The Law-Word of Yahweh forbids the consumption of swine flesh.  To disobey His Word is to reject the blessings of obedience and to incur the curses of disobedience.

And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.

You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.   Leviticus 11:7-8

Source: CNN.com

At least 70 people in one Chinese province have suffered food poisoning in recent days after eating pig organs contaminated by a banned food additive, state-run media reported Monday.

Health officials in the Guangdong province in southeast China said most were treated at hospitals and released, but at least three people remained hospitalized, the China Daily newspaper reported.

The victims complained of stomach aches and diarrhea after eating pig organs bought in local markets since Thursday, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. A local health official said initial investigations indicated that the pig organs were contaminated by clenbuterol, an additive that is banned in pig feed in China.

Three people were detained for suspected involvement in raising and selling contaminated pigs, authorities said.

Clenbuterol can prevent pigs from accumulating fat but is harmful to humans and can be fatal. One of the largest food poisoning cases involving clenbuterol happened in Shanghai in September 2006, when 336 people were hospitalized after eating pig meat or organs contaminated with the additive, China Daily said.

Technorati Tags: dietary law, swine

Tags: Carcasses, China Daily, Chinese Province, Cnn, Dietary Law, Food Additive, Food Poisoning, Guangdong Province, Health Official, Health Officials, Initial Investigations, Least Three People, Leviticus 11, Local Markets, Pig Feed, Pig Meat, Pig Organs, Southeast China, swine, Xinhua News Agency, Yahweh

Make sure to look up the Scripture references on your own.

  1.  To know there is a God Ex. 20:2
   2. Not to entertain thoughts of other gods besides Him Ex. 20:3
   3. To know that He is one Deut. 6:4
   4. To love Him Deut. 6:5
   5. To fear Him Deut. 10:20
   6. To sanctify His Name Lev. 22:32
   7. Not to profane His Name Lev. 22:32
   8. Not to destroy objects associated with His Name Deut. 12:4
   9. To listen to the prophet speaking in His Name Deut. 18:15
  10. Not to test the prophet unduly Deut. 6:16
  11. To emulate His ways Deut. 28:9
  12. To cleave to those who know Him Deut. 10:20
  13. To love other Jews Lev. 19:18
  14. To love converts Deut. 10:19
  15. Not to hate fellow Jews Lev. 19:17
  16. To reprove a sinner Lev. 19:17
  17. Not to embarrass others Lev. 19:17
  18. Not to oppress the weak Ex. 21:22
  19. Not to speak derogatorily of others Lev. 19:16
  20. Not to take revenge Lev. 19:18
  21. Not to bear a grudge Lev. 19:18
  22. To learn Torah Deut. 6:7
Read the rest of this entry »

by R.J. Rushdoony

“If God be God, then His every word is of necessity law, because His every word is the authoritative and ultimate word.  There is no word, law, power or standard beyond by means of which God and His word can be judged.

(Dr. Cornelius) Van Til makes this clear in the course of his discussion of the righteousness of God:

“With the righteousness of God we signify the self-consistency of the divine Being. God is a law unto himself.  He is the absolute self-existent personality and therefore, at the same time, absolute law.  God does not have a law, but is law.  His self-conscious activity regards with absolute complacency the eternal rightness of relationship between the various aspects of multiplicity that are found with the divine Being.  He cannot and does not tolerate any subordination of any one aspect of His Being to any other aspect of His Being.  The attributes and the persons of God are all on a par.” (Cornelius Van Til: “An Introduction to Theology”, II, Philadelphia, PA 1947, p. 214)

It is therefore destructive of the Biblical doctrine of God to oppose or exalt one aspect of God over or against another.  We cannot oppose grace and law; men may do so, but in God’s being they are in unity and not in subordination to one another.  Similarly, in God’s being love and justice are not contraries but equal aspects of Hid being and are an essential unity.  To say “God is love” (1Joh 4:8) is scriptural, but it denies Scripture if we mean therefore that in God love is more basic than law, justice, jealousy, wrath, grace, or any other attribute of God’s being.  Thus, when Scripture contrasts any of these terms, it either has reference to man’s use of them or to man’s relationship to them under God’s economy.

Van Til illustrates this by reference to 2 Corinthians 3:6:

“who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  The contrast here is not between grace and law, nor a materialistic dispensation versus a spiritual one.  “The ‘letter’ as spoken of by Paul, refers not to Scripture as a whole, but refers to the ‘ministration of condemnation’”, that is, to the Pharisaic externalism.  Thus, “the contention… that the Bible was never meant to be taken as a book that should be interpreted literally” is invalid (Ibid., p. 136)

The misuse of Scripture condemned by Paul was not a faithful obedience to the literal meaning of Scripture but a reinterpretation of that meaning in terms of man’s word, will and thought.  We must, on the contrary,

“make Scripture the standard of our thinking and not our thinking the standard of Scripture” (Ibid., p.210).

It is to the advantage of apostate man to deny or wrongly divide the word of God.  If the Bible is reduced to a non-literal meaning and made anything other than the very word of God, the result is a very different kind of God.  God then has no sure and certain word because God Himself is an uncertain and unrealized being.  Those who pretend to exalt God by declaring Him to be unknowable and hence unnamable are thereby undermining the deity of God.  Greek philosophy, for example, assumed the utter unknowablilty of God. As Van Til observes,

“An apostate man has every reason to teach the unnamability of God.  If God is unnamable then he cannot name anything in the world.  Only if God is unknowable can man think of his own knowledge as autonomous” (Cornelius Van Til: “Christ and the Jews”, Nutely, NY 1968, p. 8).

God can be named, but not by man.  For man to name God means that man’s autonomous mind establishes the categories of definition.  The definitive and ultimate word is then the word of man.  For man to define God would mean that man could then classify God in relationship to himself, and would understand and judge God, as well as to name Him, in terms of man’s infallible word.  This is at the heart of the evil of idolatry.  Some forms of idolatry seem, superficially examined, to be very noble; some, in fact, show the influence of Biblical thought.  At heart, however, idolatry defines God, whether by word, graven image, picture, or philosophical thought, in terms of man’s autonomous mind and man’s defining and creative word.

The people of Israel wanted, in the person of Moses, a definition of God.  What was His name ?  By this they meant a definition of God in terms of man’s requirements and being.  God refused to so name Himself.  In terms of man, He is beyond definition, because He is not to be defined by anything external to Himself as a criterion over Himself, but in terms of His own Being.  Scripture defines man in terms of the image of God; hence apostate man is fallen man:  he has fallen from God’s norm.  Of a contemptible sinner, we say “He’s not much of a man”, because man is not defined by his own existence. We cannot name, define or know God in terms of anything external to Himself, and hence we cannot judge God, because God and His word are the criterion of all judgment.  We can truly say of a man “He’s not much of a man”, but we can never so speak of God, that He is not much of a God.

As a result, God answered Moses, not as Israel would have wished, but by declaring Himself to be God:  that was His name, He Who Is, the self-existent one.

“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” (Exo 3:14-15)

This means, FIRST, than man cannot name or define God:  God names Himself, I AM WHO I AM.  Where man does any naming, as Adam was required to do in Eden (Gen 2:19-20), it is either as a covenant-keeper, working to understand the world under God and in terms of God’s purpose as a creator, or as a covenant-breaker, seeking to establish the meaning of creation in terms of man’s autonomous and ultimate word (Gen 3:5:  “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”).

SECOND, God defines Himself by His self-revelation.  The naming, defining, knowing word is thus the word of God.  Man’s word, when autonomous in intent, is unable to create reality or impose its own determinative meaning on reality.  All things having been made by God, serve and obey His word and purpose.

THIRD, this means that Scripture is the necessary word.  God makes Himself knowable by means of His sovereign and infallible word.  God’s word is the word of salvation, but it is also the word of knowledge, basic to epistemology [the science that studies the possibility, origin, nature and extent of human knowledge].  It is the word of law, love, wrath, grace, justice, judgment, and more.  It is the word which establishes the meaning of life, time, and history.

FORTH, God’s word is the unchanging word.  He is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8).  He declares “For I the LORD do not change” (Mal 3:8).  He is “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”.  As He was then, He is now and forever.  “This is my name forever”.  His word is thus the infallible word, because He is the absolute and omnipotent God, whose every word is truth.

FIFTH, God then made clear to Moses that He did not answer to Moses or to Israel:  they answered to Him.  Hence, Moses had to “go” at God’s command, and Israel had to stand up to Pharaoh in terms of God’s requirement that Israel must serve God, not Pharaoh (Exo 3:16-20).  Israel could serve neither Pharaoh nor itself: it must serve the Lord, and if Pharaoh (or Israel) stood in God’s way, He would stretch out His hand and smite him.  This is no less true today.  The Scripture is not a problem to be resolved by man, nor a mere subject for research and speculation.  It is God’s infallible command word: we either obey it or are condemned by it.”

From: Rousas John Rushdoony: “Systematic Theology” Volume I.  Vallecito, CA 1994, p. 49-52
Bible quotes, unlike in the original, from the ESV (not the KJV)

Tags: God's LawWord, Rushdoony, Systematic Theology

A leading scientist has warned a new species of “humanzee,” created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting.
“The Human Fertilisation and Embryo Bill prohibits the placement of animal sperm into a woman The reverse is not prohibited. It’s not even mentioned. This should not be the case.”

Full Story

Well, the bible is very clear about this: It is perversion.

“And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.” (Lev 18:23)

Tags: bestiality

Many beliefs that cannot be grounded on Scripture are nevertheless very common among Christians. These beliefs might be part of the great deception Jesus warns us against (Mat 24:4). We call these beliefs obstacles – Here is one of them:

Obstacle 1: God’s Law Is Done Away With

Let me give you a few examples from Scripture that refute the notion that God’s Law as given to Moses and explained in the case laws in the Old Testament is not valid anymore:

• Exo 12:14 states that keeping the Passover is an everlasting ! ordinance.
• Look at Exo 20 and Deu 5: The Ten Commandments are to be kept throughout the generations.  God is a jealous God, He will show mercy to those that keep His commandments into the thousands generation, but if you work iniquity, that is, lawlessness, it will be held against you and your family for up to four generations.
• Lev 18 states that you are defiling yourself and the land by things abominable to the Lord, by lawlessness.
• Isa 24 shows that there is severe punishment for changing the ordinance as well as for breaking the covenant.
• Jesus Himself enforces the Law:

“For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Mat 5:18)

• John stresses in his 2nd letter that the Law has been unchanged from the beginning:

“And now I ask you, dear lady–not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning–that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.” (2 Jn 1:5-6).

Tags: antinomianism, God's LawWord, obstacles

Christians really need to learn this, and learn it fast, if they are able. Time after time we are told by pastors, preachers, evangelists and others of a similar ilk that God (the King they say) did away with his own law. And yet, these devoted followers of Christ (who was God by the way) will, when confronted with concepts and commands from scripture that would be contrary to Man’s law, point to verses such as Romans 13:1 (God’s law?) that prove that they must obey the law of the state. To them, God’s law is a curse, a heavy chain, and a burden they cannot bear, while the law of the State is not. Preposterous!

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 1 John 5:2-3

When ever in the course of history has a king done away with his own law, and required his subjects to follow the law of another king? Nowhere that I have discovered, except in the case of Yahweh, as taught by modern Christianity and it’s neo-pharisaic rulers, and if ever it has happened (I’m no historian) then that king was most certainly a fool, and not a king for long. According to this convoluted logic of modern churchianity, Biblical Law (God’s Law-Word!) actually requires that God’s people to commit idolatry. God forbid!

Rushdoony, as always, had a few words to say on the matter of law.

“Law is in every culture religious in origin. Because law governs man and society, because it establishes and declares the meaning of justice and righteousness, law is inescapably religious, in that it establishes in practical fashion the ultimate concerns of a culture. Accordingly, a fundamental and necessary premise in any and every study of law must be, first, a recognition of this religious nature of law.” RJ Rushdoony, Vol. 1, The Institutes of Biblical Law, p. 4

Also:

“Modern humanism, the religion of the state, locates law in the state and thus makes the state, or the people as they find expression in the state, the god of the system.” Ibid. p. 5

So you have two options it would seem. Love God and keep his commandments, or love the State and all it has to offer. You cannot serve two masters. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

Oh yea, one more thing for those who would say that Love conquerors all…

For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not
murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment,
are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Romans 13:9

The first table of the law shows us how to love God, and the second table of the law shows us how to love the brethren. To think that we are left to our own devices, to whim and fancy and our own conscience about how to love God and the brothers is to buy the lie of the nachash, and to become like God, knowing (determining for ourselves) good and evil.

Rushdoony, Romans 13:1, 1 John 5

“A central characteristic of the churches and of modern preaching and Biblical teaching is antinomianism, an anti-law position.  The antinomian believes that faith frees the Chrsitian from the law, so that he is not outside the law but is rather dead to the law.  There is no warrant whatsoever in Scripture for antinomianism.  The expression, “dead to the law,” is indeed in Scripture (Gal. 2:9; Rom. 7:4), but it has reference to the believer in relationship to the atoning work of Christ as the believer’s representative and substitute;  the believer is dead to the law as an indictment, a legal sentence of death against him, Christ having died for him, but the believer is alive to the law as the righteousness of God.  The purpose of Christ’s atoning work was to restore man to a position of covenant- keeping instead of covenant breaking, to enable man to keep the law by freeing man “from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:4).  Man is restored to a position of law-keeping.  The law thus has a position of centrality in man’s indictment (as a sentence of death against man the sinner), in man’s redemption (in that Christ died, Who although the perfect law-keeper as the new Adam, died as man’s substitute), and in man’s sanctification (in what man grows in grace as he grows in law- keeping, for the law is the way of sanctification).”

RJ Rushdoony, Vol. 1, The Institutes of Biblical Law, p. 1-2,

antinomianism, Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law, Galatians 2:9; Romans 7:4

“God gives us guidelines to make life simpler and better for us, but we like to complicate everything and then whine about it. If you don’t like the dietary laws, perhaps you don’t like the God who gave them.”
(R.J. Rushdoony, “Institutes of Biblical Law”, Vallecito, CA 1999, p.86)

Since hardly any church teaches that the dietary laws are still valid, many Christians nowadays have no idea what they actually say, or where to find them.  Both is easily mended.

You find the dietary laws in Leviticus 11, which starts like this:

“And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.’ ” (Lev 1:1-2)

So the dietary laws are an ordinance for all the children of Israel.In short, chapter 11 says that every animal that is carnivorous, omnivorous, or a scavenger is unclean, because they eat the blood of other animals or feed on carcasses.  This includes pigs, which are specifically mentioned in verse 7, and also horses.  Animals that chew the cud and have a cloven hoof, however, are clean animals (Lev 11:3-8), as they are designed to eat greens and grass only.
Of the fish, bottom feeders are forbidden – they, too, are omnivorous, but fishes with fins AND scales are considered clean (Lev 11:9-12).  Shrimp and other seafood like muscles, therefore, are forbidden, and so is catfish.

Those birds that prey on other animals are forbidden again, following the same principle we find for mammals (Lev 11:13-20).

Of the insects, only those that have wings AND leap are labeled clean, like the famous locusts John the Baptist lived off, for example (Lev 11:21-23; Mk 1:6).

Every swarming thing is abominable generally speaking (Lev 11:41-44).  A few more of the “swarming things” which are not to be eaten are listed later, such as the weasel, the tortoise or the snail (Lev 11:29-30).

Verses 23 to 41 mainly deal with the uncleanness of carcasses and how they defile what comes into contact with them, but they also mention than no animal that goes on its paws is considered food (Lev 11:27), like cats or dogs.
In summary, for most animals mentioned, consuming blood, which is forbidden to the Israelites because in the blood is the life of every living being, makes animals unfit for food, too.

Note that many of the unclean animals are considered food nowadays, however: pigs, horses, tortoise, snail, catfish, shrimp, and in some parts of the word also cats and dogs.  But God’s command is still valid today, so stay away from what defiles you in God’s eyes, which is what the last verses of Leviticus 11 say:

“For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.” (Lev 11:45-47)

We just updated our “God’s LawWord” page and added yet another interesting snippet about the continuing validity of God’s Law. Have a look:

God’s LawWord

“You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” (Lev 20:26)

We mentioned it elsewhere recently: One of the basic biblical principles is “no mixing”, or the separation of the clean from the unclean, brethren from non brethren, the holy from the profane. “Holy” means “set aside, separate”, so holiness lies at the core of this principle of “no mixing”. God calls His chosen people to be holy as He is holy, and to separate themselves from everything that defiles them, including other peoples.

Another aspect consistently mentioned in context with “no mixing” is that of idolatry. Mixing with other peoples is a snare to Israel to go whoring after other gods (Deu 7:16 or 7:25, for example), but the 10 Commandments clearly forbid idolatry:

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exo 20:3)

Mind you, this indicates that indeed there are other gods, and that God’s chosen people are not to turn to them instead of the LORD their God.

So if God’s chosen people ignore the concept of holiness and the principle of “no mixing”, they are guilty of the sin of idolatry. God created everything according to its kind, and He separated the heavens from the earth so that the two realms would not be mixed, just as He separated the day from the night (Gen1:1-8). When heavenly beings violated this separation to come down to earth and have children with human women, God’s punishment both for them and for mankind was most severe (Gen 6:1-7).

The concept of “no mixing” is a very practical one. The case laws give us several examples that illustrate the principle and at the same time make it clear that faith is for all of life and not just for an hour on Sunday mornings. If we follow God, we are to follow him 24 hours a day 365 days a year, and in all aspects of life. So apart from the obvious call to stay away from other peoples and their gods, you find a prohibition against clothing of mixed thread (Deu 22:11) and against plowing with an uneven yoke (Deu 22:10). And if you look at the Dietary Laws for example (Lev 11), you find the clean animals separated from the unclean along the lines of whether or not these animals violate the separation of life and death – those animals that are carnivorous, scavengers or omnivorous are not considered food, as they eat the blood of other animals in which is the life, thereby breeching the barrier between life and death. Blood is not to be eaten (Gen 9:4, Lev 17:11), nor are semen and blood to be mixed, which is why a wife is to be separate from her husband during her monthly bleeding (Lev 15; 18:19).

“No mixing” in terms of brethren is a somewhat difficult topic, as most of what the bible has to say about this would be classified as hate speech today. But if you want to follow God’s Law Word, you better not marry anyone who is not your kind, or adopt children from parents who aren’t. It is rather common amongst American Christians these days to adopt little Asian dolls when they either won’t or can’t have children anymore, but as well as their intentions might be, they are violating the principle of “no mixing”.
“No mixing” goes beyond the plain differences of race though. We are called to put the evil away from among us, so criminals who endanger the brethren community are not brethren anymore, but are to be dealt with according to God’s judgment and the corresponding punishment (Deu 17:2-7, for example). I suppose you are aware of the fact that there is no such thing as a prison in Mosaic Law – you find cities of refuge for those who kill someone by accident (Deu 19:5-6), but otherwise, the punishment is rather straight forward and basically results in restitution, and if a life is taken, in death (read Exodus 21 and 22 for a number of examples).

If you look for it, you find the principle of “no mixing” at work all through the Scriptures, both in the big things and in the small. We should not chalk it off lightly, as people are wont to do these days.

“I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.” (1 Cor 4:6)

We have already mentioned that it is essential to rely on ALL of Scripture and not just on those verses we like. Elaboration on Tota Scriptura will follow, but today we want to concentrate on the idea of “Sola Scriptura”, Scripture alone.

So what’s the point about Sola Scriptura ?

Scripture, the inerrant word of God, is all we need. There is no need for additional texts to rely on, additional “revelations”, be it the book of Mormon, or anything the Catholics rely on besides Scripture, or whatever book by whatever pious author you might come across.

When Jesus is confronted with the devil, with temptation, what does He do (Mat 4:1-11)? Does He launch into a long drawn out conversation with the devil ? No, He doesn’t. He quotes Scripture:

“But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” “(Mat 4:4)

“Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ” (Mat 4:7)

“Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” ” (Mat 4:10)

“It is written” is all that is needed to defeat the devil and his schemes. It worked for Jesus, it works for us today, in exactly the same way. We are to test the spirits against Scripture alone, and will defeat every vile scheme, just like Jesus did, if we put on the whole armor of God (1Jn 4:1, Eph 6:11-18).

All that matters is Scripture, and everything we hear, read or see is measured with the one and only yardstick, God’s Law Word. If we need definitions, we let Scripture define itself, for example the definition of love (Exo 20:1-17 and the case laws, Deu 5:6-21). If we need explanations, we let Scripture explain itself, for example Peter and his dream in Acts 10, or why Jesus speaks in parables (Mat 13, Mar 4, Luk 8).

There is no need to add our own definitions or explanations to Scripture, in fact, that would be modern Pharisee-ism: Instead of relying God’s Law Word, modern Pharisees come up with their own rules and regulations based on their own definitions and explanations, just like in Jesus’ time. But Jesus is clear about this attitude, so beware:

“You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Mat 15:7-9)

Technorati Tags: NT, OT, Sola Scriptura, Tota Scriptura

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2Ti 3:16-17)

We were accused of the following recently:

“Your claim is based upon Old Testament references, I know that nothing in the New Testament upholds it.”

I am not going to explain what claim we made – it was based on both Old and New Testament references, of course – but would like to concentrate on the statement made.

This person says that, since our claim is based on Old Testament references alone, it is invalid and only if something is “upheld” in the New Testament, it is still valid and binding for Christians today.

Now you can argue about the idea of something being “upheld”, since in order to find out if it is or not, you would have to go much deeper into Scripture than just look for a word that might or might not be repeated. You will have to look for concepts, for the mindset of the people, and make sure that you understand what is going on in the New Testament based on the mindset of the people who Jesus met and dealt with, who the letters were addressed too.

But the point I am trying to make is so much more simple:

1. Jesus is God in the flesh (Joh 1:1;14). God does not change (Mal 3:6), Jesus does not change (Heb 13:8). Whatever command is made in the Old Testament, therefore, is still valid today unless specifically ended, like the sacrificial law: Jesus himself was the last sacrifice, the last Passover lamb to be slain (1Co 5:7; Heb 10:12).
2. When Jesus argues in the New Testament, He quotes Scripture. What does he quote ? When met with temptation, He quotes Deuteronomy (for example Mat 4:4); we find Him referring to Isaiah when He explains why He speaks in parables (for example Mat 13:14-15), and He refers back to Exodus and Deuteronomy when it comes to the Ten Commandments, just as examples. Of course He quotes Old Testament Scriptures, as the New Testament was not written yet. The same counts for Paul when he labels all Scripture to be breathed by God and profitable (2Ti 3:16-17)- all Scripture, that was, in his time, the Old Testament only. Now while we believe that both Old and New Testament are inspired by God and thus inerrant and eternal, it is important to point out that the Old Testament constitutes not only the major part of our bible, but also lays the foundations needed to understand what happens in the New Testament.

Rather than dismissing something that is based on Old Testament Scripture only, we should be careful if a claim relies on New Testament Scriptures alone, and contradicts Old Testament Scripture. The claim might very well be resting on a modern understanding of a biblical concept and hence be wrongly handling the word of truth (2Ti 2:15).

Technorati Tags: NT, OT, Tota Scriptura

Works do matter, as we pointed out already, and God’s covenant is indeed conditional: IF you do this that and the other, then I will give you this that and the other. It works both ways, of course – if we do bad, we will be cursed, if we do good, we will be blessed.

My point in an earlier post (Works cannot save you) was that neither will our works save us, nor can we know if we are saved until Judgment Day – then, we will be judged according to our works, yes indeed, and will receive what we deserve, for the better or the worse.

All the salvation assurance Scripture people quote (Hebrews10:19-23 and John 10:9, for example) is very wonderful, and I am sure a lot of people who follow teachings that I would call erroneous, like the idea of a pre-trib rapture, point to the same verses and are sure they are saved. But many people will say “Lord, Lord” to Jesus and He will not know them:

“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.’ ” (Mat 7:21-23)

We are also warned against and told about deception

“And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray” (Mat 24:4-5)

“Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2Th 2:11-12)

So I suppose all these deceived people believe they are saved on the grounds of the same verses because they think they are doing what pleases God. Funnily enough, or rather, sadly enough, they oftentimes are antinomianists and still believe they are doing what is good in God’s eyes. How can they if they disregard His Law Word? We are told that even their prayers are an abomination to the Lord:

“If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” (Pro 28:9)

We can hope, yes, if we love God with all our heart and therefore follow all His commands, and we do live in that blessed hope indeed. but we will only know on Judgment Day.

Technorati Tags: Judgment Day, judgment, salvation, works

Scripture is clear about it: Works matter, for the better or the worse:

“And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.” (Jer 1:16)

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” ( Jas 1:22)

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” (Rev 20:12)

At the same time, works cannot save us, because if they did, we could save ourselves by our works. You can do the right thing for the wrong reasons.

“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.’ ” (Mat 7:21-23)

When it comes to salvation, there are those destined for destruction (Psa 92:5-8, and the book of Joshua speaks a lot about those devoted to destruction, see for example Jos 10:28), and there are those whose names have been written in the book of life (Rev 20:12), and both has been God’s choice. Salvation is by God’s grace alone (Rev 7:10).

We cannot know if we are saved, nor can we make God save us, so to speak, or bribe Him with our works. We can show him that we love Him by keeping His commandments (Joh 14:15), and if we follow His law, it will be well with us down here (Deu 4:40, Jer 7:23), and of course we also have a responsibility for what we are saying or teaching (Jas 3:1), but if a person is meant for destruction, nothing he or she does will save them from destruction (look at Pharaoh or Judas, and re-read Pro 16:4), and if God wants you to deliver His message to the people, you are going to do it, whether you want to or not (look at the book of Jonah, or at Jeremiah (Jer 1:6), or at Moses, for that matter, (Exo 6:12)). We will find out if we are saved on Judgment Day, when the book of life is opened… But we have God’s promise that He will be a righteous and merciful judge (Psa 11:7 Lam 3:22, Ecc 3:17), and we have His word that tells us how to do it right.

“The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deu 30:9-10)

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ” (Mat 25:21)

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2Ti 4:7-8)

I find it funny that many Christians would say “I was saved when I was this and that age” when nobody can know if he or she is saved. What they are talking about (at best) is the time when they repented from their sins and turned back to God, which is why it is so ridiculous if someone says “I was saved at the age of 5″. At worst, they are talking about some emotional experience that made them feel really close to God. Repentance is not a feeling, though:

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1Jn 2:3-6)

Technorati Tags: Judgment Day, salvation, works