Golgotha.” Jesus, born of the seed of the woman (Not Adam’s seed via Joseph) destroyed the works of Satan via His own shed blood as atonement for sin (Matthew 26:28; 1 Peter 1:18-19) which harkens back to Genesis 3:21 and a Gospel that was ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-9).
The entire purpose for this temporary Universe and specifically this temporary Earth and our complex genome is as participants and as a temporary physical repository for an unfathomable Spiritual War that rages on around us, through us, as we choose to be a warrior for Jesus by faith or a warrior for Satan via submission to the lust of the flesh.
Long story short…we’re in an unfathomable spiritual war, we are warriors for one of two parties, Jesus or Satan. This IS the “purpose” for the Universe, a temporary physical repository for war as Elohim restores order, peace, holiness, to His eternal Kingdom, a Holy Kingdom disrupted by a rebellion, a mutiny, initiated by an anointed cherub before Time began.
Innocent substitute. Replaced fig leave of human righteousness.
If one seeks to honor Torah, they must first trust, believe, in Jesus as Messiah who died for them to pay a sin-debt they cannot pay them self, receive the Holy Spirit as Guarantor of New Covenant relationship and allow the Spirit’s anointing to produce divine fruit through them, divine fruit that fulfills all that Torah commands concerning morality, divine fruit that fulfills the elements of all moral law (spiritual and codified) while simultaneously pleasing the Father and proving one to be a disciple of Jesus (John 3; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 6:14; Galatians 5:16-23; John 15:8; Romans 7:6).
Christian, you are not under Torah Law (Romans 6:14), you are under grace through faith in Jesus (Romans 6:14). You attain obedience in the New Covenant subsequent salvation by faith in Jesus, obedience that pleases the Father, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit who works through you to produce divine “fruit” (Galatians 5:16-23) that will stand the test of authenticity relevant to the BEMA Judgment of Messiah and this fruit will honor the Father’s will for your life and testify to this lost, defiled, World, that you are a true disciple of Jesus (John 15:8).
Mocking the Trinity: “Dear Christians: The Christ You Have Created”
Brevity is wisdom, I’ll do my best. I can only “assume” that those of you who deny the Trinity of Elohim (Genesis 1:1) are not redeemed by faith as you are obviously absent the Holy Spirit of Truth and Wisdom (Ephesians 1:13-14; John 14:17). Christianity did not “invent” the Trinity but Christianity simply proclaims what the Scriptures proclaim in a clear and unambiguous fashion; that is, there is a clear proclamation by the Holy Spirit, the Author of Scripture, that Elohim, Genesis 1:1, a plural noun accompanied by a singular verb, has introduced Himself in THREE DISTINCT PERSONS POSSESSING EQUAL DEIFIC ATTRIBUTES YET POSSESSING INDIVIUDAL WILL AND PERSONALITY AND RESPONSIBILITY CONCERNING ALL THINGS CREATED AND ESCHATOLOGICAL IN NATURE.
When one carefully examines the Scriptures, accompanied by the Holy Spirit as their Tutor, it would be a lie, self-deception, abject ignorance through denial, to reject the obvious, the undeniable, Elohim the Father; Elohim the Son; Elohim the Holy Spirit. Personally, I wish, for the sake of simplicity and understanding, that the agreed upon delineation of authority in the divine God-Head was not so, that there were no distinct differences in how our Creator has introduced Himself to His creation, but to deny the Trinity is to deny what the Holy Spirit teaches; to deny the Trinity is to turn a blind eye to what is before me in the Canon of Scripture. I simply refuse to deny what the Holy Spirit has made so very obvious to me!
I humbly and regretfully admit that my three-pound brain lacks the cognitive acuity to explain the Trinity, but I confess that if my three-pound brain could accurately explain our omnipotent Creator, He would not be Deity. Those of you who deny the Trinity are blatantly blind and willfully stupid or you’re simply prejudiced liars and deceivers and your motive is servitude to Satan, himself, an objective of infusing confusion and doubt concerning the reality of Elohim.
As one who loves Elohim, the Father and the Son and the precious Holy Spirit (my true Friend), I grow so weary of your existence in Time and your ever-present willful ignorance of what is before you in Scripture and the demonically rooted doubt that you place in the soul of those eagerly, desperately, searching for hope in Elohim.
Elohim the Father = Administrator Elohim the Son = Creator-Warrior-Messiah-Judge Elohim the Holy Spirit = Logistics (the Divine “Dunamis” of the Canon of Scripture)
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 (ESV)
What does it mean to be “born again” (John 3:3)?
Jesus used the term to be “born again” in John 3 to indicate that the one who trusts in Jesus as Messiah, receives the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor of New Covenant promise (Ephesians 1:13-14), this redeemed man or woman becomes a “new creation” in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17); that is, they become a new man or new woman spiritually and their conscience is enlivened by the indwelling Holy Spirit, there is a “new” outlook on life, the old person struggling with the flesh died, the new has been born with a new desire to honor our Creator through obedience to our Creator’s will; that is, the Holy Spirit anoints the redeemed in Jesus with a desire to produce divine “fruit” (Galatians 5:16-23) and this divine fruit fulfills all law (codified and spiritual), this divine fruit actually pleases the Father, this divine fruit proves one to be a legitimate disciple of Jesus (John 15:8). The faithful in Jesus enter into a new life, new outlook, new hope, new joy and peace and assurance that the old person, who was enslaved to the flesh and the Adamic sin-nature (Romans 5:12) could not imagine.
Jesus endured the Cross primarily “to destroy the works of Satan” e.g., death, Hell, the grave; this, for eschatological concerns (1 John 3:8b). Humanity is a recipient of Jesus’ victory at Golgotha by grace through faith in Jesus as Messiah (John 3:16).
Jesus’ war with Satan is first prophesied in Genesis 3:15 and the Gospel, the shedding of innocent blood for redemption via an imputed robe of righteousness, is first prophesied in Genesis 3:21 (2 Corinthians 5:21). The death of Jesus and His Gospel message were foreordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-9; Revelation 13:8).
Jesus’ ministry: a methodical transition from Torah Law to Holy Spirit obedience…
Though Jesus was born under the Law Covenant and Jesus fulfilled that Law in perfection for our redemption, Jesus incrementally moved His ministry from one of Law/Torah to one of the production of divine “fruit” via the Holy Spirit by which all law is fulfilled; this is something that Torah could not accomplish.
Jesus condensed the 613 Mosaic laws down to two-greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-40) and Jesus’ ministry methodically progressed toward the initiation of the New Covenant established in His blood (Luke 22:20); Messiah strategically moved from “keep my Commandments” (John 14:15) to “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” (John 15:8)
Finally, Jesus taught how one should discern authentic teachers of the word from false teachers and in doing so, Jesus provided the impetus or sign by which honorable teachers would be identified contrasted with false teachers: “So then, you will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:20) Again, another reference by Jesus to divine fruit and its applicability in the New Covenant.
We see that Messiah’s ministry, having begun under the Law Covenant, slowly and methodically transitioned into a ministry that emphasized the work of the Holy Spirit dwelling within Him and the strategic method of producing obedience in His disciples, then and now, through the production of divine fruit (Galatians 5:16-23) via the anointing of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14) who is a promised Guarantor of redemption in the New Covenant established in the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:13-14; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:27; Hebrews 8:10).
"RickeyD" Holtsclaw 