Marcion and the Lie*

Professing Christians continuously fall prey to animosity towards the Jewish people. We at Everlasting Covenant have always taught the Jewish roots of our Christian faith. Therefore, it is always surprising to see how far the Church has ended up from those roots, and how easily believers get caught up in false doctrines concerning those Jewish roots. The separation from our Jewish roots started early in Church history. Although the apostles labeled him a heretic, the teachings of Marcion of Sinope encouraged antisemitism and the removal of Jewish roots from the Church. Some of the false teachings included the doctrine that the God of the Old Testament was not the Father of Jesus, and Jesus did not come in a human body, but was a spirit. Like the contagious variants of the COVID virus, these false doctrines spread through the Church even today like a spiritual virus. As always, we look to the scriptures for truth. Jesus said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (Jn. 8:31-32). We are to abide in HIS Word. In the Word, we are warned repeatedly that various false prophets and false teachers will teach lies, with iniquity abounding, and the love of God growing cold. Jesus said to "take heed that no man deceive you" (see Mt. 24:4-5, 11-12, 24). In the same passage, Jesus prophesies of ethnic groups rising against each other (v. 7). Though the world has become violently divided by race and creed, as Jesus prophesied, the Church should not be drawn into antisemitism, racism, or prejudice. These deceptions will be so powerful that even the elect would be deceived. The apostle Paul wrote that a great falling away from the faith will occur before the Lord's return (2 Thess. 2:3). We are certainly seeing that today. Paul also said that the antichrist, the son of perdition, will be able to exalt himself to be God, sitting in the temple of God (v. 4). It will not be difficult for people to be deceived if the same lie invades the Church that the God of the Old Testament is not the same Father of Jesus spoken of in the New Testament. Paul continued regarding the antichrist: "Even him, whose coming is after the work of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a (the) lie...who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 2:9-12). The original lie of Satan is still operating in the earth among those who walk in unrighteousness. It is the lie that asks, "Hath God said...?" In another place, Paul wrote regarding lies and the latter times: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron." (1 Tim. 4:1-2). We see the condition today among many, that they do evil and they have no conscience about it. However, believers, are called to the love of the truth: "...you, brethren beloved of the Lord, ...God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ....Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work." (2 Thess. 2:13-17, excerpt). Paul makes clear in the above verses that we were chosen for salvation by God from the beginning. This is the God of the Old Testament, the One from the beginning. As for the denial of the Father and the Son, John wrote: "...no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son." (1 Jn. 2:21-22). It is the prophetic plan of God to join the Jewish people and the Gentile people into one inseparable unit, rather than separate them. He gave the vision to His prophet Ezekiel, in which two separate sticks, one with the name of Judah and his people Israel written on it, and the second stick with the name of Ephraim and his people Israel written on it. Ephraim was the son of Joseph with his Egyptian, or Gentile, wife. The two sticks are held together in the hand of the prophet, and in the hand of the LORD, becoming one (see Ezek. 37:15-20). The LORD also promised to bring the people represented by these two sticks, that are made one, into their own land from among the heathen. The LORD said of this unification: "And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all." (Ezek. 37:22). We are here to bring the good news to the Jew and also to the Gentile. For this reason, I believe I have been called to write several books on the Shroud of Turin, including "NAZAH-White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling", which testifies to the Jews, as well as the Gentiles, of Messiah. Jesus is returning for a Bride without spot or wrinkle, a Bride who has made herself ready. Receive forgiveness of your sins, and turn away from sin in all its forms. It is those who have pleasure in unrighteousness who are given a delusion to believe the lie. However, we have been chosen by God from the beginning to know, believe, and speak the truth. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 7/11/21 message to the church. To contact: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and endtimeschool.com.

Our Jewish Faith*

 

Our foundational scripture from the beginning of our ministry has been:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believeth;  to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Rom. 1:16

The next verse continues: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

The gospel is for the Jew first, and then the Gentile. The faith by which we live, and through which the gospel is revealed, is a Jewish faith.

Although we at Everlasting Covenant have taught the feasts of the LORD and the Old Testament as often as we have taught the New Testament, many in the Church have not. The corruption we have seen in Church teachings comes because of separation from those Jewish roots of faith and scripture. The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. Paul taught this foundational principle:

"I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew..."  Rom. 11:1-2

Regarding the point that the Jew fell because they were blinded concerning the gospel, Paul explained that this is in no way meant by the prophesied plan of God to remain a permanent condition, because of the very holiness of the root from which the Jews were called:

"For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches."  v. 15-16

The "lump" referred to above is like a lump of dough. The holy first fruit was mixed into the dough, as flour and water are mixed together, creating a new substance that has become holy. Paul continues to describe the holiness of Israel as original branches of a tree, and then believing Gentiles, the added branches of the tree which was made holy because of its holy root. Everything that grew out of that holy root was deemed holy. We don't support the root, but that root supports us, and makes us holy (v. 17-18). Like Israel, we are only holy as long as we are connected to that holy root. What was that holy first fruit that made the dough holy, and the holy root that made the tree holy? We are given this scripture:
"He (God) hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout (teruah- blowing of the trumpet, alarm, signal, shout, battle-cry, acclamation of joy)  of a king is among them."  Num. 23:21 (see also
1 Thess. 4:16)

The same reason that prevented Balaam from cursing Israel, the reason that Israel was seen as holy and without fault, is because the holy God, and the victorious King of Resurrection were mixed among them, and in them from their beginning.

Paul taught that the spiritual blindness came upon the Jew for our benefit. That blindness would be "until the fulnes of the Gentiles be come in." (v. 25). We are seeing that fullness come to pass as Israel takes control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. According to Jesus, these current events in Jerusalem signal the time of the fullness of the Gentiles:

"...Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."  Lk. 21:24

Paul wrote that we were not to be haughty regarding our faith versus the Jew. God can remove old branches, graft in or remove new branches, or restore the previously removed old branches at will. We are not to be ignorant either, assuming that Israel will remain separated from its holy root, because God has promised: "All Israel shall be saved." (Rom. 11:26). In another place, God has promised Israel and us:

"For this is my covenant unto them (Jacob), when I shall take away their sins."  (v. 27). Reminding us, "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."  (v. 29).

In saying this, Paul was referring to the Old Testament scripture which said:

"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" Num. 23:19

Considering all of these things, including our dependence and reliance upon the holy root of the Jewish faith, Paul continues, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (Rom. 12:1). We are not to be conformed to the world, but, in accordance with this holy root, and holy tree into which we have been grafted by the mercy of God, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
God told the Jewish prophets to write down the vision and the words He gave them, so these promises would be easily read by those who look. These written words, including the promises of God for salvation, preserved faithfully by the Jews, is how we were able to come to faith (Hab. 2:1-4).
Jesus told those who listened, religious experts who knew the scriptures, that the scriptures they searched testified of Him. Jesus told them that Moses wrote of Him. Moses wrote of the blood of the Passover Lamb that would deliver from death all who applied it. Jesus said that if we didn't believe Moses' words, we would not believe His words, either (Jn. 5:38-47). It is these words of the Old, faithfully written and kept, that were revealed fully in the New when John the Baptist declared of Jesus, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world." (Jn. 1:29).
The Old Testament was a pattern of salvation that bore fruit when Peter and John preached in the Book of Acts, and thousands of Jews were saved. They recognized the Jesus the disciples preached as fulfilling the pattern they knew so well. Jesus was revealed to them as the Mediator of a better covenant, with better promises (Heb. 8:5-6).
As with Abraham, who was deemed righteous because he believed God, our hearing of the word of God, must be mixed with faith, with belief, to bear fruit. With that same kind of holy faith, we enter into the rest of God, into the works that were finished from the foundation of the world (Heb. 4:1-3).
The very first words given to us by God, and recorded in Hebrew throughout the generations that followed, "In the beginning, God..." revealed the salvation promise of God: "Bereshiet (pictographically- the Son of God crushed, His hand on a cross) Elohim aleph tav..." (God, the Alpha and the Omega), has testified of the finished work of Christ from before the beginning. Our faith has not changed since the Jews first made record of the oracles of God. That Jewish faith into which we have been adopted, grows from a holy root.

*The above is based upon the 5/19/19 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson.

 

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Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.

 

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What Is Truth?

 

We live in a world where truth has become a rare commodity. Sadly, in many situations, we no longer even expect to find the truth.

However, Jesus was an uncompromising speaker of truth. He is truth personified (Jn. 14:6). He knows the value of truth to the human soul and spirit (Jn. 8:32). He stood for the truth of His Father, without exception. When Pontius Pilate, a coldly practical Roman governor, was examining Jesus before the crucifixion, he cynically asked Jesus, "What is truth?" Jesus had just finished describing His purpose and the reason for His coming, to Pilate:

"...To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice."  Jn. 18:37

The word used here for the expression "bear witness", is the Greek word martyreo, from which we get the word "martyr", meaning those who will declare the truth even unto their own death.

Pilate, though he was a worldly man, knew he was hearing the truth from Jesus, because he went out to the crowd and said to them, "I find in Him no fault at all." (Jn. 18:38). Ultimately, even knowing this, Pilate still delivered The Truth to the mob to be crucified (Jn. 19:16).

Jesus, as Truth, died, and was raised again. Shouldn't we, the Church, also bear this same legacy of truth? Sadly, this is not always the case. In fact, the early Church was structured, in part, on the rejection of truth. Early in Church history, doctrines were established, still existing to this day, that purposefully denied truth. Both the Council of Nicaea, in 325 A.D., and the Council of Laodicea in 364 A.D., denied the Jewish Sabbath, and the observances of Jewish Feasts ordained by God, which were a prophetic picture of the Messiah, Jesus. They referred to these things and more, as "Jewish superstitions". Their goal was to separate the Christian faith from any connection to its Jewish origins and foundational truths found in the Word of God. The Church summarily discarded the truth that Jesus was the Passover Lamb of God, Who came to take away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29, 36), and the First Fruit of the resurrection of the dead (Rev. 1:5).

The Apostle Paul would have disagreed with those early Church decisions. He compared those of the Christian faith to wild branches that had been grafted into the olive tree, which is the Jewish faith (Rom. 11:17, 24). Those branches, by established Church doctrine, later decided to separate themselves from the very root that sustained them. How could those branches now thrive and live, having been separated from their root? Certainly not in truth.

 

Scripture describes the calling of believers as being one of "kings and priests" and a "royal priesthood" (Rev. 1:6, 5:10, 1 Pet. 2:9), called out of darkness and into His marvelous light. What is that light? It is the light of truth:

"O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles."  Ps. 43:3

"But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light..."  Jn. 3:21

The prophet Hosea warned that the priesthood, to which we also have been called, can be lost to us, and rejected by God. The priesthood is rejected because truth, and the knowledge of God, is rejected (Hos. 4:1, 6, 9):

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, and thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."  Hos. 4:6

In the same manner, as His kings, we are called to walk in God's kabode glory. We do this by searching the Word of His truth (Prov. 25:1). We are to search the Word so diligently, that we discover even the hidden things in the Word. If it seems shocking to read that we are to share the glory of God, scripture very much connects truth and the glory where we are concerned (Jer. 4:2, Jn. 1:14, Jn. 17:17-22).

In addition, scripture teaches that kings are preserved (guarded, protected, watched over, kept, maintained) by their association with truth (Prov. 20:28). This is the Word of God regarding kings.

As Jesus powerfully described His purpose to bear witness to the truth, it was in answer to Pilate's question, "Art Thou a king then?" (Jn. 18:37).

Like priests, kings are not to separate themselves from truth.

As the Church continues to reject the knowledge of the truth of its Jewish foundations and roots, as well as other truths of the Word of God, will God in turn reject the Church as kings and priests in His kingdom?

The Church needs to begin asking, "What is truth?", and to begin to search it out in the Word.

 

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