FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS . . . . . . . . . . . Biblestudy Feb. 2008

[Kat]

http://bible-truths.com/audio/Bible Study 02-03-08.mp3


                                                        FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS
                                              [How much truth does it take to set one FREE?]

Those articles on my site, there are 24 installments in the Lake of Fire, about 28-45 pages long each. But they need to be that long, because I need to cover that material in detail so people won't come back and say, 'well what about this? I see you didn't cover that.' Yes I did. It would be hard to find some major thing in any article and say, 'well you didn't cover this.' Yes I did. 

So I'm thinking that some of the Bible studies (which are for the forum because we put them on the forum), need to be a little bit more simple. I need to just get across a couple of profound points or something. 

So I was thinking about how people read my stuff. You know they will spend hours reading it and looking up the Scriptures and then they say 'that's it, Ray doesn't lie.' But they could never do that themselves. Some people feel, 'well I wish I could teach like Ray or understand it or at least answer questions to somebody when it comes up. Because I can't remember these 2000 pages of stuff that Ray has.' 

Well it's there, so you can look it up you know. Say if you want to know about sheol, I've got 2 papers, 30 pages each or more and you can look up any detail or any verse that contains that word and it's there. But still it's too much for a lot of people. People have asked me, 'can't you just write a summary of all your papers?' No, I can not. I absolutely can not and I will not. 

Today's lesson is going to be one thing, one idea. I wanted it to be something that will be really helpful to you. I titled it Foundational Truths, how much truth do you need to set one free? In John it says;

John 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

That's what Christ said. Well how much truth do you need? I mean do you have to go 10 years of studying the Bible and then you are about half free? This is talking about freedom in your mind, of not being really apprehensive about what God is like or what happens after death. I mean having a clear picture of this and being free in your mind. This is what people email me about all the time. 

I get hundreds and thousands of emails that say, 'I'm so confused, I feared for my Uncle Harry, I loved him so much, but he was an alcoholic and he died that way. At the funeral the Pastor said he was going to hell. What? Then they go on to say... I read your paper and it was like this giant load was lifted off. I saw in the Scriptures for the first time that God isn't going to burn anybody in hell for all eternity.'

So I want to give you enough information so that, on a rather simplistic level, you can take on any and all comers, TV preachers or people, you know. Because a lot of us run into people who will argue about Scripture and say, 'yes God is going to torture people, because it says so.' 

Is there a way to learn how to overcome virtually all of these hundreds of Scriptures that they throw at you? I think there is. That's what today's study is all about.
 
So many of the doctrines of the church contradict each other, they contradict God, they contradict the Scriptures. They don't care, I mean even a good friend I had 2 years ago, stated that the Scriptures are full of contradictions. No they're not! I have answered a few of those.

Now you don't need to be a scholar and you don't even need to be super intelligent. You don't need any of those things to understand a truth. Now here is a good Scripture.

Luke 10:21  In that hour ...

That hour happened to be when Christ sent out His disciples. He said, if these people would have demons to cast them out and if they are sick to heal them and to teach them about the kingdom of God.  And when they returned; 

Luke 10:21 ...Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You hast hid these things from the wise and prudent (now He's talking about the religious leaders, the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Zealots and all those), and hast revealed them unto babes...

That word "babes" doesn't mean babies. In the Greek babes means minors, like teenagers - young people or an older person, but one that is not formally educated and learned in a lot of things.

Luke 10:21 ...even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Your sight.

So in fact it is better if you are not too smart and not too successful if you want to understand the Scripture. Why is that? Because this is what we read in I Corinthians.

1 Cor 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren (he is talking to the church at Corinth and he said look at yourselves), how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

Okay you see your calling and not many of those...

1 Cor 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;

Now why does God do it this way? Well that's just the way God does things. He likes to do things that way. He likes to make big things out of little things.

1 Cor 1:28  And base things of the world, and things (he's talking about people not physical things) which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not (in other words, if we say it in the vernacular - those that are nobodies, the absolute nobodies), to bring to naught things that are:

The reason for all this? Next verse...

1 Cor 1:29  That no flesh should glory in His presence.

One of the requirements to follow God properly is to be humble. It doesn't mean you have to be weak livered, shy, bashful or insecure it doesn't mean any of those things. It just means humble, know who and what you are, we are FLESH! We start out carnal flesh, carnal and fleshly - meat - Chili Con Carne - Chili with meat - carnal. 

We read in Romans 8 that the carnal mind, the way you think with the natural mind, is enmity against God or doesn't like God. When you want to do a lot of dirty nasty things, when you want to lie and cheat other people, when you want to be a drunkard or be on drugs or whatever you want to do. You don't want to be thinking about God when you do those things. Why? It's uncomfortable! It says with such a mind you are not subject to the laws of God.

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

So you won't obey the laws of God; don't lie, don't cheat, don't fornicate, don't murder, don't dishonor your parents, don't lust after your neighbors things... You won't want to keep those laws and in fact it says, you are not even able to. I mean you couldn't even if you wanted to. You have to have a change in heart and a change of mind. So I think most of us in here can probably identify with the fact that we are not that smart, we are not that wise, we're not the great leaders and the intelligence of this world. 

I mean people laugh at me, for example they say, 'oh you think you know it all.' No I don't. They say, 'you think you are such a expert on Hebrew and Greek.' I don't know anything about Hebrew and Greek. They say, 'well you think...' No I don't. It makes you feel good to think so or say it, because then you think you can put me down. You read my credentials, they are right there on the front page of my site - retired roofer. Those are my credentials, I'm a retired roofer and they hate that. Why? Because they want to put me down, but I've already put myself down. I mean I could say that I'm just a roofer's helper, that would put me down a little bit more, you know. 

So look at us, most of us, even though maybe we are doing pretty good right now or whatever, most of us were probably failure most of our lives, were we not? It was just wine, women and song and just have a happy happy happy, who cares where the chips may fall. 

You look at the people who come and acknowledge these Truths and there are many now. I mean we get thousands of emails and you don't hear about many of them. They may write one email after a year or two, they will say, 'you have turned my life upside down and totally turned it around. I'm not the same person anymore and I'm not fearful anymore. I don't coward under all these religious things. I feel better about my wife and my children and all these things.' So they are out there. People are being helped. 


                                                         PRINCIPLE TO ALL THE PARABLES

Now I want to zero in on a principle here that will help us understand a whole lot more than we think we do. But when you get all bogged down with this... so much knowledge and so many pages to learn, you've got to come back to this principle. You can grow from there, but come back to this foundation. Because that's where you are building, you are building on the foundation.

So how many parables must we know in order to know all parables? Christ said in Mark 4.

Mark 4:13  And He said unto them, Know ye not THIS parable? (or do you understand the meaning of this parable, obviously they did not, because they ask Him what does it mean) and how then will ye know all parables?

There is a real key teaching. If you don't understand this parable, He says how can you understand the rest of them? But on the other hand, if you do understand this parable you can understand the rest of them. You only need to understand one really well and you know them ALL.

How many of these pages are taken up with parables? Maybe not all of these parables, but there is the kingdom too. He said the kingdom of God is like this... It's like a man who went out and purchased a field, because there was hidden treasure there and then he dug and he found that treasure.

Then the kingdom of God is like a merchant who sold everything he had for that one pearl of great price, like the hope diamond, that really big one you know.

He doesn't explain that stuff. Does He explain what all of that means every time He says it? No He doesn't. People think this is all different things. All these aspects, IT'S ALL THE SAME THING! This is a marvelous revelation when I saw this and nobody told me. 

The parables are all talking about the same thing. If you understand that, you should understand that the two in the field and the two women grinding at the mill can not be one and the same person. I mean we are getting into a kind of trinity here. 

So what are the parables all about? Well let's read the one where He said if you know this one, then you know them all. These are like all encompassing, because they deal with the same thing. Okay up above this in Mark He gives the parable, so lets read it.

Mark 4:2  And He taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in His doctrine,

He said this is "His doctrine" - the religious beliefs or what we call in the church, doctrines. These are the main important things and you can find those in the parables.

Mark 4:3  Listen! Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
v. 4  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some (seeds) fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
v. 5  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
v. 6  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
v. 7  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
v. 8  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some a hundred.

So here is the parable. What in the world does it mean? Now I've taught that all parables are not all literally true. If they were they would be stories or historical accounts, not parables. A parable in the old English means a near story. A story about something, but it's not the truth, it's like a story of something that happened, but it is only near to it. 

So there is something here, but Jesus Christ is not saying that there was a sower out on a farm who took wheat seeds or whatever and went out and sowed it in the ground. The parable is not about that. He's not talking about a farmer, He's not talking about seed, He's not talking about birds, He's not talking about stones, He's not talking about any of those things. Then why does He make a parable out of it? Because there is a connection. It's got to be some kind of connection between the symbol and what it symbolizes or why would you use it in the first place. There has got to be a connection. 

Well now they didn't understand. Now He is going to explain it, He said because...

Mark 4:11  ...Unto YOU it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
 
Well wait a minute we have just learned something all over there again. What are the parables about? The called and the chosen, the many and the few.

Now what did He say there? He just told us that, did you get it or did you just read over it and you missed it? Read it again. How many times have you read that and you missed it. YOU are the few chosen, YOU will understand these things. "Without" I teach in parables, the many hear Me, but THEY don't get it. 

Mark 4:12  That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand;

So there is your two groups. This is not talking about the same person being split down the middle or something. This is talking about the called and the chosen. 

[Kat]

Now He goes on and He says.

Mark 4:13  And He said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
v. 14  The sower sows the word.

Back up in verse 4, He said the sower sows the seed. Now the seed is no longer the seed. Guess what it is? It's the Word. The sower sows the Word.

Mark 4:15  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately...

Well that's not what He said up there, He said the fowl of the air come and devour it. Fowl are always likened to evil spirits or Satan. You read about the birds and the fowls in the book of Revelation. Those are always evil spirits and Satan. The birds represent Satan.

Mark 4:15 ...and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Not in the ground... we went from seed in the ground to the Word in your heart.

Mark 4:16  And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
v. 17  And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

So you see, this is what this parable is all about.

Mark 4:18  And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
v. 19  And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in (and what happened?), choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

So it chokes the Word and you can't produce any fruit. It chokes you, these other things.

v. 20  And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundred.


                  THE PARABLES REPERSENT TWO DIFFERENT GROUPS  

You have the many called, they hear the call and some of them accept it and they follow it for a while. They do all these things, but they don't produce the fruits. They never get rid of the carnal mind and they never produce the fruits that are mentioned in Galatians 6, love, peace, joy, goodness, faithfulness and all these things. Now that explains what all the parables are about.

Haven't you read the one about the dragnet? You bring in the net, right and those that are without, are those thrown out. The good fish and see we have the good ground. The word going to the good ground and what is the good ground? The good people, you have the good fish, those that you take in the basket and keep.  

Now I'm not going to go through all the parables today, I have another point in mind. But the principle fits here and that's why I want to start off with the parables. There are about 40 parables in the New Testament. It starts off with the lamp under the bushel/basket, then you have the wise man, the two men in the bed. It doesn't mean there are just these two, it's just two categories.

One builds his house upon the rock and the other one builds his house on the sand. This is not the same man, presented by the two men. Now it's true that we can go from one to the other, but most of the parables present them at the same time. You can't do it at the same time. There is a transition where you repent and you are converted and you become the new person and you leave the other one behind. The other one does not follow with equal stature from then on. If it does you are not producing fruit and you are not going anywhere.

So there are two different groups throughout the parables. You have the new wine and the old wine skins. the sower that we just went through with the sower. You have the tares and the wheat.

The tares and the wheat are growing together, but they are not the same. Because those that are the tares will be thrown into fire. You can not be gathered into the barn and thrown into the fire at the same time. People will not be in the kingdom of God and in the fire at the same time. There comes a part where you separate these two and that happens at resurrection. Those that enter the kingdom and those that are without and are going to be judged.  

Sometimes a parable will emphasize the Elect, sometimes it puts emphasis on the many. But the opposite is always in view. They talk about the bad, but that doesn't negate the fact that this is the opposite of those that are good.

We went through the dragnet. There is the lost sheep. You have 100 sheep and the 99 are the many. But the lose one, that's the one God goes over to. Why? Because Christ said that He came to save that which is lost.  

The two sons, the wicked wine dresser, the wedding feast. You have those that have their garment cleaned for a proper wedding garment and then you have them out in the way, the people who come with dirty clothes, signifying unrighteousness. They can't come in.

The many and the few, they are through every parable. The wise and the foolish virgins, we've talk about that. The growing seed, the absent house holder, the creditor and the two debtors, the good Samaritan. You have those that will come to the rescue, to help somebody. I mean you had the many that went by and the one, the good Samaritan, he's the one that stopped, he's the Elect.  

Even the rich fool which emphasizes the negative side. When Christ explains what took place He brings in the Elect side, which he had turned away from. The faithful and the wise servant, the great supper, the lost coin, the lost son, the lost sheep, the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man represents a group and Lazarus represents another group. But anyway you can go through all of the parables and you will see that is true.

I want to show that you don't have to have that many foundational Truths, if you know how to use the couple that you have.

It's like if you have just a select number of tools, a hammer, a saw, a screw driver... say you could have 7 tools and you could build a whole house with those tools. You could have only 7 tools and you could come up with 7. Although the average house is built with maybe 100 or more tools at least. Every trade has a bucket full of 30-40-50 tools. But you would need an adjustable wrench, something to cut with maybe like a saw or knife, a hammer, a screw driver... but you could probably come up with 7 tools to build a house.


                                        GOD DOES NOT LIE!  

Let's go through just one major point here about God and His work.  Now I'm assuming that we accept the fact that there is a God. But first you have to accept that there is a creation and there is a Creator of the creation. I'm assuming that we all believe that there is a God of the creation.  

I'll ask the question here, does God lie? I want to give you this verse in the Concordant in Titus, because it really is worded properly.

Titus 1:2  in expectation of life eonian, which God, Who does not lie, promises before times eonian, (CLV)

The King James says, "God, that cannot lie." But that is not what it means, that's not what it says. It doesn't say in the Greek that He 'cannot' lie, it says "does" not. It's a negative, can't - don't. But it's not that He can't, but He doesn't. God doesn't lie.

Num 23:19  God is not a man, that He should lie;

1 Sam 15:29  And also the Strength of Israel will not lie...

That is in a capital, it is talking about God. This is a Truth! You got to hang onto that. Under no circumstances can you ever let go of that Truth, it's paramount. If you believe that God lies, then you might as well throw your Bible away. You might as well throw your religion away. This is paramount!

You say, 'well teach me something new Ray, teach me something I need to know. Teach me something the whole church doesn't know or believe.' I am, they DON'T believe this. That's why I'm telling you, you must believe this.
G o d   d o e s   n o t   l i e.


                                 GOD'S WORD DOES NOT LIE!

John 17:17  Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy WORD is truth.

John 10:35  ...and the SCRIPTURE cannot be broken;

2 Tim 3:16  ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

So the Scripture are true. They are true and they can't be broken and they are written through the inspiration of God, who does not lie. Now have you got that point in your mind? Don't ever lose that. This is your salvation, when it comes to you understanding the Scriptures and/or teaching others to understand the Scriptures or exposing those who contradict themselves.

We can now apply this TRUTH to ALL Scriptures. With just that Truth we can confound the mighty of this world and I'll show you how to do it. This is not going to be a difficult study. But it is going to be maybe one of the most profound studies I've ever given.  


                            SEVEN [7] FOUNDATIONAL SCRIPTURES

Now I'm going to give you seven Scriptures that talks about really important things and I have several that eludes to the salvation of the human race. Because what is more important than that? What's more important to a human being than to think that God, since He brought us into existence, we will always be in existence. Even when we die He is going to bring us back. If He brought us here in the first place, then He can bring us back. This is not hard, not for God.

[1]  1 John 4:14  And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

I never forgot that Scripture. First time I saw that I memorized it and I never forgot it. I never had to look it up again, I knew where it was, 1 John 4:14. Also 1 John 4:8 "...for God is love." Remember these.

[2]  1 Tim 2:4  God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

You're got to believe that. Maybe you should cut these out and stick them in your Bible or something.

[3]  1 Tim 4:10  For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living GOD, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe.

Phil 2:13  For it is GOD which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Do you see free will in there any place? Who is it that brings about what is your will and what you will do?  GOD!

[4]  2 Peter 3:9  The Lord is... NOT WILLING that ANY should perish (well how is He going to keep them from perishing?...), but that all should come to repentance.

Here is a negative thought - "not willing." Now this is the will of God and this is important. God's will is that no one should perish... NO ONE! Not Adolf Hitler, not Osama Bin Laden, no one. But they all have to repent.
 
You say, 'well they're already dead Ray.' That's right, but they are coming back in judgment and they have to repent. Why? Because God does not want them to perish.

Now we are going to see what theologians do with these verses and what you can't ever do with these verses. Because this is Truth, God does not will - He's not willing - He does not want - He has no such desire - He takes no pleasure in any perishing. But He is going to have them all repent.

[5]  Isa 46:10  Declaring the end from the beginning (speaking of God), and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure:

What an important verse. Now do you believe it? Can you believe it and will you continue to believe it? If there is anything in God's Word where He says, this is what I want - this is what I desire - this is one of My pleasures - this is one of the things I'm going to bring about... Will it have to be brought about? That's what God says, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure."  I WILL do it. I mean you can bring in more Scripture, like the Lord's prayer.

Luke 11:2  ...Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will BE done, as in heaven, so in earth.

"THY WILL BE DONE!" See, no ifs ands or maybes. So when you have these people who say, 'well yeah, God kind of wishes that things would be better, they just are not.' Nonsense.

[6]  1 John 4:8  He that loves not knows not God (why?...); for God is love.
Very profound statement, it's the Truth and you've got to believe it.  

[7]  1 Cor 13:8 Love NEVER FAILS...

You might kill the person who is doing the loving, but the love still isn't going to fail. "LOVE NEVER FAILS."

[Kat]

Now there are the seven Scriptures. Are these Scriptures true or are they lies? How do we know they are true?
 
Well first of all we read that God's Word is Truth (John 17:17), and the Scripture is given by inspiration of God (2 Tim. 3:16) and God does not lie (Titus 1:2). So don't these seven Scriptures have to be true?  

Can there be any possible exception that these Scriptures are not true? If any one of these Scriptures is not true, then God is a liar and these Scriptures are not given by inspiration of God. Then whatever God wants and desires will not come to pass. So these Scriptures have to be true!  

Do Christians teachers, Pastors and Theologians tell the world that these Scriptures that I just gave you are true? Excuse me, I speak as a fool. When have you ever heard Kennedy, Hagee, Benny Henn, Paula White, Jakes, Oral Roberts or any of them, when have you ever heard them give a sermon that God is going to save the whole world? That none will perish and that God will bring all to repentance according to these seven verses, when have you ever? You have never. When will you ever here them? You will never.  

You can go to the 500-600 churches all through Mobile and you will never hear a sermon given on one of those seven Scriptures and for them to tell you that that Scripture is true and it can not be broken. In a hundred years in Mobile and all of these congregations, not one, well it could have been one, but I certainly don't know of any. Let's say not Orthodox Christians, if it's a you know Baptist, Presbyterians, Episcopalians or whatever, then they never have. But you will never hear them quote one of those Scriptures and tell you that that Scripture is true and can never under any circumstances fail or God will be a liar and His Word will not be true and the Scripture can be broken. I hope I'm not going to fast for anybody. So no you will never hear them teach these things and tell you that this Scripture is true.  

You might say, 'well what about, God is love?' Excuse me, what does love mean? I mean look it up in Strong's Concordance, look it up in a Russian dictionary, a Chinese dictionary or in five English dictionaries and you will find out what love is. No where in any of them will you find that love is a desire, a deep seated desire to torture people in fire. Are you following what I am saying?  Do you understand how you can stand up to anybody who is a lying two faced hypocrite and tries to tell you that the Word of God is not true?  

Why don't they teach on these Scriptures? Because they teach on other Scripture, that if you corner them they will tell you that those Scriptures contradict the seven that I just gave you. They say, 'these are just weak wishes and fantasies that God has, but it will never come to pass.' Because they have those other Scriptures that what? Contradict them. 

Wow, this is just amazing stuff! They have all those other Scriptures. All day long for eight years now, I answer emails... Contradictions, it's all about contradictions. 'Well Ray you said...' I write them back, no I didn't said. Excuse me, but didn't you see me quote a Scripture where I said that? Don't you say L. Ray Smith said, he did not said, the Scripture said.

You see how they twist things? They lie and distort things. I quote what God says. I believe these Scriptures. But not only do I believe them, I apply them to every page of the Bible. That is the only way that you will ever understand what the Bible is talking about.  


                                   ETERNITY IN THE SCRIPTURE

What are some of the Scriptures that theologians and these carnival auctioneers on television quote, to show that these Scriptures are not true? The ones that they use to tell you that God won't save all of humanity, you know the ones about suffering hell fire for all eternity or whatever. But you don't find that in all Bibles, eternity - everlasting and so on. So if it's not even Scripture, there is no need to quote something that is not Scripture.  

So you have everything from Rotherham's and Young's to the Emphatic Diaglott, Concordant Version and so on. Some of these have great scholars behind those translations. You don't have a forever and ever and everlasting. Why? Because there is no word in the Bible that can be translated forever - ever and ever - always - evermore - everlasting - eternal, there is no such word.  

Alexander Thompson investigated this word, he was that great scholar from Scotland. He said no etymologist has ever found a word in any language on earth, that meant that the word itself meant endless time. Not any language on earth until the second century A.D. Guess what? By then the Scriptures were finished. They were already written. So there is no word in the Bible that stands for endless time - eternity - ever more - everlasting and all of that nonsense, showing that judgment is for eternity. No it is not.

Well do we have a promise of life that doesn't end? Yes, but it isn't through the use of one of those forever and ever ever more words. We are to be given immortality and that word means deathlessness. You never die when you are given deathlessness - immortality.  

But now I said there is one technical point in here and that is in addition to everything else I'm talking about here today on this major idea. It is good if you understand that the Greek word aionion does not mean forever - evermore - everlasting - eternal. But you will have to spend a little time studying that and I have a whole article on it. But you need to have that one technical point, so that if somebody says, 'oh well it says here that they shall be punished forever more.' Evermore/everlasting is aionios and it's not punishment. The proper word is chastisement.  

When you chastise somebody you are not just punishing them because you are angry at them or your exacting vengeance on them. Chastisement has to do with how you rear up a child. You chasten them and you might even hit them on their bottom and it hurts. But it isn't because you want to hurt them and make them hate you and you are doing it because you hate them. No, it's to teach them how to be good. You have a good purpose for it. So it's a good purpose chastening. That's what, if you want to paraphrase it, that it should read, not everlasting punishment. All the better translations do translate it properly.


                                    HOW TO GIVE AN ANSWER

Now I said you are going to learn something today and I'm getting to it. We've partly got to it, but not completely.  

So I just read you seven profound Scriptures. God is not willing that any should perish... God's will is that all should be saved... God has commissioned His Son to be Savior of the world... God is love... love never fails... God will do all of His pleasure... We read those Scriptures, right.  

Now here is the thing, when somebody tries to show you, 'oh yeah He has a desire that all people will be saved. He has the desire. It's just that it won't happen.' Of course the main reason is because He gave man free will and they will not all freely choose Him. So God will have to torture them for all eternity. Don't get sucked into that.  

I mean maybe when you become really mature in the Scriptures you can allow them to go there and talk to them. But I'm telling you right here today, don't get sucked into those arguments. These ministers of the world... when people who have a fairly good education in the Scriptures, they will eat you for lunch.  

I have people all day long that send me emails and say, 'Ray I'm in trouble, I went to my minister and told him he was a stupid SOB and the Scriptures said this. Well he said that and now I'm in trouble. I'm going to see him again tomorrow and I've got to know how to answer him Ray.' Well I say you've made your bed, now sleep in it. Sometimes I'll give them a little information. But a lot of times I say, no, I am not going to teach you how to make a fool out of your minister. Your minister is going to make a fool out of you, because your attitude is wrong. God doesn't teach us these Truths so we can go out and make fools out of people.  

So here's what you do and here's what you think, if you are talking to someone this is what you say. If you have already established that you believe these seven verses that I gave you. Now if they say something like, 'yeah but what about this over here?' You say, 'wait a minute, I just read you Scriptures that made a profound statement and one of them was that "GOD DOES NOT LIE" (Titus 1:2). Now does any Scripture state that God DOES lie?'

Don't let them suck you into their train of thinking. You take control. Say, 'Is there a Scripture that says, God does lie? Is there? Well is there a Scripture the says God does not lie? Yes. Then if all Scripture is true, which one is true? The Scripture that doesn't exist or the one that does exist? The one that says God does not lie, is the Truth.'
 
Is there a Scripture that says that the Scripture are NOT inspired of God? Is there such a Scripture? No. Well then don't let anybody take you someplace and quote you something that they say contradicts that Scripture. Don't go there. You can say, 'look I believe this Scriptures. Now do you have one that says the Scriptures are NOT inspired of God? Do you have a verse like that? No. Well forget it, our argument is over.'  

Is there a Scripture that says God's Word is NOT true? If they want to take you some place that contradicts one of those seven Scripture, which are true, then there can't be a Scripture that says one of those Scriptures is NOT true. If there is no such Scripture and they say, 'yeah but this one...' Just say, 'I understand that you do not understand that Scripture. But it does not contradict the Scripture that says God's Word is Truth. Regardless of what you think it implies or might mean or this or that. It does not say that God's Word is not Truth does it? No. Well then do we have a Scripture that says God Word is Truth? Yes. Then you can't have a Scripture that contradicts that.'

See you can't have a Scripture that suggests sometimes under certain circumstances, that there are times or places where God's Word is not true. No! So don't go there.  

You can say, 'Is there a Scripture that God does NOT wish - care - please - want to - desire - wishes or any word that you want to say, that all men be saved? Is there a Scripture that says that? No. Well if you can't show me a Scripture that says He doesn't want all men to be saved, then you try to tell me the one that says He does want them saved, is a lie. Don't you go there with me. That's the true Scripture.'
 
If he has no Scripture that says God doesn't desire or wish or want or please that all men be saved, it's because there is no such Scripture. But if he tries to come up with anything that contradicts it... it can't, because we have a plain statement.  

Is there a Scripture that says the Son will NOT be the Savior of the world? God the Father commissioned Jesus Christ in 1 John 4 to BE the Savior of the world. 

1John 4:14  And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Now is there a Scripture that says God did NOT commission Him or that He will NOT be the Savior of the world? Is the such a Scripture? So then don't let anybody take you somewhere to some Scripture, that they think contradicts this Truth. Don't go there!  

Say, 'you're dead in the water. Because I've got a Scripture of Truth and the only way you can tell me that it is not true, is if you contradict it. If it contradicts, then the Word of God is not true, it is not inspired and God is a liar. I'm not going there with you.'
 
Do we have a Scripture that says that the Scripture we have just read CAN be broken? You know we read one that said the Scripture CAN NOT be broken.

John 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken;

So do we have one that says, well under certain circumstances it can? Can God's laws be broken? Absolutely. Can the Scripture be broken? The Bible says no. So don't try to give me some Scripture where you think, 'well yeah they shall perish.' God says He is going to save them and it's His will - it's His pleasure - it's His wish - it's a desire - He is going to fulfill all His wishes, all His pleasures, all His desires and He will save them. So say, 'don't try to show me a Scripture that contradicts that. There are no Scriptures that contradict that.' If they say, 'well it sounds like it.' You say, 'well it sounds like it because you don't understand the Scripture that you are reading. You don't even believe the simple ones that I just showed you.'

Is this easy for you now? Are you getting it? Does it make sense? Do you have to be a scholar, a theologian? Do you have to know Hebrew and Greek to understand what I am telling you? It's simple.

Do we have a Scripture that in the judgment God will change His mind and will desire that most of humanity will NOT repent and will perish? Come on, we just read, He is not willing that ANY should perish, but they ALL come to repentance. Is there a Scripture that says, He is NOT willing that all come to repentance and He in fact, at judgment will wish and will and desire and perish most of humanity in torture for all eternity? 

Do you see what I am saying? If you believe the Scripture, those seven Scripture that I gave you. Now we can expand them, but with just those seven you can counter anything, in the Scripture. There is no false doctrine that you can't counter with one of those seven points. Nothing.  

You say, 'what about the trinity?' Thy Word is Truth, is there a Scripture that says that God is made up of three people? No. Then you don't have a Scripture for that. 'No, but it says back in Hebrews Elohim, and that's in the plural, so that's the trinity.' Excuse me, if something is in the plural does that mean three? If I say I have eggs in the refrigerator, do you automatically think I have three? If I say I have dollars in my pocket, is it three? I could have two or ten thousand.
 
I get emails that say, 'Ray it's in the plural, can't you see it, God is in the plural, that's the trinity.' I say I don't see three in there any where. Look it up in Hebrews, look it up in the dictionary. Elohim does not mean three persons.  

So maybe God doesn't lie and everything that God says is true and the problem is with His Son and Jesus Christ failed to do what He said. You see God the Father is not here on earth, nor was He at the time of Christ's ministry actually speaking in the first person (Father), to the people and the Pharisees. He did it all through His Son. 

So maybe His Son screwed up? Maybe it's not the Father's fault, maybe it's Christ's fault? Well let's see if Christ failed to do what His Father sent Him to do.

John 8:29  And He (the Father) that sent Me (Jesus) is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.

There it is. Well what are you going to do with that? What is God's good pleasure? What is it He desires? That all men be saved! What is it He doesn't desire? That any should perish! How is He going to accomplish this? By sending Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the whole world. Is Jesus Christ going to do what His Father said? I do always what My Father said. See that!  

John 4:34  Jesus said unto them, My meat is to DO THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME, AND TO F I N I S H HIS WORK.

Whatever God the Father sent Him to do, He will "finish" it. What is the big commission? 1 John 4:14, God commissioned Christ, His Son to be the Savior of the world. So anyone who tries to tell you that any of those seven Scriptures and have contradictory Scripture, he is a lying two faced hypocrite and a charlatan.

So did you get the point of how you approach all the false doctrines and the heresy and everything else? You get a couple of Scriptures in your mind that are true. "God does not lie" (Titus 1:2). I mean you can't twist that into sometimes He does.

He "is not willing that ANY should perish" (2Peter 3:9), can not be twisted into... but He will cause to perish almost everybody. You can't do that. How do you twist the Scripture into that?  

"I will do ALL My pleasure" (Isa 46:10), how do you twist that into... I will only get a fraction of My pleasure accomplished.  

How do you twist I always do My Father's will, I will do the work of God, how do you twist that into - I'll do the best I can, but with man's free will it's going to be mostly a failure. You can't twist those Scriptures into saying that and if you can't, then they're true. When they're true you don't have another Scripture that contradicts any of those.  
That will lay to rest the entire doctrine of Christendom. Every major evil doctrine in the church is laid to rest, just believing those seven Scripture.  

You need to learn as many key verses as you can, but you don't have to learn fifty. A lot of times I'll have a subject in my mind and I'll be flooded with this verse and that one from Deuteronomy to II Kings and Psalms and over in Job and then Christ mentioned it in John and Paul picked up on it and then Peter. But you don't have to know all that stuff. Just for every major idea or doctrine have a key, just one key Scripture.  

[Kat]

 
                         SCRIPTURAL PROOF THERE IS NO TRINITY

My starting point with the trinity has always been two Scriptures. Is God a trinity? Is the Holy Spirit a person, separate from Jesus Christ and separate from the Father? I have two Scriptures and you should mark them in your Bible or put them in your notes or something.

Matt 1:20 ...for that which is conceived in her (Mary) is of the HOLY SPIRIT.

What caused Mary to conceive the Child, Jesus Christ? What? The HOLY SPIRIT. Is that a separate person from His God and Father? Well if He was conceived by the Holy Spirit whose Son was He?  

If I cause a woman to conceive, when the child is born guess who's the father of that son? Me, not somebody else. One man can't cause a woman to conceive a child in her womb and then when it's born, it's the child of some other man, I mean in the flesh. That's a total biological impossibility. Whoever conceives the child is the Father of the child.

Now who conceived Jesus Christ in His mother's womb? The Holy Spirit. Then when Christ was born whose Son was He? One more Scripture;

2 John 1:3  Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, THE SON OF THE FATHER, in truth and love.

It took me a couple of years to find that verse, because I checked several times and I couldn't find a verse that said that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Father. You know you find all kinds of verses about the Father, but I couldn't find one that actually came right out and said it. Then one day I found it.  

So Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and He is the Son of the Father. He is not the Son of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Holy Spirit is not a person. You don't need to know anything else about the trinity. That's it, the trinity falls right there. It's finished, it's dead in the water. Can you see that?


                                     THE STATE OF THE DEAD

Psa 146:4  His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Ecc 9:10  ...for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goes.

In that day "his thoughts perish," there is no thoughts, there is no knowledge or device or anything in the grave. But there is more, here is one that I just like, because it is just so clear. This is the state of the dead...

Ecc 9:5  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything...

"For the living know that they shall die," all people know that they will die, that's a conscience knowledge, right? They say nothing is more sure than what? Death... and taxes. Everybody knows that sooner or later they will die. We know that our pets will die. We know that our loved ones will die and we know that we will die. We know that, when we are alive we know that.  

"But the dead know not anything." Now that is a clear verse. It doesn't even just say, they don't know anything, but it says the "LIVING KNOW." Now you have a contrast. The living know, they have conscience thoughts and they know. But when you die you don't have any conscience thoughts of anything. That is a profound statement. That is a Scripture.

The Bible tells us all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and God doesn't lie (Titus 1:2).

Now what is the state of the dead? The dead don't know anything. Now it doesn't say that their dead bodies don't know anything, but they - the dead, the one that was alive, is now the one that is dead. When he was alive he knew things, when he dies he doesn't know anything.  

Now I had someone send me an email this week, I had a bunch of emails like this one this week. But this lady sent me an email and she was distraught... 'I know from your teaching, I know what it says, I've read the Scriptures. But then I read this Scripture in Acts 2:24.'  

She was upset, she knew what the Scripture says, but now here is a contradiction. She says, 'now I am beginning to think maybe there is pain, because it says, "God will loose Christ from the pain of death." So when He was dead He must have been in pain.'

Is that what it says? Here's another thing if somebody does get you off on another Scripture. This person was sincere, and so I'll answer sincerely. The answer is very simple, but you need to turn around a Scripture on anybody.

Just like you should say, 'do you have a Scripture that says God won't save everybody? Oh you don't, well then don't try to show me a Scripture that you think insinuates that God will not save everybody.' Do you see what I'm saying? 

So then you could say, do you have a Scripture that says He won't save everybody? 'No, but this one sounds like it.' It doesn't matter what you think it sounds like, because we have a plain statement that He will save everybody. Now unless the Scripture says in some way, here is an exception to the general rule and that God is only sometimes a liar, only sometimes can His Word be broken, only sometimes He won't have every wish and pleasure fulfilled... If you can't show that in the Scripture, then don't try to show me some nonsense that contradicts these seven plain declarations of God.

So does this Scripture in Acts 2, where God says, "having loosed the pains of death," does that say in the state of being dead, that He was in pain? Does it say that? No. 'But it kind of insinuates that, doesn't it?' My answer would be, NO it doesn't. Not if you are looking at the Scripture word for word and understand that death has three meanings.


                     DEATH = THE ACT OF DYING - CAUSE OF DEATH - DEAD
 
First of all death is the act of dying - the vehicle causing the death - the state of being dead. The word death means all three of those. You can check your dictionary.  
So when it just says 'death', there is no reason to think, oh it's talking about this death or it has to be that death. It could be or it could be all three at the same time. How is that possible?  

The sea gave up the dead that were in it (Rev. 20:13), in other words humanity gave up all of the spiritual dead people that are not in the first resurrection. Death gave up those that were in it and hades gives up the dead. When you are in hades you are dead, because that is the dead state. Those that are dying, from all humanity out of the sea, guess what? They are all thrown into the Lake of fire, the dying - the cause of death - death itself. That is why we have in I Cor. 15.

1 Cor 15:26  The last enemy being abolished (or destroyed) is DEATH.

The one word covers it all, DEATH. 

Anybody who is in the 'spiritual' state of death, who is physically going towards death.

Death is taking it's toll on people, those that are actually residing in death, in that they have already died. Every form of the word DEATH is going to be abolished. Then there can be no one who is dying or partially dead, like being spiritually dead or in the state of death. Why? Because death itself is going to be abolished.  


                           OTHER EXAMPLES OF SCRIPTURAL KEYS

You've got all these Scriptures about fire, punishment, hell and burning and all that stuff. Is there anyway to lump that together or bring that all together under one Scripture or two Scriptures, but the same idea? Is there a way to do that so that all those meanings do not mean that this is a eternity of torture? Is there a way to do that with just one idea, two Scripture with one idea? Any idea on that?  

Okay the two Scriptures and they are easy to remember, 1 Cor. 3:15 and Rev. 20:15, they are both verse 15. They both talk about "fire." Now they will say, 'well it says the Lake of fire in Revelation, that's eternal torture.'

Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

But it says "every man's WORK" is going to be tried in that fire, because there is another set of Scriptures in I Cor. 3, it says...

1 Cor 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.

But guess what this one tells us that Revelation doesn't? That's how you get SAVED, through the FIRE! Oh yeah you will be put in the fire... "but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." The fire doesn't torture you for all eternity, it will SAVE you!  

Do we have a Scripture that says the fire in Revelation is for all eternity? They will say, 'well yeah.' No there isn't, there isn't one that says that. 'Well it says Satan will be tormented day and night forever and ever.' Well now we are back to the definition of aion and aionios you see, because we have a bad translation there. Besides it's talking about Satan, it's not talking about people thrown into fire down below.  


                            THE WORLD WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS

Another favorite Scripture of mine, now there are others that are similar, but there is not any that state it as clearly as Isaiah. Mark this in your Bible and learn it. The idea is that they say, when God's judgments are in the earth most of the people will not repent and they will perish and be tortured for all eternity, forever and ever and ever in the Lake of fire, the fire that has no quenching and the worm do not die, etc...

Do we have a Scripture that says when the judgments of God come to this whole entire world and all the inhabitants of the earth, then those people WILL learn righteousness? Yes we do!

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

You just got to believe that verse! It says the inhabitants of the WORLD. When? "When Thy judgments are in the earth." Now who does that include? You can start spreading out in the Scriptures, but if you don't know, just stick to that Scripture. The WHOLE EARTH, all "the inhabitants of the whole world," to me that is everybody.  

They say, 'no it's not.' Well to me it is, I'm sorry you are going to have to show me a verse that says, when His judgments are in the earth, NOT all the inhabitants of the whole world will learn righteousness. Do you have a Scripture that says that? 'No.' Well then you don't have a Scripture that contradicts that Scripture. If you did we would have to throw the Bible out anyway, because then it wouldn't be true and God would be a liar.  

Are you following, the one principle I'm trying to get across? You only have to know a few key Scriptures and you can put down every evil doctrine in religion, in the church today. Just a couple of Scripture, that's all you need. But you've got to believe them and you've got to stick by them.  

If somebody says, 'yeah but...' Yeah but, are you telling me you've got a Scripture that makes a liar out of this Scripture? That breaks this Scripture? That diminishes from this Scripture? Are you telling me you have a Scripture like that? If you are there is the door and I will not talk to you any longer.  

So you can spread out, but you get that one Scripture you know. Acts 17 comes to mind.  
They say, 'was it really talking about the whole world or maybe it's just "given" period, when His judgments are in the earth to all the people at that particular time?' For crying out loud, if God can save all the people in the world at any one given time, who are you to say He couldn't do it at some other time too. It's nonsense.  

Act 17:31  Because He (God) hath appointed a day, in the which He (God) will judge the world in righteousness by that Man (Jesus Christ) whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.

God is going to send the Man that died for our sins and raised back up from the dead. As an assurance to the people that are being judged you see, that there is a future life for them in righteousness. But first they have to be judged.  

Who is the assurance given to? "ALL men!"  
When is this assurance going to be given to them? In judgment.
 
But what kind of assurance can you give people in judgment? that is IF the assurance is for sure you are going to hell for all eternity? Because if you wasn't (going to hell) you would have already come up in the first resurrection, which you didn't... so you are all going to hell? Now how do you like that for the assurance, that is in Christ Jesus?  

Can't you see these things? Boy I'm telling you, learn a couple of things and then stick with it. Don't ever give it up. You will be surprised. Then you can't be pulled aside with every wind of doctrine.  

[Kat]

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