The BIG Picture (Q&A)

QUESTION: Why are Christians upset about protesters disrupting a church service in Minnesota when Jesus Christ itself went into a temple (a house of worship) and overturned tables and drove people out (Mathew 21:12)? NOTE: This response focuses strictly on sound doctrine and the conduct derived from it. We do not engage in political commentary or civil disputes. While I will not address the specifics of any secular event, the Word of God provides a definitive answer regarding the conduct of believers and why the actions of Jesus Christ in the Temple cannot be compared to the disruptions of the world today. I add this question to our space solely due to educating in sound doctrine and to promote the value of our Grace doctrine. REPLY: The Standard of Conduct in the Dispensation of Grace Under the Mystery Doctrine revealed to the Apostle Paul, the believer is called to a standard of conduct that transcends personal grievances or social disagreements. Whether one agrees or disagrees with...

Paul tells us that our conscience can get  seared , 1Tim.4:2. This mostly applies to unsaved people, but it does not disqualify those who are saved but who have never grown up in the Word. The saints at Corinth are a good example, being saved, but flagrantly carnal and worldly as babes in Christ. Being seared in conscience means that we become insensitive to what is wrong, and it does not bother us when we fall in its traps. In direct contrast to this is a saved person who spends time in the Word, studying it, allowing it to renew their minds, and giving themselves over to obeying it. Such a person becomes  ‘unseared’,  being sensitive to the will of God and to godliness. The remedy to a seared conscience is not practicing law or having righteous willpower, but the knowledge of grace through the work of Christ which we find in the doctrine of Paul’s epistles. This can only come to us by spending time in the Word. It is the Word of God that prunes, and cuts away, discerns ...

The moment one quotes scripture, like, “we are not under law but under grace”, Rom.6:14 , you get people defending the law with all their might, rejecting the post, and calling one a heretic. The typical defense will come in arguments like, the law is our tutor, or the law upholds morality, or they claim you're saying the law is sinful. The most common argument is when they say, even though the law cannot save one, it does not mean we do not have to practice it. Arguments like these are typically raised by believers, — yes, you read that correctly, believers . Either believers who lean too much upon a legalistic faith, or uninformed believers who have a carnal opinion of spiritual things without having studied the Word to discover the truth that is presented clearly and concisely in its pages. So, how does one correct such carnal thinking? Tutorship of the law:  The tutorship of the law aims to justify us, and it accomplishes this with little empathy. It brings us to ...

COMMENT: You say, “Repentance and water baptism is part of the salvation requirements in the Kingdom gospel for Israel. They [Israel] are commanded to repent for their unbelief and crucifying their Messiah. Water baptism is required to fulfil the priestly calling they have according to Exo.19:5–6, which they will fulfill in the Millennial Kingdom.” So, you call obedience to repentance and water baptism, works? How sad. You haven’t obeyed Jesus and Peter. MY RESPONSE: According to Paul’s writings we are to obey the living Word within us. You see, when we read the Word and fill ourselves with it, then it starts to renew our mind. It starts to influence our thoughts and actions. Giving ourselves over to obey that which the Word works out of us is what we obey unto righteousness. See what Paul writes in connection with this, Rom 6:16-17 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedien...