Romans Lesson 31: One Gospel for Jew & Gentile :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: August 28, 2020 by RR7

Chapter 10:1-13

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. ² For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. ³ For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. ⁴ For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. ⁵For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, ‘The man who does those things shall live by them.’ ⁶But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) ⁷ or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

“⁸But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): ⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. ¹³ For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.‘”

Once again, thanks for the lovely responses and the questions and observations that I get. Many of you make me think. Some have asked about our church, and we post weekly sermons on Facebook at Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church. Right now, we are doing a series looking at the New World Order from Genesis 11 and then the New World Order that God told us that He is going to set up in Daniel 9. We will be in that series for a couple more Sundays. We are just getting re-opened here in Southern Ontario, and we had an actual face-to-face church service last week.

This year I set about in January to read through the New Testament four times. I am on my third journey through right now, and I just finished the book of Galatians. In this epistle, Paul addresses ‘another gospel,’ one that adds works and keeping the Mosaic Law to faith, thus making salvation part by works and part by faith. Paul dismisses this heresy and calls it accursed.

Salvation is by works or it is by faith, BUT NEVER both ever. Paul goes on to explain the importance of the salvation we have in faith and not by the Law. You may say to yourself, man this seems ‘elementary, Watson,’ but I assure you that every day the purity of the Gospel that Paul preached, and the simplicity of the Gospel that Jesus died to offer, and the completeness of the Gospel for the needs of man are being challenged. Further, the totality of the Gospel to meet the sinful needs of men everywhere, in every place, in every language, and in every circumstance is being challenged.

What is the Gospel?

Paul lays it out for us in very simple terms: “Jesus died to save sinners of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). No one on this planet needs the Gospel more than I. I am the chief sinner, the head sinner, the CEO of sinners; and if there was one person for whom Jesus needed to die, it is me. I cannot save myself, no more than a drowning man can save himself. I was incapable of being perfect, and Jesus became my perfection for me. He took my sinfulness, He bore my shame, He took my transgression, and He took my iniquity and bore them on His bowed shoulders on the cross. He took my nails, my thorns, my beatings, my spittle, my spear on the side, and my pain for me so I can become a child of God, a joint heir with Jesus. This is the Gospel. I could not save myself, so I needed someone to save me.

Jesus is my Saviour. And if you find yourself in the same boat as me, that you are the chief of sinners and you understand that you cannot save yourself, then call on Jesus. He took your shame, your pain, your nails, your thorns and your spear as well. You too can be a child of God and joint-heir with Jesus. This is the Good News; Jesus came to save sinners of whom I am chief.

Who is the Gospel for?

It is for all men. It is for Jew and Gentile alike. Everyone is saved the same way – by faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Paul lays it out here in verses 9-10,

“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Every man, woman, boy and girl will have the same opportunity no matter where they are and no matter what circumstances they live in to hear that same Gospel. Jesus is the Way. God made it so that it is simple; we do not need to change the way for different ethnics, or heritages. I was saved in a little Caribbean island in 1981. I heard the same Gospel that Paul heard in Acts 9, the same Gospel my mom heard when she was a girl at a Billy Graham crusade, and the same Gospel that thousands of missionaries are teaching right now as we speak. Jesus is the only Way. There is no hope outside of Jesus.

This Gospel is offensive to many people. In Galatians 1:10, Paul says that if he were seeking the approval of men, he would not be a Gospel preacher. He would have kept to the Judaism that he was doing so well in. In Galatians 1:14, Paul says that he had advanced well beyond his years as far as age was concerned. He was zealous and had a cushy life ahead filled with money for sure. But, because he now knew the truth, he traded that cushy place, that fame among men and recognition of his Jewish peers for the truth of Jesus and His crucifixion and resurrection.

The true Gospel does not attract lots of crowds for long. Jesus at one time fed 5,000 men, not to mention women and children, but in Acts 1, there are just 120 persons left in the Upper Room where they waited for the Holy Spirit to come. The truth has a way of weeding out the hangers-on and the simply intrigued as opposed to the saved, redeemed and committed to the Way of Jesus. The Gospel is for everyone on earth; you have never met a person who did not need the Gospel of Jesus. Even saved people love to hear the reassuring Good News.

Why we should be weary?

The closer we get to Jesus’ return, the more deception will begin to surface. In Matthew 24, the disciples asked Jesus ‘what will be the signs of the end,’ and three times in the following verses, Jesus warns them not to be deceived. Many preachers take the Gospel and add to it. This is what was happening in Galatia. They added the Law to the Gospel, and Paul called them out on it. In verses 6-9 of Galatians 1, he tells us that if someone comes with another Gospel other than the one we received from Paul, which Paul received from Jesus, then let that person be accursed.

In Galatians 1:8, Paul tells us that even if an angel from heaven were to give you a different Gospel, then let him be accursed. There are many religions that have tried to give us another Gospel given to them by an angel; let them be accursed. If anyone adds to the Gospel the keeping of the Law, let them be accursed. We have many religions that add the Law to Jesus. One must worship on the Sabbath, not eat pork, not eat shellfish, do this, do that, and on and on; but Paul says if they add to the Gospel, let them be accursed; they are heretics.

In Galatian 3:21, Paul tells us that if righteousness could have come by the Law, then God would have given one. Then Jesus would not have had to suffer, He would not have been beaten and spat upon, He would have not had to suffer for us. But Galatian 3:25 tells us that because we could not be justified by the law, Jesus came in order that we might be justified by faith.

There is One Salvation, One Way, One Plan, One Option, and that is faith in Jesus ALONE. No works added, no keeping of the Law. Jesus kept the Law for me, and I am clothed in His righteousness.

We need to be very, very protective of the Gospel. It, and it alone is the hope for all men. We should treat it reverently and with care as it is the only option a man, a sinner like me, has to be redeemed back to God and to be reconciled to Heaven. You, as a born-again Christian, have a responsibility to know the Gospel, to be able to share the Gospel accurately and concisely enough to offer some lost person the true Hope we have in Jesus. And you should know the Gospel to protect it and to be able to correct those that say it wrong, then be able to recognize those that add or take away from it and to be able to clarify it for the listener.

I leave you with Romans 1:16-17,

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.'”

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

God’s Strong Delusion, & the Father of Lies :: By Mark A. Becker

Published on: August 28, 2020August 28, 2020 by RR7

The Two Lies: God’s Strong Delusion, & the Father of Lies

[Note: This author is a pre-Tribulation rapture believer, and this article reflects that view.]

Introduction

This is a study on the two prominent lies, God’s strong delusion that he sends on the world, and the father of lies behind all deception, as revealed in Scripture pertaining to future prophecy and how it relates to us today.

What we find, when digging deeper within the texts and elaborating on them, is a clearly defined attack on the truth of God’s revealed Word that has been happening since the Garden of Eden. As we will see, Satan’s deceptions have never changed; they have just been modified with the times using the same basic premise and modus operandi.

The Lie of Romans Chapter 1

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things“ (Romans 1:18-23).

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen” (Romans 1:25).

To dig deep into this lie, definitions are in order regarding four religions I’d like to focus on (derived from various sources).

Paganism – A religious, spiritual, or cultural community based on the worship of nature or the earth. A polytheistic or pantheistic nature-worshiping religion.

Darwinian evolution – A theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin and others, stating that all species of organisms have developed from other species, primarily through natural selection.

Hinduism – Central to the faith is a belief in reincarnation and one supreme god called Brahman who has multiple manifestations as either a god or goddess. Gods and goddesses can be spirits, trees, animals, and even planets. Views mankind as divine.

New Age – New Age thought supports the theory of organic evolution, but extends the concept to the evolution of the spirit. This is the concept of “Evolutionary Godhood,” where the next step in evolution won’t be physical, but spiritual.

I selected these four religions (and yes, Darwinian evolution is most definitely a religion) to help show a pattern in all religions in general. Other than the three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – all religions share the same basic philosophical ideals, with varying nuances, of course, as these four.

As we can see, Paganism, Darwinian evolution, Hinduism, and New Age have one common link: the belief in and worship of nature (or the giving of creative powers to nature). They all, as Paul describes in the verse above, “worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator.”

(Note: Please see my article, “Zechariah 5:5-11 – Homecoming: Babel Returns Home” here Zechariah 5:5-11 – Homecoming: Babel Returns Home :: By Mark A. Becker – Rapture Ready or https://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=205436 to see how Hinduism and New Age could very well play a major role in the worship of Antichrist and acceptance of his Mark of The Beast system.)

The Fruits of this Lie in Today’s World

The rise in prominence of these four religions throughout the world has played a major role in shaping our world governments today, and one can look no further than to the United Nations to see the impact they are having.

So-called “climate change” is nothing more than the result of the worship of the earth’s ecosystems; and the fear generated from the delusion that this living, breathing entity we call earth is about to be destroyed because of human interaction with the environment is nothing short of staggering. This fear, along with the impact of these false nature-worshiping religions, has created in the UN an all-inclusive new, yet actually ancient, religion known as Gaia worship.

This fanaticism is the vehicle used to prime the world’s citizens to clamor for the governments of the world to unite under a New World Order (NWO), that the elites have been pushing for at least a hundred years, in an attempt to thwart this “manmade genocide of planet Earth.”

This unfounded fear has generated another fabled atrocity forced upon the world: that of “over-population.” (Nothing like sticking one’s finger in God’s eye in not fulfilling His command to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28 & Genesis 9:7). What’s the remedy for this delusion? Abortion on demand, of course.

The natural progression of this barbaric and inhumane murder of human life leads to the next step that is addressed by Paul as the end result of this lie’s acceptance by mankind in their effort to “worship and serve the creature more than the Creator” – that of homosexuality and other deviant sexual perversions. What better way to control the population than to murder the unborn while practicing sexual promiscuity and pushing for the acceptance of homosexuality so that procreation can be halted? And so it is.

The rest of the surrounding verses to Romans 1:25 give us some very vivid and powerful statements about what this lie produces in mankind, and has, ever since the fall. Every nation in history rises and falls based upon these truths outlined for us.

The lie – after one refuses the truth of creation testifying of a Creator God and ends up “worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator” – finally results in what we have been talking about:

“Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves“ (Romans 1:24).

“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet” (Romans 1:26-27).

The End Results of this Lie in Today’s World

Once this is achieved by the will of man, then all is lost; and here is the end result:

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them“ (Romans 1:28-32).

Look at Paul’s description to Timothy of the character of men in the last days:

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away“ (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

This lie, in summary, is the lie of all false religion’s worship and elevation of nature and man to godhood (united in ungodliness and unrighteousness), and thereby attempting to usurp God’s rightful place as creator.

The Lie and God’s Strong Delusion of 2 Thessalonians 2

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

Many have erroneously believed that this “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,” will be sent by God after the rapture of the church. The rapture is not the context to when this strong delusion to believe a lie will take place. Let’s investigate what the true context is and when this event will happen.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

The context is found in these verses and the when is dictated by the context. Note that the “man of sin” will “be revealed” after there comes “a falling away.” I have written about the “falling away” in a previous article entitled, “An Examination of the Day of the Lord,” which can be found here https://www.raptureready.com/2020/08/11/an-examination-of-the-day-of-the-lord-by-mark-a-becker/ or https://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=205363 detailing how this “falling away” is actually the departure of the saints in the pre-Tribulation rapture of the church.

This is where the error of believing that the timing of “the strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” is after the rapture of the church. But in order to actually find the when, we need to consider the rest of the passage, specifically verse 4.

“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

You see, it isn’t the rapture that sets the stage for the strong delusion to believe a lie; it is when the Antichrist “sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God,” and we know this will happen during the middle of the Tribulation (Daniel 9:27).

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

Now, to verify what we have learned, we need to know who these are “that they all might be damned who believed not the truth.” This should confirm that these people are living at the time that the Antichrist enters the temple and declares himself God, and should also tell us why God has “damned” those “who believed not the truth.” That is, those whom “God shall send” a “strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,” and what that lie may be.

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name“ (Revelation 14:9-11).

Here is the answer to part of our question.

After the Antichrist enters the temple and declares himself to be God (known as the Abomination of Desolation), then he will enact his Mark of The Beast worship and economic system on the entire earth, demanding absolute obedience and submission. All who don’t take the mark will be hunted down and beheaded for Christ’s sake and the testimony of His Word:

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).

To answer the other part of the question as to why those who take the Mark of The Beast are eternally damned and not able to receive salvation through faith by grace, it seems we must speculate by using the history of mankind recorded in the Scriptures.

Going into the details of this is not in the scope of this article. But suffice it to say, the genome of humanity will be corrupted to the point that a human being will no longer be “made in the image of God,” and will therefore be ineligible and unable to be saved by our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This has happened once before in history and will have the same outcome; that of judgment.

“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown” (Genesis 6:4).

(Please see “Genesis 6:4 Commentary and Genetics” for my take on what I believe might have happened in these somewhat controversial passages of Scripture, here: https://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=204120 )

The past seems to point to the future.

We are already seeing the fruits of this labor in the genetic field, and its outcome will be a corruption of humanity resulting from the taking of The Mark of The Beast and/or what the Mark will represent.

God’s strong delusion, that they may believe a lie, will be the lie of false promises associated with the taking of The Mark of The Beast and the worship of the Antichrist.

The Father of Lies and his Lie in the Garden

“… He [the devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44b).

The father of lies, Satan himself, is a deluded creature. Splendid in beauty and knowledge, he became puffed-up in pride and wanted what God has.

Since his fall, he’s been deceiving the nations and every human being who’s ever lived.

It all started with the lie he declared to Eve in the Garden of Eden. A lie he has used successfully ever since, and mankind has taken it “hook, line, and sinker” ever since.

“‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil'” (Genesis 3:4).

Every lie, every deception, every false teaching, and every delusion can be traced back to this one event. Everything evil in our world is hinged upon this one action in history.

“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20b).

Conclusion

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:12-14).

This was Satan’s downfall as his desire to rise above the throne of God and declare himself master of a universe he did not, nor could ever, create himself, began with unbridled pride and was climaxed in the crowning of himself as the father of lies. And we have seen the fruits of his lies beginning in the Garden of Eden, up until today.

As we’ve come full circle, we see that from Satan’s own deluded deception, he passed on this evil and unattainable desire to dethrone God to the very creation that was created in God’s own image: mankind. The adversary and accuser continued in his offer to mankind that they too could “know good and evil” and “be like God.” Mankind did, in fact, know good and evil to their own detriment, but humans are a product of God’s creative powers (as is Satan) and have no right to such Godhood.

But God! In His mercy and love, He came in the form of a son of man, lived a sinless life, and willingly offered Himself to the Father as a lamb without spot for the redemption of mankind (John 1:29 & Hebrews 9:14).

Those of us who have believed “on Him who the Father has sent” (John 6:28-29) are accepted as sons and daughters of God, and the first lie in this article will have no power over us as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us in this life.

The second lie, and God’s strong delusion he will send on the earth to believe this lie, won’t even be a part of the bride of Christ’s experience, as, before then, Jesus will have come back in the clouds to meet us in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18), taking us back to the Father’s house to be with our Lord and Savior forever (John 14:1-3)!

Comfort one another with these words, children of God, and Maranatha!

Email: mab10666@yahoo.com