If you’re seeking to attach an entity to what represents “death” and ‘Hell,” Satan would be your guy. If you’re looking for the Scripture that coincides with “death” and “Hell” your translation is incorrect as “Hell” does not accompany death but death and “Hades” are relegated to Hell.
Death represents the “second death” of those who died rejecting the grace of the Father in Jesus our Messiah, Hades – torments is the holding place for the unrighteous Old and New Testament rebellious (Luke 16) who died rejecting Jesus…these are resurrected at the initiation of the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15) and they receive a resurrected body of corruption and stand before Jesus for adjudication; they are subsequently adjudicated guilty for their works and death, Hades, are cast into the Lake of Fire (Hell) where they will cease to exist, eternally, as no place if found for their iniquity in the Kingdom (Rev 21:27).
The Canon of Scripture today; mockers and doubters…
Where we differ is our understanding of our Creator’s sovereignty and immutability. By faith, I believe the words before me in the NASB or the ESV are the EXACT words my omnipotent Creator desires that I have in order that I know Him personally, love Him intimately, live with Him eternally.
You possess the free will to proliferate doubt about what the Holy Spirit has provided and what the omnipotent Holy Spirit is able to secure and provide to this very day, but I’ll trust the precious Spirit who resides within me because I love Him and respect Him and trust Him. You do you!
1 John 1:9 is not about forgiveness of sin relevant to restoration of New Covenant promise but about the restoration of intimacy with Elohim. If sin in a Christian’s life could negate the grace of the Cross, then no one could be redeemed by faith as grace would be fleeting and dependent upon works/behavior throughout the lifetime of the Christian.
When one enters into New Covenant relationship with the Father via faith in Jesus as Messiah, they are gifted-imputed the perfection, sinlessness, of Jesus and made “positionally right” with the Father due New Covenant promise (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 8:12) and they are considered, by the Father, to be perfect…which is necessary if one is to enter the Kingdom of Elohim subsequent death of the body in Time (Revelation 21:27).
1 John 1:9 is provided the Christian by the Holy Spirit not as a restorative prayer of relationship concerning salvation, 1 John 1:9 is given for restoration of intimacy and joy and peace with Elohim which are disrupted by disobedience…much like a wayward child and their parents…the child does not cease to be family due disobedience but relationship and intimacy suffers until things are reconciled.
Even if a Christian sins with aforethought, that sin does NOT break New Covenant promise but the true Christian will be quick to repent as the loss of intimacy is unbearable. If one could see the mind of the Father when a Christian repents, the Father would say, “what sin?”…the Father will not break His Covenant…we repent and seek forgiveness for our own well being as fractured intimacy with our LORD is a miserable life indeed.
Religious Cults: What are they as compared to Biblical Christianity?
A “religious cult” is any belief system, organizational theology, Church doctrine, that adds to the sole-sufficiency of Jesus our Messiah to provide full atonement for sin through the shedding of His sinless blood at Golgotha, an atonement that is actuated by faith, alone, in Jesus, alone. Jesus + NOTHING = atonement for sin, salvation, eternal life, the receiving of the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor/Seal of New Covenant promise. Salvation is purely a divine Gift of Grace (unmerited favor) that no one born of Adam’s seed (Romans 5:12) can attain through observing laws, days, diets, clothing, traditions, rituals (Galatians 2:16; Romans 4:4-5).
A few outstanding examples of religious cults today are,
1) Catholicism – a works doctrine
2) Mormonism – a works doctrine
3) Jehovah’s Witness – a works doctrine and false Jesus
4) Church of Christ (not all but far too many) – a works doctrine
5) Seventh Day Adventists – a works doctrine
6) Black Hebrew Israelites – a works doctrine
7) Pentecostalism – those factions of Churches of Charismata that teach “speaking in tongues” as a prerequisite for salvation
Why is Jesus’ blood atonement sufficient atonement without the addition of water baptism or obedience/observance of the law? Why can’t a man or woman be sufficiently obedient to please Elohim and earn or assist in their own salvation? Let’s look at Adam, Sacrificial Law, Isaiah, Jesus, for the answer.
1) As early as Genesis 3:21, Elohim has told humanity that He, Himself, would provide those of faith an imputed-gifted robe of righteousness, a righteousness that human kind can never attain through works. This promise of Elohim was fulfilled by Messiah Jesus 4000-years later on a Roman Cross at Golgotha outside the gates of the Old City, Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 8:12).
Subsequent Adam’s compromise with sin, Adam began to manifest the symptoms of a fallen nature; that is, fear, shame, obfuscation. Adam hid from Elohim; Adam attempted to cover his shame – his nakedness with fig leaves; Adam obfuscated his sin and blamed his wife for their compromise with evil.
Elohim confronted Adam and in Adam’s presence, Elohim, Himself, shed innocent blood and took the skins of animals and clothed Adam and Eve in a gifted, imputed, robe of righteousness; a robe of forgiveness that Adam did not earn nor did he deserve.
Elohim, having clothed Adam and Eve in a robe of righteousness declared that the fig leaves, the works of Adam’s hands, was NOT accepted or sufficient to cover the shame of sin. A lesson often times overlooked by the members of religious cults.
2) Throughout the Old Covenant of Law, the children of Jacob, the Priests, were commanded to sacrifice specific animals for specific sins. Oddly enough, we learn in Hebrews 10:4 that the blood of animals, the work of animal sacrifice, was not sufficient to take away sin; so then, what was Elohim teaching through the bloody centuries of slain animals?
Elohim was teaching that the act or work of slaying an animal and bringing that animal to the altar as a covering for the sins of the individual and the sins of Israel’s children was not what ingratiated or initiated the forgiveness of sin or righteousness with Elohim, but it was the FAITH of the one offering the sacrifice that engendered favor with and forgiveness from Elohim; that is, the one offering the blood sacrifice demonstrated their “faith” in Elohim as they earnestly “believed” that Elohim would do exactly as He had promised in the Law. It was FAITH, not the works, that engendered Covenant-Righteousness.
3) Isaiah, penning Scripture by inspiration of Elohim the Holy Spirit, provides an Earth shattering statement in Isaiah 64:6 where he writes;
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted (filthy) garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” Isaiah 64:6 (ESV) (filthy = NASB)
Isaiah teaches that on our best day, our efforts to be obedient, to keep laws, rules, regulations, traditions, diets, in order to please Elohim are interpreted by Elohim as a “filthy garment” – in the literal Hebrew: “a bloody menstrual cloth in the nose of Elohim.”
If our human efforts focused on obedience are not sufficient to please Elohim the Father, what can be done to achieve sufficient righteousness or a “right standing” with Elohim?
4) Jesus provides an answer concerning human works and righteousness with Elohim the Father in His divine discourse recorded in Matthew 7:21-23 which reads;
“Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
First, one must ask in light of this discourse by Jesus, what is the will/work of Jesus’ Heavenly Father, Elohim the Father? Jesus answers that question for us here;
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” John 6:29 (ESV) The will of Elohim the Father is to believe in Jesus as your Messiah (John 3).
Jesus then articulates the works of those who have called Him Lord (Lord, meaning Earthly Master – one having authority over others) and when we theologically analyze each of the works listed, not one can be considered as “evil” on their face; in fact, the works are wonderful and obviously oriented toward honoring the Kingdom of Elohim.
So then, the next logical question is this: Why did Jesus refer to the works of those calling Him “Lord” as evil?
The answer lies in Jesus admonition/condemnation at the close of the discourse: “I never knew you…”
What is Jesus teaching here?
Jesus is teaching “COVENANT RELATIONSHIP – FIRST // WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SECOND.
In other words, if one desires to honor Jesus or the Father or the Spirit through works of righteousness; If one desires to honor Jesus’ Commandments (John 14:15), you must FIRST establish New Covenant Relationship with Elohim the Father by faith in the Son, Jesus our Messiah, receive the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor of New Covenant relationship (Ephesians 1:13-14); once Covenant relationship is established by faith, the redeemed will then obediently via spiritual anointing allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to produce divine fruit (Galatians 5:16-23) through them, divine fruit that fulfills all law (spiritual & codified); divine fruit that pleases the Father and proves you to be a disciple of Jesus (John 15:8).
In closing,
Religious cults deceptively sell you “snake oil” when they teach a works salvation; that is, religious cults teach that in addition to Jesus’ blood atonement for sin, you must be baptized in water; you must attend the mass; you must take part in the Eucharist; you must pay your indulgences; you must walk door-to-door and proselytize for your particular religion; you must keep the Laws of Torah; on and on it goes in infinity…you must add a particular human effort to Jesus’ blood atonement in order to be saved, forgiven of sin, receive eternal life. DON’T BELIEVE THE WOLVES IN SHEEPS CLOTHING!
Innocent substitute. Replaced fig leave of human righteousness.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,
Sabbatarian asked: “If the Sabbath was kept in the Old Testament and it will be kept in the Millennial Kingdom, why do Christians say the Sabbath is not relevant in the New Covenant?”
The Sabbath that will be celebrated in the Millennial Kingdom is the Sabbath given Israel’s children beginning in Exodus 16 i.e., the OLD Covenant. The Millennial Kingdom will host elements of the Old Covenant’s sacrificial requirements as the Millennial Kingdom will glorify our resurrected Messiah as He will be given the Kingdom denied Him at His First Advent.
Neither the Old Covenant or its celebration and fulfillment in the Millennial Kingdom are relevant concerning the New Covenant of Grace. In the New Covenant, those redeemed by faith in Jesus, are not under law, days, diets, traditions, clothing mandates, but the “law” in the New Covenant is the spiritual law (Romans 2:14-15) that has been written upon the heart of human kind beginning on Day 6 of Creation as human kind is created in the spiritual image of Elohim and thereby received certain divine communicable attributes from Elohim that separated Adam from the beasts of the field.
This spiritual law, in the New Covenant, is enlivened by the indwelling Holy Spirit who walks the redeemed in Jesus in daily Christian sanctification and through His anointing, He produces divine fruit (Galatians 5:15-23) through the redeemed and this fruit fulfills all law; both, codified and spiritual, and this fruit pleases the Father and proves one to be a faithful disciple of Jesus (John 15:8).
In the New Covenant, the redeemed are not under the laws, days, diets, traditions, of Sinai or Moses (Romans 6:14) and in the New Covenant, the redeemed honor the Sabbath’s intent through faith in Jesus who is the fulfillment of all the Sabbath Day foreshadowed.
Snake Oil sales pitch: “Faith that saves includes obedience.”
Incorrect. Faith saves through grace (unmerited favor), a gift that even obedience cannot earn. Once faith, belief, is established in Jesus and redemption is present via the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14), the redeemed having been “born again” (John 3; 2 Corinthians 5:17) they naturally begin to produce divine (Galatians 5:16-23) fruit via the anointing and sanctification of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
This production of fruit (Galatians 5:16-23) is what pleases the Father and proves one to be a disciple of Jesus (John 15:8), but obedience is NOT an element of salvation, faith/grace are.
Obedience that pleases the Father is the production of divine fruit via the anointing of the indwelling Holy Spirit that FOLLOWS salvation by faith, alone. When your faith “includes” obedience for salvation, you’re a religious cult as you negate the sufficiency of Jesus’ blood to atone for your sin apart from works/obedience. Your selling snake oil, I’m not buying.
In closing, it’s very important to remember that your works, your obedience, as strategies to please the Father and earn your forgiveness, this is self-righteousness and the Father considers your works for self-righteousness as a “filthy garment” (or in the Hebrew – a bloody menstrual cloth) (Isaiah 64:6).
We don’t work, strive to keep laws, be obedient, to be saved, it’s a gift of grace (unmerited favor) from the Father earned for us by Jesus at Golgotha. A Christian works because the indwelling Holy Spirit arbitrates the spiritual law written upon their heart during daily Christian sanctification and thereby produces fruit through them, this is Christian obedience in the New Covenant and that divine fruit fulfills all law that governs obedience.
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,
Your spiritual misunderstanding is mind boggling considering that your rejection of Jesus as God, Deity, proclaims your status as unredeemed, remaining in your sin (John 8:24).
I don’t suggest that understanding the necessity for Messiah’s deity is an element of salvation but I will profess that once one is redeemed by faith in Jesus and has received the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor and the Seal of New Covenant promise (Ephesians 1:13-14), they will KNOW and they will openly confess that Jesus is God/Elohim who is Creator, Warrior, Messiah and Judge; this, because the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13-15) testifies of Jesus’ Deity and the necessity for same.
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am “He,” you will die in your sins.” John 8:24 (NASB)
In John 8:24, the word “he” is added by translators. While English Bibles (like the NIV or KJV) use “I am he,” the original Greek simply says “I am” (egō eimi). This directly mirrors the divine name used in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14), with Jesus claiming equality with God.
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” John 8:58 (NASB)
Again: the original Greek says “I am” (egō eimi). This directly mirrors the divine name used in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14), with Jesus claiming equality with God.
The Jewish audience and their religious leadership clearly understood Jesus’ proclamation of Deity and sought to murder Jesus by stoning; ultimately, charging Jesus with “blasphemy” and handing Him over to Pilate, Herod, for execution.
Your initial error is failing to understand the context upon which Hebrews 1, John 1, Colossians 1, are based; that is, Jesus in His hypostatic union as fully man and fully Elohim. Jesus has enjoyed coequal glory and omnipotence and omnipresence with the Father and the Spirit from Eternity past; this, before the World was created (John 17:5). When the Father speaks of the Son as the “firstborn” and “begotten” and having been “appointed” and “sit at my right hand”…the Father is speaking of the unique position of the eternal God-Man, Jesus our Messiah, unique to all of Eternity and Jesus will continue in this unique positioning as the “firstfruits” of those resurrected from the dead with a glorified body…the same type of body the saints in Jesus will receive at the resurrection of the righteous.
The Father is speaking in terms of a resurrected Messiah who had previously set aside many of His deific attributes in order to take on flesh, subject Himself to the constraints of Time and physics and rely solely upon the Holy Spirit for power and miracles and conquering Satan at Golgotha (Luke 4:1; 1 John 3:8). It is this same Jesus that the Father is glorifying for OUR benefit demonstrating the power of obedience and honor and dignity displayed by the Son who will reign King forevermore. King in the Millennial Kingdom and the Eternal Kingdom, the New Jerusalem.
You assume that the Father’s delineation of authority somehow suggests Jesus is a lesser being than the Father but this is not true or accurate. Jesus has never been a lesser Deity than the Father as Jesus is the same yesterday, today, forever (Hebrews 13:8). I’m not sure what cult or sect you’ve involved yourself in, perhaps the cult of the Jehovah’s Witness, but you are far from the Kingdom. You might have a nice little religion but you and yours don’t know Jesus.
How is the Gentile “grafted” into Israel and what is the relevance of this “grafting?” (Romans 11)
The Christian’s “grafting” concerning Israel is relevant initially and primarily due to the promises Elohim made to Israel through Abraham (a Gentile); that is, through Abraham would come One who would be a blessing to every family of the Earth (Genesis 12:3); both Jew (Israelite) and Gentile.
The blessings promised Israel through Moses’ inspired writings (Torah) were, in large part, contingent upon National obedience (Deuteronomy 28); unfortunately, Israel failed Elohim; Israel conspired to murder their Messiah upon a tree and rejected the New Covenant, the Gospel, the Great Commission thus blaspheming the Holy Spirit and insulting the Father; therefore, Israel has fallen under divine judgment (Romans 11:25); consequently, only a mere “remnant” of Israel’s children will escape destruction in Hell due their rejection of Messiah (then and now) and their ancestors insistence that Messiah’s blood be upon them and their children (Isaiah 10:22; Romans 9:27; Matthew 27:27).
The promises and covenants relevant to Israel and the “grafting” of the Gentile into those promises and covenants are ALL fulfilled in Jesus and their divine fulfillment is realized in the life of a Christian ONLY by faith in Jesus as Messiah and the daily work of sanctification via the indwelling Holy Spirit as promised in the New Covenant spoken of by both Jeremiah and Ezekiel; therefore, the only true “grafting” has manifest through the Messiah and the promises made to Israel have been realized through faith via the Gospel; this, having little to do with one’s identification with Israel but ONLY through the Messiah who emanated through Israel’s child, Judah. I am NOT saved from Hell by Israel or his children, I am saved and grafted into the promises of Elohim through faith in Messiah Jesus who chose to enter Time through Israel’s offspring…this is my “grafting” as a Christian.
What is the “true” grafting?
The true, divine, grafting is the imputation-gifting of Jesus’ divine perfection over my life by faith in Jesus as LORD by which I am declared “not guilty” by my Heavenly Father and consequently welcomed into the family of Elohim as His child (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Somehow and for some reason, perhaps innate narcissism due the Adamic Fall, humanity considers itself far more relevant and important than same actually is. You think yourself something special in the grand scheme of things concerning our Creator, His creation narrative, Elohim’s eschatological will concerning the current war between good v. evil that rages around us and permeates our very existence. YOU ARE NOT!!!
You were born into war for a specific purpose; you were born in Time because of war and you will die in Time and your body will rot away due WAR and its consequences; you might NOT like it, you obviously don’t understand it or believe it but the reality of this Spiritual War exists and that war has been relegated to Time and physics (Genesis 3:15; 1 John 3:8b); fact is, you’re fading away by the minute like a vapor breathed upon a mirror on a cold winters morning (James 4:14) – YOU ARE IRRELEVANT in the grand scheme of things as Elohim restores order and peace to His Kingdom as a result of the hate and rebellion and death and destruction of the god you serve in your foolish atheism, nihilism, unbelief; your god’s name is Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4).
You have been provided an opportunity to enjoy victory over Satan through faith in Jesus and His death for your sin and shame and uselessness (John 3:16; 1 Peter 1:18-19). Because of Jesus’ faithfulness, you can be something of relevance in Eternity due what Jesus has done for you in this very temporary Realm of Time; otherwise, you will rot in nihilism (Revelation 20:11-15).
Those who reject Jesus as Messiah are a foolish stooge of deceit and lest one repent and find Truth in Jesus, they will rot in shame. Elohim’s Reality is NOT concerned about YOU or your pitiful life when that life is lived in servitude to Elohim’s enemy, Satan. True life and meaning are only possible through faith in Jesus and receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit as your Teacher, your Wisdom, your Discernment! You must be “born again” through faith in Jesus apart from this life of war and destruction; otherwise, you have no hope (John 3).
It is a valid statement that you did not ask anyone to die for your sins. Neither did you ask anyone to be placed within the constraints of Time and physics in a body of flesh subject to decay and death but here you are!
There is much that you have absolutely no control over but what you do have authority over is your eternal destiny and that two-fold destiny, eternal life or eternal death, was made possible by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus our Messiah. You might not fully understand why Jesus died for you, why Jesus created you, your divine purpose within the temporary Realm of Time, but you do understand this one most relevant truism, Jesus is recorded in the Scriptures as paying the price for the sin of humanity via His shed blood (Matthew 26:28) and by trusting-believing in Jesus as your Messiah who died for you, you are able to escape the eternal penalty for sin, disobedience, against our Heavenly Father’s divine will (John 3:16). You possess the free will, volition, to choose Jesus and live eternally with Jesus in the New Jerusalem or reject Jesus and die in Hell in your sin (Revelation 20-22).
"RickeyD" Holtsclaw 