The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is faith.

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The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.

Not long ago, a response on the Ambassador Watch blog questioned whether the Apostle Paul was of God, or whether he was a 1^st-Century individual like present endtime cult leaders and religious charlatans. The evidence cited by the poster was that only Paul and Luke identify Paul as an apostle; that Paul refers to himself, using first person pronouns, more times than anyone else; that Paul brags of not taking instruction from other apostles and leading men; that Paul belittles the ministries of those who seemed to be leaders in Jerusalem. The poster could have used the internal evidence that all in Asia had left Paul; that Jews were trying to kill Paul; that the saints at Galatia had adopted the practice of physical circumcision contrary to what Paul taught; and that the saints at Corinth were judging Paul, evaluating his ministry.

The case against Paul being of God is at least as strong as the case for any Protestant Reformer being of God. And when trying to establish the validity of an argumentative claim, the claim itself does not serve as evidence of its truth.

Christianity ultimately is not about evidence but about faith. Even human existence is a matter of faith: the movie The Matrix raised the same question that the German philosopher Kant raised. How does any person know that which he or she experiences is not part of a dream? Dr Samuel Johnson, mid 18^th-Century, kicked a rock and hurt his foot and said that by kicking the rock he had refuted Kant … no, he hadn’t. The discharge of pain sensors within the mind no more proves human existence than does the recollection of a memory falsely planted in the mind through suggestions made by another.

Human existence, scientific facts, everything a person believes that he or she knows—all is a matter of faith, with this faith based upon evidence that comes from the additional application of faith. The racial bigotry of generations came from faith. Hitler’s hatred of Jews came from deep rooted faith. Those who venerate the Virgin Mary do so from faith, while those who advocate for democratic ideals and the equality of all humankind do so from faith. There is nothing a person believes that does not come from faith, with the person only partially able to perceive the quality of the faith establishing this thing or that thing.

Yet, human beings function every day without worrying about whether the food they eat is real or the gasoline they buy exists or even about whether tomorrow will come. The sensations of “living” serve as adequate proof of life as was the case in the movie The Matrix. The fundamentalist Christian believes that he or she has been born again because the person seeks a personal relationship with Jesus. The evidence for the person having been born again is not a changed outer nature of the person, but for the Evangelical, in the changed inner nature, changed in a manner similar to how a literary character experiences an epiphany—and in a work of fiction, a literary character’s nature is not changed by an epiphany, but rather, the character discovers something about him or herself. If the character’s nature truly changed, the story would not be believable. For example, the change seen in Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol comes from the not-believable intervention by the ghosts of Christmas past, whereas the acceptable epiphany in James Joyce’s short story “Araby” comes from a boy’s journey from first love to despair and disappointment, with the epiphany being the boy’s discovery of the difference between real life and the imagined ideal.

A “born-again” fundamentalist has no concept of being born anew or born from above as Jesus used the expressions /having been born of the Spirit (John 3:6)/; for Jesus referenced a second life [i.e., receiving a second life], not a renewing of an existing life or a regeneration of an immortal soul. For the self-proclaimed “born-again” fundamentalist, the born-again experience is truly an epiphany-like experience that causes the person to believe that he or she has obtained a personal relationship with Jesus in the person’s discovery of the difference between real life and an imagined ideal, with the person’s imagined ideal being a relationship with God on terms and conditions set by the person. The “born-again” fundamentalist looks upward toward his or her idealized relationship with God whereas the Dubliners in Joyce’s collection of short stories by the same name look downward at their real lives.

Ultimately, a person has to decide whether the person wants to believe that the received Bible is the word of God or whether some other text such as the Qur’an is the revelation of God or whether any God even exists. In this era, wanting to believe that the Bible is the word of God does not directly translate into being born of Spirit—and the internal claims of the New Testament are that unless born of Spirit, a person cannot understand the figurative language of Scripture. Understanding comes from being born of Spirit, and being born of Spirit comes from God drawing a person from this world and giving the person a second life through receipt of His divine Breath (as human life comes from physical breath, or the oxidation of sugars at the cellular level, with the oxygen molecules necessary for this process being delivered to the blood stream by the act of breathing). So the internal claim of the New Testament is that a relationship with God is more difficult and complex than taught by Evangelicals, but is simple in that it begins by faith; by believing that the Bible is the word of God; by believing that God means what He says through His prophets, the earlier and the latter, with Moses being a prophet.

Returning to the Ambassador Watch poster: the person who does not believe that Paul was an apostle and specifically the apostle who laid the foundation for the endtime house of God will lack spiritual understanding and will be like the person (usually of high intelligence) who does not believe that any God exists, that all such belief is carried-forward superstition from an earlier era. No argument will convince the person that God exists. The base for such a belief is not present in the person. Rather, the same amount of faith (or perhaps much more) is employed in disbelief and denial.

While it is tempting to argue with the person who rejects God—to attempt to convince the person of the error of his or her ways—the one who would argue wastes his or her time and words.

Is God trying to save the world? Does God want a relationship with everyone today? Does He have one with Muslims? If He does, what is the basis for this relationship? The internal evidence of Scripture precludes any relationship beyond what is recorded in Genesis 17:20, and this relationship is with Ishmael, not Islam.

If a Muslim today does not have a personal relationship with God, why not? Is it because the Muslim refuses the terms of the new covenant? For a Muslim cannot be a Muslim and still believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Believing that salvation is possible and that Jesus is the only way to salvation forms the ideological core of Christianity. This belief comes by faith. It can come no other way. All alleged proofs of Jesus’ divinity are accepted or rejected by faith. And Herman Melville spent decades questioning whether a book can be believed, any book, including the Bible. In Pierre, or The Ambiguities, Melville explores how good can turn into evil as the novel’s protagonist, Pierre Glendinning, questions whether Christianity sets a high enough standard of conduct … Melville shows that what a book gives it can also take away. What the Bible seems to give it also takes away: Jesus said, “‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword’” (Matt 10:34). Yet, Christendom teaches that Jesus came to bring peace: “‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God’” (Matt 5:9).

Which is it? Are Christians peacemakers or troublemakers?

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The person conducting the services should read or assign to be read John chapter 2, verse 13 through chapter 3, verse 21.

Commentary: A recent Sabbath reading addressed Jesus’ cleansing the temple being the thrice recorded events that produce the stormy sea of the Jonah analogy … Jesus certainly did not appear as a peacemaker when He made a whip of cords and proceeded to use this whip on the money-changers. He appeared as anything but a peacemaker.

But before a disciple sets out to right the wrongs of this world, the location—the temple—of where Jesus drove out sin must be considered. Disciples are today the temple of God (1 Co 3:16-17; 2 Co 6:6), and if this temple conducts business on the Sabbath [in Matthew’s account of Jesus cleansing the temple three years after John records a similar cleansing, Jesus drives out the moneychangers of the Sabbath, which was also the 10^th day of the first month], the disciple can expect Jesus to cleanse it.

It is Jesus who cleanses the temple, not a Levitical priest. The same applies today: Jesus will cleanse what needs cleansed in this era. The work of endtime disciples is to preach repentance as John the Baptist preached repentance, not to compel repentance or to convert the masses or to reform the social system of this world. Jesus will cleanse the hearts of those who are convicted by the preaching of repentance; thus, Christian ministry functions today as witnesses for Christ, not as social reformers or do-good mischief-makers.

John the Baptist did not go into the cities to deliver his message of repentance. He did not go where the audience was. Rather, those who would hear his words sought him in the wilderness. His audience came to him, and this difference makes all the difference: endtime disciples need not go to where the “unconverted” masses huddle in the squalor of despair, but need to preach repentance in whatever wilderness they find themselves, for those who will hear will come to them. Those who will not hear—those who will not believe—will not hear even if personally confronted by Christ Himself.

There is little need for Christian ministry to preach repentance to Muslims or Buddhists or Hindis, for though they are in need of repentance and salvation, they have the small luxury of time on their side. Until they are born of Spirit—they are now born of water, born of woman and the breaking of the embryonic sack—they cannot come to God, nor will they want to come to God. And God has made allowance for this through the two harvest model of salvation, with the firstfruits [equivalent to Judea’s early barley harvest] now having judgment upon them, then after the thousand years the main harvest of humankind [equivalent to Judea’s wheat harvest] receiving a second birth and judgment in the great White Throne Judgment. These two grain harvests of Judean hillsides, an earlier (before the thousand year reign of Christ Jesus) and a latter harvest, together form the single harvest of God, of which a tithe is brought to Jerusalem as God’s portion.

It is God’s desire that all be saved, but only a tithe belongs to God … to whom does the other 90% belong? Does this 90% belong to the prince of this world? Look around yourself. What do you see? Do you see a Christendom that lives as Jesus, an observant Jew, lived? Do you see Christians keeping the commandments of God? Do you see Christians keeping the Sabbaths, plural, of God? Do you see Christians spurning adultery, greed, drunkenness, idolatry? Or do you see Christians living like their heathen neighbors, having the same divorce rates, the same number of personal bankruptcies, the same weekend activities, the same Christmas parties, the same Valentine Day and Halloween observances, the same groceries in their shopping carts, the same smiles when off-color jokes are told, the same immodest apparel (baring of flesh), the same in every aspect but for what they call themselves.

Does a devout Muslim live more like how Jesus lived than does a devout Southern Baptist?

Think about the question: if a disciple has truly been born of Spirit, the disciple will not have his or her mind set on the things of this world—“the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions” (1 John 2:16). The “mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Rom 8:7).

The mind of the fundamentalist Muslim is set on the things of the flesh, especially the advancement of Islam in this world. But is not the mind of the Southern Baptist equally set on the things of the flesh: Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, is running for president of the United States. Certainly he is concerned about the governance of this world, and certainly he believes that he can do a better job of governing than his competitors or any of the Democrats running for office. But he would never consider himself an agent of Satan, the prince of this world. He would never entertain the idea that his participation in politics is prima facie evidence of the fact that he remains in spiritual Babylon, the single kingdom of this world that will be given to the Son of Man halfway through the seven endtime years of tribulation (cf. Rev 11:15-18; Dan 7:9-14).

The Christian bishops attending the Council of Nicea (ca. 325 CE), called by the Emperor Constantine to resolve differences that were dividing Christendom, would never have told Constantine that he was an agent of the prince of this world—they would never have told the Emperor the truth even if they had realized what they were doing … the Emperor invited 1800 bishops to the conference (there were about a 1000 in the East and 800 in the West), but only 250 to 320 attended, with the count differing according to the source. So the question must be asked, why did 1500 bishops stay away when Constantine was paying all of their expenses? Was it because these 1500 bishops understood that participation in the Council was giving aid and comfort to the prince of this world?

Why five of every six bishops boycotted the Council of Nicea will not be known until the resurrection. What is known, though, is that God formally delivered Christendom into the hand of the spiritual king of Babylon at the Council of Nicea just as He had delivered ancient Israel into the hand of the physical king of Babylon because of its long record of lawlessness and rebellion against Him.

Christendom’s lawlessness is apparent every Sunday morning.

The most hopeful sign now seen is the mostly empty Church parking lots on Sunday mornings—God is preparing a people for spiritual birth, with His work of preparation beginning by getting this people away from the lies told about Him in Sunday morning services.

How much love is there is bringing a sword to humankind? How much love is there in telling the truth? And the echo of Pilate’s question can be heard: what is truth?

A person determines truth on the basis of his or her faith. Rabbinical Judaism does not find that Jesus was a reliable source of truth. Judaism lacks faith in Jesus’ words being those of God. Likewise, Muslims will believe Mohammad before they will believe Moses. Mormons will believe Joseph Smith before they will believe Jesus’ words recorded in the gospels. Seventh-Day Adventists will believe Ellen G. White before they will believe John. Other disciples will believe Herbert W. Armstrong before they will believe Paul.

The Church is one assembly, not many assemblies that actually bear arms against each other. If a person believes Joseph Smith, then let the person follow Joseph Smith. Let Joseph Smith bring salvation to this person. Likewise if the person believes Moses or Mohammad, then let the person follow either Moses or Mohammad and let Moses or Mohammad bring salvation to the person. If the person believes Ellen G. White, or Herbert W. Armstrong, then let the person follow White or Armstrong—and let White or Armstrong bring the person salvation. But the Apostle Paul asks, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul?” (1 Co 3:5). And today, disciples must ask, Who is White? Who is Armstrong? Who is Calvin? Who is Luther? Who is Menno Simmons?

The person who believes that Mohammad was a prophet of God, or who believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet, must still come under Moses who wrote that if a prophet arises among the mixed circumcised and uncircumcision people of God, and if what the prophet prophesies comes true (isn’t this the test of a prophet, whether what he or she says comes true) and if the prophet would have the people of God serve other gods, the prophet is to be rejected [stoned] for the people of God are to keep His commandments and to obey His voice and walk after Him, to serve Him and hold fast to Him (Deut 13:1-5). Yes, if Mohammad taught people not to keep the commandments of God, he was to be stoned. If Joseph Smith taught people not to keep the commandments of God, he was to be stoned—and Mormons do not keep the Sabbath commandment. Calvin, Luther, Menno Simmons did not teach the people of God to keep the commandments, so they are to be rejected … it is only by the faith one person places in another person that any of these individuals are held up as ministers of God, and faith can be placed in anything, including in sticks and stones sculpted with iron tools.

It takes the same degree of faith to believe that a crafted stone is god as it takes to believe that Jesus was the Creator of all that is. It doesn’t take more faith to believe that a gold-sheathed wood sculpture is god than it takes to believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Faith is faith. It doesn’t take more faith to believe in God than it takes to believe in Evolution, nor does it take less faith.

It all comes down to whom or what will the person believe. If the person sincerely desires to be one with Christ, and will, when in a far land, turn to God and begin to love God with heart and mind, obeying God, keeping His commandments, then God will bring this person to the mental landscape represented by physical Judah, and will circumcise the heart of this person so that he or she can understand the things of God (Deut 30:1-6). God will mentally separate this person from the world so that the person can keep the commandments and can focus on heavenly Jerusalem, not on present day Jerusalem.

Look around yourself. What do you see? Is there even one in ten who will keep the commandments of God? If there isn’t, then you have work to do for you don’t know who that one will be, so you will have to go to all ten—and perhaps, two of the ten (a tithe of a tithe, one of a hundred) will come to God, with one of the two then being returned to feed all whom have come.

A disciple should not be disheartened when confronted by unbelief or disbelief. Jesus encountered more unbelief than any of us will. The Apostle Paul encountered unbelief. And that is the story of Christianity in this era: it is only those who truly want to be one with Jesus that can come to Him as the Body of the Son of Man. And He won’t force anyone to be one with Him although it remains His desire that all would be saved.

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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.

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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

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