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How Long Do We Have? Prophecy about Endtimes Peter's predicament Why Churches Don't Spiritually Mature The Gospel of James versus the gospel of Paul Once this virus-crisis is behind us, people will say we should have allowed it to run its course, rather than shut down the economy until world events escalate beyond our control, and we have to accept the consequences. Bill Clinton smoked marijuana, but he didn't inhale... the Corona Virus started in a Chinese laboratory, but it wasn't invented. _________________________________________________________ A short E-mail conversation This is about the WEB translation of the New Testament posted on this website: Dear Mr. Michael Johnson [The creator of the WEB translation of the Bible], I had the NASB on my website for a few years and then contacted them for more permissions and they started talking about taking away permissions they had previously given to me, telling me how to design my website and basically becoming my boss. Then I discovered WEB; I replaced the NASB with it. It's a good translation; I like it. Now I don't have to worry about anybody telling me what to do with my website: jeansbiblestudy.com. Thank you so much for the work you put into it. The Internet needs a contemporary translation within public domain. Thank you, Jim, for taking time to say "Thank you". May God bless you and your ministry. _________________________________________________________ W hat About Tariffs? This was written before Trump imposed tariffs on China Imposing tariffs on U.S. imports would virtually solve every economic problem of the United States and of other nations around the world, and help return the sovereignty of nations. This simple solution is so foolproof that it proves conspiracy does exist by the very absence of this term on the table of negotiations, and it proves that fools in Washington and the mass media are in bed with the ultra-rich. Try to recall the last time you even heard the word “tariff” mentioned by the president, by a senator or congressman, or by anyone in the media in the last 30 years? This word is completely off limits. A tariff tax, used by any nation would help pay off its national debt, and if foreign countries refused to sell us their goods it would heal our GNP problems almost overnight. If real solutions are not soon applied, civilization as we know it will no longer be feasible! Critics of this idea say this would cause a product vacuum, and our store shelves would suddenly be empty, but these are merely hardships associated with making right decisions to get U.S. production markets up and running again. Critics also complain that tariffs would destroy the global market, but whose global market is it anyway? It’s not ours; it belongs to the ultra-rich, who decided for everyone that it should be in their favor to establish a one world economy. Their next move will be to impose a one-world government to manage their one-world economy, and then how will we stop them? _________________________________________________________ How Log Do We Have? About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government." "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury." "From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship." "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years." "During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence: 1. From bondage to spiritual faith 2. From spiritual faith to great courage 3. From courage to liberty 4. From liberty to abundance 5. From abundance to complacency 6. From complacency to apathy 7. From apathy to dependence 8. From dependence back into bondage The United States is now somewhere between the "apathy to dependence" phase of Professor Tyler's cycle of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase. If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal aliens and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years. Another way to look at this is according to Francis Schaeffer, who stated that there are five signs of a society that it is about to crash and burn, looking to ancient Rome's demise in 400 ad: 1. A mounting love of show and Luxury 2. A widening gap between the very rich and the very poor 3. An obsession with sex and sexuality 4. Freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality 5. An increased desire to live off the state If these five things appear in a society, that nation is about to collapse. _________________________________________________________ The Pig in the Kettle Carl Marx said, "Remove one freedom per generation and soon you will have no freedom and no one would have noticed." There was a professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting Communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime. In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?" The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free food. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat the free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity." The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America & Canada. The government keeps pushing us toward Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare entitlements, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms a little at a time. "The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." _________________________________________________________ Prophecy about Endtimes Heb 12,25-29 “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken-that is, created things-so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire." In a very short time God intends to turn this world upside down and shake it over the mouth of hell. Whatever falls into it has judged itself unworthy of the kingdom of heaven. Those who steadfastly embrace the grace of Christ will prove themselves the true children of God. _________________________________________________________ Peter's Predicament Acts 12,5-17 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating." When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel." But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. This story in Act 12,4-16 bears a close resemblance to the carnage that is happening in our churches today. Peter was miraculously delivered from prison by a personal visitation from an angel. By the power of God he walked past his enemies with no one challenging him through unlocked doors that led to the great city. All these things God did through prayer, yet the very ones who were praying for him would not believe God had set him free. In their prayers they must have been asking God to replace Peter, not to save him. They clearly wrote him off as dead. Peter anticipated telling his friends the details of his freedom and expected them to rejoice with them, but when he came to them, he was met with rejection and unbelief instead of faith and love, except for Rhoda who answered the door (she was the only mentionable person by name in the group). It never occurred to Peter’s friends that God was listening to their prayers. In the same manner, pastors throughout America stand behind their pulpits fervently preaching the word of God, yet they don’t have enough faith to believe that anyone would ever be set free through their ministries, apparently because they have not experienced the freedom of Christ for themselves. “It is his angel,” was their theological explanation, belittling the power of God. It is questionable whether pastors really want freedom to be a product of their ministries. After all, what would they do with their parishioners if they started obeying Christ instead of merely believing in Him? Pastors know what to do with people in bondage – preach at them. Those who enjoy the freedom of Christ become a menace, because they want an opportunity to share their freedom with others. There is great responsibility with freedom, in that ministers would need to learn to help those set free to develop their ministries to help them share their freedom with others in the Church and outside the Church doors. Delegating authority to people in a growing church scares the clergy, because it makes them feel less essential to the people and less in control. This is opposite of faith. The more authority they delegate to others, the more they receive. It works the same as their "Give to Get" theology they have jammed down our throats; only instead of it being money, it works with authority. _________________________________________________________ Why Churches Don't Spiritually Mature The spiritual health of a church can be compared to the economic health of a nation, in that they both stand or fall by the same principles. When there is incentive to make money in an economic system, the country prospers, but when greed takes over, it causes everything to come to a screeching halt. Likewise, if there is incentive in the church to spiritually grow, people will do so, but if leaders hoard the ministry and oppress the gifts by suppressing the truth (the ministry actually belongs to the people), it eliminates the need for spiritual maturity, hence there is no longer incentive to pursue it. "Man’s chief urge is to improve his lot and capitalism is the only system by which this urge can be realized. Communists, socialists and other collectivists do not agree that anyone should progress ahead of his fellows. History proves, however, that when individual thrift and initiative are unrewarded, a low and declining standard of living and culture is inevitable. Under socialism and communism, sooner or later the real workers rebel against having to support those who shirk their responsibilities and then the structure becomes paralyzed and collapses." The Speaker’s Desk Book of Quips, Quotes and Anecdotes Jacob M. Braude 1963 This explains why there is so little giftedness in the church today: it is working under a communistic theology. Most of those who try to rise above the system eventually wear-down from the struggle against indifference and submit to living like everyone else, spiritually impoverished. People in charge don’t think anyone should progress ahead of their fellows. They teach that unity is a matter of equality and that those who seek higher levels of maturity are considered renegades. The Book of Acts paints the opposite picture, that of incorporating the ideals of communism into the church’s economy by “having all things in common,” while allowing capitalism to dictate the level of the spiritual maturity in each person. As It is written, “To everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away” (Mat 25-29). American Christianity has it backwards: outwardly they are capitalistic but inwardly they are communistic. No wonder Christianity isn’t working! ___________________________________________________________________ The Gospel of James versus the gospel of Paul (The difference between “belief” and "faith") James’ gospel: Jm 2,14-26 – Believing requires obedience Belief: What we believe is our reality. Paul’s gospel: Eph 2-8,9 – Faith requires the hearing ear Faith: When we do what we hear, we are doing the works of God, and His reality becomes our reality Seeking balance between James and Paul is a matter of finding our trail of good works that proves we believe, completing our faith in Jesus (Eph 2-10). Finding our trail of Good works — We must develop a hearing ear! see full list 106a Rom 4,1-8 Jn 10,3-5 Rev 2-7,11,17,29 Rev 3-6,13,22 We develop a hearing ear by combining the Spirit and the Word in prayer, which defines the power of God. This trail is our calling. (An example of praying the Bible is the book of Psalms.) see full list 109h Mat 16,13-18 1Cor 2,1-16 Gal 1-11,12 Eph 1,15-19 Eph 3,13-21 Eph 6-17 Once we hear what God is calling us to do, we "W ork the grace of God" to fulfill it. Many passages in the Old Testament speak of this (read Hebrews chapter 11), and there are many instances in the New Testament that speak of it. Here are just a few: see full list 114a 2Cor 6-1 2Tim 2-1 1Cor 15-10 Heb 11,8-10,28-31 Jm 1,23-25 Verses from above topics James' gospel Jm 2,14-26 – What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder. But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected. So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see then that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith. In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead. ______ Paul's gospel Eph 2-8,9 – for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. ______ Finding balance between James and Paul Eph 2-10 – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them. ______ Finding our trail of Good works — Developing a hearing ear Rom 4,1-8 – What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.” Jn 10,3-5 – The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.” Rev 2-7,11,17,29 – 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows but he who receives it. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. Rev 3-6,13,22 – 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. ______ The Spirit and the word Mat 16,13-18 – Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 1Cor 2,1-16 – When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing. But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.” But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit. But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is to be judged by no one. “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind. Gal 1-11,12 – But I make known to you, brothers, concerning the Good News which was preached by me, that it is not according to man. For I didn’t receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ. Eph 1,15-19 – For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you and the love which you have toward all the saints, don’t cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might Eph 3,13-21 – Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Eph 6-17 – And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God ______ Working (with) the grace of God 2Cor 6-1 – Working together [with Him], we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain. 2Tim 2-1 – You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 1Cor 15-10 – But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Heb 11,8-10,28-31 – 8-10 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed, going out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 28-31 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace. Jm 1,23-25 – For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.