Let’s do a little Bible math. We’re going to put a few knowns together with an unknown to see if we can get a logical result, not the horror story stuff churches have spread around for centuries.
Common dogma: Man + Sin = Death + Hell (Brimstone, Eternal Torment, Fires, Wailing, Etc.)
Common sense dogma: Man + Sin = Death (see below for explanation)
In both cases, there are a few givens that must be noted. The funny thing is they apply to both cases equally.
| The punishment for sin is death, as the Bible plainly states it. What happens after death is the subject of much imagining, yet the Bible also plainly states that the dead are dead, for good.
| Jesus died for our sins, as the Bible also plainly states it.
Now let’s elaborate on the logic behind the conclusion pointed out above. The solution can be found, as with other Bible questions, in the life Jesus led while on earth, and in His death. His life was a model, a perfect example of the close relationship, the oneness that man can achieve with God, and His death was the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
→ If Jesus died for our sins, then the complete punishment for sin must be death.
If the punishment for sin is death, and if Jesus died for our sins, then permanent death, not hell, is what we, too, can expect if we die as sinners. If we are Christians, we must accept that conclusion as true, or we put at risk Jesus’ sacrifice for us. It means we don’t really believe in Him, as He asked us to do. You see, if we believe extra punishment, like hell fire and brimstone, is needed beyond the sinner’s death, then Jesus didn’t really atone for our sins.
That’s because, as we all know, He died on the cross, was buried the same day, and was raised back to eternal life on the third day. Nowhere in the Bible will you find a mention of Jesus burning in hell for our sins while in the grave. Therefore, if Jesus’s death was enough sacrifice for our sins, and keep in mind He was carrying the full load of sins for all humanity, then the complete punishment for sinners must be death.
Let me state this again so it registers with you. It’s a crucial part of our Christian faith that Jesus died for our sins and paid in full for them. If he did, then the punishment for sin must be death and death alone, not eternal torment, or brimstone, or the devil with a pitchfork turning you over in the fire.
If the latter were the punishment, then Jesus didn’t really die and atone for our sins, since He didn’t partake of the real punishment. And that can’t be, since it’s one of the cornerstones of our Christian beliefs. Do you see how the wrong dogma falls apart when you think about this?
If you’d like to have it explained in more detail, watch this video called “The Lake of Fire“.
Back in February, I wrote about a website called 4 His People, where a church elder by the name of Ernie Knoll posted a number of prophetic dreams he’d been having.
A few days ago, the website was taken down, because the group that had been set up to manage the ministry around the dreams discovered that Ernie Knoll had made up a couple of key facts. Those fabrications cast a serious doubt on his ministry and on the prophetic value of his messages, so he and his wife were suspended from the ministry. The website was updated with the following message (click through to see it large):
What a shame! I thought the dreams were true and Knoll was honest about their origin. I found them to strengthen my faith when I listened to them. Although there were times when I thought the testimonies were drawn out, such as when Knoll talked about being given various robes and gifts for spreading the message, I took that stuff in context and moved on, focusing on the parts that tied directly into Bible prophecy.
Who knows, perhaps there is still some truth to the dreams. It’s possible the ones Knoll had at the beginning were true, and then he fudged some later ones because there was pressure on him to produce more of them. Maybe the ministry board jumped the gun when they closed down the website, but I can see why they’d rather err on the side of caution. Still, I find the message posted on the site unsatisfactory, because it doesn’t tell the whole story. I think there’s more investigative work to be done so we can know exactly where things went off the straight and narrow path. As painful as it may be, Ernie Knoll should come clean about the whole thing, because he owes that much to the people who believed in the value of his dreams.
In a new encyclical, entitled “Caritas in Veritate”, or “Love in Truth”, Pope Benedict XVI calls for the formation of a “true world political authority”, which would enforce global economic, environmental and immigration policies in order to construct a new world order that “conforms to the [Catholic] moral order”. He’s wrong to do that, on many levels, as explained in more detail here.
Most of the encyclical sounds nice, and most Christians would agree with at least some of the things he’s saying, except I, along with others, believe he has no God-given authority to call for such an order — in spite of the assumed authority that Catholic popes have granted themselves historically. The Pope calls himself Christ’s representative on earth. If so, he would do well do remember Christ’s words (quoting from source):
“Jesus Christ, whom the Pope claims to represent here on earth, very clearly said that [His] “kingdom was not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight . . . but my kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). A political body “vested” with “power” to ensure “security” and “compliance,” as the Pope recommends, will obviously have to use a police or military force. What qualifies the Pope to make recommendations or suggest policies for the creation of such an entity?”
Furthermore, “some may argue that the Pope is not suggesting he or his church be in charge of such an authority, but rather proposing that some other body take these steps to stabilize our world economy. And yet this cannot be the full argument. The letter makes clear that the policies carried out by the entity would be to construct a “social order” that “conforms to the moral order.” The Pope’s choice of words is telling. He does not say “some moral order,” or “a moral order,” but “the moral order.” He clearly has a certain moral order in mind. Could this be any other moral order than the one articulated and taught by the Catholic Church?”
Second, we must always remember the Dark Ages, the Inquisition, and all of the countless millions killed at the hands of that putrid religious zealotry. All of that was done in the name of the Pope and allegedly in the name of God, and the reason they could do it was the Catholic church’s control of Europe’s various governments. We cannot ever let history repeat itself like that.
Third, most may have easily forgotten or not even been aware of the Catholic church’s recent efforts to reinstate the Sunday Law, under the guise of a “national day of rest”. If that were to happen, it would be a form of religious persecution, where those who choose to worship on another day, like, for example, on Saturday, which is the true Biblical Sabbath, would slowly but surely be ostracized and persecuted for their disobedience of the legal day of rest, namely Sunday. If the church got its hands on a world government, you can only begin to imagine the measures of persecution that would be introduced, one after the other, in the name of the new “moral order”.
We must continually strive to dissuade any church or group of churches from attempting to control or influence world governments. World governments should be “worldly”, guided by a set of generally accepted moral rules and left to themselves, not controlled by a church. The churches would do well to remember their kingdom is in heaven and is to be ruled solely by God, not by fallible human beings. If they’re dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in this passing world, they’d better get on their knees and pray for the faster return of Christ, not try to build empires of their own.
I was reading Ezekiel 33 this morning, and verses 7-9 state perfectly why I feel the need to write here at Dignoscentia.
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.”
As a believer in God and in God’s Law, I feel the need to share what I have learned from the Bible with others, in the hope that if they’re doing something that may be wrong, they might learn it’s wrong and turn from it. I’m not saying what I write is necessarily right — who knows, I could be wrong too — but at least I’m trying to shed light on the truth. I’ve always said that it’s each person’s responsibility to seek out the truth for themselves. It’s not about forcing people to believe in certain things or behave in certain ways. It’s about letting them make free, yet informed choices about their beliefs. If I can only get someone thinking and searching for the truth and for the right path in their life, then I’ve done my job.
Here’s how God feels about it:
“Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’
“Therefore, son of man, say to your countrymen, ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of the wicked man will not cause him to fall when he turns from it. The righteous man, if he sins, will not be allowed to live because of his former righteousness.’ If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will die for the evil he has done. And if I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right — if he gives back what he took in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees that give life, and does no evil, he will surely live; he will not die.”
“None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live.”
Those were verses 11-16 in the same chapter (33) in Ezekiel. Now isn’t that something to rejoice about?
US News published an article entitled “10 Healthy Habits That Will Help You Live to 100“, authored by Deborah Kotz. I’ll list the 10 habits below, but I encourage you to read the entire article, it’s very good.
- Don’t retire
- Floss daily
- Be physically active
- Eat a fiber-rich breakfast
- Get at least 6 hours of sleep per night
- Consume whole foods, not supplements
- Be less neurotic
- Live like a Seventh-day Adventist
- Be a creature of habit
- Stay connected
Did you catch #8? What can I say but offer my thanks to US News & World Report and Deborah Kotz. I’m a Seventh-day Adventist, and what they’re saying in the article is true. Quoting:
“Americans who define themselves as Seventh Day Adventists have an average life expectancy of 89, about a decade longer than the average American. One of the basic tenets of the religion is that it’s important to cherish the body that’s on loan from God, which means no smoking, alcohol abuse, or overindulging in sweets. Followers typically stick to a vegetarian diet based on fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts, and get plenty of exercise. They’re also very focused on family and community.”
Seventh-day Adventists were also featured in the National Geographic Magazine for the very same reason in November of 2005, when researchers studied three different groups of people from around the world (Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy and Loma Linda, CA, USA) to discover why they lived so long. There are a large number of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda. That same NGM study was then picked up by CNN and shown on the Anderson Cooper 360 show.
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Even though I’m a Seventh-day Adventist, keep in mind I may differ from the church’s official stance on certain subjects when I write on my site. I reserve that right for myself, since I believe each and every one of us ought to think and make up our minds for ourselves, through Bible study and prayer — not to let any church do it for us.
Want to learn more about what it means to be a Seventh-day Adventist? Go to Adventist.org.
The byline for this psalm is “a psalm, a song for the Sabbath day”. It’s yet another mention (among countless in the Bible) of the Sabbath’s importance, and I’m not referring to the false Sabbath of Sunday, which many obstinate and misguided churches are lobbying for, but the true Sabbath, Saturday, which was sanctified by God from the creation of the Earth.
As a photographer, I couldn’t agree more with verse 5: “How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts!” The more time I spend in nature, seeking natural beauty, and the more I examine that beauty, the more I realize how great God’s work truly is, and how beautiful He made this Earth before we spoiled it. As for the second part of this verse, I don’t know if we’ll ever know how profound God’s thoughts can be. We are too limited to realize how He thinks, how much He loves us, and how He cares for us.
The rest of the psalm is eschatological, and includes clear references to the destruction of the wicked, and to everlasting life with God, in heaven and here on the renewed Earth:
“Though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.” (verse 7)
“For surely Your enemies, O LORD, surely Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.” (verse 9)
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.” (verses 12-14)
Verse 15 echoes the promises made in Daniel and the Revelation, that all will realize God’s perfect nature and goodness, and will proclaim it aloud, saying: “The LORD is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Not all of the promises made in this psalm are prophetic. Some are for the present. Verses 10 and 11 say:
“You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured upon me. My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.”
My Bible’s footnotes indicate the term “horn” refers here to one’s strength. The original Hebrew version is likely even clearer on that meaning. It’s encouraging and inspiring to see that God sometimes blesses His faithful ones during their lifetimes, not just in heaven. He chooses the time and method, but when He pours out His blessings over them, there is no mistaking His hand. I can attest to this myself, and I’m sure many others can. When we’re in the direst of circumstances and things cannot possibly be solved by human means, He works something out miraculously and we are delivered in a way we could not have imagined if we hadn’t seen it.
Praise be to God!
Some of the most beautiful promises of reassurance I know of are contained within this psalm:
“A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” (Psalm 91:7)
“For He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91:11,12)
“I will rescue him; I will protect him.” (Psalm 91:14)
Aren’t those promises amazing? I don’t know about you, but shivers run down my spine when I read them. To think, God will personally command His angels to protect me completely, no matter what the circumstances! All that He asks in return is:
- Make Him my dwelling place (Psalm 91:9)
- Love Him (Psalm 91:14)
- Acknowledge His name (Psalm 91:14)
That’s not too much to ask, is it? Of course, the key is to dwell in the Lord, as verse 9 says. How does one do that though? It’s got to be a symbolic statement, one that likely refers to keeping our minds on God, all day, every day, and inviting Him into our lives. It’s a natural extension of that second thing we must do in order to qualify for His full protection, which is to love Him, as verse 14 above says. Or, as another Christian puts it, to dwell in the Lord is to keep His word in our minds all day — to study the Bible carefully and to meditate upon it. Once we love Him and dwell in Him, it’s only natural that we acknowledge His name, or that we speak about Him to others, and give Him credit for all the blessings He bestows upon us.
The wonderful thing about God is that He loves us so much He’ll protect us even when we don’t love Him. He’ll bless us even when we curse Him. He is truly amazing. I’ve heard stories of people who were atheists or pagans, and yet God protected them in terribly dangerous situations. What do you think happened afterwards? Many became Christians. They began to believe in Him, to love Him, and to acknowledge His name publicly. They realized He exists, and He watches out for all His children, even though He may not always answer our prayers the way we expect. Yet if only we could see His angels at our side when in dire circumstances, we would know He never fails to deliver on His promises.
He doesn’t falter. Only we do, and that’s the hard part to accept, isn’t it? The Bible is full of God’s promises, and yet we have a hard time believing them, because we either don’t think He, who created the entire Universe, has the power to help us, or because we think He slighted us in the past when we prayed for something and didn’t get it. But that’s our pride that stands in the way, isn’t it? We can’t seem to be able to swallow it down and to accept the fact that God did what was ultimately best for us, even if it wasn’t the outcome we expected. Let’s face it, sometimes, when those arrows come our way, as verse 7 says above, we may be among the ones that fall, not among the ones that are left standing. Don’t ask me why — only God knows that. The thing to do is to put it in His hands and let Him figure things out. Let the chips fall where they may, knowing He is in control.
I think that’s the hardest lesson to learn.
Here is a short passage from Isaiah 46, verses 6 and 7:
“Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles.”
Notice the ridiculousness of the situation: a human being will create an object out of inanimate metals, set it on a pedestal in their home, and start praying to it — what’s worse, they’ll expect results.
Some may read this and say it’s no longer relevant. It’s what the ancient people did. But let’s look around the world and we’ll soon find out that this is still practiced. In some religions, people won’t bother to carve out gods from metals or stone. They’ll pray directly to stones. Or they’ll pray to the trees, or to nature itself. Then there are those religions that still pray to statues that depict human or animal likenesses, and they’re dominant in some parts of the world.
What’s worse, the practice of praying to graven images or statues isn’t limited to pagan religions. It happens right under our noses in the Western world. All you need to is to enter a Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopal or Anglican church, and you’ll see statues of Jesus Christ or Mary, or the apostles, or of some saint or other, to whom the people pray and cry. They light candles to them and lay flowers at their feet, hoping in earnest for an answer when God clearly forbids it.
These people have forgotten the Ten Commandments, haven’t they? Here’s what God Himself wrote on the tablets of stone He gave to Moses:
“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Deuteronomy 5:7-9)
When one looks at these things through the lens of God’s Word, the matter becomes very simple: you shall not do it. When human reason enter the equation, we hear excuses like “But this is only a likeness that reminds us of God. We are really praying to God, and this helps us imagine Him.” The list goes on and on.
Problem is, God won’t listen to these excuses when it comes time for the final judgment. He won’t care what you intended to do. He clearly forbids the worship of statues and graven images, and all who call themselves believers in God should obey His wishes.
Updated 7/25/09: Just found out that Ernie Knoll’s dreams may have been made up, at least in part. I’m sorry to have been misled. You can read more about it here.
I want to let you know about a collection of dreams I’ve been listening to — and testing against Bible truth. They’re found on a website called “Messages from God for His People“, in the Dreams section. The man who has been having these dreams since Spring of 2005 is Ernie Knoll, and he is an elder in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
These dreams are biblical — in other words, they stand up to being tested against sound Bible doctrine and truth. They are not fantasies, and do not try to lead people away from God. On the contrary, they have strengthened my faith and encouraged me to get closer to God and study His word even more. Elder Ernie Knoll also offers additional evidence that the dreams are of divine origin on his website.
I believe these dreams are a fulfillment of the promise God made in Acts 2:17, where it is written:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”
Please listen to these dreams, but realize you may not understand them unless you’ve been reading your Bible, and by that I mean ALL of your Bible, not just the New Testament or just the Old Testament.
Also of incredible use to you, alongside the dreams, in understanding what the end times will look like, and what you must do to prepare, is a well-known book written by Ellen G. White, entitled “The Great Controversy“. You can read it online for free, in its entirety.
Please, regardless of what you believe about Elder Knoll’s dreams or The Great Controversy, you owe it to yourself to study the end time prophecies found in the Bible, and to make sure you understand them correctly.
There are several important books in the Bible that are full of prophecies, but the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament and the Revelation in the New Testament are the ones that deal specifically with end time prophecies, and they’re the ones that are the most mis-interpreted by all sorts of quacks and kooks.
I think that Ellen G. White’s interpretation of these prophecies, as outlined in The Great Controversy, is the right one. And I think Elder Ernie Knoll’s dreams bring Ellen White’s writings and the Bible prophecies to life. His descriptions of specific events which will happen are clearly inspired by God and are meant to prepare the believers and bring them closer to Him.
You can download them to your iPod or computer in MP3 format, directly from the website, and listen to each one. I suggest you listen to them chronologically, starting with the first dream Elder Knoll had, and going down the list from there. I myself have just finished listening to the dream called “Get Ready”. They’re even translated into multiple languages if you should have a hard time understanding English.
Listen to them — all of them, it won’t take long — and then see what you think.
I was always bothered by that question. From my own readings of the Bible, it was pretty clear that God is a father figure, a man-like being, a patriarch, not a mother figure or a woman figure. It seems to me a corruption of God’s image, a blasphemy, to call Him a woman.
As I read through Jeremiah, I came across this verse:
“… The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.” (Jeremiah 7:18)
The prophet Jeremiah refers here to Israel’s heresy and their worship of pagan gods, which angered God and caused Him to punish Israel by calling on foreign nations to enslave them. What I found interesting here was the first mention (to my knowledge) of a “queen of heaven”, and the disdain that the prophet Jeremiah, speaking for God, had for such a notion.
For me, this was a clearer sign than the other implied references throughout the Bible that God is most certainly not a woman or a woman figure, but a man figure, or more precisely a Father figure, as He likes to be referred to. Remember the prayer that Jesus Christ Himself taught us? It starts like this:
“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name…” (Matthew 6:9-13)
There’s also the question of “why”, as in why entertain such a notion, something that bends our perception of God into blasphemous territory? The Bible clearly doesn’t back it up, and shows us time and time again that God is referred to as our Heavenly Father, the ultimate Creator and Ruler of all there has been, is, and will ever be, so why try to muddle that up?
If you really want to find out whether God is a man or a woman, focus on getting into heaven first, then you’ll easily discover it for yourself. Don’t get mixed up in foolish notions — work on the basics, such as obeying God’s Commandments and getting to know Him better by reading His word daily. Once you do that conscientiously, you’ll no longer doubt God’s nature and will instead be changed yourself, from the inside out, into a better person.
