M____ wrote:
Hi Mike,   What a great website! Moses vs. Spirit article was awesome! It left me with one question though. A stronger brother is not to judge a weaker brother but a person who observes holy days is still immature. So how do I help my devoted catholic friend who loves Christ from the bottom of his heart, demonstrates the fruit of the spirit, but observes holy days, rituals and the traditions of the church. He says it’s prayerful to fast for lent! He has no love for the word but his prayer life is unmatched! I’m looking for a book that will really help me understand the book of Job! Your recommendation on Types in Genesis was amazing. Thanks Christ living in Mike for your time,   M____

Hi M____,
 Thank you for your question.
You say:

“I’m looking for a book that will really help me understand the book of Job!”

I would recommend that you read After The Counsel of His Own Will on iswasandwillbe. com. Job typifies God’s elect as they come to see that “the wonderful works of God with the children of men” include chastening and scourging that brings us to our wit’s end. Look at what Elihu, the youngest and wisest of Jobs friends, and the only one not reproved by God, told Job about Job’s attitude toward God. It is the same attitude we all have when we cannot see why we must endure the trials we go through:

Job 33:6  Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.
Job 33:7  Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.
Job 33:8  Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of [ thy] words, [ saying],
Job 33:9  I am clean without transgression, I [ am] innocent; neither [ is there] iniquity in me.
Job 33:10  Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy,
Job 33:11  He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths.
Job 33:12  Behold, [ in] this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
Job 33:13  Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.

God Himself agrees with Elihu:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

The book of Job teaches us that God is sovereign even over Satan. It is God, not Satan, who brings Satan’s attention to Job. God tells Satan that He will “take down the hedge” God has placed around Job’s life. Satan is permitted to take everything Job owns, and everything that is dear to Job, including the lives of all of Job’s children. But that is as far as Satan can go until God tells Satan that he can now go beyond Job’s possessions and loved ones. Only with God’s direction can Satan now afflict Job himself. But Satan is not permitted to take Job’s life. At every turn Satan is nothing more than an unwitting tool in the hand of the Great Cause of all things:

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:

So the book of Job teaches us that God’s will is being done in all things and that if anything happens, it happened because God caused and “worked all things after the counsel of His own will.”
But the perceptive son of God will also learn that the book of Job teaches us that when we cannot see God’s purpose for the scourging we are enduring, we still must approach Him with thanksgiving if we hope to have a relationship with Him. God used Elihu to reveal to Job that an effective prayer is a prayer of praise and thanksgiving for “the wonderful works which the Lord does with the children of men.”

Job 33:6  Behold, I [ Elihu] am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.
Job 33:7  Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.
Job 33:8  Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of [ thy] words, saying,
Job 33:9  I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me.
Job 33:10  Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy,
Job 33:11  He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths.
Job 33:12  Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
Job 33:13  Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.
Job 33:14  For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
Job 33:15  In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
Job 33:16  Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,
Job 33:17  That he may withdraw man from his [ man’s] purpose, and hide pride from man.
Job 33:18  He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
Job 33:19  He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:
Job 33:20  So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.
Job 33:21  His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out.
Job 33:22  Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.
Job 33:23  If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his [ God’s] uprightness:
Job 33:24  Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
Job 33:25  His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth:
Job 33:26  He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.
Job 33:27  He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;
Job 33:28  He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
Job 33:29  Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,
Job 33:30  To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.

So long as Job questioned God’s ways and maintained his own righteousness, Job could not pray or communicate with God. Only after God sent “a messenger” in the form of Elihu, was Job given the opportunity to once again communicate with God:

Job 33:23  If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his [ God’s] uprightness:
Job 33:24  Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
Job 33:25  His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth:
Job 33:26  He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his [ God’s] righteousness.

There is no “seeing his face with joy” while maintaining our own righteousness and questioning God’s righteousness for allowing us to suffer. There is but one way to approach the sovereign God of the universe:

Php 4:6  Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. (CEV)
Col 4:2  Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

  Your next question is:

“A stronger brother is not to judge a weaker brother but a person who observes holy days is still immature. So how do I help my devoted catholic friend who loves Christ from the bottom of his heart, demonstrates the fruit of the spirit,  but observes holy days, rituals and the traditions of the church. He says it’s prayerful to fast for lent! He has no love for the word but his prayer life is unmatched!”

The last thing in this world that I want to do is to offend you. But this statement about your Catholic friend demonstrates that you, along with the entire orthodox Christian world, do not know what is the scriptural definition of ‘love.”
Loving your Catholic friend and treating Him as you would have him to treat you is certainly included in the scriptural definition of love, but it is nothing more than your own righteousness and your own good works if it is not understood within the broader, scriptural definition of what is love.
The scriptures do not refer to “our righteousnesses” as our unrighteousnesses. Nevertheless our righteousnesses are called “filthy rags.”

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Neither does Christ deny that many wonderful works are indeed done by those He declares He has never known:

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Now notice what Christ says next. It is this verse which will help us to come to see what is “the love of God.”

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:

That is “the love of God.” ‘The love of God’ is much more centered around how we treat God, than how we treat our brothers in Christ. Here is the unvarnished, Biblical definition of what is love. Nothing less is love. Anything less is nothing more than filthy rags:

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

If we “love God” then we will “keep His commandments.” If we love God we will want to know Him. If we love God we will hunger to know how He thinks, what are His precepts, His values, His commandments.
Look at just how emphatic is Christ on this very subject:

Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Now let’s analyze just how much your “really devoted catholic friend who loves Christ from the bottom of his heart, demonstrates the fruit of the spirit, but observes holy days, rituals and the traditions of the church. He says it’s prayerful to fast for lent! He has no love for the word but his prayer life is unmatched!”
“He has no love for the word… { but he] loves Christ from the bottom of his heart???” No, your “really devoted Catholic friend” doesn’t even know who Christ is. How can any of us love anyone we know nothing of? Your friend, like all who are still in Babylon, Protestant and Catholic,  loves “another Jesus, who has another gospel, and another spirit.”

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or [ if] ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
Gal 1:6  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Gal 1:7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Gal 1:8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

You and I are all guilty of “Bearing with those who preach another Jesus and another gospel.” We are all far more concerned with being separated from our brothers in Christ than we are with being separated from Christ. But it is much better to be separated by the truth than it is to be united in a lie.
“He … demonstrates the fruit of the spirit but observes holy days, rituals and the traditions of the church???” No, your friend hasn’t a clue, what is “the fruit of the spirit.” The fruit of the spirit is love.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

And what is ‘love?’

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.

The answer to your question is that you cannot help your friend to see what you see. Spiritual eyes and ears are a work of the holy spirit alone. There is no other way. All spiritual revelation is from our heavenly Father only:

Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
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.
Joh 6:45  It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

By you own admission your friend “has no love of the Word.” Who is “the Word?”

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Christ, the true Christ, is “the Word.”
Prepare yourself by studying God’s Word. Be ready always to answer any question you receive. Every question you are asked is a gift from God. Be ready with the mind of God on your tongue:

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:

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Be sure to read the paper Rightly Dividing The Word of Truth.
I hope this helps you to better understand the message in the book of Job and when it comes to trying the spirits of your friend or any of your friends, let God be true and every man a liar. When it comes to what is ‘love’ and who is ‘Christ,’ let God’s Word alone define His Word. Your friend knows and is devoted to a ‘Catholic’ Christ who has virtually nothing in common with the Christ of the Bible. God is not at all impressed with a prayer life that does not even know to pray “thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Here is what is required to be heard of God:

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:

It simply is not possible to have an effective prayer life and have no love of the Word which reveals to us God’s Will.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike>