MANY have claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ whereas His words do not abide in them; and the scripture warns in the first epistle of John 2:3: 'Now, by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says 'I know Him' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in Him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him'.I love to repeat this phrase: 'Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.' In the second epistle of John 1:9-11 again John warns: 'Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.' (NKJV) If Jesus distanced Himself from the Gods the Jews were worshipping and we now preach those Gods as His Father then we are making Him a liar and do not have Him or His Father. The words of Jesus Christ therefore should be sacrosanct for any true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ as reaffirmed in Matthew 24:35: 'Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.' (NKJV). If Jesus Christ says no one knows the Father except Himself, why make Him a liar by preaching Jehovah God as His Father. One issue is clear from the scripture passages we have taken so far, no God of the Old testament which includes Jehovah God in personality or the name is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ or Jesus Christ Himself, since 'no one' knows or have access to the Father but the son and no one knows the son but the Father whereas Jehovah God has been seen and accessed in the Old Testament.There is no ambiguity about the fact that from the Bible, stem two distinct religions' Judaism and Christianity. Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people handed down to them by Moses and their ancestors while Christianity is the religion of the followers of Jesus Christ. The power and God of Judaism is Jehovah God. The Bible in Psalms 83:18(KJV) records: 'That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth'. So the scriptures recognises Jehovah as the most high over all the earth only which in contrast to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of Heaven and earth as recorded in Luke 10:21. 'In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, 'I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight' (NKJV).Take note again: 'Lord of heaven and earth.' Can a God give what He does not have' No! That explains why no God of the Old Testament promised eternal life, or heaven.The theological principle wherein every capital 'G'-God stands for the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ also did not hold water in this argument as the book of Revelations 11:4-6 records: 'These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.' (NKJV).Let us take note of the capital 'G'-God of the earth in the scripture passage above and the characteristics of the two witnesses which best describe Moses who turned water to blood with plagues and Elijah who called fire from above to destroy his enemies.Furthermore, in Acts 7:44-50, using the Good News Bible, we observe two distinct Gods as recorded 'Our ancestors had the Covenant Tent with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown. Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David. He won God's favour and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built him a house. But the Most High God does not live in houses built by men, as the prophet says, 'Heaven is my throne, says the Lord; and earth is my footstool'. What kind of house would you build for me' Where is the place for me to live in' Did not I myself make all things''From the passage above we have seen a capital 'G'- God of Jacob who Solomon built a house for whereas the Most High God does not live in houses built by men. In 1Kings 8:12, we will observe that the God of Jacob whom Solomon built the house for dwells in thick darkness as recorded: 'Then spake Solomon, the LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.'(KJV) This disposition of the God of Jacob or Jehovah God dwelling in thick darkness is different from the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells in unapproachable light as recorded in 1Timothy 6:6-16: 'Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen' (NKJV).Apostle John in his first epistle, chapter 1 verse 5, reaffirmed: 'This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.' (NKJV). The Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed Himself the light of the world in John 8:12: 'Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life'. Who do you follow' Whose report do you believe, JESUS, MOSES OR YOUR PASTOR'To those who have argued that Christianity is a continuation of Judaism the scripture asks: 'Can two walk together unless they are agreed' (Amos 3:3 NKJV) If Christianity is a continuation of Judaism, then they should have agreed. However, that is not the case as recorded in Matthew 16: 21: 'From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priest and scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day.' So who are the people that killed Jesus Christ' The chief priest, scribes and elders those who, as recorded, sit in the seat of Moses in Matthew 23:2: 'The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat' (NKJV)Therefore, if Judaism is a continuation of Christianity why should those who sit in the seat of Moses advocate the death of Jesus Christ' Obviously, they should be of the same spiritual father, but because they are not and Jesus Christ realised that, He warned His disciples: 'If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I choose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin but now they have no excuse for their sin. 'He who hates Me hates my Father also.' (John 15:18-23 NKJV)Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year in advance.Bob-Manuel writes from Lagos
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