The Female Idol – Fastened with a Nail

Study 10

Part 1

[Study Aired April 11, 2026]

Deu 4:15  Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
Deu 4:16  Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

For anyone other than the Elect of God, to read thus far, in these preliminary reviews of the origins of the Bride of Christ, they all depict an unflattering portrayal of no better description and moral price she pays than that of a whore. Only she understands her God-given worth, recognising that she has relinquished every aspect of herself to acquire that field of buried treasure, the priceless pearl of her Husband’s righteousness to be His Wife. Indeed, it is He who has sacrificed the greatest price of all in redeeming her from among equally flawed humanity, to reflect the sinless path her Lord and Husband has travelled for her to likewise mirror and save her billions of brothers and sisters since Eden.

This study reviews the origin of idol worship, which strangely originated in Eden, due to Adam’s lust for every sensual detail of Eve, representing mankind’s self-proclaimed god-status. So, what is the definition and reason for men’s idolisation of women?

The creation of an idol to worship is generally driven by a deep human need to make the invisible, transcendent, or abstract aspects of life tangible, controllable, and emotionally comforting. It is an act driven by both psychological and emotional motivations, often arising when individuals feel overwhelmed, fearful, or seek a tangible source of meaning, security, and love.

But first, our God’s commands on the veneration of anything substituting Him.

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

And for this study’s purpose:

Deu 4:15  Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude [1. form, image, likeness, representation, semblance] on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
Deu 4:16  Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 

As we examine the following five main reasons people adopt an idol, consistently compare them to Adam’s worship of Eve, and highlight how men, especially husbands, invariably worship women and especially wives.

The irony is that wives, and indeed all women, experience a love/hate relationship in wanting to be worshipped, which comes with a sexual price to symbolically pay later in marriage for their youthful paraded appeal (Isa 3). The depiction of sexuality being overly eroticised and saturated in Babylon causes a woman seeking a stable relationship with one man to lose her ‘imprinting’ sexual joy amid numerous hookup experiences. She becomes “old in adulteries”, whereby her “secret parts” are not just discovered by her Lord, but also her husband, who laments the ‘stink’ of a tardy, sexually unresponsive mind, bruised and scarred from old adulteries (Eze 23:43). In a marital match made in an idiomatic hell, she becomes desolate of the desire to minister intimately with her husband. Of course, her image comes with the caveat that she mirrors her husband’s spiritually worse condition, he having facilitated her idolisation to be scripturally ascribed the now considered derogatory term, “whore”.

Isa 3:24  And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
Isa 3:25  Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
Isa 3:26  And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

In the following primary ways, individuals, characterised by women’s unwavering conviction in the reality of their sensations through sensual experience, consider this to be of greater significance than the long-term outcomes of rational logic, even if they are subsequently ‘deceived.’  I look forward to the post-study discussion, where Body members are inspired by the holy spirit to explore more intriguing realities in the flesh, represented spiritually, than are presented here.

The key emotional motivations for creating and worshipping idols include:

1 The Need for Security and Control (Fear Reduction)

Since leaving Eden, when faced with uncertainty, danger, or the “invisible” nature of a transcendent God, human beings often turn to tangible idols to create a sense of safety. Relief is created from:

Anxiety and Fear: Fear of the unknown or of disasters (such as sickness, famine, or war) can cause people to cling to visible objects or figures that seem stronger than they are, such as idols, wealth, or power. In Adam’s case, the fear of not pleasing Eve and losing his sexual access, and Eve’s patent fear of Adam’s unreliability as her head. Now, creating an inscrutable, chaotic mindset, she feels psychologically stimulated by possessing sensual power over him. However, internally resentfully, she recognises that to have a strong leader guiding her, she needs to satisfy his sensual cravings.

The Illusion of Control: An idol is something a person can see, touch, and move, creating the illusion that they can manage their own fate or manipulate the spirit world into granting blessings, whereas a sovereign, unseen God requires trust and surrender. What a classic description of what Eve’s easy deception concluded, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” – Gen 3:6.

Anxious Attachment: Characterised by women, individuals with a high need for reassurance often turn to idols to feel protected and secure.

2 The Desire for Tangible Connection (Relational Needs)

Human psychology often finds it difficult to relate to a purely abstract or distant deity. Idols provide a “relational presence” that feels closer and more responsive to emotional needs.

Need for Comfort and Soothing: Idols (both ancient and modern) act as intermediaries that make God feel near, personal, and reassuring. Notice that all of these highly emotive feelings originate in the very beautiful Eve that Adam is besotted with, thus injuring him in his privy and stones to which he, too would much rather submit to what is tangible by what he can see, and touch in Eve, that she and he can unmistakably observe in his ravishments—indeed for Eve a fascination, comfort and soothing reassurance later weaponised by the sisterhood for the elevation of her “image”. Rachel’s act of safeguarding her father’s “teraphim,” a household idol, by sitting upon it, close to her privy—especially during her menstrual period—underscores numerous traits associated with idol worship commonly observed among women. Ironically, Rachel’s menstrual blood next to the idol was a double witness against the ritual of her impurity (Gen 31:30-35).

Friendship and Belonging: Modern celebrity or fan worship serves as an emotional escape, offering a sense of companionship and community to combat loneliness.

3 The Need for Meaning, Identity, and Significance

Idols are often created to satisfy the deepest hunger for a purposeful life, value, and meaning.

Self-Exaltation and Value: People may elevate items like success, money, or beauty to the status of an idol, looking to them to feel significant, validated, and worthy.

Filling Voids: Idol worship can be a compensatory mechanism for deficiencies in a person’s life, such as lack of parental love, low self-esteem, or a lack of personal purpose—of course, engendered in Eve by the self-emasculated Adam.

4 Desire for “Easy” Worship or No Constraints

Unlike worshipping a transcendent Creator, who requires moral changes and surrender, idols are often created to fit personal and more easily experienced preferences—typifying an emasculated ‘another Jesus’.

Comfortable Deities: Idols are “silent” and do not impose rules or demands, allowing the worshipper to feel they are in charge of their own lives while still having a “god” on their own terms. There is nothing like a god who doesn’t answer back to condemn one’s actions—and neither does Adam, to Eve, and thereafter in the bedroom do husbands to their wives rulership.

Psa 115:4  Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
Psa 115:5  They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
Psa 115:6  They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
Psa 115:7  They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

Avoidance of Disappointment: Real-world relationships and people can be disappointing, leading individuals to project their hopes onto a “perfect” idol that will never reject them.

5 Cultural and Social Conformity

The emotional need to belong can drive people to adopt idols to fit into a group, like 40,000-plus  (physically) mostly Jewish worshipping Christian denominations (Rom 2:28-29).

Imitation: People often adopt the idols of their surrounding culture—such as success, material comfort, or entertainment figures—because it is comforting to follow the crowd, as did Solomon’s harem of 1,000 wives, united in methodologies of marital ministrations, while each, and typical of the polygamous times, cunningly vying for the prestige of being the most loved wife (Gen 29-30, 1 Sam 1, Gen 16, 21).

These highlighted elements definitively indicate the character of idol worship, specifically highlighting men’s veneration of women and wives to their female counterparts’ boudoir’s instrumental advantage.

It is one of God’s most revealing truths that the Orthodox Christian world cannot deeply meditate on the idea that women represent churches. They will passively hear or read it, even have the simplicity explained to them, but they lack the spirit to grasp the topic passionately. And multiple churches, beyond a single church, one faith, and one God, clearly reflect polygamy authorised by Moses because of Israel’s hardened hearts—without the holy spirit fighting against unrestrained lust to possess many wives, satisfying Solomon-like desires for the mind, body, and spirit of different wives or harlots—leading to chaos and endless discontent. Without the authority of a righteous husband to uphold God’s word, and with a wife who honours and respects his God-given authority, unresolved discontent will inevitably arise, tearing apart the unity of mind and spirit, as symbolised by unified sexual union. If such union occurs amidst this disunity of spirit, it is, in essence, lustful and unwholesome.

Mat 19:7  They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
Mat 19:8  He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
Mat 19:9  And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Eve, regarded as the mother of all living, was initially captivated by Satan, the originator of questioning the veracity of God’s word. Once the contrary thought is conceived and validated through personal wisdom, represented as gold and silver, an idol of the heart is thereby moulded, beginning within the woman who symbolises the church, thus perpetuating and substantiating Eve’s desire to be wiser than her husband, spawning endless emblematic harlot churches—sustained by all men and husbands as did Adam with Eve standing idylly by since, and initially in Eden, he couldn’t stand the thought of Eve dying, relegating him again to being alone without a helpmeet.

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

Isa 31:7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. 

Accordingly, idols always represent false doctrines, the merchandise of the Great Whore Adam, who effectively ‘pimped’ his wife to the Serpent’s spiritual insemination to be as gods.

But for Christ’s strength alone, his Elect are well conversant with their powerlessness in being able to put to flight the unassailable authority of the Beast, they are. We also know the meaning of the seven heads and ten horns. Consequently, for this study, we will focus on how easily compliant men idolise women, and thus destroy virtuous marital relations; and, yet again, knowing that she represents the Great Whore, the world’s religiosity guides and rules mankind’s governing ideologies, and all because he was the signified first whore.

A Beast that can be ridden and guided along the path its rider skillfully directs is a ‘broken-in’ and subdued animal, doing all its owner’s commands. Paradoxically, the Woman in Rev 13:4 is highly skilled at seducing and taming him to be ridden; notwithstanding, the Beast’s ultimate turning upon her and burning her with fire has parallels with Adam reversing his curse, as does Christ with the Bride.

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Rev 17:7  And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. 

1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The practice of ‘breaking in horses’ has, in recent years, been replaced by a far better method called “Horse Whispering”, which is much less violent both psychologically and physically to the animal and achieves calm compliance much more quickly. Its principles and methodology, described below, are startlingly parallel to a Whore’s cajoling incitements of a man’s intrinsic lusts and total submission. Many of these methodologies, the everyday Babylonian Christian wife, unaware of their harlot correlations, controls her husband just as skilfully as seen in Eccl 7:23-29. However, when reading the ‘Beast Whispering’ principles below, please remember to juxtapose them with how men and women idolise women.

Key Principles of Horse Whispering Synonymous of Christ’s Spiritual Whispers

Before getting into the attributes of ‘Beast Whispering’, it is worth reviewing a cut and paste from a previous study on “Breasts”, and that of “whispering”.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and [The incipient Bride was…] were by nature the children of wrath, even as others [remaining in Babylon]. 

H5175 Serpent – 1. Serpent, snake. From 5172 – 1. To practice divination, divine, observe signs, learn by experience, diligently observe, practice fortunetelling, take as an omen a. (Piel) 1. To practice divination 2. To observe the signs or omens. Strong’s: A primitive root; properly to hiss, that is, whisper a (magic) spell [in one’s mind]; generally to prognosticate [Prophesy].

1Sa 10:6  And the spirit of the LORD [H7307 – 1. Wind, breath, mind, spirit a. breath] will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man [first negatively, the father of lies, following, positively, the mind of Christ all whispered in our hearts and minds spiritually].

1Ki 19:11  And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
1Ki 19:12  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still [H1827] small voice. 

Still H1851 – 1. whisper, calm, silence. From H1826 – 1. to be silent, be still, wait, be dumb, grow dumb. From H1724 –  1. to astonish, astound.

Small H1851 – 1. thin, small, fine, gaunt. From H1854 –  1. to crush, pulverise, thresh.

From those meanings, we can identify some ways the holy spirit is heard. Like a horse trainer whispering, Christ’s word—just as the Serpent’s was to Eve—is symbolically ‘whispered’ into our ears, into our mind’s hearing, also by sensory, nuanced expressions. Although it is spiritually conceptualised, heard in our mind, it, and like the horse whisperer to the horse, is incredibly powerful in motivation to want to obey the supreme’ horse whisperer’s’ voice, even ‘crushing’ all opposition to change.

Key Principles of Horse Whispering Synonymous with Christ’s Still Small Voice

Non-Verbal Communication:

It heavily relies on body language, tone of voice (often low and hushed), and consistent, subtle cues rather than loud commands or physical force. It is highly denotive, spiritually, that Eve heard the Serpent, the prince of the power of the air, by the terminology scripture used, saying that he “subtly said” the deception to her.

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said [H559 –1. to say, speak, utter a. (Qal) to say, to answer, to say in one’s heart, to think, to command, to promise, to intend] unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Well, how about that? {Pro 7:9  In the twilight, in the evening, in the black [Indicative of the Shulamite compared to Solomon’s 1,000 wives] and dark night: Pro 7:10  And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. Pro 7:11  (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:} That loudness mostly isn’t verbal, it, and like the allurement of the Babylonian churches, is in what she does in her beguiling walk, highlighted by her attire—if done righteously, we shall see, is a particularly engaging ravishment by the Bride for Christ.

Understanding Horses’, the Beast of Mankind’s Behaviour:

Practitioners study and apply knowledge of horse instincts, their herd mentality, and how they communicate through their senses and body language to better understand and respond to their horses’ needs.

Paraphrased: Women intrinsically study and apply knowledge of Beast-like men’s instincts (including other women’s female instincts, always indicative of churches’ artifices), their herd mentality, and how they communicate through their senses and body language to better understand and respond to their lustful needs.

Building Trust and Respect:

The primary aim is to create a strong bond with the horse, making the horse feel safe and comfortable with the human. In Babylon, her primary aim is to create a strong sensual bond with the man, making him feel safe and comfortable with her machinations.

Calm Confidence:

The human must project a calm, assertive, and confident presence, which horses recognise as effective leadership, avoiding harsh or frightening tactics. How else could the Great Whore gain control of mankind but to insidiously gain control over thousands of years? Consequently, a woman and wife, having learnt subtlety from the Serpent, presents a calm, assertive, and confident demeanour, which paradoxically men and husbands recognise as effective leadership. This approach involves refraining from harsh or intimidating tactics, veiling the humiliation of their sexual prowess.

Positive Reinforcement:

Good behaviour is rewarded, often with gentle touches (like an ear massage), verbal praise, or a tasty treat, thereby strengthening the connection—indicative of carefully managed intimacies by a wife for her restraining advantage.

Pressure and Release:

This technique involves applying gentle, specific pressure to guide the horse, then releasing it as soon as the horse responds, showing the horse that yielding to the pressure results in relief and cooperation.

[This technique involves applying gentle, specific romantic pressure to guide the husband, and then releasing the pressure as soon as he responds consistently, showing him that yielding to the pressure results in relief and cooperation. A parallel to the manipulative adage, “Happy wife, happy life”.

Observation and Listening:

Just as women are innately attuned to nuanced social feelings, a skilled horse whisperer takes the time to observe the horse’s responses, listen to their “vibrations,” and carefully note their physical and emotional cues to understand what the horse needs. It mirrors a woman’s heart like snares and nets for her target man-beast’s sensual need sufficient to subdue him and safely ride.

Goal of Horse Whispering:

The ultimate goal is to achieve willing cooperation and a strong, trusting relationship with the horse, making training easier and helping the horse overcome past negative experiences or trauma.

Of course, while those correlations have startling parallels, they drolly resonate with the substitution of Babylon’s way of a maid with a man. (Pro 30:19)

Fittingly, in keeping with men worshipping women, the ultimate defilement of a man by a woman is his wholesale and richly sensual submission to her, the veritable Queen of Heaven’s Beast-Whispering prowess, riding the gelded docile husband.

Jer 44:17  But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals [Bread, food, grain – the brawling female, the church, fights to sustain], and were well [… deceived not sick], and saw no evil. 

A secondary and potent extension to burning incense to the Queen of Heaven, and in offerings of bread, grain and wine, the riches of her sensualities (doctrines), according to the idols of their hearts (Exe 14:1-9), representing Babylonian Christianity’s idolisation of “days, months, times and years” directly represents the idolisation of women. Men are already easily and drearily ensnared by women, but what is of greater importance to her is the endorsement of her standing among other women.

Jer 44:15  Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods [The Queen of Heaven] and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 44:16  As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.

While it isn’t biblically recorded that Israel worshipped the Mesopotamian and Canaanite goddess Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, the Babylonians did so while in the Promised Land. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that the Israelites classically adopted the customs of their Babylonian captors and worshipped her. In fact, the Semitic goddess Astarte is one of many variations of the goddess Inanna.

Jer 10:2  Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 
Jer 10:3  For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
Jer 10:4  They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

No one in Babylon considers the natural heterosexual coital act degrading of their beautifully designed privies. Women who deeply revere their bodies and are energised by the admiration of other women—much more than by any praise from men—share this perspective. For women, it is a man’s privy, the core of his desires, compelling him to validate their intense emotional needs that go beyond physical intimacy. It is her most valued possession (in a negative sense), which she cunningly guards by controlling intimacy in her private space, always close to him but paradoxically distant. For the nominal first five years of marriage, he never wearies himself, hoping to attain her nirvanic pleasure in unity with his—with her hands like bands, a riddle she delays forever, dissociating the inevitability of his discovery of her innate artifices. The Adams of the world, in being fearful of further insulting Eve’s intelligence for her intrinsic schemes, neutered, afraid of naming the condition to be called misogynistic (a hate of women), fix her, nail her in place, her rulership over him, and an idol is born. It is that idol the Shulamite Bride of Christ tears down, and instead, virtuously never wearies herself in searching to understand her Husband, for what ravishes Him!

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 

Isa 40:28  Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding [Note: Nobody searches, nor can know Christ bar those he chooses; giving power to his Bride to reverse her curse, and worship Him through his kisses unrivalled spiritual arousals]
Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isa 40:30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. 

Men’s indifference to their runaway passion for the female form insidiously destroys their God-given headship over women, and distinctly their wives. Most hormone-driven young men focus their lives on female sensuality, exemplified by Samson, who was a Judge of Israel, symbolising how every husband’s status of headship and authority is invariably weakened by their submission to women’s influence. Whereas the young women today, equally alert in their seemingly perpetual ‘season’ when they choose, yet mostly rationally in control of their arousals, detach themselves more easily and pursue worldly education over passion—at least during the week. Typified by Old Israel for her Lord, and signified by every woman and would-be wife against her husband’s ardour.

Pro 20:29  The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.

We are reviewing the meaning of ‘Idol Worship’ and how the day and night worship of women has succeeded every other form of worship by men and women, effectively identifying them both as self-worshipers—worshipers of the flesh, and thus fastening their ‘mark of his name’, the number of the beast by the number 6 (Rev 13:18).

Deu 17:3  And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded.

Rev 14:11  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.

As is the term whore, the term “idol” is not mentioned in scriptures until much later; remembering that just because a thing isn’t mentioned scripturally doesn’t mean it isn’t evident in Adam and Eve’s or our carnal minds since Eden. It is first seen in 1 Kin 15:13, and to the discerning Elect, is manifestly evident in Eden of Adam’s worship of Eve!

1Ki 15:13  And also Maachah his [Jeroboam’s] mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol [H4656] in a grove [Astarte – ‘the Canaanite goddess of fortune and happiness’ – yes, classically seeking her emotional fulfilment]; and Asa [‘healer’, indicative of Christ and Solomon] destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.

Idol – H4656 1. horrid thing, horrible thing [doesn’t describe what an idol represents, or does to cause horror] – H6426 – 1. (Hithpael) to shudder, tremble. A terror.

All husbands, soon after marriage, dolefully see that before marriage, they overemphasised their ‘love’, which they didn’t see, or didn’t care, as lust for their wives, a validation that she gratefully pocketed to her advantage. Accordingly, his lust and idolisation of her became a ‘horrid thing’ realised too late for them both! Now, he is ‘terrorised’ by never being sufficient for her sentimental needs—the principle overworked, I know, but, with her ‘hands like bands’ (Ecc 7:26), is the nature of being locked-in to idol worship.

The following scriptures provide a more graphic representation of an “idol”, particularly in reference to worshipping and amplifying in subservience the female phylactery (Mat 23:5).

2Ch 33:7  And he set a carved [graven] image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God…

2Ch 33:15  And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD…

Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.

Zec 11:17  Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Act 7:41  And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 

1Co 8:4  As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. 

1Co 10:19  What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? 
1Co 10:20  But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 
1Co 10:21  Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
1Co 10:22  Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?

From those verses, we conclude that an “idol” is anything in our hearts that replaces God, thus provoking him to jealousy that we should think that our glorifying and reliance on things are stronger than Him—termed “a horrid thing; abominable”. It first happened in Eden, when Adam effectively bowed before Eve, consciously surrendering to Eve’s ‘well-favoured’ beauty over God’s, signifying her strength over his, and engendering idolised worship. As typified by Adam with Eve in Eden, the harsh reality is that men must be obedient and submissive to female-gifted dominance—accepting her unconditionally, never questioning her fashion choices, supporting her regardless of his authority, and not challenging moral boundaries—undermines his authority and ultimately makes him unattractive, despised, and vastly diminishes his sex and leadership appeal. From that point on, Satan has tricked men and mankind for 7,000 years into loving a flawed human being instead of God.

Eze 16:13  Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. 
Eze 16:14  And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD. 
Eze 16:15  But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
Eze 16:16  And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

Deu 7:25  The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.
Deu 7:26  Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing. 

Jer 17:5  Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh [For this cause, the worship of women] his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. 

Upon Adam’s exile from Eden, having abandoned God as their head, mankind did whatever they thought was right in their minds, emotionally driven by their hearts. Eve, representative of all women, we will see, is the most potent ‘sleeper cell’ like idol embedded in their husbands’ hearts. Because the world outside of Eden was dreadfully dangerous, full of wild predatory animals, poisonous snakes, insects and unseen diseases, not to mention famine, life was tenuous. Women, the weaker vessel, couldn’t escape the reality that to merely survive, they had to have males, and specifically a husband, rule over them (Gen 3:16). To counter that troublesome reality, her most effective tool for maintaining her power was her incredible sensuality, which husbands readily idolise.

As we know, some tribes, through logical reasoning and sensory experience, worshipped the sun because they believed it, not God, was the source of physical life and energy. Whatever various tribes deemed the source of survival and richness, they identified it as their god to appease, be it the sun, fire, volcanoes, fish, dogs, cats, crocodiles, or even other men. If that god wasn’t indulged, it could become displeased and angry, and withhold its ministration—appallingly resemblant of wives in carnal marriages, representing mankind’s petulance towards Christ. Ultimately, clandestinely, it is a power struggle to which all Christ-forsaking self-emasculated men submit to their wives, their temple’s greater authority to be quieted with sensual gifts—as always, representing the Great Whore.

Eze 16:30  How weak is thine heart, [Submitting to one’s wife] saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; 
Eze 16:31  In that thou buildest thine eminent place [Your temple in your wife—a church] in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;
Eze 16:32  But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
Eze 16:33  They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. 

Husbands are always seeking a sensory experience from their wives. Whenever a husband bows to his wife’s imagined authority, he is gifting his authority to her, his idol.

Eze 16:34  And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary [to God’s word].

Conscience – A Good Conscience, Part 8

[Study Aired December 2, 2023]

A Good or Evil Conscience can be attributed to a ‘million’ scriptural applications. This study addresses only a few applicable cases the Lord provided to highlight a “good conscience”.

Repetitiously, the many nuances of an evil conscience all revert back to the Lord, creating an inescapable consciousness in Adam through the very first negative law (freely eating from every other tree being positive without encumbrances). Equally incessant, we can’t know and discuss a good conscience without seeing in light the blackness of an evil conscience by us breaching the Lord’s commandments. 

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20  And it [the light and the darkness are one and the same to us while in Egypt, Babylon and Old Jerusalem] came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. 

Gen 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Adam and Eve, upon being told not to eat of the tree, were immediately encumbered with the brand-new and titillating emotion of temptation. Upon eating the forbidden fruit and hearing the Lord calling for them, they remembered their Lord’s command, “Thou shalt not eat of it” and were stricken by the devastating spiritual disturbance of an evil conscience. The Greek philosopher Sophocles (Sof-o-kies) adds strength to that reality with this quote:

“There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us”. – Sophocles.

One of the greatest enslavements of mankind and to his irritated conscience is women’s rulership over men, particularly a husband, even if he isn’t righteous (Isa 3:12). Around and around goes the deadly loop enslaving mankind with every shade of an evil conscience, and not being able to pinpoint its troublesome origin that is female/Ashtoreth rulership classically accomplished by Solomon with 1,000 wives.

1Ki 11:5  For Solomon went after Ashtoreth [ash-to’reth – 1. the principal female deity of the Phoenicians worshipped in war and fertility a. also ‘Ishtar’ of Assyria and ‘Astarte’ by the Greeks and Romans], the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites [all directly symbolic of Babylonian Christianity and their 40,000+ denominations].

Intrinsically etched in a male’s heart without understanding, men silently loathe any female exercising righteous or unrighteous authority over masculinity, regardless of environmentally (in the home/school/sports/war) acquired emasculation. Inherently, even grade school boys subconsciously feel irritated (bitter) by that unidentified enslavement to girls’ mostly unconscious emasculating jubilance (conversely, the daughters of music and everything about a young woman is highly attractive to males and dedicated to his lust to both party’s intrigue of turbulent emotions of love and hate).

Incidentally, Sophocles muses upon another highly pertinent and no doubt unwitting equation to the Church in the Wilderness, made up of more culpable men than women since they become abdicated leaders in marriage and the Church under a different Jesus. The disquieting and inescapable truth, possibly unwittingly, yet unerringly resonates with scripture:

“The oaths of a woman I inscribe on water” – Sophocles. (Eccl 7:28; Jer 3:11-18; Hos 4:16). [end]

Our lovely women folk of the Body of Christ, inclusive of their male counterparts, are at peace with their former feminine fluidity, manipulating scriptural facts that, with deceitful kisses, hide the spirit and intent of their hearts (Pro 27:4-6). They, becoming the Bride of Christ, are continuing to practice the delight of listening to their Husband’s every word and look back with head-shaking fascination at their former conniving ways, having vainly manipulated the word of God to support their illusory righteousness. Indeed, her oaths to Jehovah while in the Wilderness were ‘inscribed on water’; her sisters remaining in Babylon still inscribe their oaths in watery baptisms and equal espousal fluidity (Isa 1:21; Zep 3:1-3).

Ecc 7:26  And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands [deceitful superficial kisses – inscribed on water]: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

(Note: Just as a wife’s deceitful kisses ‘inscribed on water’ fall symbolically to the ground and cannot be collected since they lead nowhere, so, too, is a husband (the collective church) who only wants sensual intimacy without the fruit of deep spiritual connection ~ in part, typified by Onan in Genesis 38:9 spilling his seed upon the ground).

Temptation comes with irksome contempt for the authority oppressing our inherent feminine (church’s) autonomy. Our feminine indignity goads us to automatically question and reject a husband or any male’s authority since we, sitting as god in the Temple of God, feel indignant by disempowerment by his authority over our imagined self-will. 

Subsequently, even if the authority is understood as correct, every undertone of an evil conscience powerfully resists acknowledging a sin. Upon being humiliated for our wrongdoing, our nature is first to hide spiritually by accusing some other party, thus excusing ourselves of error (Rom 2:15). Though underwritten by Christ, it is a true adage that “the Devil made me do it”, particularly since, and ironically, we didn’t hear the still small voice of the (ironic) trumpet blast telling us otherwise and thus resisting the Serpent for Christ’s assured intervention.

Jas 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God 

A primary way we become adulterers and adulteresses is with a convicting evil conscience that refuses the still, small voice prompting us to submit to the Lord’s war on our enemy. Subsequently, by siding with the world, we immediately become an enemy of God. We cannot serve two masters (Mat 6:24).

Jas 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 

Mat 26:40  And He came to the disciples and found them asleep. And He said to Peter [That ‘little rock’, the Body of Christ], What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?
Mat 26:41  Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

We make a mockery of our Lord’s powerful spirit when our temporary good conscience is overpowered by an evil conscience upon hearing the trumpet blast and don’t call on His name to fight our imminent war. This is when our Husband becomes a jealous God when we trust in the little whore we are with our oaths written on water and her fanciful authority over her Husband. “I will not have a [righteous] man ruling over me!” is our indignant subconscious response, and the vanity of our strength to resist the Devil evaporates. Consequently, our Lord’s highly aroused spirit to see our bright feminine response is dismally subdued, and him envious of our adulteries when he is not first enquired.

Mat 21:19  And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only [a show-pony; a beautiful woman by all accounts promising a husband’s delights], and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee [those Jews who say that they are Jews, and are not; Christian Babylon] henceforward for ever And presently the fig tree withered away.
Mat 21:20  And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
Mat 21:21  Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree [to our enemies within], but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. 
Mat 21:22  And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

However, our Lord is incredibly gracious and intimate with our weak frame and has a way for our escape should we humble ourselves. It all results in attaining the glorious peace of a “good conscience” by delighting our Husband with our God-given beauty and fruit of seeking his kisses.

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. 
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Every man despises being instructed or corrected by a female (or junior male) of any age without her (him) first showing genuine honor and respect. Eve was the first to challenge that authority, and typically, Adam, not wishing to offend his wife and have her frustrate marital dues, meekly complied. However, any female with an authentic introductory reverencing and honoring a male before her petition, as classically typified by Esther, immediately composes him with the deepest delight to indulge her and is compelled with a righteous conscience to do his utmost to comply with that female’s request. All the righteous women in scripture knew that immutable sovereignty; it is the very power modern feminists crave yet remain blind by Eve’s curse since Eden.

1Pe 3:7  Likewise, husbands, live together according to knowledge, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, the female, as truly being co-heirs together of the grace of life, not cutting off your prayers.

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit [able to emphatically know your dealings are of a good conscience ~ at one in Him], which are God’s.

A woman delightedly following in her Lord’s order of headship effectively “has her cake and eats it too,” and the adage is summed up scripturally with ‘all things being hers’ (1Co 2:19). Esther, having an exceptionally good conscience and an unfeigned heart, typifies the Bride of Christ. She indelibly knew her exceptionally good conscience of honor and respect for her King which enabled her to boldly risk death by standing unannounced before him in the court to seek her Lord’s benevolence. Only a righteous person holding a countersigned good conscience is bold enough to come before the throne of God, knowing that they are appropriately dressed for presentation.

Mat 22:11  And when the king [Christ] came in to see the guests [prior to the wedding, the Elect with some remaining ‘tares’], he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness [the Lake of Fire]; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

Est 2:17  And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour [effectively ‘chosen’] in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

In the following verse, Timothy was warning against false teachers, yet it can be easily applied to many applications, inclusive of Esther’s “good conscience” for Mordecai’s intercession.

1Ti 1:5  Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned [unfeigned, undisguised, sincere. 1. To take up another’s statement {Mordecai’s, in this instance} in reference to what one has decided for oneself]. 

Of course, any husband is easily ravished by such a respectful wife (or any woman righteously) as is our Lord for His Wife who touches Him with “faith unfeigned” as seen in the above verse. Such respect dramatically amplifies her enchantment of his heart, sensually highly arousing to men and correspondingly spiritually to God and the Christs.

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 

Est 5:2  And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre [H8275 – Dart, spear. H7626 – Rod {Tribe/tribes 138 times}, staff, branch, offshoot. 
Est 5:3  Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.

Est 2:17  And the king [Christ] loved Esther [Christ’s wife] above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the [symbolic – ] virgins [deluded Babylonian Christianity]; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. 

Vashti personifies our former selves from Mt. Sinai when we refuse to come to the Lord’s table and then humiliate him for his adoration of us before the world. If we continue our haughty self-elevation, he dumps us for a more humble and beautiful woman that the world will stand in awe.

Zec 2:7  Deliver thyself, O Zion [“come out of her {Babylon}, my people], that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. 
Zec 2:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled [plundered] you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

The Elect of God who rule with him in the One-Thousand Year reign are given a type of half the kingdom in downpayment before being given in Christ the entirety of humanity in the Resurrection to Judgment. Our Lord has glorified His Bride by giving her the greatest honor in the universe to intimately know him, to touch Him, our Sceptre’s very head whose kisses are better than wine. Together as Husband and Wife, they have seeded the world to be spiritually born again. In perfect unity of mind, body and spirit, they will rule their ‘children’, the nations, with a rod of iron and ultimately judge those same nations since Adam with that “sceptre” – H7626 to bring them into the fullness of spiritual maturity through the Lake of Fire.

Zec 2:9  For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them [the nations since Adam], and they shall be a spoil to their servants [The mighty men and rulers and servants will be of one servitude without dominion above the other, for all their pomposity will be soundly ground to powder]: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.
Zec 2:10  Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion [Bride of Christ]: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. 

Since the Elect of God represents the Daughter of Ziopon, our Lord is already dwelling in her midst, she being His first fruits of the Kingdom within, the very Temple in which He dwells.

Zec 2:11  And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day [following the Lake of Fire, on the Eighth Day], and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. 
Zec 2:12  And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
Zec 2:13  Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

Utterly oblivious to the Zionists of today, the Jews who say that they are spiritual Jews and are not, Christ is right this very moment in that “Jerusalem again” spiritually, in His Elect. The physical Jerusalem today is becoming a focus of intense fighting and possibly the grand finalé leading to the outward return of Christ. 

As was Esther’s good conscience to approach the King, expecting his like good conscience to delightedly receive her, authentic honor and respect for the evil rulers over us always calm their corruptness for a more favorable outcome ~ it is foolish to amplify an already unscrupulous ruler’s contempt for us by standing on our watery feminine instability as did Vashti. Harkening back to the quote, “The oaths of a woman I inscribe on water” – Sophocles (Gen 49:4 – when we go a whoring) should profoundly cause our conscience to know that we are standing before the King on heaving water, as did Peter trying with a weak conscience walking on water rather than later, in fire, to and in Jesus.

Jas 1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 

Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God [Old Jerusalem now New Jerusalem above]; thou hast [Pefect Tense] walked up and down in the midst of the stones [among our brothers and sisters who are gladly overcome] of fire.

A good conscience is endorsed first by God-given wisdom to foresee a potential evil and mitigate its expected effect, as did Paul’s address of Festus, attorney of Judea. Paul would have had to speak with a good conscience of authenticity to appease through respect for Festus’s seat of authority. Paul’s life was on the line, and both Paul and Festus knew that this was not a time for any perception of sarcasm towards Festus’s distinction.

Act 26:25  But he [Paul] said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. 
Act 26:26  For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner. 

Paul is one of the Elect of God, and being of perfectly “good conscience”, he didn’t have to try not to inflect contempt for Festus’ authority in calling him “most noble Festus”; ‘[who] knoweth of these things not hidden from him’, though, and by today’s standards, could sound caustic. As such, and from a slightly earlier account before Ananias, the high priest, Paul was able to say,

Act 23:1  And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.

Paul went on to say how in “good conscience”, he held the Laws of the Jews nearly perfectly, even to the point of satisfyingly killing Christians and ALL in “good conscience”!

One of the most outstanding forms of living in “good conscience” is one’s faith in a particular creed, as was typified by Paul regarding killing Christians, believing in circumcision and the Sabbath before the glorious earthquake of spiritual understanding.

Rom 14:13  Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way…

… rather, we gently correct a brother from the scriptures. If he takes some time to see the truth, so be it, as long as he doesn’t coerce his brethren to follow his deluded beliefs and thus cause them to stumble, as the Body of Christ was destined to experience on a number of occasions for their spiritual growth. Both parties are subsequently operating with a good conscience.

Rom 14:14  I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Rom 14:15  But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably [and expect a disquieted conscience]. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. 
Rom 14:16  Let not then your good [conscience] be evil spoken of: 
Rom 14:17  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost [from a good conscience]. 
Rom 14:18  For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men [all abiding in good conscience]. 
Rom 14:19  Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. 
Rom 14:20  For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure [when not offending Christ’s commandments]; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence [for the thing he deems an offence].
Rom 14:21  It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. 
Rom 14:22  Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth [since he is living with a good conscience]. 
Rom 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith [since his conscience should be condemning him]: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. 

There are possibly millions of quotes since Adam referenced a “good conscience”. The Bible has only six where the two words are coupled. The first of which is Paul we saw earlier following his arrest in the Temple. Paul, having been dramatically struck down on the road to Damascus, directly spoke with and was questioned by the Lord, remained in ‘good conscience’, having devoutly killed Christians in good conscience by his commitment to the Laws of Moses. Paul had one of the most dynamic shifts in conscience ever recorded for the sake of the Elect ~ truly a tumultuous about-face all the way past believing in circumcision. Paul typifies most experiences of the Christs and their personal earth-engulfing flood that changes into the fiery word of God.

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts [having taken into their hearts every nuance of an evil conscience to profoundly condemn them, and hence…],
2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 
2Pe 3:5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 
2Pe 3:6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 
2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the SAME [Caps, Grant] WORD are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

In glorious irony, of course, we know that we have been the man of perdition being given to learn by those same watery Laws how to live in good conscience in them by fire that purifies our consciences.

2Th 2:3  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; 
2Th 2:4  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.

1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? 
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 
1Co 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool [in good conscience], that he may be wise [in good conscience]. 
1Co 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 
1Co 3:20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 
1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 
1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. 

From those verses springs the remaining five verses where the two words for the term “good conscience” are spoken in scriptures.

1Ti 1:5  Now the end of the commandment [and all that this study speaks] is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: 

1Ti 1:19  Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 
1Ti 1:20  Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. 

Heb 13:18  Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

1Pe 3:15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 
1Pe 3:16  Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 
1Pe 3:17  For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 
1Pe 3:18  For Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, indeed being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; 
1Pe 3:19  in which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 
1Pe 3:20  to disobeying ones, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared (in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water); 
1Pe 3:21  which figure now also saves us, baptism; not a putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; 
1Pe 3:22  who is at the right hand of God, having gone into Heaven, where the angels [first the Elect of God giving up their perdition-ability, and then the world] and authorities and powers are being subjected to Him.

I pray that we all see the day and night of our consciences and always swiftly seek our Lord to live in His eternal conscience that only knows good.

Gospels In Harmony – By What Authority?

Mat 21:23-27, Mar 11:27-33, Luk 20:1-8

[Study Aired May 11, 2021]

Mar 11:27a And they come again to Jerusalem: Luk 20:1a And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, Mar 11:27b and as he was walking in the temple,  Luk 20:1b the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders,

Mar 11:28 And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?

Mar 11:29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Mar 11:30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.

Mar 11:31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?

Luk 20:6 But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: Mar 11:32b they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.

Mar 11:33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

In today’s study we will answer the questions by what authority Christ does what he does, who else has receives this authority, and once they receive this authority what will they do with it?

G1849
ἐξουσία
exousia
ex-oo-see’-ah

From G1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, that is, (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence: – authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.

G1832
ἔξεστι
exesti
ex’-es-tee

Third person singular present indicative of a compound of G1537 and G1510; so also ἐξόν exon; neuter present participle of the same (with or without some form of G1510 expressed); impersonally it is right (through the figurative idea of being out in public): – be lawful, let, X may (-est).

G1537
ἐκ, ἐξ
ek  ex
ek, ex

A primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence motion or action proceeds), from, out (of place, time or cause; literally or figuratively; direct or remote): – after, among, X are, at betwixt (-yond), by (the means of), exceedingly, (+ abundantly above), for (-th), from (among, forth, up), + grudgingly, + heartily, X heavenly, X hereby, + very highly, in, . . . ly, (because, by reason) of, off (from), on, out among (from, of), over, since, X thenceforth, through, X unto, X vehemently, with (-out). Often used in composition, with the same general import; often of completion.

G1510
εἰμί
eimi
i-mee’

First person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist (used only when emphatic): – am, have been, X it is I, was. See also G1488, G1498, G1511, G1527, G2258, G2071, G2070, G2075, G2076, G2771, G2468, G5600. 

G1849
ἐξουσία
exousia

Total KJV Occurrences: 103

power, 61

Mat_9:6, Mat_9:8, Mat_10:1, Mat_28:18, Mar_2:10, Mar_3:15, Mar_6:7, Luk_4:6, Luk_4:32, Luk_5:24, Luk_10:19, Luk_12:5, Luk_22:53, Joh_1:12, Joh_10:18 (2), Joh_17:2, Joh_19:10-11 (3), Act_1:7, Act_5:4, Act_8:19, Act_26:18, Rom_9:21, Rom_13:1-3 (3), 1Co_7:37, 1Co_9:4-6 (3), 1Co_9:12 (2), 1Co_9:18, 1Co_11:10, 2Co_13:10, Eph_1:21, Eph_2:2, Col_1:13, Col_2:10, 2Th_3:9, Rev_2:25-26 (2), Rev_6:8, Rev_9:3 (2), Rev_9:10, Rev_9:19, Rev_11:6 (2), Rev_12:10, Rev_13:4-5 (2), Rev_13:7, Rev_13:12, Rev_14:18, Rev_16:9, Rev_17:12, Rev_18:1, Rev_20:6

authority, 28

Mat_7:29, Mat_8:9, Mat_21:23-24 (3), Mat_21:27, Mar_1:22, Mar_11:27-29 (4), Mar_13:33-34 (2), Luk_4:36, Luk_7:8, Luk_9:1, Luk_19:17, Luk_20:2 (2), Luk_20:8, Luk_20:20, Joh_5:27, Act_9:14, Act_26:10, Act_26:12, 1Co_15:24, 2Co_10:8, Rev_13:2

powers, 8

Luk_12:11, Rom_13:1 (2), Eph_3:10, Eph_6:12, Col_1:16, Col_2:15, Tit_3:1

right, 2

Heb_13:10, Rev_22:14

authorities, 1

1Pe_3:22

jurisdiction, 1

Luk_23:7

liberty, 1

1Co_8:9

strength, 1

Rev_17:13

Mat 7:28-29 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Mat 9:3-8 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

Mat 11:25-30 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Mat 10:1-4 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

Mar 13:32-37 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

Mat 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Luk 10:17-20 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Rev 2:25-27 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Christ’s power and authority is given to him by His Father. Christ then gives His apostles and disciples this power. Do you count yourselves as an apostle or disciple of Christ? If you do, what will you do with the power and authority give to you by Christ?

Rev 11:3-6 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

There is someone else given this power, and it will be used against the saints. The dragon has been given this power and gives it unto the beast.

Rev 13:3-18 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Rev 17:11-14 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 

The power given to the saints of Christ will overcome the power given to the dragon and his angels, and this is how it is accomplished.

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 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 worshipped 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. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

In closing, here is what accomplished by the power given to the saints and what they will do.

Heb 13:1-19 Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

1Pe 3:8-22 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Hey Mike,

I hope things are going well for you and your family. In one of your studies, you discussed Jeremiah 29:4-7 concerning the peace of Babylon. It brought to mind:

1Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

When we are in babylon [the woman with child] seeking the peace there of, then sudden destruction, and we shall not escape. 1Thessalonians 5:3 seems to fit very well with what you were saying.

Thanks for all of your hard work and Sandi’s also.

P____

Hi P____,

Thank you so much for sharing this with me. I had never thought of that before, but I agree with you one hundred percent. “In the peace of that city you will find peace” does not change the fact that you still must “come out of her my people” (Rev 18:4), or the fact that “her plagues come in one day, and her judgment comes in one hour” (Rev 18:8, 10).

Jer 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

“Pray unto the Lord for it” is the same admonition we are given when we are told to “pray for… all in authority.” Once again, we are not praying for and seeking the salvation of “all in authority” at this time. What we are praying for in both cases is to simply be able to live at peace with the world to which we have been sent as ambassadors. “That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

1Ti 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
1Ti 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

God is not attempting to save all men in this age. Many are being called, but few are being chosen:

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

So, yes, you are exactly right when you say: “When we are in babylon [the woman with child] seeking the peace there of, then sudden destruction, and we shall not escape.”

1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Alleged Contradictions In Scripture – Part 8

Not For That We Have Dominion Over Your Faith” Versus “Obey Them That Have The Rule Over You”

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

Heb 13:17  Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Introduction

Christ has made it abundantly clear that His ministers are not to lord it over His flock or take advantage of His flock in any way.

Mat 20:25  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27  And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Mat 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

If Christ’s children are not to “exercise authority upon” those in their charge, why then are those in the the Lord’s flock told to “submit [them]selves [to]… them that have the rule over you”? How can a leader “have the rule”, without “hav[ing] dominion over” others?

What does “have the rule over you ” mean? Does not that word ‘obey’ actually mean ‘be persuaded’? The answer is, yes, as Strong’s definition tells us:

G3982
πείθω
peithō
pi’-tho

A primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty): – agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) content, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.

If there is any doubt that this word means ‘to be persuaded’, let’s just look at how it is normally translated:

G3982
πείθω
peithō
Total KJV Occurrences: 58
persuaded, 16
Mat_27:20, Luk_16:31, Luk_20:6, Act_13:43, Act_14:19, Act_18:4, Act_19:26, Act_21:14, Act_26:26, Rom_8:38, Rom_15:14 (2), 2Ti_1:5, 2Ti_1:12, Heb_6:9, Heb_11:13
trust, 7
Mar_10:24, 2Co_1:9, 2Co_10:7, Phi_2:24, Phi_3:4, Heb_2:13, Heb_13:18
confidence, 6
2Co_2:3, Gal_5:10, Phi_1:25, Phi_3:3, 2Th_3:4, Phm_1:21
obey, 5
Rom_2:8, Gal_3:1, Gal_5:7, Heb_13:17, Jam_3:3
believed, 3
Act_17:3-4 (2), Act_27:11, Act_28:24
confident, 3
Rom_2:19, Phi_1:6, Phi_1:14
persuade, 3
Mat_28:14 (2), 2Co_5:11, Gal_1:10
trusted, 3
Mat_27:43, Luk_11:22, Luk_18:9
obeyed, 2
Act_5:36-37 (2)
persuading, 2
Act_19:8, Act_28:23
agreed, 1
Act_5:40
assure, 1
1Jo_3:19
friend, 1
Act_12:19-20 (2)
made, 1
Act_12:20 (2)
persuadest, 1
Act_26:28
put, 1
Heb_2:13
waxing, 1
Phi_1:13-14 (2)
yield, 1
Act_23:21

22 of the 58 total entries, almost 50 percent of the total entries are some form of the English word ‘persuade’. The word ‘obey’ accounts for only 7 entries, which would better be translated as ‘persuaded of’ as these verses demonstrate:

Act 5:36  For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed [Greek: peitho – persuaded of] him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
Act 5:37  After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed [Greek: peitho – were persuaded of] him, were dispersed.

But what do we make of the Greek word translated ‘rule’ in Heb 13:17 if Christ’s followers have no dominion over anyone?

Heb 13:17  Obey [Greek: peitho] them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Heb 13:18  Pray for us: for we trust [Greek: peitho] we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

Is not this Greek word best translated as ‘leaders’ in this verse? The answer is that it is best translated as ‘leaders’, if indeed we esteem our leaders as such.

Here is Strong’s definition of the Greek word which is translated as ‘rule’ in Heb 13:17:

G2233
ἡγέομαι
hēgeomai
hayg-eh’-om-ahee

Middle voice of a (presumed) strengthened form of G71; to lead, that is, command (with official authority); figuratively to deem, that is, consider: – account, (be) chief, count, esteem, governor, judge, have the rule over, suppose, think.

Here are all 28 entries for this Greek word ‘hegeomai’:

G2233
ἡγέομαι
hēgeomai
Total KJV Occurrences: 28
count, 7
Phi_3:8 (2), 2Th_3:15, 1Ti_6:1, Jam_1:2, 2Pe_2:13, 2Pe_3:9
chief, 3
Luk_22:26, Act_14:12, Act_15:22
counted, 3
Phi_3:7, 1Ti_1:12, Heb_10:29
rule, 3
Heb_13:7, Heb_13:17, Heb_13:24
esteem, 2
Phi_2:3, 1Th_5:13
governor, 2
Mat_2:6, Act_7:10
think, 2
Act_26:2, 2Pe_1:13
thought, 2
2Co_9:5, Phi_2:6
account, 1
2Pe_3:15
esteeming, 1
Heb_11:26
judged, 1
Heb_11:11
supposed, 1
Phi_2:25

It is clear to anyone with the mind of Christ that the essence of this Greek word ‘hegeomai‘ is ‘esteem’ in the sense of ‘accounting’ someone as an esteemed ‘chief’, ‘leader’, ‘ruler’, or an esteemed ‘judge’.

Here is Heb 13:17 in the Concordant Version:

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

We will all “give account [of] every idle word”, (Mat 12:36, Mat 18:23, Luk 16:2, Act 19:40, Rom 14:12, Heb 13:17 (2), 1Pe 4:5), and we will also “render an account” of how we have served as overseers of the Lord’s flock. If we are not vigilant to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”, it will be none other than Christ Himself to whom we will “render an account” for how slack we have been in being “vigilant for the sake [of each other’s] souls”.

The next verse has this same Greek word, ‘peitho‘, translated as ‘obey’ in the King James, but notice it is not translated as ‘obey’ in this verse:

Heb 13:18 Pray concerning us, for we are persuaded [‘peitho‘, translated as ‘trust’ in the KJV] that we have an ideal conscience, in all wanting to behave ideally.” (CV)

This point was made in Tony’s study Thursday night:

Psa 91:11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psa 91:12  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 
Psa 91:13  Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Who has God given charge over His flock? We just read the answer to that question:

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

Paul gave this warning to the leaders and elders of Ephesus:

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Then he gives this admonition to Timothy:

1Ti 3:2  A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:3  Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1Ti 3:4  One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5  (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

1Ti 5:17  Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

If we are not to have dominion over each other as the Gentiles, how are we to understand “a man know[ing] how to rule his own house” as a qualification for “tak[ing] care of the church of God”? Once again, the Greek has a different meaning than what the translators chose to express the mind of the spirit.

Here is Strong’s definition of the word translated as ‘rule’ here in 1 Timothy:

G4291
προΐ́στημι
proistēmi
pro-is’-tay-mee
From G4253 and G2476; to stand before, that is, (in rank) to preside, or (by implication) to practise: – maintain, be over, rule.

Here is the definition of G4253:

G4253
πρό
pro
pro

A primary preposition; “fore”, that is, in front of, prior (figuratively superior) to. In compounds it retains the same significations: – above, ago, before, or ever. In compounds it retains the same significations.

This is the definition of G2476:

G2476
ἵστημι
histēmi
his’-tay-mee

A prolonged form of a primary word στάω staō (of the same meaning, and used for it in certain tenses); to stand (transitively or intransitively), used in various applications (literally or figuratively): – abide, appoint, bring, continue, covenant, establish, hold up, lay, present, set (up), stanch, stand (by, forth, still, up).

Putting these two definitions together in the context of a proper head of a fellowship in the body of Christ or of a head of a household who ‘[has] his children in subjection with all gravity”, it is clear that Greek word ‘proistemi‘ literally means that a leader, whether in his home or in the house of God is to stand firm in the doctrine of Christ, “with all gravity”, just as he deals with his children, “with all gravity”.

What kind of leader of the house of God would let his own children disrupt a fellowship with loud, disruptive, rude and selfish behavior? Any so-called ‘leader’ who would allow such behavior in either his home or in the house of God is no one to trust with the “gravity” of the doctrines of Christ.

Speaking to Titus, Paul tells us this:

Tit 2:7  In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity.

The Greek word translated a ‘gravity’ here in Titus 2:7, is the same word translated in the same way in:

1Ti 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; [Greek: semnotēs – sincerity, G4587]

It is the doctrine of Christ that is the subject in both Timothy and Titus. How a man’s children behave is simply an indication of whether that man is qualified to be an overseer of the Lord’s flock and whether he is qualified to detect and deal with “seducing spirits and doctrines of devils”, as Paul instructs Timothy in the very next chapter:

1Ti 4:1  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;

“Carnal babes”, physical or spiritual, are never to be allowed to disrupt the fellowship of the body of Christ.

Rom 14:1  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

A Godly, Biblical elder and a Godly leader knows he must “[be] vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account [to] the Chief Shepherd, and he is vigilant to protect his Lord’s flock from “grievous wolves” who rise up from within the flock of God:

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

This is what Paul has warned us about through his admonition to the same Ephesian elders  who he admonished to “look well to yourselves, and to the flock over whom the Lord has made you overseers”:

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Paul’s three-year warning was ‘three years’ because God wants us to know that “watch [against] grievous wolves… of your own selves… speaking perverse things” is a process that continues to this day.

But if we have no dominion over the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ, how will we be able to be good “overseers” of the Lord’s flock? To answer that question, let’s go back and see what had happened that caused Christ to tell his disciples they were not to exercise dominion over each other as the Gentiles do.

Here is what had happened between His apostles which provoked these verses of admonition:

Mat 20:20  Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
Mat 20:21  And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
Mat 20:22  But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
Mat 20:23  And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
Mat 20:24  And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.

The truth was that the apostles had all argued among themselves who would be the greatest among them in Christ’s kingdom as Mark reveals:

Mar 9:33  And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
Mar 9:34  But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. 
Mar 9:35  And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
Mar 9:36  And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
Mar 9:37  Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

Matthew adds a few more details of what Christ expects of those He sends as ministers of His flock:

Mat 18:1  At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 
Mat 18:2  And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
Mat 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

Paul tells us he had no dominion over the faith of those who God gave to him to serve as their overseer:

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion [Greek: G2961, kurieuō] over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

…and finally Peter tells us this:

1Pe 5:1  The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
1Pe 5:2  Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
1Pe 5:3  Neither as being lords [G2634 katakurieuō] over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

The alleged contradiction

If Christ’s ministers are not to lord it over the Lord’s flock, and if Christ Himself tells us we are not to exercise dominion over each other as the Gentiles do, then what is the function of the elders and ministers within the body of Christ? Did Christ have any authority over His apostles? Was Christ given any power over those who followed Him? Do Christ’s ministers have any power or authority over the Lord’s flock?

To answer these questions, let’s examine a few of the verses which appear to contradict the doctrine that God’s ministers have no “dominion over [your] faith”:

We are told this of Christ’s own style of teaching:

Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26  And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Mat 7:28  And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Mat 7:29  For he taught them as one having authority, [Greek: exousia, G1849] and not as the scribes. 

‘Hear and do these sayings of mine and you are building on a rock. Hear and do not these sayings of mine and you are building upon the sand.’ Christ certainly did speak as if He had great authority over all who heard His sayings.

Here is Strong’s definition of the Greek word which is translated as ‘authority’ in Mat 7:29:

G1849
ἐξουσία
exousia
ex-oo-see’-ah

From G1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, that is, (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence: – authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.

These are the New Testament entries for that word exousia:

G1849
ἐξουσία
exousia
Total KJV Occurrences: 103
power, 61
Mat_9:6, Mat_9:8, Mat_10:1, Mat_28:18, Mar_2:10, Mar_3:15, Mar_6:7, Luk_4:6, Luk_4:32, Luk_5:24, Luk_10:19, Luk_12:5, Luk_22:53, Joh_1:12, Joh_10:18 (2), Joh_17:2, Joh_19:10-11 (3), Act_1:7, Act_5:4, Act_8:19, Act_26:18, Rom_9:21, Rom_13:1-3 (3), 1Co_7:37, 1Co_9:4-6 (3), 1Co_9:12 (2), 1Co_9:18, 1Co_11:10, 2Co_13:10, Eph_1:21, Eph_2:2, Col_1:13, Col_2:10, 2Th_3:9, Rev_2:25-26 (2), Rev_6:8, Rev_9:3 (2), Rev_9:10, Rev_9:19, Rev_11:6 (2), Rev_12:10, Rev_13:4-5 (2), Rev_13:7, Rev_13:12, Rev_14:18, Rev_16:9, Rev_17:12, Rev_18:1, Rev_20:6
authority, 28
Mat_7:29, Mat_8:9, Mat_21:23-24 (3), Mat_21:27, Mar_1:22, Mar_11:27-29 (4), Mar_13:33-34 (2), Luk_4:36, Luk_7:8, Luk_9:1, Luk_19:17, Luk_20:2 (2), Luk_20:8, Luk_20:20, Joh_5:27, Act_9:14, Act_26:10, Act_26:12, 1Co_15:24, 2Co_10:8, Rev_13:2
powers, 8
Luk_12:11, Rom_13:1 (2), Eph_3:10, Eph_6:12, Col_1:16, Col_2:15, Tit_3:1
right, 2
Heb_13:10, Rev_22:14
authorities, 1
1Pe_3:22
jurisdiction, 1
Luk_23:7
liberty, 1
1Co_8:9
strength, 1
Rev_17:13

This word ‘exousia‘, meaning power and authority, is used in connection with both God’s witnesses as well as the beast, each in his own predestined turn:

Rev 11:6  These [two witnesses] have power [exousia] to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power [exousia] over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all [seven – Rev 16] plagues, as often as they will.

Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him [the beast] to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

So Christ tells us that ‘exercising dominion and authority upon others as the Gentiles do’, “shall not be so among you”, and yet we find that He Himself “spoke as one having authority”, ‘exousia‘, which is most often translated as ‘power’.

Mat 20:25  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion [G263 katakurieuō] over them, and they that are great exercise authority [G2715: katexousiazō – pronounced kat-ex-oo-see-ad’-zo] upon them.
Mat 20:26  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

Mat 7:29  For he taught them as one having authority [exousia, G1849], and not as the scribes.

Notice that the Greek word translated ‘authority’ in Mat 20:25, which “shall not be so among you”, is a different word from the word translated ‘authority’ in Mat 7:29.

Before we expose the fact that there is no contradiction at all in these two statements, let’s look at a few other of the places where this word ‘exousia‘, which is translated as ‘authority’ in Mat 7:29, appears:

Mat 9:1  And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.
Mat 9:2  And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. 
Mat 9:3  And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.
Mat 9:4  And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
Mat 9:5  For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?
Mat 9:6  But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power [Greek: exousia – authority] on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
Mat 9:7  And he arose, and departed to his house.

1Pe 3:22  Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities [G1849, exousia] and powers [Greek: dunamis, G14111] being made subject unto him.

Here is Peter telling us plainly that this ‘exousia‘, this ‘power’, this ‘authority’ given Christ, places the “angels and authorities and powers… subject unto [Christ]”.

The question now becomes, has Christ given this same power and authority to His children? What does Christ Himself tell us?

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power [Greek: exousia, G1849] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

This brings us back to those verses brought up in Tony’s Thursday night study:

Psa 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psa 91:12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psa 91:13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Nothing empowers “the enemy” more than his lies and false doctrines, typified throughout scripture by the serpent, the adder and the dragon.

Mat 15:9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Col 2:22  Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

1Ti 4:1  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;

Heb 13:9  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Now if one of these “doctrines of devils” is injected into the body of Christ, Christ Himself has given His children power over all such powers and authorities, whether those powers are coming from without or from within His body.

How is it possible to have “power… over all the power of the enemy” and not have dominion over the faith of a brother or a sister? The answer to that question is:

Mat 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Mat 18:17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Mat 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Christ is not just us as individuals. We are indeed Christ, but we are Christ only as a “many member[ed] body”:

1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
1Co 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
1Co 12:19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
1Co 12:20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
1Co 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

Here is how Peter asserts this power and authority over all the powers and authorities when external governments attempt to affect the actions of the body of Christ from without:

Act 5:27  And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Peter did not claim to be an infallible Pope, and he used the pronoun “We”. In other words, Peter asserted his power over the governments of this world in the same way Christ exercised that same power. Christ always spoke for His Father:

Joh 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Christ and Peter were both willing to give up their physical lives for spiritual life. As Christ told Pilate:

Joh 19:9  And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
Joh 19:10  Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power [G2634 katakurieuō] at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

Paul demonstrates the power and authority we all have, and with which we are to deal with the doctrines of devils which attempt to infect the body of Christ from within or from without:

1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
1Ti 6:4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

2Ti 1:13  Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 
2Ti 1:14  That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. 
2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

The apostle John tells us the same:

2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 
2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

The difference between ruling the house of God in this age and ruling the nations during the millennium

In Rev 2:27 we are told what is promised to those who have been overcomers in this age. These promises would include those who have fallen “asleep in Christ” over the past two thousand years, as well as those saints who will still be living in these earthen vessels at the time of the first resurrection. This is what is promised to those who are granted to partake of that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” (Rev 20:6):

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 

The word translated ‘rule’ in this verse has much in common with what we read about a Godly ruler in this age, but it is a different word. Here is this Greek word, and here is Strong’s definition of this word:

G4165
ποιμαίνω
poimainō
poy-mah’ee-no
From G4166; to tend as a shepherd (or figuratively superviser): – feed (cattle), rule.

Here are all the entries for this word:

G4165
ποιμαίνω
poimainō
Total KJV Occurrences: 12
feed, 4
Joh_21:16, Act_20:28, 1Pe_5:2, Rev_7:17
rule, 4
Mat_2:6, Rev_2:27, Rev_12:5, Rev_19:15
feeding, 2
Luk_17:7, Jud_1:12
cattle, 1
Luk_17:7
feedeth, 1
1Co_9:7

This word actually appears only eleven times, because the word ‘cattle’ is a double count of ‘feeding cattle’ in Luk 17:7. Of these 11 entries it is 7 times translated as ‘feed, feeding, or feedeth’.

So the word obviously is associated with feeding God’s people. Whether they are converted or not, they are still His, and He feeds them all.

Eze 18:4  Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

The difference between feeding God’s children at this time and during the millennium is the same as the difference between feeding God’s children for forty years in the wilderness and feeding them at this time. In other words Christ is in the process of gathering His elect under His wings as a hen gathers her chicks at this time, whereas that is contrasted with being ruled with “a rod of iron” during the time of the millennium.

The phrase “a rod of iron” appear four times in the Bible, and three of them are in the book of Revelation:

Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 

Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

So the feeding of that period of “a thousand years” is for an entirely different purpose than the feeding of God’s flock at this time. The manchild of the woman of Rev 12 is given to rule the nations with a rod of iron, and we are told when that will take place:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  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 worshipped 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.

The overcomers of Rev 2:27 are the woman’s manchild who will rule with Christ with a rod of iron for a thousand years. The feeding of those who will be living at that time will not produce an overcomer because there will be no ‘wicked one’ to overcome during that period. Read this link for much more on this point:

http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/gods-purpose-for-the-millennium/

Conclusion

To conclude this study, I will again quote what Christ has commanded us to avoid:

Mat 20:25  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27  And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Mat 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. 

Mat 23:8  But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Mat 23:9  And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Mat 23:10  Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
Mat 23:11  But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mat 23:12  And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

…and Paul’s doctrine accords with Christ’s words:

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

Yet we are told by the same Lord:

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

So there is no contradiction in telling us that we have no dominion over each other’s faith, while at the same time telling us that we are to submit ourselves to our leaders who must render an accounting of how they have been overseers of the Lord’s flock. While we have no dominion over each other’s faith, if we are in Christ, we do have “power… over all the power of the enemy”, and we have power and authority over all of His lying serpents and scorpions, and we are commanded to tread upon those lies, even if they are coming from “any man who is called a brother”, and we are to follow our instructions in Matthew 18:15-18, and cast him and his lies out of our fellowship before his leavening lies leaven the entire body of Christ:

1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 

When we follow the commandments given us in Matthew 18…

Mat 18:15  Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Mat 18:17  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Mat 18:18  Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

…we will not be dominating each other’s faith because “the church” itself as a united and healthy body of one man, “the man Jesus Christ”, and He is dictating what is and what is not Truth, as we are instructed:

1Ti 3:14  These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:
1Ti 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

If Christ is living His life within us, then we will have His mind and…

1Jn 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

If indeed we are lying and are not in the Truth, then we have been given power over all the power of the enemy, and the gloves are off. It is incumbent upon every leader in the body of Christ, as the Lord’s angels (messengers), to “tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon”

Psa 91:11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psa 91:12  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psa 91:13  Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

If we are Christ’s, then we are also His angels:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things [same angel as the angel of Rev 19:10]
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

“If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another”, and there will be no desire to attempt to dominate one another’s faith. If ever there is such a desire on the part of any brother, obedience to our instructions in Matthew 18, will purge us of the rebels:

Eze 20:38  And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

When the rebels are purged we will then “have fellowship with Him”, and we will be “of the same mind” to the extent that we will be able to say with the rest of the body of Christ:

1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Dear Mike,

What do you think about the New World Order, the Illuminati, the Freemasons and the Rothchilds and their mission of making this world under their control? The word of God instruct us to adhere to all authorities on earth.

Your brother in Christ,
N____

Hi N____,

Thank you for your question concerning those who the Lord is using to accomplish His ends.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

“All things” certainly includes the works of all the men and organizations of men you mention below.
Before I came to see that “all things” means ‘all things’, and before I came to see that God make wicked men within us all for the day of evil within us all, I used to spend an inordinate amount of time and money subscribing to and reading about all the conspiracies that are taking place in this world and on this earth.
It is popular in the world of academia to ridicule, repress and deny that there are men on this earth who are conspiring to control and dominate as much of this earth as their wealth and influence will permit. Such a dogma denies the most basic of human instincts, the desire to exalt oneself. No one can exalt himself to any great degree, or gain any significant amount of power in this world without conspiring with others to accomplish that end. “You sold me into Egypt” and “Et tu, Brutus” demonstrate graphically that men just naturally conspire to exalt themselves at the expense of anyone who they perceive to be a threat to their own ambitions for power and wealth. It is at great expense to the powers that be that Academia promotes the denial of this truth.
But after many years of attempting to account for every move made on the world scene, the Lord finally opened my own spiritual eyes to see that even those who do see that men just naturally conspire to increase their base of power and wealth; they also just naturally deny the spiritual truth of Eph 1:11, quoted above, and the truth of these words of our Lord to a man who was as sure as Joseph’s brothers, that the power of life over their fellow man was in their own hands. Nothing could be further from the truth of these words of our Lord.

Joh 19:7  The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
Joh 19:8  When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
Joh 19:9  And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
Joh 19:10  Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power [ at all] against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

You ask me:

What do you think about the New World Order, the Illuminati, the Freemasons and the Rothchilds and their mission of placing this world under their control?

I will let Christ answer that for me:

Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power [ at all] against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

That is just as true today for every move made by any man on earth, as it was the day Christ made that statement to Pilate. He is still “working all things after the counsel of His own will” and “working it all together for good” in the end.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [ are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

You then comment:

The word of God instruct us to adhere to all authorities on earth.”

The word of God does instruct us to obey the laws of the land and “be subject to the higher power.”

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Rom 13:2  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

As is always the case, truth is to be found only in “the sum of God’s Word,” and the “sum of God’s word” and the actions of God’s own apostles is that whenever the events of this life demand that we choose between obeying God or obeying the powers that He has ordained, that choice, for any spiritually minded man is not really that hard to make. Whenever we find ourselves in that situation we should always “obey God rather than man.”

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)
Act 5:27  And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

I hope this has answered your questions. Pay your taxes, keep the speed limit and be subject to every ordinance of man that does not require you to disobey God. But when confronted with having to obey the ordinances of men which conflict with the commandments of God, “obey God rather than man.”

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Hey, Mike,
2 questions…. answer whenever you can…
1. How should I handle the situation of a person that wants to accept Christ after hearing a message? (loaded question).
2. I heard you say that any church that has by- laws is not the true church, and while I understand what point you were making, our church here had to have by- laws to be able to get a building to hold “religious meetings” and all these little laws we had to go by…. would you say we need to get out and just meet in homes?
God bless you Mike. I’m soaking in a bunch of knowledge right now and feel like a baby!
M____

Hi M____,
Thank you for your questions.
Your first question was:

1. How should I handle the situation of a person that wants to accept Christ after hearing a message? (loaded question).

The very first thing any of us needs to realize is the truth of this verse:

Joh 15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [ that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

So I always assure those who ask any question, that their desire to know the truth, is not of themselves but is of God.

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [ Greek, drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Assure anyone who “wants to accept Christ,” that they are so special to God that He has given them a desire to want to “know Him,” because that is the very meaning of eternal life.

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

It is of utmost importance that we, like Christ, let all who come to him know that their faith is not their own but is Christ’s faith within them. They do not even contribute the desire to know Him of themselves.

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

But at that very moment you need to let them know that being saved is a life- long process that must be “endured to the end.” I think you are well aware that there is no truth to the ‘once in grace always in grace,’ doctrine.

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

There is no need to go beyond the “milk of the word” doctrines at the very beginning of a person’s spiritual experience, but it is essential that we never so much as appear to be furthering any of the false doctrines of Babylon, Like the ten second sinner’s prayer.
All I can ever do, is to point you to the scriptures, and in the scriptures we are told that our relationship with Christ is one- on- one with but one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

1Ti 2:5  For [ there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 

Over the years since IWWB was first put up on the web, many have come to see the truths that we have been privileged to share with those who are given the eyes to see those truths. In all of those years there has never been a single outward ritualistic “altar call” to ‘come out of Babylon and be ye separate.’ Yet many have done exactly that, and for those who do come out of Babylon, there is no scriptural call for an outward profession of such an event. Here is all Paul tells us to mention to “carnal babes in Christ.”

1Co 2:2  For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

It simply is not possible for a babe in Christ to receive any more than Christ and Him crucified. It takes time to be able to see that we are crucified with Him and to be able to accept these words:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of [ the] Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

So be careful not to give “strong meat” to babes who can only see Christ as dying for their sins, and are not yet even converted:

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [ to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [ am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Again, there is no mention in any of Paul’s epistles of the modern day “altar call.” The modern day ‘altar call’ has no basis in scripture. On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the whole multitude that they needed to repent of having slain Christ. He did not invite them to an outward display of their decision by coming down to ‘the altar’. He and Paul both, at first told their converts to be baptized, but later Paul tells us this about baptizing others.

1Co 1:17  For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

Such rituals as an ‘altar call’ are additions of men who want to dominate the lives of those who will allow such domination. Christ’s cross is our altar and we accept Him by “taking up our cross and following Him.” We need no approval from men that we have done so. We “confess with our mouth” not by ritualistically repeating a 10 second sinners prayer, but by living a life that reflects the new man that we are in the process of becoming.
Your second question was:

2. I heard you say that any church that has by- laws is not the true church, and while I understand what point you were making, our church here had to have by- laws to be able to get a building to hold “religious meetings” and all these little laws we had to go by…. would you say we need to get out and just meet in homes?

I think you have answered you own question when you confess:

Our church here had to have by- laws to be able to get a building to hold “religious meetings” and all these little laws we had to go by….

If you read what I wrote about by- laws then you know that they are a legal statement that legally divides the body of Christ and leaves out the vast majority of the word of God. We are not to be divided and we are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and not by legal by laws. There are no nonessential words that proceed out of the mouth of God. The sum of God’s Word is the by- laws of all who are His. Can you imagine the Son of God asking Herod if He could have legal permission to speak the Words His Father had given him to speak? Can you imagine Christ submitting to Herod a set of bylaws, so He and His 12 apostles could travel around preaching from their bylaws? It never happened and it will not happen among those who “come out of her.”
You ask if you should “get out of [ a building] and meet in a home?” There is nothing wrong with renting a hall to meet in. We do so ourselves at all of our conferences. What is unbiblical is having a set of bylaws which are accepted of Caesar and Pilate and Herod, which omit the vast majority of God’s word. Many times the buildings and property are legally placed into the hands of men who then become the heads of a legal empire over which they are the lord.
Here is what we are to live by. Here is my own statement of beliefs:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

We are to obey the laws of the land, unless those laws are in direct opposition to the word of God. In such cases these are our instructions.

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the [ other] apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

By- laws are just that; they may include some scriptures, but they are not scripture, inasmuch as they legalize the division of the body, and they legalize the omission of the sum of God’s word, and legally replace it with a tiny fraction of the words that proceed out of the mouth of God. The if anyone in that particular legal organization put the word of God ahead of the legal by law of that legal organization then the church leaders can legally expel those who dare to challenge the doctrines of that legal entity. Christ is not a legal entity, and His body is not a legal entity. It is a living spiritual body, and a spiritual organism called Christ Jesus, who personally heads up His church. That is not a popular doctrine, but it is a biblically sound one.

1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is[ the] Christ.
1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many.
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Christ is to be preeminent in all things, and Christ is “the Word.” So God’s Word is to be preeminent to by- laws, and that is both a spiritual and a legal impossibility.
I hope this is of some help to you. There are very few who “tremble at Thy word” these days. But it is to those who do so that the revelation of Jesus Christ is given.

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

It is a great honor to be “cast out for His name’s sake, because “His name” is His word, and His word gives none of us any authority over any of the rest of us.

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

When we seek only to be the “helpers of the joy” of our brothers, we need no legal powers or authority to do so. It is a commandment of our Lord.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

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Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power [ Greek – dunamis, G1411], after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

So What Have We Been Granted?

Act 1:8 assures us that we have been given power, but it turns out that there are two Greek words which are both translated ‘power’ in our King James Bibles, and since Greek is such a specific language we really do need to know what is the difference between these two words and why the holy spirit has seen fit to use two different Greek words when speaking of what Christ has promised those who believe His Words.
Here is a verse in which the holy spirit inspired our Lord to use both of these Greek words. It is a good starting point to help us to align our thinking with that of Christ. Christ said this to His yet unconverted disciples when He sent them out to preach the good news of the kingdom of God:

Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power[ Greek – exousia, G1849] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power [ Greek – dunamis, G1411] of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Here is Strong’s definitions of these two Greek words:

G1849
εξουσια
exousia
ex- oo- see’- ah
>From G1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, that is, (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence: – authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.

Here are the verses in which this word appears and the various English translations of this word.

G1849
εξουσια
exousia
Total KJV Occurrences: 103
power, 61
Mat_9:6, Mat_9:8, Mat_10:1, Mat_28:18, Mar_2:10, Mar_3:15, Mar_6:7, Luk_4:6, Luk_4:32, Luk_5:24, Luk_10:19, Luk_12:5, Luk_22:53, Joh_1:12, Joh_10:18 (2), Joh_17:2, Joh_19:10-11 (3), Act_1:7, Act_5:4, Act_8:19, Act_26:18, Rom_9:21, Rom_13:1-3 (3), 1Co_7:37, 1Co_9:4-6 (3), 1Co_9:12 (2), 1Co_9:18, 1Co_11:10, 2Co_13:10, Eph_1:21, Eph_2:2, Col_1:13, Col_2:10, 2Th_3:9, Rev_2:25-26 (2), Rev_6:8, Rev_9:3 (2), Rev_9:10, Rev_9:19, Rev_11:6 (2), Rev_12:10, Rev_13:4-5 (2), Rev_13:7, Rev_13:12, Rev_14:18, Rev_16:9, Rev_17:12, Rev_18:1, Rev_20:6
authority, 28
Mat_7:29, Mat_8:9, Mat_21:23-24 (3), Mat_21:27, Mar_1:22, Mar_11:27-29 (4), Mar_13:33-34 (2), Luk_4:36, Luk_7:8, Luk_9:1, Luk_19:17, Luk_20:2 (2), Luk_20:8, Luk_20:20, Joh_5:27, Act_9:14, Act_26:10, Act_26:12, 1Co_15:24, 2Co_10:8, Rev_13:2
powers, 8
Luk_12:11, Rom_13:1 (2), Eph_3:10, Eph_6:12, Col_1:16, Col_2:15, Tit_3:1
right, 2
Heb_13:10, Rev_22:14
authorities, 1
1Pe_3:22
jurisdiction, 1
Luk_23:7
liberty, 1
1Co_8:9
strength, 1
Rev_17:13

Here is the same treatment for the other Greek word ‘dunamis,’ which is also translated as ‘power.’

G1411
δυναμις
dunamis
doo’- nam- is
>From G1410; force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself): – ability, abundance, meaning, might (- ily, – y, – y deed), (worker of) miracle (- s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work.

Here are the verses in which this word appears and the various English translations of this word.

G1411
δυναμις
dunamis
Total KJV Occurrences: 123
power, 71
Mat_6:13, Mat_24:29-30 (2), Mat_26:64, Mar_9:1, Mar_12:24, Mar_13:26, Mar_14:62, Luk_1:17, Luk_1:35, Luk_4:14, Luk_4:36, Luk_5:17, Luk_9:1, Luk_10:19, Luk_21:27, Luk_22:69, Luk_24:49, Act_1:8, Act_3:12, Act_4:7, Act_4:33, Act_6:8, Act_8:10, Act_10:38, Rom_1:4, Rom_1:16, Rom_1:20, Rom_9:17, Rom_15:13, Rom_15:19, 1Co_1:18, 1Co_1:24, 1Co_2:4-5 (2), 1Co_4:19-20 (2), 1Co_5:4, 1Co_6:14, 1Co_15:24, 1Co_15:43, 2Co_6:7 (2), 2Co_8:3 (2), 2Co_12:9, 2Co_13:4 (2), Eph_1:19, Eph_3:7, Eph_3:20, Phi_3:10, 1Th_1:5, 2Th_1:11, 2Th_2:9, 2Ti_1:7-8 (2), 2Ti_3:5, Heb_1:3, Heb_7:16, 1Pe_1:5, 2Pe_1:3, 2Pe_1:16, Rev_7:11-12 (3), Rev_11:17, Rev_13:2, Rev_15:8, Rev_17:13, Rev_19:1
mighty, 14
Mat_11:20-21 (2), Mat_11:23, Mat_13:54, Mat_13:58, Mar_6:2 (2), Mar_6:5, Mar_6:14, Luk_10:13, Luk_19:37, Rom_15:19, 2Co_12:12, 2Th_1:7
miracles, 8
Act_2:22, Act_8:13, Act_19:11, 1Co_12:10, 1Co_12:28-29 (2), Gal_3:5, Heb_2:4
strength, 7
1Co_15:56, 2Co_12:8-9 (2), Heb_11:11, Rev_1:16, Rev_3:8, Rev_12:10
powers, 6
Mat_24:29, Luk_21:25-26 (2), Rom_8:38, Heb_6:5, 1Pe_3:22
might, 4
Eph_1:21, Eph_3:16, Col_1:11, 2Pe_2:11
virtue, 3
Mar_5:30, Luk_6:19, Luk_8:46
ability, 1
Mat_25:15
abundance, 1
Rev_18:3
deeds, 1
2Co_12:12
meaning, 1
1Co_14:11
mightily, 1
Col_1:29
miracle, 1
Mar_9:39
violence, 1
Heb_11:34
wonderful, 1
Mat_7:22
work, 1
Mar_6:5
workers, 1
1Co_12:29

Notice that the word ‘dunamis’ appears 20 times more that the word ‘exousia.’ Dunamis -123 , and exousia – 103. We also need to take note that our English word ‘power’ is the overwhelming choice for the translation of both words, exousia – 61, dunamis – 71. But what is most revealing about the totals of the various translations of these two Greek words is that while the Greek word ‘exousia’ is translated authority 28 times, powers 8 times, right 2 times, authorities 1 time, and jurisdiction 1 time, all of these English words carry the thought of ‘authority,’ while that thought never once appears in the all the various translations of the Greek word ‘dunamis.’
Here is another verse in which these two Greek words appear in the same verse, which will again help us to see what is the difference between them.

Luk 4:36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority [ exousia, G1849] and power [ dunamis, G1411] he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

So it appears that ‘exousia’ means the authority to command actions to be taken, while ‘dunamis’ refers more to the carrying out of those actions.
When Christ called his 12 disciples to Him, He gave them authority over unclean spirits which caused diseases.

Mat 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power[ Greek – exousia, 1849, authority] against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Christ spoke with authority, and that word is exousia.

Mat 7:28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Mat 7:29 For he taught them as one having authority [ exousia, G1849], and not as the scribes.

The Centurion whose servant was ill understood what was exousia:

Mat 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Mat 8:9 For I am a man under authority [ exousia], having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

That is the dunamis that comes with exousia. That is the power that comes with the authority which we are given over all the lies of the enemy.

Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

“Serpents and scorpions are lies and falsehoods, that torment us for no reason, except that we believe a lie. Why would any of us suffer from phobias with promises like that. That is the Truth, and the lies of our phobias are just that; they are lies that bring nothing but fear and torment, based upon nothing but lies.
After His resurrection Christ reiterates and reaffirms the authority given Him.

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power [ Greek – exousia, G1849] is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

For the benefit of all those who will condemn me for pointing out the overwhelmingly manifest truth; that no one in the history of this earth, and certainly no one alive in my 62 years on this earth, has come anywhere near the number, quantity or quality of miracles affecting the physical lives of people on this earth as did Christ, let it be known that I have been privy to one supernatural healing of a friend and acquaintance of mine. This man was diagnosed with cancer, lost weight to the point of death, repented of his sins, requested the prayers of all of his friends and of the people who attended the church he began attending. This man was suddenly healed when and when He returned for what was to be his final checkup before being sent home to die he was miraculously healed and lived another five years. So no one here is denying that Christ can heal. We know He can if it is His will. Therefore when we pray for healing, we ask our Father in heaven to heal our brothers and sisters if it is “according to His will.” But let it be known that the “greater works than these” spoken of by our Lord, are not these occasional answered prayers for physical healing. The healing that is always granted to those who ask for it in faith, is a healing that is far greater than any and all of Christ’s healing of physical diseases. It is the healing which affects the spirit, and gives spiritual strength to spiritually withered spiritual arms, hands and legs. It is the healing that gives sight to the spiritually blind, peace of mind to the tormented and spiritual life to the spiritually dead. Like any healing, this healing is valued most by the recipient of that miracle. That recipient is those who realize their need for a physician, their need for a healthy body and eyes that can see and understand, and can appreciate their healing  far more than those who are physically healthy, physically healed of all their physical diseases, have perfect physical eyesight and can see every word of the Bible, and therefore ‘are not blind’ and “need no physician.”
Before healing many of those who came to Him, here is the first thing Christ did:

Mat 9:2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
Luk 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
Luk 7:48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

Joh 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
Joh 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

So what is this power we have been granted? We have been granted power over all the lying wonders of the Adversary, who tells us that we must live in constant fear of eternal torment, both now and forever. We have been given power against all the lies which tell us that we cannot overcome sin and fear in our lives. The woman who washed Christ’s feet with her hair, and the woman caught in the very act of adultery, are both you and me, and both of these women were just as miraculously healed, and delivered from fear, and given peace of mind, as was the man who was “sick of the palsy.” The truth is that mental torment and fear, can be much worse than physical pain. We have been granted power to do “greater works than these” in that we have been given the power to give life to those who have never known life.

Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

We have been given a peace of mind, which not one of the ministers who teach the false doctrine of eternal torment can possibly experience. In the face of all the confusion that is this world and its Babylonian doctrines and lies, we are given to know that our God is a loving Father “who will have all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the Truth.”

1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

That is a “healing” which is not even possible for those who claim the gift of healing while teaching a doctrine of torment; who never demonstrate the gift of healing but who demonstrate that they do not know what it means to be healed. Here is Christ’s own evaluation of what constitutes “greater works than these.”

Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Is it the Lord’s will to grant physical prosperity and healing to all men at this time? It most obviously is not, but it is equally obvious that it is His will that “all men be saved and to come to a knowledge of the Truth… to be testified in due time.” For that reason we are given this verse which you will never hear from the mouths of those who foster a ‘name it and claim it’ prosperity gospel or a “command ye me” healing gospel.

1Jn 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

Christ was certainly aware of this truth when He instructed us how we ought to pray:

Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Those who are “drawn from the breasts” and have had their faith tried, know that God “works all things after the counsel of His own will.”

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Are these words true or are they not true? Of course they are true, and there is nothing that has ever happened or ever will happen, good or evil, which is not under the direction of our heavenly Father and under the ‘exousia,’ under the authority of Eph 1:11 and these verses.

Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
1Co 11:12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
Heb 3:4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers [ exousia, authorities]: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Why, when we read all those words, do we think of people, places and things and never consider the conditions of all of those people, places and things? Is it not because we have been lied to and told that God does not create evil, and he certainly has nothing to do with the creating or making of evil men? Those who can receive Christ’s words of peace are made to be at peace by knowing that nothing is out of the control and direction of a loving heavenly Father, “who will have all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the Truth”. If “all things consist by Christ,” then it is comforting to know that all things means all things, both the things, and the condition of those things, the good and the bad, and that is exactly what the scriptures teach from Genesis to Revelation.

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

If God has “made the wicked for the day of evil,” then God has planned and is executing “the day of evil.” Is that a scriptural concept?

Pro 20:24 Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Amo 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city and the LORD hath not done it?
Jer 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

So apparently God is sovereign over both the good and the evil in this world, and what is He working with His sovereign will? The answer to that question is that He is loving His creation, and everything He is doing, He is doing in love.

1Jn 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love
1Jn 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Everything God is doing is for good “to be testified in due time.”

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [ his] purpose.
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

What does the knowledge of God’s sovereignty have to do with giving us power, exousia, meaning authority, after the holy spirit comes upon us? Well, if we remember that Christ’s words “are spirit” then His words express the mind of God’s holy spirit, and they have everything to do with giving us power and authority, if we believe in Him and His words.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

How do we know what is given us, in spirit, and in Christ?

1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Here Is What We Are Given

Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power [ exousia, authority] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Joh 17:2 As thou hast given him power [ exousia, authority] over all flesh, t hat he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

That is the meaning of “power over all flesh.” It means the power to pass from death unto life.

Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power [ dunamis – strength, might] of the Holy Ghost.
1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish [ Greek, are perishing] foolishness; but unto us which are saved [ are being saved] it is the power [ dunamis – strength, might] of God.

1Co 1:22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
1Co 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power [ dunamis – strength, might] of God, and the wisdom of God.
1Co 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: [ dunamis – strength, might]
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power [ dunamis – strength, might] may be of God, and not of us.

“The Jews” typify God’s people who are yet carnal [Joh 8:31-44 and 1Co 3:1-4]. All such people “require a sign.” Paul’s “preaching of the cross” and his “speech and his preaching were in demonstration of the spirit and of power.” It is our fidelity to the word of God that demonstrates the spirit and power of God in our lives. Here is how a person with the power of God’s spirit upon them demonstrates that power and spirit in their life:

2Co 6:3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
2Co 6:4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
2Co 6:5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
2Co 6:6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
2Co 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power [ dunamis – strength, might] of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
2Co 6:8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
2Co 6:9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
2Co 6:10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

There is no room for the lies that bring fear in any of those verses. We have received God’s spirit through Christ, and now, through God’s spirit, Christ dwells in us. Christ is in His Father, and His Father is in Him, and we are in them, and they are in us.

Joh 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
Joh 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

Why should we “believe the works?” Here is why.

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

That is an incredible promise. God, through Christ, is already dwelling in His people and nothing can hurt them. If God is in us, then we, like Christ can face the toughest trials in life and be completely unscathed. We can conclude “not my will, but thine be done,” and even if we must lay down this vessel of clay, we know that we have “a house made without hands, eternal in the heavens.” It will be a trial, but like Christ, we can endure to the end, and not one hair of our spiritual head will be lost.

2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Luk 21:15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
Luk 21:16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
Luk 21:17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.
Luk 21:18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.

“Some of you they shall cause to be put to death… but there shall not an hair of your head perish.” This apparent contradiction simply serves to demonstrate from Christ’s point of view the truth that “the flesh profits nothing.”
Those in whom the mind and spirit of Christ and His Father dwell, are encouraged by the sign given them of being “hated of all men” for simply obeying God and His Word. We are promised and we receive “a mouth and wisdom which all of our adversaries are not able to gainsay or resist.” This puts us in good stead with our Creator and Savior, but it causes us to be hated of all men. Being hated of all men is a blessing we gladly bear for His name’s sake. Nothing in heaven or in the earth can separate us from the love of our heavenly Father. Here is Paul’s prayer for you and for me:

Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might [ dunamis] by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Eph 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power [ dunamis – strength, might] that worketh in us,
Eph 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end [ Greek, unto all the generations of the age of the ages]. Amen.

This is the promise we are given concerning our relationship with Christ and His Father:

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of the Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 According as it is written For thy sake, are we being put to death all the day long, we have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquering through him that hath loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor messengers nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers [ dunamis – strength, might],
Rom 8:39 Nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What authority, what strength and might and what wonderful comfort and peace of mind we have been granted in Christ!

So We Have Nothing To Fear

If God is really living His life in us, then we need never succumb to our fears and our phobias. How can we know that we know and love God? The scriptures tell us that “We know we have passed from death unto life because we love the brothers.”

1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

We know that “God is love,” but what is God’s definition of loving His children, and what is His definition of ‘loving Him?’  If we don’t know what the Biblical definition of love is then we will not know who really is of God. Here is the Biblical definition of what is true Biblical, Christlike love. Here is the definition of both the love of God’s children, and the love of God the Father. Here is how to expel all fear and all lies.

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

‘We know that we love God if we keep His commandments,’ we know that we love our brothers if we love and obey God, and “if we keep his commandments.”
Contrariwise we also know that our love is not yet in the process of being perfected if we live in constant fear:

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, t hat we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Fear is common to all men, but if Christ is in us and is being perfected in us, he will slowly but surely drive fear out of us here in our day of judgment:

Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

The End And The Outcome Of All We Have Been Given

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Paul was persecuting the all- powerful Jesus, when he was persecuting Christ’s all- powerful disciples because:

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world

Christ did not want to die, and sweat blood enduring that trial, but in the end His desire was to “love God and keep His commandments.”

Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us- ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly [ places],
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

There it is. The church is Christ’s body, and Christ’s body fills Christ, who in turn is the fullness of Him that fills all in all. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Through Him we can overcome every “principality” which means every fear and every lying false spirit that wants to make us to fear a future which is already secured for every man who has ever lived.
This is the Truth of God’s Word concerning what has been given to us. There are trials ahead for us all, but this is the truth about how we can face those trials as they come upon us:

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Mike
Thanks for the answer to my email.  I agree with your response, and all of the verses you quoted. I hope I did not sound like I was disagreeing with the fact that we must live every word of God.  I believe that we all must go through all of plagues. I just realize that to count it all joy we must have a different viewpoint from that of a person who feels as though God punishing them.  If I go through a trial of job problems or whatever, I can see that this is God working in my life using a trial to strengthen me.  There was a time when if I went through that same trial I would be praying, pleading and begging God “Why me?”  Now I can come to that point of “God’s will be done”.
It was the same trial.  At one time I thought it was God’s wrath and the latter time I realize it is God’s chastening grace. I thank you for all of the work you do and the CDs.  I listen to you almost everyday, and in the near future I would like to start sending some support.
God bless,
D____

Hi D____,
Thank you for your words of encouragement. It means a lot to me to know that there are those out there who appreciate the CDs and who can see and hear “the things of the spirit.”
I try never to assume what are a person’s motives. I didn’t think you were disagreeing, but sometimes that is hard to discern in an e- mail.
When we are given to understand that God’s sovereignty extends to evil as well as good. Such a doctrine strips the beast within of any authority, but  we are generally considered to be heretics for believing it.
God’s wrath is not for wrath’s sake but for our sakes. It is so good to hear that you can now see that and can say, from the bottom of your heart, ‘Thy will be done.’
God bless you as you are coming out of Babylon and being conformed to the image of His Son.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike >

Mike,

Hey, I read your article about how God is in Control of Everything….

SO, let me make sure I understand you here… you are saying that YOU believe that EVERYTHING that happens in life, both good and evil, [ are] God’s doing?

I have never believed that. I think that God and Jesus are up in Heaven, and the ONLY thing we have down here is the Holy Spirit to help us as Believers. Therefore, all the unbelievers like I used to be, are able to live a sinful life against God’s Will, and basically have an “equal” control against us in the world and all its happenings.

Help… thanks,

G____

Hi G____,

You say “Help” and “Thanks.”

My experience has been that whenever someone tells me what they believe without bothering to give the scriptures to back up their convictions, they generally aren’t really looking for any help. Most people have their minds made up before they ever open their Bibles. From that point on, they are simply attempting to make the scriptures say what they want them to say. Then when someone like me comes along and shows them scriptures like:

Pro 20:24 Man’s goings [ Good or evil] are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?
Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue [ Good or evil] , is from the LORD.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

… they can’t grasp it.

Did you catch that? “The Lord hath made … the wicked…” You have just told me that you don’t believe that. That is fine. It is certainly not my business to make you believe something that maybe God Himself doesn’t intend for you to see or understand at this time. Nevertheless the scriptures are all there:

Pro 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

According to that scripture, God even controls the lottery. I did not write it, I just quoted it. Now I could go on and write another After The Counsel of His Own Will, attempting to get you to see something that God Himself has blinded your eyes to. It would be an easy thing to quote another 30 nor 40 pages of scripture and not even touch on the one in my previous paper, showing that man has no ‘free’ will. ‘Will?’ Oh yes. Man has a will to do evil. It was God Himself who made man “subject to vanity.”

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made [ By God] subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

Yet you tell me:

Therefore, all the unbelievers like I used to be, are able to live a sinful life against God’s Will, and basically have an “equal” control against us in the world and all its happenings…

You believe a whole lot like Pilate just before he ordered the crucifixion of Christ:

Joh 19:10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

Just like Joseph’s brothers when they sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt, you, Joseph’s brothers and Pilate actually believe that they had the ability to carry them out as a the result of “free” will. But who do the scriptures reveal as the architect of this, the worst crime of all time?

Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I formthe light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

But you don’t believe that. And you call yourself a ‘believer.’ What you ‘believe’ is what you have been taught. I have had many tell me what they ‘believe.’ I have yet to receive a letter showing me the scriptures that say ‘I, God, have made man capable of doing good. I, God, have imbued man with free will.” Telling someone to “Choose ye this day whom you will serve” in no way whatever denies that God had already decided that Pilate’s ‘choice’ would be to crucify Christ. And such a scripture in no way denies that God has already decided every ‘choice’ Joseph’s brothers or you or I will make day by day.

Pro 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

To man, it seems like it is his choices that make everything happen as it does. That is the same mentality that would have you to believe that a gun can kill someone.

Joh 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

But you beg to differ with the Holy Spirit here. You would rewrite this to say that “Pilate has equal control against Christ in the world and all it’s happenings.”

Here is not just “what I believe”; here is what God says:

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

And here, on the other hand, is what believes

Therefore, all the unbelievers like I used to be, are able to live a sinful life against God’s Will, and basically have an “equal” control against us in the world and all its happenings.

Go ahead, choose which of those statements you “freely” wish to believe, with no influence from God for either good or evil.

But when that choice is made, this scripture will still be true:

Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

“Not willingly…” “Not of him that willeth…” Are you getting the picture? The single most succinct scripture in all the Bible, telling us why “God creates evil,” is this:

Gen 50:20 But as for you [ Joseph’s brothers, you, me, and all of Adam’s progeny], ye thought evil against me; but God meant it [ the evil of all mankind] unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

I hope I haven’t offended you with all these scriptures. They certainly do offend most orthodox Christians. These verses are avoided like the plague in the churches of our nation. But they are Truth.

I hope I have been of some help.

Mike