I grew up in a typical Christian family during the 1960’s. My two brothers and sister and I were sent to Vacation Bible School, and our family attended the Cokesbury Methodist church. Years later, after my father was converted, we went to a different church (that’s another story).
I distinctly remember sitting in church, listening to the preacher, but not really understanding anything since I was so young. He occasionally used a word that I had never heard before, and I wondered just what it was. Was it something good or something bad? Then the next thing I heard from the preacher was a thundering, “God hates sin!” I suddenly knew that sin was something bad, something awful, and something that offended God. That event impressed the young boy for the rest of his life.
Peter’s second letter emphasizes again holy living, just as in his first letter. But in this second letter he warns of the false prophets, who were barely mentioned in the first letter (ref. I Pet. 4:5). So, in this second letter he stresses in greater detail, the kind of people who are trying to teach false doctrine to the churches of Asia Minor.
Certain people were teaching that salvation freed Christians from the necessity of living a holy life. They twisted Paul’s doctrine of salvation by grace to support their position. Since they believed it was all right to sin, they naturally mocked at the idea of Christ’s return in judgment. For their own personal gain they lured people by promising them that they could be Christians and still live immoral lives. Peter writes to counter these false teachings and their influence on the lives of Christians. He is concerned that there be a check against false teaching even after he is gone.
What did the prophets know and speak about concerning the coming Redeemer of Israel? And what did the angels desire to investigate? Let us take a brief overview of the last 3 verses of our Scripture Reading:
“Of which salvation the prophets have enquired” (v 10):A system of faith, securing the salvation of the soul, would be revealed. This hope of the prophets seems to lead them to value the faith they professed more highly, and to encourage them to bear their trials with patience. The prophets saw from a distance somewhat vaguely, and were obliged to search that they might understand the nature of that system. They sought out with care the revelations made to them, that they might understand exactly what was implied,because they were appointed to write about the salvation which was to be made known through the Messiah.
In my last sermon, “Baptism in Context,” I briefly mentioned about the baptizing that was done by John; so, in this sermon I wanted to examine that topic a little further. From that sermon I had said:
“What immersionists seem to forget, is that John’s baptism was still under the Old Testament system, which of course, Jesus Christ had to fulfill as role of priest for His people. At this time, the law required this ‘washing’ (baptism) of Jesus.”
It is obvious that John the baptizer knew something about the ritual “washings” under the Old Covenant, for he lived during this time when the Judeans used water to purify themselves ceremonially; as we see by the words “ritual purification” in our text (v. 25).
Of course, John urged the Judeans to repent, for he knew that unclean people could not ultimately clean themselves, except only in a limited sense. He also rebuked the Pharisees (Edomite jews)
I have spoken on this topic about two years ago. But recently, someone asked me about Baptism, so this sermon is the result of that. Keep in mind that I am not trying to make enemies here, so I am not picking on my Baptist friends. I simply want to give the topic some balance, since in my lifetime I have seen lots of imbalance on the subject. And, I want you to see how different a subject can actually be when considered in the light of its full Scriptural context (not just part of the Word).
For the most part we will be in the Book of Colossians. Paul’s letter to the Colossians was primarily written to deal with certain doctrinal heresies that were doing much damage at Colosse. It was a mixture of Judaism and an early form of Gnosticism, which taught that Jesus was superhuman but not truly God. Thus those who believe in Christ must also go through angels (ref. Col. 2:18) to obtain deeper levels of spirituality. This reminds me of Roman Catholicism, which believes in the veneration of Saints, and praying to them; thus making them mediators in place of Jesus Christ. Another error insisted upon ritualism and asceticism (strict rules to merit favor; ref. Col. 2:21) as the foundation of moral teaching. Thus their theological ideas and ethical code alike were at fault. Both errors flowed from a common source—the false conception that evil resides in matter (flesh) — a source of many heresies (no marriage for priests; ref. Col. 2:23).
The first mention of God’s covenant with Abram is found in chapter 15 of Genesis. Chapter 17 continues that thought and is crucial to our understanding of the Bible.
We have just read how Abram had his name changed to Abraham, because he was elected to be “a father of many nations.” The name change signified a change in his status under God. Most seminaries teach our clergy that Abraham was only the father of the “Jews.” This makes God a liar, for the modern jews (until 1948) have never founded any nation, much less many nations. And just imagine, if you lived prior to 1948 and are reading the Bible and see the words “a father of many nations have I made thee” and you were told, as today, that the jews are the country of Israel, when there was no such country, you would respond with something like, “You’re nuts!” The people of Israel are not holed up in a particular country, but are scattered throughout the west. Israel is a people, not a geo-political state.
In my recent sermon on Genesis 4:1, “A Mistranslation,” I provided some history on how our Bible came into being; noting how the Scriptures became somewhat corrupted. The process of preserving the Scriptures began about 3 BC by 70 translators; thus called LXX, or the Septuagint. This was the Bible of Jesus and the Apostles. But since New Testament times the Scriptures became quite convoluted since the preservation process was taken over by the Masoretes, covering the period of 450 - 1000 AD.
We'll start today with the Apostle's Creed. The Creed outlines the basic doctrines of the Christian faith: Jesus Christ came as incarnate Deity; was tortured, crucified and died for our atonement; resurrected from the grave for our redemption and sanctification; then ascended to the Father; from whence He shall come in judgment, bringing to earth the restitution of all things. The Creed exemplifies basic Christian doctrine.
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.” (Gen. 4:1)
Most people reading this will conclude, Well, that's perfectly clear, Adam was the father of Cain.” But this assumption conflicts with New Testament references to Cain. We would expect this from judeo-Christianity, but this also seems to be the same response by some in Christian Identity. Unless one can grasp the true significance of Genesis 4:1, much of the balance of Scripture will remain a mystery. To show that the Hebrew of Genesis 4:1 is indeed corrupted, I will use the following two witnesses:
It is a new year, January and February have special significance, so I thought of Memorials. I need not mention what February is about; besides the Dresden holocaust against Germany on 13-14 February, 1945.
January is often referred to as “Generals Month” since no less than four famous Confederate Generals claimed January as their birth month: James Longstreet, Jan. 8, 1821, Robert E. Lee, Jan. 19, 1807, Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson, Jan. 21, 1824, and George Pickett, Jan. 28, 1825. It is ironic that MLK day sits between two of these birthdays, Lee and Jackson.
Lee-Jackson Day was a state holiday in Virginia begun in 1889. Its observation was eliminated in 2020, replaced by Election Day as a state holiday. Confederate History month, begun in 1994, happens to be in April because the Confederate Memorial Day falls during this month. It has been observed by seven southern states.
Of course we realize that all Confederate memorials have been under attack and nearly all of them removed. The Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia, was the first installation on Monument Avenue in 1890, and would ultimately be the last monument removed from that site. The statue was taken down on September 8, 2021, then sent to storage.
The epistle of Paul to the Colossians was written primarily to deal with the doctrinal heresy reported by Epaphras. The strange doctrine is not described directly, but we can infer its nature from what Paul says. It was a mixture of Judaism and some early form of Gnosticism which taught that Jesus was superhuman, but not truly God. He was greater than mankind, but not great enough to be the Savior. Thus those who believe in Christ must also go through angels to get to deeper levels of spirituality.
The subject of the doctrine on Original Sin, also known as the Sin Nature and other terms (as we shall see), always brings up questions. What is it; how many are there; is it defined in Genesis? But this is not the purpose of this sermon, so I won’t be listing the sins that occurred in the Garden of Eden or sins that similarly plague us today.
The Sin Nature, or “sin” (singular), is a part of our fallen mortal nature and personality that we inherited from Adam. It is not any particular “thing,” for many things can be sinful if they hinder our fellowship with God. It is those times when we fall short of what we, or what God expects of us. It is inward sins that we feel inside, such as: impatience, anger, or jealousy; even though we do not act upon them.
“And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.”
A few years ago, when I took this job as a pastor of our church, someone wrote me from our web site with questions about Paganism. I didn’t have many answers. But perhaps this sermon on the legacy of Cain will be helpful to some of those questions.
We don’t know much about Cain after this statement from the Scripture above. The Bible gives a very brief list of his family in chapter four of Genesis, but it does not give any further details, such as the ages or the years that had passed on any of them, such as we see with the genealogy of Adam in chapter five. What can we surmise from this? Could it be that God is not concerned about those who are not of His family, but is rather much more concerned about His own family?
First I should discuss and define the term “ethno-religious” as it pertains to jews. Ethno, of course, is from ethnic, signifying that there is a genetic (or racial) aspect to the religion that one follows. I made up the term; only to find later that it is not a new term. The concept certainly is not new, and is demonstrated throughout the history of the world: When we think of western culture, we think Caucasian and Christian; when we think of the East, we think of the Orientals and Buddhism; when we think of the Middle East, we find quite a racial mix (mostly cousins of Abraham) among Muslims and Jews. So, it becomes obvious that there is a connection between race and religion; although there are many racial cross-overs into other religions. It is not always simply a matter of “belief,” it is something deeper. Could genetics be involved? I think so: for just a casual observation of the various nations and societies seems to support this conclusion.
The purpose of this list of little-known facts is to draw attention to the public of the very serious national threat from the anti-Christ Jews of our day — in fact, all of history if the truth be known. This list will educate the readers about evils they could never even imagine from the most prominent ethno-religious sect in the world, the Jews. Christian Identity likewise, is an ethno-religion, because our faith and our race are tied together by the covenant God made with Abraham. It is as simple as that. Those called “Jews” today have no connection as such, but they are an ethno-religious society which they defend vehemently.