DOES IT MATTER WHAT WE BELIEVE??

The Truth - The Word of God

Well, firstly let us ask the simple question: Does it matter what a man believes in regard to things of daily life? For instance, does it matter what kind of house he builds, the materials it is composed of, and where he builds it? Does it matter if he pays income tax? Does it matter about him leaving to go to another land? Yes, of course it does. He will find that there are laws to be obeyed. He cannot build any sort of house; Nor can he place it anywhere he wishes. He must pay taxation because it is a law of the land; and he cannot leave the country without certain regulations being complied with. SO IT DOES MATTER WHAT WE BELIEVE in regard to affairs of daily life.

In the realm of spiritual things, it is vastly more important. Here again there are laws - God given commandments. We are commanded to believe in things which are right, things which are true, and things which are necessary to eternal life. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads unto life, and few there bet hat find it.” (Matt 7:14). That the majority of the world’s population do not find the Path of Life is evident from Revelation’s prophecy of the judgement of Babylon in the Last Days; of which we read, “For by thy sorceries were ALL NATIONS DECEIVED.” (Rev 18:23). And further, in the wonderful prophecy of Micah (Chapter 4:2) we read, “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, for He will teach us His ways.” Obviously, if the nations knew of “his ways” today, they would not have to be taught later on. So, do not worry if you are in the minority who believe in the Hope of Israel.

Yes, it matters what we believe. It mattered to Adam and Eve when they believed the lie of the serpent, “Thou shalt not surely die”(Gen 3:4), and ever since, thousands of ecclesiastical leaders have repeated that lie - “Thou
shalt not surely die.”

It certainly mattered to Ahab, king of Israel, who believed in the lying prophets of his day, instead of listening to a prophet of God. He lost his life in consequence (I Kings 22). It mattered to Zedekiah also, the last king of Israel, when he believed the nobles of Judah in the seige of Jerusalem, instead of listening to God’s prophet- Jeremiah. He experienced awful retribution (2 Kings 25:7).

Yes, it certainly matters what one believes. It is as though one drinks a bottle containing poison, in the mistaken belief that it was fruit juice. The result is death. Then again, many will say, “I live a good life, I never harm anyone. I always do a good turn to my neighbor and I pay my way. I guess I have as good a chance as anyone of obtaining eternal life.” Friend- that standard is good, but it isn’t good enough. Cornelius, the centurion, was a good man; he lived a good life, but it was not sufficient. He had to be sent to Peter to show him the way of life, for God said, “He shall tell thee WHAT THOU OUGHTEST TO DO” (Acts 10:6).

Now friend, if you are a reasonable person you will realize on reflection that the human standard isn’t sufficient to gain the approval of God. THERE ARE DIVINE REQUIREMENTS. If merely living a good life is all-sufficient for salvation, then why the necessity for God to send “His only begotten Son” to die on a cross, “to bring life and immortality to light through the Gospel” (2 Tim 1:10). In those long years before Jesus Christ--4,000 years--many people lived good lives, but if merely good-living was sufficient to gain eternal life, then the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus was a tragic mistake. But no, God made no error in sending Jesus, and in one magnificent verse, He sweeps away all other human substitutes for salvation, and says through the Spirit-filled Peter, “THERE IS NONEOTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts4:12). “Fig-leaf” coverings and other “salvation methods” are useless. The true attitude should be that of the apostle Paul, smitten down on the way to Damascus, when he said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts9:6).

No sensible person would think of taking an important position without enquiry, direction, or instruction, and no rational person would ever think of entering for an athletic contest - say in the Olympic Games. For instance - without first registering as an entrant, reading the rules and agreeing to abide by them. How much more then in the vastly greater Race - that of Eternal Life - is it necessary to find out what God has laid down as essential fundamentals of faith and belief. Below we show these in comparison with popular ecclesiastical teachings: ----

1. THE BIBLE.
POPULAR BELIEF: Not inspired, or only partially. Some portions unfit for reading. Early chapters untrue or survivals of ancient Jewish speculation.

THE TRUTH: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God”(2 Tim3:16). “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2Pet. 1:21). The recent discovery of ancient manuscripts of the Scriptures-found in Moab-have proved the authenticity of the Bible for the manuscripts date back many years before the Lord Jesus.

2. ONE GOD.
POPULAR BELIEF: That God is a Trinity of three equal Gods, co-equal and co-eternal, which always have been.

THE TRUTH: The Word of God says, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is ONE LORD” (Deut 6:4), and Jesus repeats this in Mark 12:29. “Beside me THERE IS NO GOD” (Isa 45:6, 21:22). “I am He, THERE IS NO GOD WITH ME”(Deut 32:39). “There is none good but ONE, that is God” (Matt 19:17). “And this is life eternal, that they may know thee the ONLY true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent (John 17:3)

3. JESUS-THE SON OF GOD-NOT GOD THE SON.
POPULAR BELIEF: That Jesus is the Second Person of a Triune God, equal with God, and is indeed “very God.”

THE TRUTH: The Word of God says clearly that Jesus is THE SONOF GOD, and was the “only begotten of the Father”
Therefore, it should be apparent that Fatherhood and Sonship could not possibly be equal in time of existence side by side.
Hear what Jesus said: ”My Father IS GREATER than I” (John
14:28). “I can of mine own self DO NOTHING” (John 5:30). “There is none good but one, that is, God” (Matt 19:17). “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). “Though He were a Son yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb 5:8).
Because of the sinless life of Jesus, and His obedience, we read that “God hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9).
It should be apparent that if Jesus had always been “co-equal and co-eternal” and the Second Person of an equal Trinity of Gods, then God could not have “highly exalted Him.” So Jesus is the SON OF GOD, a Wonderful Saviour; at present a Mediator, and soon to be king over the whole earth.

4. THE HOLY SPIRIT.
POPULAR BELIEF: That the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of a Triune God, co-equal and co-eternal.

THE TRUTH: Nowhere in the Word of God is it suggested that the Holy Spirit is another God, or a co-equal God. It clearly says that the Holy Spirit is the Power of God-- His wondrous power by which He works ; sometimes conferred upon others to accomplish some special work. For instance:
“The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen 1:2).
“God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 10:38).
“The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee” (Luke 1:32).
“Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter1:21).
(See also Job 26:13, Psa 104:30, Acts 1:8).

5. MAN-IN DEATH KNOWS NOTHING.
POPULAR BELIEF: There is no such thing as death. Man either continues in heaven or hell torment, where his so-called “immortal soul” has all its faculties. The Egyptians believed in the “immortality of the soul” and this doctrine was carried on by Plato and others; but we note that when the body of the Egyptian king Tutankhamen was discovered, the foodstuffs placed with it for the king to eat when he passed over the Osiris WERE STILL THERE. They had not been eaten. Comment is needless.

THE TRUTH: The Word of God says ,”For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing” (Ecc 9:5).“His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”(Psa146:4). “There (in the grave) the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest” (Job 3:17).
The words “immortal soul” or “never-dying soul” are not found once in the whole of the Scriptures. It is also clear that Jesus regarded the dead as being in the grave, and not in heaven, by the numerous references He made; such as, “ I will raise him up at the last day” (John6:44). He also says, “Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice” (John 5:28). It will be noted that those “in the graves” hear His voice-not in heaven.

6. MAN DOES NOT GO TO HEAVEN.
POPULAR BELIEF: The righteous go to heaven, and immediately receive eternal life.

THE TRUTH: The Word of God says (of a man God commended),
“David is NOT ASCENDED into the heavens, but his sepulchre is with us unto this day” (Acts 2:34).
In 1 Cor 15:20 we read “But now is Christ risen from the dead and become THE FIRSTFRUITS of them that slept.” If He was the “first- fruits” then no one else (in the 4,000 years previous) could have gone to heaven.
Also “No man hath ascended into heaven” (John 3:13),
“The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord’: but the earth hath He given to the children of men” (Psa 115:16)

7. THERE WILL BE A RESURRECTION- WHY?
POPULAR BELIEF: Many, strangely enough, teach that the “immortal-soul-body” shall, at the coming of Jesus, rejoin the grave-body again, but what for, they do not know, nor can they explain such a confused procedure, in which the sentence is executed first (either eternal life or torment) and then the person is brought back again, at the judgement day, to have his sentence confirmed, or otherwise. This is a most remarkable instance of confusion of thought, resulting from imbibing Egyptian and Babylonian superstition.

THE TRUTH: The Word of God says ,”I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
“All that are in the graves shall hear His voice” (John 5:28).
“Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan 12:2).
“I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:39).
“There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust” (Acts 24:15).
Thus, the resurrection AT THE COMING of Jesus is logical.

8. HELL IS THE GRAVE.
POPULAR BELIEF: A place to which sinners go at death, supposed to be in the lower parts of the earth, and wherethey are tortured in flame, for ever and ever, with no hope of being released.

THE TRUTH: ”Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.” (Psa 31:17).
“Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (Sheol-grave) neither wilt thou suffer (allow) thine Holy One to see corruption” (Psa 16:10 and Acts 2:27).Jonah “cried out of the belly of hell” when swallowed by the fish (Jonah2:2). “Though they dig into hell” (showing that the grave is meant) (Amos9:2).
Capernaum was to be “brought down to hell” or to the dust (Matt 11:23).Then, at the end of the millennium reign of Jesus, even the sea, and “death and hell delivered up the dead in which were in them” (Rev 20:13), which immediately contradicts the theory of “eternal torture.”
Note also that God (who is charged with allowing the everlasting torture of unfortunate ones in hell-fire) said that anyone who made his son pass through the fire, it was an abomination unto Him (Deut 18:10).
Also, in Jeremiah 7:31 God condemned the people of Israel for “burning their sons and daughters in the fire.” How then could God be charged with that which is an abomination in His sight?

9. THE DEVIL.
POPULAR BELIEF: Supposed to be a fallen angel, often pictured as a horned and hoofed monster whom is charged by God with the duty of seeing that the wicked are kept in continual flame and torture. It is a superstition inherited from Egypt and Babylon, and ecclesiastical leaders who have often painted lurid word-pictures of the shrieking masses in hell torment.

THE TRUTH: The Word of God says, ”Every man is tempted when he is drawn away OF HIS OWN LUST and enticed” (James 1:14-15).
The Bible “devil” is SIN, personified as “Satan” the “Devil”, and the“Seed of the Serpent”.
There IS NO MONSTER of popular superstition. The meaning of the word “devil” is clearly seen in Heb. 2:14, where we read that Jesus “destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil.” How? By overcoming human nature, for by His sinless life He triumphed over sin, and thus “destroyed the devil.” this is also mentioned in John 3:8.
Thus, the works of the flesh (see Gal. 5:19-21) are identical with sin, and this devil-power, sometimes referred to as Satan, or the adversary.“ The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23) and the “carnal mind” or devil-power “is enmity against God” (Rom 8:7). “Have I not chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil” (John 6:70). Here the devil was Judas, a man of wicked desires, and the betrayer of Jesus.

10. BAPTISM.
POPULAR BELIEF: Optional, but not necessary for salvation. Infant sprinkling is considered just as good and efficacious for salvation.

THE TRUTH: The Word of God says, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27). To the Apostle Paul it was said “Arise and wash away thy sins” (Acts 22:16). So it was necessary for Paul to be baptized -even after the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Note also that the Captain of our salvation-Jesus-also set the example
“He was baptized ” (Mark 1:9). Baptism is, therefore, necessary for salvation.

11. THE KINGDOM OF JESUS IS HIS MILLENNIAL REIGN ON THIS EARTH.
POPULAR BELIEF: The Kingdom of Jesus is considered to be of secondary importance or disbelieved; which is but a natural result of centuries of Babylonian superstition in which the righteous dead are supposed to be enjoying bliss in heaven-teaching which renders the return of Jesus and His peaceful reign on the earth-superfluous.

THE TRUTH: The Word of God is full of divine prophecy that Jesus will return to set up His Kingdom upon this earth, and will rule all nations from Jerusalem, after firstly gathering His people Israel-a remnant of whom will be in the land prior to His return and the remainder to be gathered after His return-to Palestine.
“Out of Zion shall go forth the Law” (Isa 2:3).
“Jerusalem...the City of the Great King” (Matt 5:35).
“The Lord shall yet choose Jerusalem” (Zech 1:17).
"Jerusalem the throne of the Lord and all nations shall be gathered unto it” (Jer 3:17).
See also Psa 72, Micah 4, Zech 14, Joel 3:16, Zech 8:22, Luke 1:32.

12. THE HOPE OF ISRAEL.
POPULAR BELIEF: Most ecclesiastical leader’s allow no future for Israel-Jewry, but consider they are a spent force: therefore, the Hope of Israel finds no place in their teachings.

THE TRUTH: The Word of God teaches that God selected Israel through whom to manifest His purpose to the nations. The Promise made to Abraham is the basis of the future World-Kingdom of Jesus, and thus the Gospel was preached unto Abraham (Gal 3:8). The Promise, then, affects the whole world and to be “in Christ” one must be baptised into the Hope of Israel (Gal 3:27). Here is the Promise: “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:3). This is repeated again in Gen 18:18 and 22:18, and we read in Romans 15:8 that the Sacrifice of Jesus “confirmed the promise made unto the fathers.” “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off” (Hebrews 11:13-35,39,40)
“For the Hope of Israel,” said Paul, “I am bound with this chain” (Acts28:20). So, the Hope of Israel is the Hope of the Gospel, and the Hope of the World.

13. AN APPEAL TO YOU.
My reader friend: We appeal to you to read the Scriptures and see for yourself if these things are true or not. Jesus is near! The Signs of His Coming lie heavy upon the earth. “Distress of nations with perplexity” is today only too evident; He foretold the troublous sage in which we now live, and He exhorted all to watch (Mark 13:37). Throw off the shackles of inherited ecclesiastical superstition and BELIEVE THE TRUTH-AND LIVE.

It is not possible in this short leaflet to adequately deal with all the questions of the Gospel, and we have many other pamphlets dealing with this great Hope. Study the Bible daily with the aid of a Readings Chart-sent free. Also send for the free monthly review, “Present Day Events and their meaning from the Bible.
Step out of the Procession to the Grave and join the great expectant throng waiting for Jesus.-C.H.F.

The Gospel Publicity League, PO Box 14, Epping, N.S.W. Australia

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