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Unbanned Bible Publications |
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Defending God’s Truth in Church Doctrine and Political History – Renette Vermeulen |
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(Continued from Jesus’ New Testament Covenant is the Only Way to the Father)
Corinthians 10:6-11, “All those things happened to [the Israelites] as examples, and were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages, [the New Testament Covenant,] has come.” He also cautioned in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, “Test ALL things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” To that, John added this serious warning, “Do not believe every spirit; but test the spirits [their manifestations and teachings,] to see if they are of God…” (1 Jn. 4:4.) Thus, none of my studies are grounded on church doctrine. Only the entire, contextual truth of God’s Word, interpreted from the viewpoint of the New Testament Covenant in Christ, is Truth.
THE BIBLE IS DIVIDED INTO THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS OR COVENANTS FOR AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT REASON The entire Old Testament covenant vanished away “If the first covenant were faultless, no place would have been sought for a second” Until that moment when Jesus died at the cross, the Old Testament Covenant and the symbolical, outward, ceremonial law of the Hebrew temple remained in force: Heb. 7:18-19; 8:13. Jesus still ministered to the old Hebrews under the Old Covenant, as His blood atonement for all humanity was not accomplished yet: Jn. 7:38-39. However, all of that was annulled at the cross when Jesus died, so the Lord could establish His eternal, New Testament Covenant with all sincere believers worldwide: Heb. 8:5-13; chapters 7-9; Jn. 3:16-18. “… This is the Covenant I will make [after the cross.] I will put my laws in the hearts and minds [of all My disciples, so they will be governed only by the Moral Law: John 13:34.] “And I will be their God and they will be My people…’ In that He says, ‘A New Covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. [At the cross,] it was [already] growing old and was ready to vanish away [when Jesus died:]” Heb. 8:1-13; Jn. 1:12-13; 3:16-18.
The literal old temple was destroyed Not only the Old Covenant and its ceremonial Law, but also the temple itself became forever “obsolete” when everything about the temple was fulfilled as symbols of the New Covenant, spiritual temple of the Holy Spirit, Who indwells all true believers in Christ: Heb. 7:18-19; 1 Cor. 3:16-17. > Some of Jesus’ accusers said that they heard Him say: “I will destroy this temple that is [literally] made with hands and within three days, [when I rise from the dead,] I will build another [spiritually] made without hands:” Mark 14:58; Acts 7:44-50. “The Holy Spirit said that the Way into the [true] Holy of holies is not thrown open as long as the former [Old Testament temple; the shadow or symbol of the New Covenant, blood-cleansed temple of true believers,] remains a recognized institution and is still standing:” Heb. 9:8-9; 1 Cor. 6:15-20. > Hebrews 9:11-12; 10:11-22 explained how the literal old temple did not ‘remain a recognized, standing institution.’ It reads: “Christ, becoming the [eternal and Only] High Priest… to a greater and more perfect [spiritual] tabernacle, not made with hands… by His own blood, entered [only] once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us… So [true believers have…] boldness to enter into the holiest [presence of God] by the blood [Covenant] of Jesus, by the New and Living Way, [Jesus Himself; the New Covenant Christ and Mediator between God and man…] which He consecrated for us through the [spiritual] veil, that is His [own] blood [and marred flesh.]” > In Matthew 24:1-2, Jesus’ disciples “showed Him the buildings of the temple. And He said, ‘Assuredly, not one stone will be left here upon another that will not be thrown down.” The Hebrew temple was violently destroyed in 70 A.D., when the Romans conquered Jerusalem to subdue Hebrew insurrection. Supposedly, a portion on the Western wall remained, but I do not believe it is authentic. Jesus prophesied that the whole old temple would be obliterated. >> One cannot even think that Christians annul most of what Jesus did at the cross to wait for the so-called “millennium rule” of Christ, when the ‘everlasting kingdom of Old King David’ will allegedly ‘be established on earth.’ Theoretically, this will be the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer, “Let Your Kingdom come…” (Jesus was referring to His everlasting spiritual Kingdom in the hearts and minds of true believers: Jn. 1:12-14; 18:36.) Even so, this poisonous Israeli Timeline teaching rejects the New Testament Covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ to favor another ‘christ,’ which all Messianic Judaists and Christian Zionists knowingly and unknowingly ‘are still waiting for.’
The temple of the Holy Spirit built ‘without hands’
The suffering and disfigurement of Jesus Christ on the cross was unparalleled, as prophesied in Isaiah 52:14. “[But as He destroyed the physical temple and everything that pertains to it under His New Covenant,] we have [an eternal] High Priest over the [spiritual] house of God. Let us draw near with a true heart…” Heb. 10:21. > “God does not live in [‘the once recognized temple institution,’] which was made by human hands:” Acts 7:44-50; Heb. 9:8-9; 10:11-12. The New Covenant temple that He built “without hands” is the spiritual temple of the Holy Spirit, Who dwells inside all sincere, blood-cleansed believers in Christ: 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:15-20; Heb. 8:1-2. “Therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners [to God in heaven,] but fellow citizens with… the [spiritual] household of God… in whom all the [spiritual] building, fitly framed together, grows unto a holy temple… [An eternal] habitation of God through the Spirit: Eph. 2:199-22. >> It is blasphemy and a great insult to God to discard the incomprehensible suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ, through which He established His spiritual New Covenant temple of believers, to keep to the distorted, pagan form and function of the old, ousted, physical temple; ‘revived’ as the manmade church system: 1 Cor. 6:15-20; Acts 7:44-50. The Old Levitical priesthood was forever changed to Melchizedek’s eternal spiritual priesthood “If perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the [ousted] Old Testament [ceremonial] Law,) there would not have been need that another High Priest should arise, [under Whom all believers receive God’s Grace…] So the priesthood was [forever] changed… because [the Lord Jesus Christ is] Melchizedek the High Priest forever:” Heb. 7:11-12. > The Old, Levitical temple priesthood literally lost their office that day at the cross when the man Jesus Christ became the eternal and last sacrifice for spiritually dead, lost, and cursed humanity: 1 Pt. 2:9-10. It was no longer necessary to fulfil the literal requirements of the ceremonial law on a physical altar in a material temple: Heb. 7:18-19. And so, the Old Israeli Levitical priesthood too,
The Old Testament was God’s National Covenant with the physical Hebrew nation. Everything about this ousted (Heb. 8:13) physical covenant that pertained to the physical nation of Israel, was written in the Bible as mere “examples” of how God deals with all those who unrepentantly break His Moral Law commandments — including disobedient New Covenant believers, (Jn. 13:34; 1 Cor. 10:6, 11.) (Yes, the once-save-always-saved doctrine is an extremely false teaching.) The main cause of God’s punishment for New Testament believers in Christ is the many manmade dogmas, which are all detrimental to our spiritual and emotional health. All these hazardous potions are mixtures of the Old and New Covenants in the Bible. Hybridizing the two very different and separate Covenants of the Bible is the most deadly methodology Satan ever invented. Since the early centuries after Christ, Satan has been fusing and abusing the Old and New Covenants to confuse and deceive believers. His purpose, of course, is to rob them of their spiritual life and their blessed state in Christ on this side of the grave, as well as their eternal life in the presence of God in heaven, (2 Pet. 2:1-3.) Truth is that, at any given time, we can only live in one of the two Covenants. God annulled the first covenant, His Old Testament Ceremonial Law for the physical nation of Old Israel. To become partakers of the second Covenant in Christ, every person must execute their own free will to choose Jesus as their Christ, Redeemer, and Blessor. With one foot in the Old Covenant and the other in the New Covenant no one can ever be saved, redeemed, and blessed in Christ, (Heb. 10:1,14; Jn. 1:12-13.)
God Speaks through His New Testament/Covenant Word, Jesus Christ: Heb. 1:1-2 We hear the True Voice of Christ Jesus when we study His Word, the Bible, contextually and without the defilement of false church doctrine, (Heb. 1:1-14.) To understand His Voice through the Bible, we need to rely on the Holy Spirit, Who is God Himself, to guide us “into all truth.” The entire Bible, understood in context, is “all truth,” (Ps. 119:160.) To understand the Bible, we must realize that Jesus’ Voice or Word, the Bible, consists of two different dispensations, ‘Testaments,’ or ‘Covenants,’ (Eph. 3:1-6; Col. 1:26-27.) The New Testament pertains to everything spiritual: God’s [spiritual] Kingdom in the hearts or human spirits of sincere believers, and it is His Everlasting Covenant with all of humanity, (Jn. 3:16-17,) while the Old Testament was completely annulled at the cross, (Heb. 8:13.) Þ It is by accepting and knowing Jesus, and understanding His full atonement in or place, that we may have a personal relationship with God. One cannot have a relationship with a religion, statues such as those they worship as “mother Mary,” or a church building. So, we cannot have a relationship with God by bringing our money into His ‘storehouse;’ hanging curtains in His palace, or polishing His throne – in a physical sense, He simply has none of these things under the New Covenant. As a result, even our best church works ‘are as dirty rags’ before the Most Holy God and cannot be “The Way,” (Acts 7:48.) God simply does not live in any temple or church building made with human hands!
Additionally, cannot do anything “for” God; He does not require workers, but worshipers, (Jn. 4:23-24.) If ever we do anything ‘for’ God, it is simply because we love Him, worship Him, and seek to exalt Him. Works do not and can never save us, or add to Jesus’ full atonement in any way. Good works merely prove our faith in Jesus Christ, The Way to the Father, (Jam. 2:14-20.) All we can do to benefit others and ourselves, is to worship God and obey His New Testament commandment of Love according to all the precepts of the Moral Law – and we cannot even do that in our own strength, only in the power of His Holy Spirit (Jn. 15:4-5.) As a result, the Only Way to serve God, or actually, to show our love for Him through our Moral obedience to Him, is to remain faithful to The Truth, (the full contextual Word,) His Son Jesus Christ. To remain faithful in the gifts and everything else, which the Holy Spirit had entrusted to us. To declare His Gospel to a spiritually dead world, and to care for those in real need – especially the members of the body of Christ who are in need, because true believers are the spiritual body of Christ Himself. This is “The [Only] Way” to God the Father, and the only Way to please God the Father. Among all the gods that are worshipped and saviors that are revered, Only the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word Who Is God, really “became flesh, [a human being just like us while remaining God and the same time, Colossians 2:9-10,] and dwelt among us.” Only Jesus genuinely suffered and died in our place, has risen from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will return to judge the whole unbelieving and disobedient world. We can only follow “The Way” through our sincere belief in, and obedience to “The Truth” – which is Jesus Word, will, and His complete atonement for us all, (Jn. 1:1 & 14; 1:12-13; 3:3,5; 4:23-24.) We either accept God’s Covenant of grace, only obtainable through personal faith in Jesus Christ, or, in deliberate insubordination, reject His New Testament Covenant completely to cling to certain parts, rituals, and feasts of the ousted Old Testament covenant, (Jn. 15:1-6; Gal. 2:21.)
> The temporal, hierarchical priesthood descended from the tribe of Levi, but the Lord Jesus was born from the tribe of Judah, “making it plain that another High Priest arose Who was not constituted on the basis of a requirement, [of the ceremonial temple law,] but on the basis of an endless Life, after the order and with the rank of Melchizedek, [King of Salem; King of Peace.] So the previous physical regulation, [concerning the Levitical priesthood], is cancelled… [Hebrews 7:11-12,] because a better hope is introduced through which we now come close to God… For the Lord has sworn: ‘You are the High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek,’ and He became the Guarantee of the Better, Stronger Agreement of the New Covenant. The previous line of priests was prevented by death from continuing their office, but He holds His priesthood unchangeably, because He lives on forever:” Heb. 7:13-17. > This was the literal fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah 9:6, “To us a Child is born. To us [the Son of God] is given. The government will be upon His shoulder, and His Name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Almighty God, [Rev. 1:8; 4:8; 15:3; 19:6; 16:5-7,] Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace… [and Emmanuel, God with us:]” Isa. 7:14. Only the Lord Jesus Christ, Melchizedek the eternal Divine High Priest, Who manifested all the Old Testament prophesies concerning the Coming Christ, could commission His disciples: “…All authority, [all power and reign,] in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore [in My authority] and make disciples from all the nations, baptizing [My disciples,] and teaching them everything I have said, [not church dogma.] And I will be with you even to the end of the world:” Mt. 28:18-20; Lu. 2:11.
Melchizedek, the Risen High Priest and God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Head of His body >> The entire chapter of Hebrews 7 focuses on Melchizedek, the Eternal Spiritual High Priest of God, to Whose mystical, non-ranking spiritual priesthood every sincere believer now belongs: 1 Pt. 2:9-10. Hebrews 7:3 states that He, the Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself, “Who is without a spiritual father and mother, without [physical] descent; having neither beginning of days nor end of life, and was made… High Priest forever…” As God lives from all eternity as The Eternal Spirit, He was not born from any physical ancestral line. So, the risen Lord Jesus Christ lives entirely in a spiritual line, “from which He inaugurated an entirely new line of spiritual priests.” As a result, “Jesus became the Surety of the Better Covenant…. Because He continues forever, He has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore, He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them:” Heb. 7:22-25. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest of His spiritual priesthood, lacks absolutely nothing! The so-called ‘atoning, saving’ sacraments of churches is Satanism! >> Paul defined the spiritual oneness this priesthood shares in Christ. Galatians 3:26-29: “[All sincere believers are spiritually genderless] sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus… There is neither Jew nor Greek, [race] neither slave nor free, [race,] neither male nor female, [gender.] For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, you are Abraham’s [spiritual] seed, [of true believers.]” > 1 Peter 2:9-10 described what this spiritual priesthood of all true believers looks like: “[Together, they] are a chosen [New Covenant] generation, a [spiritual] royal priesthood, and [a spiritual] holy nation, His own special people… called out of darkness, [entirely leaving darkness behind to be placed by the Spirit] into His [spiritual Kingdom] of marvelous Light:” Colossians 1:13-14 Amplified, says it like this: “[The Father] has delivered and called [all true believers] to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness, and transferred them into the Kingdom of Light… as in Christ Jesus, we have [present tense] our redemption through His blood, [which means,] the forgiveness of all our sins:” Eph. 1:7. > Only Jesus Himself, the Eternal High Priest, now Heads His spiritual priesthood of sincere believers, who all descend from His God-King-Priest order of Melchizedek. Real New Testament, New Covenant spiritual ‘servants’ cannot have a human high priest ever again. Although they have different gifts and callings in the body of Christ, Jesus’ priesthood all serve on equal footing in a completely different way than the temporal, Old Testament, hierarchical priests served: 1 Pt. 2:4-5; 9-10; Rom. 12:12. Through His New Testament Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself as Melchizedek, Eternal High Priest and “King of Salem,” (heaven,) Who lives in His New, Spiritual Kingdom inside the blood-cleansed, believing “hearts” of all true believers globally; redeemed with His own blood from ‘every tongue, and tribe, and nation’ - Israel included, (Jn. 18:36; Heb. 7:1-3.
Read this article from the beginning Þ Israel’s National, Old Testament Law or The First Covenant was Their Way to God
Kingdom-Now Theology VS The Spiritual Kingdom of God What is the difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven? IS ‘CHRIST THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH’ AND ‘THE BODY OF CHRIST HIS CHURCH MEMBERS?’
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SHOULD WE CALL GOD JEHOVAH, YAHWEH, YAHWAH, YAH, YESHUA, JESHUA — OR JESUS? Lost Tribe of Israel — Fact or Fiction? Messianic Judaism is a deception Jesus is not a religion — His life, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension are historical facts! |