WHY DID GOD ALLOW POLYGAMY?

There are no restrictions in the scripture that condemn a man having more that one wife. There is a restriction in the NT for those who those who would be elder, pastors-teachers, have a position of responsibility in the called-out Assembly of God in a teaching capacity.

Jesus refers us back to the beginning of a man and woman become one in union in Genesis, but his reference is in regard to divorce and not in regard to a man having more that one wife. Deuteronomy spells out how the first wife is to be protected and there is a restriction about sister not being married to the same man which Jacob didn't follow because of Laban's deception.

The laws of many countries don't allow a man to have more that one wife and if a believer lives in one of these countries he has to abide by the law of that country. If one looks at the difficulty experience by Jacob having two wives it is probably an object lesson for all to realize that peace and harmony do not seem to exist in such relationships.

WITHOUT STAIN OR WRINKLE

The Messiah’s called-out Assembly has never been fully approved or accepted by the world, and it never will be. If you live for Jesus, you won’t have to separate yourself from secular company; they’ll do it for you. All you have to do is live for him. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself reproached, rejected, called evil: “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the son of Man’s sake” (Luke 6:22, NKJV).

However, Jesus adds that this is the path to true fulfillment. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). In other words, “The only way that you will find meaning in life is by giving your all for me. Then you’ll find true joy, peace and satisfaction.”

The Messiah tells us, “My church is without spot or wrinkle. When you come to me, you must be willing to lay down all sins. You must surrender all to me, die completely to self, ungodly ambition and ego. By faith, you’ll be buried with me, and I will raise you up into new life.”

Think about what it means to be without spot or wrinkle. We know what a spot or a stain represents, but what about a wrinkle? Have you ever heard the phrase, “a new wrinkle”? It means adding a new idea to an existing concept. A wrinkle, in that sense, applies to those who try to improve on the gospel. It suggests an easy way to attain heaven without full surrender to the Messiah Jesus.

That’s the kind of gospel that’s being preached in many churches today. The sermons are aimed only at meeting people’s needs. As I read Jesus’ words, I see that this kind of preaching will not work. It doesn’t accomplish the true work of the gospel.

Don’t misunderstand; I’m not against preaching comfort and strength to God’s people. As a shepherd of the Lord, I’m called to do exactly that at times. If I preach only to people’s needs, though, and ignore the Messiah’s call to sacrifice and lay down our lives, then true needs will never be met. Jesus’ words are clear: Our needs are met by dying to ourselves and taking up his cross.

David Wilkerson (1931-2011) Edited by Bruce Lyon

WHY DID JESUS SAY, "FATHER FORGIVE THEM", ON THE CROSS?

Jesus said "Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing" because his whole mission was to carry out His God's plan to reconcile humanity to Himself.

2 Corinthians:5:19: To wit, that God was in the Messiah, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

His whole purpose for allowing himself to be crucified was to open the way and make it possible to his God to reconcile the world - humanity unto Himself. That is why he said, "Father forgive them...."

He knew that if his own disciples couldn't understand what he was saying when he talked about his death and resurrection, how could the men who condemned him to death be aware as to who he really was. They did recognize who he was because their eyes were blind and they were, as all humanity is now, under the influence of the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the great Adversary, Satan.

Jesus prayer for forgiveness was out of love for those who crucified him in order that they might in the future come to believe in him and be saved. Jesus, as his God and Father, does not want sinners to be destroyed but instead to repent and believe in the one whom God has sent, the lord Messiah Jesus.

THE UNIQUELY BEGOTTEN SON OF YEHOVAH AND THE NEW CREATION

Note: The birth of Jesus is recorded in Luke 1:35: The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow [hover over] you. Therefore, the holy child developing inside you will be called the Son of God.

This is similar to how Yehovah created the “old creation" as we see in Genesis 1:1-3: In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering over [overshadowing] the water. Then God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light.

Now we see that Yehovah’s Spirit overshadowing of Mary in Luke 1:35 has a parallel in Genesis 1-2 which says, “The Spirit of [Elohim] God was hovering over the surface of the water. This brings out a vital truth! The overshadowing of Mary has to do with the new creation whereas in Genesis, God’s Spirit brooding over the yet unformed earth has to do with the “old creation”

The overshadowing of Mary by God’s Spirit has to do with the beginning of a new creaton [a new humanity, of which Jesus is the federal head].

The meaning of the virgin birth is brought out not only in Jesus teaching of being “born of the Spirit” (John 3:5) but also in Paul’s teaching of the “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15) a term pointing to the virgin birth.

The Spirit of God brought into being a “new creation” in Mary, replacing sperm from Adam’s descendents. In this way Jesus was a descendent of Adam and Abraham and David via Mary, but also the beginning of a “new creation” by the creative power of the Spirit of Yehovah. This explains the Paul’s teaching of the “new creation” in the Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Revelation 21:5) and of Jesus as “the man from heaven” or “the spiritual man” (1 Corinthians 15:45-40).

Jesus came into being by the creative power of Yehovah’s Spirit and thus became the beginning of Yehovah’s “new creation [the beginning of a New Humanity]. As a result believer’s are, as a result of being in the Messiah, incorporated as members of the new humanity, becoming entirely new persons through God’s transforming power. Just as Jesus was “born of the Spirit” at his birth, so all those who are seeking salvation need to be “born of the Spirit”, as stated in the words Jesus gave to Nicodemus: You (plural) must be “born from above” (John 3:7) , and unless one is “born from above”, he/she cannot experience the Kingdom [Kingship] of God – that is cannot inherit eternal life.

What Yehovah accomplished in Jesus, He intends to reproduce in all those who come to believe and trust in Him; that they will become “new creations” in the Messiah; born of the Spirit of Yehovah into a new life that is lived by the power of His indwelling Spirit!

Yehovah has in view that believers who are “new creations” in the Messiah grow into a “mature manhood/womanhood”, to the stature of the fullness of the Messiah (Ephesians 4:13) This means that believers; as a matter of becoming "new creations" – persons in the Messiah; will become like Jesus is the way he/she lives and thinks.

This is what constitutes true believing or what Paul refers to as “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 16:26) True faith includes obedience to the Father that mirrors the way Jesus lived in total wholehearted committed obedience to his God and Father Yehovah. Realize that we need as Jesus needed the indwelling enabling power of Yehovoh to accomplish this!

In this age to follow Jesus means to live in relation to our God and our Father as Jesus lived in relation to his God and his Father Yehovah, “as he is so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

This indeed is the simplicity of what our God and Father Yehovah wants us to know!

Can we imagine living in the New Age that will come, after the White Throne Judgement, as members of the New Humanity, living as glorified men/women having immortal life in a New Heavens and New Earth. a complete new order to things! What a glorious hope our God and Father Yehovah has given to those who are His.

Revelaton 22:17: 17  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

2 Corinthians 6:2: For he says, I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured you:

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

These words are inspiried and influenced by Eric Changs book, "The Only Perfect Man". The material has been edited by Bruce Lyon

HOW IS SATAN REPLACED AS THE god OF THIS WORLD?

Satan is the god of this world because Adam forfeited the position of his God-given rulership over this world. God true to His form will allow Satan to hold on to this position until someone has qualified to replace him. The good news is that someone is the second man [uniquely created, Adam being the first], the last Adam, Jesus. When the lord Messiah Jesus returns to this earth to take his place on the throne of David at Jerusalem with all of the holy ones - glorified immortal saints - us and form a Theocratic Government that will rule over all the nations of this world. He will replace Satan and all the angels who have supported him in his rebellion against Yehovah!

At that time one of the first things the Messiah Jesus will do is have one of his angels bind Satan and cast him into a pit where he can deceive the nation no more.

Revelation 20:1-3: And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that, he must be loosed a little season.

So we see that at the end of the 1,000-year rule of the lord Messiah Jesus, Satan will be loosed for a short time to once again deceive the nations to rebel against Yehovah and His vice-regent Jesus. Yehovah will allow this to happen to reveal that human beings as to their sinful nature will not have changed during the 1,000 years of living under a Theocratic Government that the Messiah Jesus will preside over with all the saints - holy ones co-ruling with him. Human beings living at the time will have retained the nature Adam had after his wife Eve and he rebelled against Yehovah Elohim - God.

This above all is proof positive that mankind cannot of and by themselves obtain salvation. All men and women need to respond to the calling that Yehovah sends forth to come under His Kingship. They then need to repent of their sinful selfish rebellious attitude of mind and be baptized, walking into the water showing they have died to self and rising up from the water as new creations in the lord Messiah Jesus. After that first step is taken they then need to fully commit for the rest of their lives to walk in obedience to Yehovah and His Vice-Regent Jesus. Those who do so will not rebel against Yehovah IF they continue to walk in the spirit.

If we have truly died to self, and are walking in the spirit then the following words will be true for us:

“Our old self was crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6).

Romans 6:11: Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God because of Jesus the Messiah our lord.

The Christian who lives in the Messiah Jesus will follow him, imitating his holiness, his mercifulness, his wisdom, his single-minded focus on his mission, and his communion with the Father. He patterns his whole life on the Messiah and follows in his footsteps from the first step to the last. That first step is to walk into the water - grave - into the death of self - having been crucified with him.

Galatians 2:20: I AM CRUCIFIED WITH THE MESSIAH: 

NEVERTHELESS, I LIVE; YET NOT I, FOR THE MESSIAH LIVES IN ME: AND THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BECAUSE OF THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME, AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.

Galatians 5:16: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Galatians 6:8: For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Believers are “in the Messiah” and have the new life in the Messiah, as Paul puts it: “if any man is in the Messiah, he is a new creation [a member of the New Humanity]” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Notice: The scriptural record says that rebellion that takes place at the end of the 2,000-year rule of the lord Messiah Jesus will be put down immediately and Satan and his angels and all those whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire and destroyed. Yes, I said destroyed. Whatever God has created He can destroy,  Satan, angels and human beings are all created beings.

After the White Throne Judgement, a completely new order of things will take place, and all those who are immortal glorified men and women will enter with the lord Messiah Jesus into the coming new age. At that time there will be a new heavens, and a new earth, a whole new order of things, and Yehovah himself will come down and dwell on this earth at Zion with all those who enter into the New Age.

Revelation 21:1-5:  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Notice: Only glorified men and women will enter into the New Age:

1 Corinthians 15:50:  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.

What a glorious future we have to become immortal men and women with the lord Messiah Jesus in the coming new age!

1 Corinthians 2:9: But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has in entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

ARE WE ALL IN? ARE WE TOTALLY COMMITED TO FAITHFULLY FOLLOWING WHEREVER YEHOVAH LEADS US?

These times of crisis and trouble require us to be courageous enough to deal with the issues of our day and, more importantly, those issues that lie within our own hearts. Now is the time for an appraisal. It is time for us to stop and seriously consider where we are headed physically and spiritually. Are you and I prepared for what is coming in these last days? Do we have within us what we need to face the days that are coming?

I fear that many disciples are largely unaware of the depths of the great trials that will soon face the called-out Assembly of God, and sadly, possess little inner resource to meet them. 

We profess our devotion to the Messiah without much difficulty when the sun is shining brightly, money is still coming in, and there is food on the table. Yet when major upheaval comes will our attitude be the attitude that Habbakuk writes about: Habbakuk 3:17-19:

Even if the fig tree does not bloom and the vines have no grapes, even if the olive tree fails to produce and the fields yield no food, even if the sheep pen is empty and the stalls have no cattle even 

then, I will be happy with Yehovah. I will truly find joy in God, who saves me. Yehovah

 Almighty is my strength. He makes my feet like those of a deer. He makes me walk on the mountains.

When these things happen it will become evident if our security is truly rooted in Yehovah Elohim - God alone. We will discover whether or not our hearts will prove to be steadfast, with the express purpose of living to bring glory to the name of  Yehovah and carry out His purpose for us to be a light to the world.

If we expect to be found unshakable in the days to come, I can only come to this one conclusion: an immediate and deliberate decision must be made in our hearts to fully commit to our God and Father Yehovah. Following along the difficult path He has set before us. The path that the lord Messiah chose to follow was difficult beyond comprehension. He led as, the way, the truth, the life, and the light for us to follow.

Notice what the lord Messiah Jesus says: "Whoever isn't with me is against me. Whoever doesn't gather with me scatters." (Luke 11:23)

Are we all in?

THE FAITH YEHOVAH LOVES

As we read Hebrews 11, we find a single common denominator to the lives of the people mentioned. Each had a particular characteristic that denotes the kind of faith Yehovah Elohim - God loves. What was this element? Their faith was born of deep intimacy with Yehovah.

The fact is that it’s impossible to have a faith that pleases Yehovah without sharing intimacy with Him. What do I mean by intimacy? I’m speaking of a closeness to Yehovah that comes from yearning for him. This kind of intimacy is a close personal bond, a communion.

It comes when we desire Yehovah more than anything else in this life.

It comes when we have died to self and completely committed our lives to Him in covenant faithfulness, living out in obedience the words He gave the lord Jesus to give to us.

It comes to us when we keep the creed of the Messiah Jesus to love God with all our hearts, mind, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:28-32).

“By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4, NKJV). I want to note several significant things about this verse:

First, Yehovah Himself testifies about Abel’s offerings.

Second, Abel had to build an altar to Yehovah where he brought his sacrifices. He offered not only unspotted lambs for the sacrifice but the fat of those lambs as well. “Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat” (Genesis 4:4).

What does the fat signify here? The book of Leviticus says of the fat, “The priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma; all the fat is Yehovah’s” (Leviticus 3:16).

The fat was the part of the sacrifice that caused a sweet aroma to rise. This part of the animal caught flame quickly and was consumed; the fat here serves as a type of prayer or fellowship that’s acceptable to Yehovah. It represents our ministry to Yehovah, our God, and Father in the secret closet of prayer. Yehovah Himself states that such intimate worship rises to Him like a sweet-smelling savor. 

The Bible’s first mention of this kind of worship is by Abel. That is why Abel is listed in Hebrews 11’s ‘Hall of Faith.’ He’s a type of servant who was in fellowship with Yehovah, offering Him the best of all he had. As Hebrews declares, Abel’s example lives on today as a testimony of true, living faith: “He being dead still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4).